Fantasmi di New York

by Jim Lewis, Francesca Pe' (Translator)

Cos’è una metropoli se non un costante incrociarsi di destini? In questo romanzo Jim Lewis racconta le vicende, sottilmente intrecciate fra loro, di una fotografa tornata in città dopo dieci anni di assenza, un mercante d’arte finito sul lastrico per amore, un cantante di strada dalla voce miracolosa, uno studente africano di relazioni internazionali dal passato familiare burrascoso – ma tutto attorno ci sono le luci, le ombre, l’andirivieni, il frastuono, il silenzio, la musica, i traffici, i piccoli gesti di generosità, amore, disperazione, i segreti, le morti e gli attimi di pura magia che alimentano l’energia collettiva di New York.

Ambientato in un tempo volutamente imprecisato fra gli anni Ottanta e il XXI secolo, animato da una scrittura vivida ed empatica che danza fra passato e futuro, Fantasmi di New York è una originalissima sinfonia letteraria che rivelerà al pubblico italiano il «raro talento» (per citare il New York Times) di Jim Lewis.

Genres: Fiction, New York, Novels, Literary Fiction, Contemporary, American, Short Stories

354 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 2021

About the author

Jim Lewis, born 1963 in Cleveland, Ohio, is an American novelist. Soon after he was born, his family moved to New York; there, and in London, he was raised. He received a degree in philosophy from Brown University in 1984, and an M.A. in the same subject from Columbia University, before deciding to leave academia.

Since then, he has published three novels, Sister (published by Graywolf in 1993), Why the Tree Loves the Ax (published by Crown in 1998), and The King is Dead (published by Knopf in 2003). All three have been published in the UK as well, and individually translated into several languages, including French, Norwegian, Portuguese, and Greek.

In addition to his novels, he has written extensively on the visual arts, for dozens of magazines, from Artforum and Parkett to Harper's Bazaar; and contributed to 20 artist monographs, for museums around the world, among them, Richard Prince at The Whitney Museum of American Art, Jeff Koons at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Christopher Wool at The Los Angeles Museum of Art, and a Larry Clark retrospective at the Musee d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris.

He has also written criticism and reportage for a wide range of publications, among them The New York Times, Slate, Rolling Stone, GQ, and Vanity Fair. His essays have appeared in Granta, and Tin House, among others.

He has collaborated with the photographer Jack Pierson on a small book called Real Gone (published by Artspace Books in 1993), and collaborated with Larry Clark on the story for the movie Kids.

He currently lives in Austin, Texas.

Wikipedia.

Reviews

[Stellie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm convinced the author either knew someone at the New York Times or made a sizable donation to the right people. This is just not great.

[Thea Scott · Rating 1 out of 5]

this man must have just read dubliners by james joyce and thought 'i can do that' when he absolutely could not do that

[Rob · Rating 1 out of 5]

What the hell did I just read ?

[Doug · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my main pleasures in reading is discovering a new (to myself at least) book/author whose voice is so unique and whose novel so enthralling you want to grab everyone you know and thrust a copy of the book into their hands and insist they read it ... NOW!! The last time that happened to me was 3 years ago with The Deeper the Water the Uglier the Fish, which became my favorite book of 2019. It's early in the year, but I honestly think THIS will be my favorite book of 2022. I got it from the library, but upon finishing, ordered my own copy, since I will undoubtedly reread it at some point, probably before the year is out - as well as Davis' three previous novels. Yes - he's that good.

I'm rather amazed (and perturbed) that the first 4 reviews on here all gave this 1 star - but looking closer, it appears that none of these people actually read the book (one opines that it is a pale copy of Dubliners - to which it bears NO resemblance!), and apparently are just upset/jealous that he got a rave from the NYT (posted below), because he (apparently) knew someone there. And looking at THEIR fave authors - well - there's no accounting for taste (or another way of putting it: opinions are like assholes - everybody's got one and most of them stink!).

Anyway, one of the things I liked best about this is the structure ... the first and third portions bounce around in time (including a non-specific future) and amongst storylines (there are four main threads here) in short chapters, and then the central section of 90 pages is a self-contained entity, which intersects at odd points with the three other main plots. It really keeps you on your toes, as characters drift in and out, and something tossed off casually in one thread becomes a major element in another - in many ways, this is the lost David Mitchell novel you didn't even realize you needed (and that's a good thing IMHO).

https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/01/bo....

https://booktimist.com/2021/01/23/eve...

https://soundcloud.com/vestopr/jim-le...

