I'm a sucker for Jeffrey Archer, 20th Century London and epic novels, so it's no surprise that I've read "As the Crow Flies" a dozen times. Following the life of Charlie Trumper beginning at the turn of the century, the book takes readers on a journey through both world wars, the coronation of Queen Elizabeth and the swinging 60's. While the story is about Charlie's success in retail, the core of the story revolves around his wife, his son and his fierce rivalry with the Trentham family. This is a fun read with plenty of drama woven through the book.

3.75⭐️ I feel like I lived a whole life in this book. Long but in a good way.

Como los cuervos tiene esa extraordinaria cualidad que sólo las grandes novelas poseen, la capacidad de construir una historia representativa de los deseos y ambiciones de una época, convirtiéndose en espejo del sentir de cualquier hombre del siglo xx. Para ello le es esencial convertirse en cronista de los magnos acontecimientos del siglo y también de los sentimientos y pasiones de una vida familiar cargada de problemas, sin embargo esta mezclada con la sencillez de un muchacho que vende en un puesto callejero, que se enamora de la niña bonita de la colonia, y construye de poco a poco una gran historia de vida.

Esta novela representa todos los valores, todas las ganas de salir adelante, de sobreponerse a cada una de las situaciones que impiden a Charlie ser feliz, sin embargo, el siempre con una actitud positiva, logro sobreponerse sin perder nunca, su buen humor, su entereza, y sus valores, todos infundidos por la figura mas importante en su vida, su Abuelo.

Una novela para ser leída por todos, una historia tierna, llena de valores positivos, con mucha carga emocional, y sobre todo una historia de superación, es la novela mas grande escrita por Archer, donde imprime muchas ideas propias y que posteriormente influyeron en sus siguientes novelas.

Excelente historia en un lapso de aproximadamente 70 años que se narra desde diferentes perspectivas, mostrando la evolución de los protagonistas y su persistencia en momentos de mucha dificultad e incertidumbre.

Great tale and well narrated as I listened to this on Audible. I have only discovered Archer recently and whilst classicists won't give him any literary awards for style, he does write a damn good story. I like how this spanned multiple generations of a family and a long time frame and was written from the perspective of a number of different characters.

Although long, it is an easy read/listen. Compared to Kane and Abel (the only other Archer book I have read) it didn't quite have me at the edge of my seat and now that I have finished the book I don't feel particularly different in any way. A 4 or 5 star book should stir up more emotion and post reading thoughts/discussion, even if very short term, yet here I can quite easily move on to the next book. Towards the end I was getting a little impatient in truth and did feel the book could have been shorter.

Nevertheless the story itself was very entertaining and I like the subtlety of the villainous characters. It wasn't all blood and guts but built over time and their views were likely quite common for the time and the social class they came from. In some ways whilst fiction, it is quite believable.

Within my review, I had typed out something along the lines of me not liking the ending and it being a little underwhelming. I am now going full circle and actually think the ending was good, having reflected on it. Sometimes we can be searching for a grand finale and in a lot of cases when that happens books can abruptly end, in this case it was a more gradual and slower ending but finished at least leaving a small smile on my face.

I'd still recommend this book, maybe a holiday read or commuting, but I think he probably has written better.

A brilliant book really enjoyed I don’t think Jeffrey archer can write a bad one

I think I accidentally listened to an abridged version of this, but it didn't lessen my enjoyment.

The story was full of life and vividity. A story about one man who lived... I never expected to enjoy it as I did.

The WWI part, in my opinion, was the best, likely because it's an area of interest to me. Anyway, I thought it was brilliant, and I want to read more Jeffrey Archer in the future.

A quick little review for this.
First of all I liked this story, although I was cringing often listening to this. Maybe these drama stories are just a bit of a guilty pleasure of mine

Such an overly long, convoluted story with a tiny payoff. There were no characters that held my interest. Everything was plot-driven. I like novels with a rich background so that you can lose yourself in the time and place. This fat novel was thin in substance.

Търговецът мечтае да смае света: http://knigolandia.info/book-review/t...

Историята проследява живота на Чарли Тръмпър, хлапе от бедняшкия лондонски квартал Уайтчапъл, който от малък получава безценни уроци по трудолюбие от своя дядо, продавач на улична сергия. Детето притежава така нужния нюх за търговия, а мечтата му е да има най-голямата сергия на света – за което е готов да става всеки ден в 4 часа и да се труди до късна доба. През фокуса на неговия живот Арчър отразява и двадесети век и неговите събития. В Първата световна война неговият герой воюва, намира приятели, но и враг, който ще бележи целия му живот.

Издателска къща БАРД
http://knigolandia.info/book-review/t...

يالله ابداع الكاتب لم يتوقف عن احداث القصه كاملة بل حتى الرمق الاخير عندما وجدو صاحب اكبر شركات يعود لأصله عند التقاعد ليبيع الخضار بعربته القديمة وثيابه الرثه فيكون يلطان العادة غلب سلطان التعود فرغم كبر سنه عاد ليستيقظ في الرابعه فجرا ويخرج ليبيع بلسانه الجميل على نساء الحي الخضار الطازجة. بكيت عند النهاية فقد عشت دهرا مع هذه الرواية ولأول مرة بحياتي اشعر بأنني أكبر مع شخصيات الكتاب حتى أصل معهم لعمر الستين والسبعين. جعلني ارتشر أخاف من تقدم الزمن بي حتى وإن كان المستقبل جميلا. رواية اجتماعية اقتصادية سياسية رومانسية ودراميه وكل ماترغب أن تجده في كتاب واحد فعندما يطير الغراب بين يديك

Somehow it feels wrong to read Jeffrey Archer books.... not sure if it's his reputation or if because he's so UN cool! I remember really enjoying some of his books 20+ years ago, so shelled out 20p for this one. He is still a good storyteller and I did enjoy it, although it dragged on a bit in parts.
The story is a barrow boy to riches tale spanning the 20th Century. Not bad, not brilliant.