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Morningside Heights
Anne and Charles Braithwaite have spent their entire married life in a sedate old apartment building in Morningside Heights, a northern Manhattan neighborhood filled with intellectual, artistic souls like themselves, who thrive on the area's abundant parks, cultural offferings, and reasonably priced real estate. The Braithwaites, musicians with several young children, are at the core of a circle of friends who make their living as writers, psychiatrists, and professors.
But as the novel opens, their comfortable life is being threatened as a buoyant economy sends newly rich Wall Street types scurrying northward in search of good investments and more space. At the same time, the Braithwaites weather the difficult love lives of their friends, and all of the characters confront their fears that the institutions and social values that have until now provided them with meaning and stability - science, religion, the arts - are in increasing decline.
Though the group clings to the rituals and promises of such institutions, the Braithwaites' imminent departure sends shock waves through their community. As the family contemplates the impossible - a move to the suburbs - their predicament represents the end of a cultured kind of city life that middle-class families can no longer afford.
But as the novel opens, their comfortable life is being threatened as a buoyant economy sends newly rich Wall Street types scurrying northward in search of good investments and more space. At the same time, the Braithwaites weather the difficult love lives of their friends, and all of the characters confront their fears that the institutions and social values that have until now provided them with meaning and stability - science, religion, the arts - are in increasing decline.
Though the group clings to the rituals and promises of such institutions, the Braithwaites' imminent departure sends shock waves through their community. As the family contemplates the impossible - a move to the suburbs - their predicament represents the end of a cultured kind of city life that middle-class families can no longer afford.
336 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 91 reviews
October 11, 2010
This novel is technically perfect. It is clearly, lucidly, beautifully written. There are just the right number of plot and sub-plot strings; plenty of interesting characters; a real, detailed setting. None of this is surprising, given that the author, Cheryl Mendelson, is a PhD and a JD. This is her second book and first novel—surprisingly enough, she wrote Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House first, a NY Times nonfiction bestseller on keeping house. I'm a fan of that, which is why I checked out this book.
This book follows Charles and Anne Braithwaite, a musical New York couple with three kids and one on the way. Their neighborhood is changing, becoming increasingly more upscale, and many residents in the area are faced with moving out because they cannot afford to live there anymore. We also have subplots with several of their friends and neighbors: 103-year-old Lizzie, hopelessly neurotic Merrit, and crusty scientist-bachelor Morris.
I really appreciate the excellent writing in this book. So often lately when I read new books, I find sections that I have a hard time understanding, and as I'm egotistical enough to think that I'm a smart person and a good reader, I usually blame it on the writing. No such problems here! Everything was so extremely clear; there was never any question of what was going on.
That's not to say that the author leaves nothing to the imagination. She leaves plenty to the imagination, and I appreciate that, too, especially the parts about extramarital relations. Yes, they happen, but we're not there when they happen, and I really appreciate the author's tact and grace and maturity in not giving us the gory details.
Another thing that bothers me about some books lately is surprises. I personally think that huge surprises and twists and turns in plots are a cheap way to keep your readers engaged. Again, Mendelson came through for me. She didn't purposely withhold information to make the ending surprising. She treated me as an intelligent reader, not as one whom she was trying to coerce into continuing to read. The hints were there, because they were part of what happened. Some parts of the ending I figured out (and enjoyed the book all more for knowing), but they weren't so obvious that I didn't wonder. There were also a few little surprises.
Okay, so I love Mendelson's writing. Why only four stars? Well, it's just not a kindred spirit book. Although I wanted the protagonists to succeed, I just didn't relate to any of them. Even the musical stay-at-home mom. These people are just not like me, and as much as I'd like to be detached and academic about it, I have to admit that I'm more likely to enjoy books where the characters have more in common with me.
That said, I still loved the book and I'll probably check out the companion books. After all, I can still love reading about realistic, interesting characters even though we have nothing in common, just like I can be friends with people who aren't like me.
This book follows Charles and Anne Braithwaite, a musical New York couple with three kids and one on the way. Their neighborhood is changing, becoming increasingly more upscale, and many residents in the area are faced with moving out because they cannot afford to live there anymore. We also have subplots with several of their friends and neighbors: 103-year-old Lizzie, hopelessly neurotic Merrit, and crusty scientist-bachelor Morris.
I really appreciate the excellent writing in this book. So often lately when I read new books, I find sections that I have a hard time understanding, and as I'm egotistical enough to think that I'm a smart person and a good reader, I usually blame it on the writing. No such problems here! Everything was so extremely clear; there was never any question of what was going on.
That's not to say that the author leaves nothing to the imagination. She leaves plenty to the imagination, and I appreciate that, too, especially the parts about extramarital relations. Yes, they happen, but we're not there when they happen, and I really appreciate the author's tact and grace and maturity in not giving us the gory details.