[Bandit · Rating 3 out of 5]

There’s no city like New York. Which is to say some major metropolises actually deserve some of their glamorous reputation, but NYC has simply had what appears to be the best marketing of all time. It isn’t even the plain girl of city, it’s ugly, used up, dirty whore of a one, but it got shellacked with coverall make up, dressed up in the latest designer duds, styled to the nines and now it photographs well from certain angles and inspires a sort of fawning undeserved adoration Americans typically reserve for celebrities. And, of course, like most objects of such inexplicable affections, it gets serenaded. This is the latest in such serenades. An ode to the city that never sleeps because the lights are too bright, or maybe the face lift is too tight.
Ghosts of New York traces lives of the individuals who stumble through NY streets, deliberately ignoring the ugliness to concentrate on the beauty. A photographer, who literally does just that, and others who simply have made it an aspect of their lives. The structure of the book is that of individual plotlines eventually converging into something of a cohesive some total when toward the end they start to interlace. Most of this narratives are relatively short with one disproportionally large story of a failed romance in between. In fact, it is the longest entry that works best the rest seemingly too episodic, more like sketches than proper entries, at least until they all get connected. The narratives don’t specify years, but it seems to stretch for at least a couple of decades, maybe more, from the (late?) 80s on, and covers death, romance and all the quotidian life in between as the characters haunt New York or maybe it is that New York haunts them.
For all its numerous shortcomings, NYC actually lands itself extremely well to fiction, it’s so huge, so diverse, so dreamy (albeit in all the wrong ways) that it’s bound to attract all sorts of drama. This book has plenty of that, though its main and greatest asset is the character writing, which, obviously, for a character driven work of fiction, is a good thing. Never read or heard of the author prior to this, but he’s had some impressive accolades thrown his way and going by this book they are well deserved…with some reservations.
The writing itself is great, excellent even at times, the way the characters are fleshed out, the dimensionality of the ordinary and so on, but…but there’s a certain density here, like a dwarf star density, disproportional to size, there are prolonged sentences turning into protracted paragraphs, with scarcely any dialogue and the entire thing is all tell and barely any show. The book is so heavily narrated, it’s shoots itself in the foot with it. Reading it at times is like going to the museum, but being distracted from appreciating the artwork by the ever present and never silent curator. Mind you, it’s obviously a gifted and well versed curator, but it can simply overwhelm.
So overall…this is something of a mixed review, I suppose. Not a rip, but also not quite along with the accolades and praises the author seems to have gathered for his work. Then again, this is the first rating and review on GR for it, so maybe the rumors of the popularity and excellence have been somewhat exaggerated. Not sure, though I do love to get the first word in.
All in all, a pretty good read, mostly owning to some really terrific character writing, though nowhere fresh or exciting enough to wow a reader. Kind of reminiscent of a lesser Paul Auster, one who, among other things, decided plots and originality are overrated. Reader mileage may wary. It’s entirely possible, that much like its main attraction, the city, this book will hold different levels of appeal for different individuals. Thanks Netgalley.

[Kelley Kimble · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really really wanted to love this book. Dark and moody with NYC at the center. A series of vignettes, loosely connected and all set in NYC. Could’ve been a darker version of Collin McCann’s Let the Great World Spin. But it never quite got there for me. Felt sad and lonely like a cold, rainy night without a fire and a good book.

[Kasia Z. · Rating 5 out of 5]

The marvelous book and much underrated, it is exactly how random characters and their stories intertwine by living in a big city. Little stores, bars, busy streets etc descriptions are vivid and lyrical, I felt like I was there walking the streets.

[Jessica Sinn (Books and Trouble) · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to be honest with you. Pretty much all the New York-themed books I’ve read involve man-chasing, Manolo Blahnik-obsessed shopaholics. When I think of Manhattan, I envision Broadway shows, enchanting parks lit up with fairy lights and fashionable women strolling arm-in-arm down bustling sidewalks. I have since grown out of this chick lit genre, but the glossy veneer of New York life still lives long in my mind.

