Let the Great World Spin (Spoiler Alert)

Recently I started reading Let the Great World Spin by  Colum McCann. At first I was a little worried, as beautiful as McCann's writing is the first three pages described entirely the anticipation of the crowd watching the tightrope walk across the Twin Towers in the 70s, but nothing about the actual walk. However, the novel took its own direction completely moving from New York City to Ireland and back. Immediately the characters Corrigan and his older brother are introduced and Corrigan is everything a protagonist should be. Corrigan reminds me of Jesus, since he was a young boy he would spend time with the drunks in his town. He would hang out with them on Fridays and listen to their stories and help them as best he could in a way he tried to absorb and understand their pain. Even without his generous acts he is described as lovable by his brother; being that he is able to brighten anyone's day, it is a gift of his. 

On the other hand, his brother seems less great. Unlike Corrigan, he would stay after school and play rugby, his actions and character are less admirable but more easily understood. As an older sister, I expected his older brother to be more jealous. As siblings its hard not to compare yourself sometimes, and standing next to Corrigan is not a place a lot of people would want to be when it comes time for judgement. So far the only time he mentions any of his jealousy is when he see his saintly brother cannot forgive their father for what he did to them, he mentions, "It pleased me a little to think that he had a flaw  and that it went so deep that he couldn't deal with it." However he isn't malicious he's ashamed, he knows he shouldn't feel that way about his brother. As much as I admire Corrigan, I identify better with his older brother but I am interested to keep reading and see where their relationship and the plot goes.