Another thing that bothers me about some books lately is surprises. I personally think that huge surprises and twists and turns in plots are a cheap way to keep your readers engaged. Again, Mendelson came through for me. She didn't purposely withhold information to make the ending surprising. She treated me as an intelligent reader, not as one whom she was trying to coerce into continuing to read. The hints were there, because they were part of what happened. Some parts of the ending I figured out (and enjoyed the book all more for knowing), but they weren't so obvious that I didn't wonder. There were also a few little surprises.
Okay, so I love Mendelson's writing. Why only four stars? Well, it's just not a kindred spirit book. Although I wanted the protagonists to succeed, I just didn't relate to any of them. Even the musical stay-at-home mom. These people are just not like me, and as much as I'd like to be detached and academic about it, I have to admit that I'm more likely to enjoy books where the characters have more in common with me.
That said, I still loved the book and I'll probably check out the companion books. After all, I can still love reading about realistic, interesting characters even though we have nothing in common, just like I can be friends with people who aren't like me.
May 13, 2016
When I heard this book described as a 20th c. Anthony Trollope and when I connected the author as the writer of Home Comforts, I put it on the top of my pile. However, I abandoned it after 50 pages. I couldn't form a picture, couldn't relate to the characters; could not go on.
A month later I started from the beginning; this time I sailed through it.
Morningside Heights is a Manhattan neighborhood with at least six prestigious universities. It's on the Upper West Side. [I really need to learn NYC geography. Why Upper? West of what?] Twenty minutes with Google Earth was a good start. [Does anyone else follow up/interrupt reading with Google Earth tours these days?] Its residents are middle-class academics, doctors, writers, the kind of people who don't watch much TV but are masters of museum schedules.
The characters in this urban novel reside in an apartment building (with a doorman, who unfortunately hasn't been wearing the full uniform lately) or are friends of the residents. Miss Miller, 103, who occupied 9D until her death in the first chapter, provides a plot device in the settling of her impoverished estate.
The Morningside Heights people are not my people. Non-religious (with the exception of Fr. Merriweather of St. Ursula's Episcopal Church -- could St. U's be based on St. John the Divine cathedral I know through Madeleine L'Engle?), smart, liberal, casually sexual, full of angst, wary of creeping proletarianization. One couple, the Smith-Smythes, seems straight out of Wodehouse.
On the kindred side: they love and value the arts. They discuss ideas. I connected with Charles, the second-rank baritone at the Met...surely because my brother is an opera singer. And laughed out loud at his charming wife Anne: who dresses her son in his sister's hand-me-downs and buys huge coats the kids can grow into, but doesn't hesitate to spend two thousand dollars on a one-sixteenth-size violin for her three year old. More on Anne: she soothes herself to sleep with books.
I enjoyed Mendelson's writing and I enjoyed visiting the Heights. It was a pleasant anthropology field trip. But I have no inclination to continue with the other two books of this trilogy. I'd rather read me some Trollope.
A month later I started from the beginning; this time I sailed through it.
Morningside Heights is a Manhattan neighborhood with at least six prestigious universities. It's on the Upper West Side. [I really need to learn NYC geography. Why Upper? West of what?] Twenty minutes with Google Earth was a good start. [Does anyone else follow up/interrupt reading with Google Earth tours these days?] Its residents are middle-class academics, doctors, writers, the kind of people who don't watch much TV but are masters of museum schedules.
The characters in this urban novel reside in an apartment building (with a doorman, who unfortunately hasn't been wearing the full uniform lately) or are friends of the residents. Miss Miller, 103, who occupied 9D until her death in the first chapter, provides a plot device in the settling of her impoverished estate.
The Morningside Heights people are not my people. Non-religious (with the exception of Fr. Merriweather of St. Ursula's Episcopal Church -- could St. U's be based on St. John the Divine cathedral I know through Madeleine L'Engle?), smart, liberal, casually sexual, full of angst, wary of creeping proletarianization. One couple, the Smith-Smythes, seems straight out of Wodehouse.
On the kindred side: they love and value the arts. They discuss ideas. I connected with Charles, the second-rank baritone at the Met...surely because my brother is an opera singer. And laughed out loud at his charming wife Anne: who dresses her son in his sister's hand-me-downs and buys huge coats the kids can grow into, but doesn't hesitate to spend two thousand dollars on a one-sixteenth-size violin for her three year old. More on Anne: she soothes herself to sleep with books.
I enjoyed Mendelson's writing and I enjoyed visiting the Heights. It was a pleasant anthropology field trip. But I have no inclination to continue with the other two books of this trilogy. I'd rather read me some Trollope.
August 5, 2008
I wanted to like this. It started out so well, with such great sense of place, but then she started trying to add CHARACTERS to the place and it all went downhill from there.
Endless paragraphs to the effect of "She felt this. She thought that. Then she felt this other thing." I wanted to throttle her after a while and scream "SHOW, don't TELL! Show, don't tell!!!!" Between that and the oh-so-unsurprising plot twist near the end and extremely irritating resolution thereof, I very nearly threw it across the room. Too bad, I love her first book. Stick to non-fiction, Cheryl.