As you have probably surmised, I have never been to the Big Apple. Yet after reading Ghosts of New York, I feel like I’ve been given a tour by a local. To be clear, this isn’t a whimsical romanticized depiction of the city, but an unfiltered slice-of-life look into the people who live in the nondescript outlying neighborhoods, the studio apartments, the walk-up Brownstones. Told by an all-omniscient—in some cases prophetic—narrator, the chapters contain vignettes about troubled New Yorkers who are facing some serious blows—from losing everything to bankruptcy, to falling in and out of love, to realizing you can never come home again. The latter hits home with me, big time.

And therein lies the beauty of this book. So many of these stories are relatable to readers because the characters (Caruso excluded) are much like you and me. They’re not on a quest to vanquish evil sorcerers or to solve a whodunnit—they’re just making their way through this game of life the best they can. Needless to say, this isn’t a light read, but it was definitely worth my while because sometimes it’s good to lean into life’s dirty, gritty underbelly. Sometimes it’s good to feel these raw emotions and to know others have felt them too.

Deep stuff, I know. But hey, it’s good to go outside your comfort zones and read what I like to call “Intellectual Fiction,” not just for the stories themselves but for the beautiful prose. Hats off to Mr. Lewis for taking the art of writing to stratospheric heights! Most books I read are heavy on the dialogue, but this is mostly narration—a rather bold move for an author, but it works because it casts a voyeuristic effect. Some reviewers knocked a few stars off for this rather unorthodox story structure, but I rather liked it. The mystery of time was also an interesting, albeit disorienting, effect. Some chapters were told in the future tense, others in the past, but it’s anyone’s guess which decade we’re in. If I were to go out on a limb here, I’d say this was a nod to the “ghosts” theme of the book…because time and space is always a big question in the Great Beyond, isn’t it?

This review is turning into a novella, and I give you snaps for making it this far! There’s so much more to say about the poetic metaphors, the complex characters, my many questions about the mysterious virus and so on, but I’ll stop right here before giving away any spoilers. Even if this genre isn’t your cup of tea, I encourage you to venture off into uncharted territory and read something that stretches your thoughts about life, existence and the hereafter a little further.

Well done, Mr. Lewis! Keep ‘em coming!

[Alessandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book made me feel like I wasn’t very smart, that maybe I just wasn’t at the level I should be to appreciate its super deep meaning. I thought I was enjoying the story, but I wasn’t. I thought there would be a clever tie-in with all of these characters, but there wasn’t. I enjoyed the descriptions but they became too much, and I skipped through. So maybe I’m not smart, maybe I should have paid better attention in my Lit classes. Or maybe it’s just a so-so book.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

EXHAUSTINGLY BEAUTIFUL
There are novels that are good because of their synchronicity, or because if their musical language, or raw realism. ...and then there is Ghosts of New York.
Here is a novel unlike any other. A reader begins and suddenly, after two pages, or twenty pages, realizes that he must read differently. A reader must savor each word, each pairing of words, each insight into the insignificant making everything significant.
As the pages flap like the gentle wavelets of a bay, the reader is suddenly brought up short by awkward, uncommon, beautiful structures of words not seen together ever before.
A reader sets out to read significant portions of the novel wishing to quickly find the thread...only to be brought up short by a description like, "...rococo crimes as reported in the newspaper..." Such phrasing forces the reader to give up the quest for a quick resolve and become sequestered in the beauty of the art.
Just read it...you'll see...

[Francesco · Rating 5 out of 5]

new york surrealista

[Mateo Mok · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh god...I need to take a while to process. I read this right after I moved to New York. Before I even started reading, I knew it was going to be good: four separate lives that become intertwined, and New-York-as-main-character. But I wasn't expecting the prose to be so beautiful...I have to paste some of it here so I remember to re-read this.

"Will you do me a favor? Bridget said.
"Anything, said Stephanie, and immediately she felt a sensation she had never experienced before, the chill of angels crowing in their cold heaven, as she realized that she meant just what she'd said, meant it much more than the occasion warranted. The word had drawn it out of her: she would have done Bridget asked of her; it was a devotion that rose straight up through her, not romance or even love, really, it was something higher and harder, a certainty beyond faith. A newspaper blew across the intersection. Satellites rang like bells overhead. Bridget just smiled."–p. 259

"Years ago a friend of hers had bought a new lens that he wanted to show off. She'd gone over to his apartment and he brought it out. [...] Lenses were different, almost like jewelry, with their perfect crystals and their interlocking parts. Isn't it pretty? her friend had said. And so it was: a beautiful thing for capturing beautiful things. But, then, what was New York itself? A magnificent machine composed of miles and miles of glass, undergirded by a machinery so intricate and complicated that no one could comprehend it all—a camera feeding on its own light, built by millions of people over hundreds of years for the purpose of capturing this very life they were building." –p. 78

[Lori Sinsel Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of short stories that come together at its conclusion showcasing the city of New York. A character driven novel, where at times the city itself was the main character, more specifically Manhattan. I felt it hurt a little for lack of dialogue. It felt as though it is over-narrated, as if the narrator is beside you constantly yap, yap, yapping in your ear until it is hard to concentrate or think of what is happening, this definitely detracted somewhat from the reading experience for me. Also some of the stories (chapters), I felt were too brief, not allowing enough time for the true character/plot development to shine through. The writing itself is beautiful, Mr. Lewis most definitely has a way with words and a grasp of language which he uses brilliantly, given the reader some very beautiful excerpts.
Overall, this is a good read, it just didn't live up to all the hype and fanfare I had been hearing about, but still worth reading. As always these are my own thoughts and opinions and no one else. Someone else may feel totally different.
I give 4 stars, would still recommend, just don't raise expectations super high, medium high will suffice.
Thank you to the publishers at West Virginia University Press and to NetGalley for the free ARC e-book version of this novel, I am leaving my honest review in return.
#TheGhostsofNewYork
#JimLewis
#NetGalley

[Alfonso D'agostino · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ogni tanto, mi capita quelle due o tre volte all’anno, mi capita il momento del “Fermi tutti”: che inizia tipo con l’esclamazione “Fermi tutti, e questo da dove viene fuori?” e poi diventa “Fermi tutti, questo lo DEVO consigliare a *** inserisci nomi di battesimo fino a raggiungere una comoda doppia cifra ***.

“Fantasmi di New York” è un romanzo Fermi tutti.

Sostenuto da una scrittura maestosa, capace di innalzarsi verso vette poetiche salvo – poche pagine dopo – precipitare verso i più oscuri fondovalle con magnifico equilibrio, “Fantasmi di New York” racconta di quattro protagonisti principali e di una città intera, traccia esistenze che scorrono alla luce del sole e si inabissano come fiumi carsici, accompagna nel dipanarsi di vite che si incrociano fatalmente, commuovono, impressionano, ti costringono a una empatia sottile e malinconica.

C’è una fotografa rientrata nella Grande Mela dopo anni all’estero, che condivide una magnifica relazione con la sua arte (“La fotocamera le aveva insegnato a guardare, e guardare le aveva fatto capire quello che voleva. Non sempre lo aveva ottenuto, ma almeno lo aveva fotografato”) e che ci regala una passeggiata nella città e nelle sue luci-ombre che fanno venire il groppo alla gola per quanto son scritte bene; c’è un bambino di strada con la voce più bella del globo; c’è il figlio di un leader africano universitario alla Columbia, il suo miglior amico e un amore potente da farmi pensare a cosa avrebbe scritto Omero se fosse nato nel Queens nel 1940; c’è un negoziante che perde la sua attività, e anche questo ha a che fare con il cuore.

E poi c’è, ovviamente, New York. Con i suoi fantasmi nel senso più possessivo, perché fin dal titolo i fantasmi sono DI NewYork, e non banalmente A New York.

“New York, impegnata ad essere nuova e ad essere New York. Sola tra le cose, è diventata più giovane invece che più vecchia“.

[Aga Bukowska · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Kiedy tu mieszkasz, kiedy jesteś w mieście, to cały twój świat. Zwyczajnie nie wyobrażasz sobie życia gdziekolwiek indziej. Ale kiedy patrzysz z daleka, Nowy Jork zaczyna wydawać się innym światem, na poły mitologicznym, ale też bardzo głupim. Wypełnionym duchami, które są jak dzieci, no wiesz. Wiedzą tylko jak chcieć jednej rzeczy naraz. Ale w przeciwieństwie do dzieci zawsze chodzi o to samo: pamiętaj o mnie".

Jim Lewis opisuje Nowy Jork z niesłychaną precyzją. Opowiada pozornie niezależne od siebie historie bohaterów, które w miarę rozwoju fabuły łączą się coraz ściślej i coraz bardziej niespodziewanie. Przedstawia miasto ich ustami, jest na zmianę fotografką, muzykiem, marszandem sztuki, studentem, ojcem, zagubioną dziewczyną. W każdej z tych ról doskonale rozumie i przekazuje emocje targające bohaterem, jest mistrzem ich rzemiosła i wnikliwej obserwacji. Jako twórca muzyczny pisze, że "piosenka zaczynała błyszczeć jak kawałek mosiądzu, od pocierania pojawiły się jej kontury, wypełniaj się zarys, powoli pojawiał się blask". Jako fotografka, że "kocha to uczucie, że opuszkiem palca łączy się z całym światem" i że "aparat nauczył ją patrzeć, a patrzenie nauczyło ją, czego chce". Wszystkimi tymi oczami patrzymy na miasto, które w całym swoim zagubieniu wydaje się magiczną krainą nie z tego świata.

Książka, która zachwyca, inspiruje i grozi zakupem biletów na najbliższy samolot do Nowego Jorku, po to aby przeżyć chociaż jedną "z tych nocy, kiedy miasto wydawało się wielkim stadionem sportowym, jaśniejszym niż jakikolwiek dzień, kiedy każdy ruch, każdy krok, każdy uśmiech, stawały się cześć lub siedem razy większe niż życie".

[Alessandro · Rating 1 out of 5]

Un’accozzaglia di storie abbozzate e intrecciate in modo infantile e quasi irrispettoso verso il lettore. Una roba che definirla libro è fare un complimento. Alla fine mi sono chiesto “ma cosa ho appena finito di leggere?”

[Yong L. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Too many words. If you read small samples, the author *seems* like a good writer, but this is a terrible and exhausting novel. His descriptions are like Tammy Faye Baker’s makeup or Donald Trump’s orange spray tan: I’m sure it’s of good quality, but the overuse is nauseating. 300 pages of words that could have been expressed more effectively in 150. There were a couple of characters that you started to care about, but their stories never developed because of the author’s indulgence in his own words.

You can see an example of this on the first full paragraph of page 259: the first line and the last line of the large paragraph are largely the same. But he has this insatiable need to fill it up with more words: pretty, seemingly deep, but not really. Finally, these works that dwell on Ivy League experiences are too narrow — time to move on!

A lousy recommendation by the New York Times.

Ick.

[Ruth · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is supposed to be a series of vignettes centering around a few different stories and plotlines. I felt it was disjointed and I didn't flow with the transition from story to story. I felt it was another New York (Manhattan-based) story made of various lifestyles yet there was never a satisfying plot line to any of them, and the characters not developed.. I would recommend Tama Janowitz's Slaves of New York, which portraying the NYC (specifically, Manhattan) scene in the latter part of the 20th century, yet the characters were more exciting and developed.

[Bill Silva · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sad but often beautiful love song to New York and its many stories. There’s no plot to speak of, and the characters are almost tangential to the atmosphere and mood of longing, loss, and very brief moments of joy. The writing will mostly transport and transform you (despite a few moments that verge more on the ridiculous than the sublime). I don’t expect this to be to everyone’s taste, but it captivated me even at its most obscure and oblique.

[Jonathan Lerner · Rating 5 out of 5]

Magnificent, in a quiet way. The story—really, interlocking stories—is totally believable even though it moves around in time, including into the future, and has some wildly idiosyncratic characters. But hey, they are New Yorkers! I've lived in New York City several different times, all of which occurred in the span of history depicted. Reading it, I kept asking myself why I ever left.

[Abigail Hoover · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nope.

[magdalena · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

czasem rozumiem kontrowersje wokół tytułu i dlaczego może nie podobać się wszystkim. w tym przypadku nie mam żadnego pojęcia skąd te negatywne opinie - przecież to jest zwyczajnie świetne, to, jak został oddany Nowy Jork, jego mieszkańcy, wszystkie dusze, które niby nic nie znaczą wobec całego wielkiego miasta ze wszystkimi jego zdarzeniami i mieszkaniami - a wszystko znaczy, każdy jest zauważony, każdy w inny sposób.

wspaniałe to było

[Ashley Chang · Rating 2 out of 5]

One of the books of all time.

[Lainie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stunningly gorgeous in structure and style. This is a Faberge Easter egg of a novel, with interlocking mechanics that showcase the movements without grandstanding.

If you love NYC stories, pick this one up.

Highly recommended!

[Grażyna Danuta · Rating 4 out of 5]

4,5

[Moreno Migliorati]

Non siamo ancora alla fine di gennaio e abbiamo già il romanzo top del 2025. D’accordo, poi magari arriverà di meglio (anche se sarà dura) ma per ora il podio se lo conquista questo delizioso romanzo di Jim Lewis, che ci racconta New York attraverso le vita dei protagonisti dei racconti che (intrecciati tra di loro) formano la trama del romanzo. Un romanzo in cui le leggi del tempo e dello spazio sembrano come sospese in modo sottile. Il tutto intrecciando quattro filoni: una fotografa appena tornata nel quartiere newyorkese in cui è cresciuta, dopo anni trascorsi all'estero; un trovatello cresciuto sulla Quattordicesima strada; uno studente laureato, la sua compagna e il suo migliore amico invischiati in una serie di relazioni con ripercussioni personali e politiche di vasta portata; e un negoziante che scopre il primo amore in tarda età. E alla base di tutto c'è una canzone, che appare, scompare e poi riemerge nel finale e se ne scoprirà il perchè.
Fantasmi di New York esplora tutte queste vite complesse attraverso indelebili rappresentazioni di ambientazioni (un bar, un mercato notturno, uno studio di registrazione) che si alternano tra di loro dando al lettore come l’impressione di passeggiare tra le strade delle metropoli americana insieme ai protagonisti e al loro autore. Stephanie, Mike, Bridget, Johnny, Caruso e gli altri: dispiace davvero lasciarli dopo aver chiuso l’ultima pagina, segno che l’autore è stato davvero bravo.

[Corny · Rating 4 out of 5]

At times incomprehensible and at times richly evocative, I found the book a mixed bag. The reader is disoriented as the author jumps around in time. A character may appear in one story and never again or may surface at an earlier time in a later story. Buried in this series of interconnected vignettes is a novella of about 100 pages describing a triangle relationship. No years are ever given so it is always unclear what period we are in. This does not really matter since the protagonist of the book is the city itself whose presence is timeless. Although I enjoyed many of the stories, I found many paragraphs indecipherable. There are also digressions on photography and music that I found tedious. Nevertheless, the author’s lyrical stanzas are often compelling, even if they are not totally clear. As a resident of New York, I appreciated many of the street scenes. A little shorter and tighter would have been appreciated.

[Caroline · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not to be cheesy & hyperbolic, but this book felt nearly perfect to me. I adored every line and every chapter. It’s written as a collage of New York stories, in the vein of ‘New York, I Love You,’ or a classic Woody Allen movie (but thankfully, no pervy old men preying on young women!) with a few connecting threads (but not the kind that are supposed to impress audiences just because they reveal themselves to be *related* in the end). The writing was beautiful – lyrical but not indulgent, and the author managed to capture Manhattan’s spirit by focusing on so many stories: uptown, downtown, native, immigrant, love and loss. Cue the intro to Naked City: “There are eight million stories in the naked city. This has been one of them.” I got this one from the library, but loved it so much I’m going to buy my own copy!

[Dave Capers · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to like this book more than I did. It's well crafted and evokes New York quite well, but New York isn't the protagonist the blurbs seen to promise.

Maybe that's my problem.

I wanted this to be a series of vignettes about New York the way Colson Whitehead's brilliant Collosus of New York was.

Instead it was a tragedy about a girl named Bridget and the people in her orbit. Despite how well she was written, I couldn't care about Bridget the way I care about New York so I found myself growing impatient as the book wore on.

So, if you're up for a well written sad story of a sad, not entirely likable girl and the interesting people her short life touches and a little bit of three-degrees-of-Bridget, jump in. If you want a great book about New York, read Whitehead's.

[Ari Gabinet · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was stunned when I learned that this novel was written by the same Jim Lewis who wrote Why The Tree Loves The Axe, which I read years ago. In retrospect, though, they share a lyrical quality - but this ode to New York, told in tangentially connected stories, seems very fast from the setting of the earlier novel. This book had pages that made me want to weep, they were so compelling and affecting. The novella in the middle, Johnny and Bridget, is a stand alone masterpiece. This is not three only novel to evoke New York in such a central way (City on Fire comes to mind) but it is one of the most careful observed and affecting written ones I've ever read.