Endless paragraphs to the effect of "She felt this. She thought that. Then she felt this other thing." I wanted to throttle her after a while and scream "SHOW, don't TELL! Show, don't tell!!!!" Between that and the oh-so-unsurprising plot twist near the end and extremely irritating resolution thereof, I very nearly threw it across the room. Too bad, I love her first book. Stick to non-fiction, Cheryl.
July 24, 2016
I started reading Morningside Heights during my last week of pregnancy. I remember starting the book on the subways, and immediately turning to Ian and saying, "Here, read these first three pages! It's a little history of our neighborhood!" Cheryl Medelson's writing immediately hooked me, from her description of the neighborhood of Morningside Heights in New York City (the area around Columbia University which divides the Upper West Side and Harlem), to the introduction of her interesting, yet flawed characters, written with such feeling and depth.
This book came to the hospital with me and was what I picked up when I had a spare five minutes to read during that first month with the baby. Morningside Heights reads very much like a Jane Austen novel in that the focus of the book is on the characters and their interactions with each other, and the question of who will marry who is prominent in your mind as you read.
Mendelson is a lovely writer, and I'm looking forward to the third installment in this series.
This book came to the hospital with me and was what I picked up when I had a spare five minutes to read during that first month with the baby. Morningside Heights reads very much like a Jane Austen novel in that the focus of the book is on the characters and their interactions with each other, and the question of who will marry who is prominent in your mind as you read.
Mendelson is a lovely writer, and I'm looking forward to the third installment in this series.
August 27, 2007
I loved this book. It's brainy and neurotic just like its characters, with whom I fell in love. Can't wait to read more of Mendelson!
did-not-finish
November 6, 2014I wanted to like this, but middle-class white people talking about psychoanalysis and their fear of suburbs got really boring.
February 20, 2022
At first, you think you won't like or identify with any of the characters and then you find yourself identifying too strongly with each of them.
At first, you laugh at all the characters and are amused by what happens to them, and then you find yourself deeply invested in how things will turn out.
Part satire, part mystery, part legal drama, part slice-of-life realism, part rags-to-riches fairy tale.
And it all ends so satisfyingly. All the right things happen for everyone.
At first, you laugh at all the characters and are amused by what happens to them, and then you find yourself deeply invested in how things will turn out.
Part satire, part mystery, part legal drama, part slice-of-life realism, part rags-to-riches fairy tale.
And it all ends so satisfyingly. All the right things happen for everyone.
October 11, 2012
Prior to reading this book, gentrification seemed to me to be a racial issue. White people moving into a previously black or Hispanic neighborhood and buying up all the property and pushing the old residents out. However, now I see that it is also about class and age and interests.
The main characters of this book reside in the Upper West side of New York City, in the late nineties, just prior to an influx of money that turned much of the neighborhood, long home to old radicals and artists, into a large shopping. Anne, a former piano prodigy who now is happily raising a large family, and her husband, Charles, an opera singer who has a workmanlike career that leaves the family strapped for cash, are finding themselves on the brink of being priced out of their beloved neighborhood when the new money starts rolling in. They then begin to see a flicker of hope when they are named in one of two possible wills of an elderly neighbor.
I really loved this book for a number of reasons. First of all, I am in love with the Upper West Side. There is a scene describing Anne and Charles and their kids eating bagels and lox and reading that Sunday papers that seems quintessentially of this neighborhood and like heaven to me. I also was really surprised to find an engaging murder mystery threaded through the book. In addition, there were insightful ruminations on a variety of topics including the institution of marriage, the horrors of growing old when poor and alone and the scientific method.
The main characters of this book reside in the Upper West side of New York City, in the late nineties, just prior to an influx of money that turned much of the neighborhood, long home to old radicals and artists, into a large shopping. Anne, a former piano prodigy who now is happily raising a large family, and her husband, Charles, an opera singer who has a workmanlike career that leaves the family strapped for cash, are finding themselves on the brink of being priced out of their beloved neighborhood when the new money starts rolling in. They then begin to see a flicker of hope when they are named in one of two possible wills of an elderly neighbor.
I really loved this book for a number of reasons. First of all, I am in love with the Upper West Side. There is a scene describing Anne and Charles and their kids eating bagels and lox and reading that Sunday papers that seems quintessentially of this neighborhood and like heaven to me. I also was really surprised to find an engaging murder mystery threaded through the book. In addition, there were insightful ruminations on a variety of topics including the institution of marriage, the horrors of growing old when poor and alone and the scientific method.
March 11, 2011
This is the first book in the Morningside Heights trilogy, which I happen to be reading in reverse order.
Morningside Heights is, of course, a neighborhood on the upper west side. Full of artsy and intelligent types, MH has its own vibe and unspoken law.
Our story centers on the Braithwaite family, headed by Charles and Anne. Charles is an opera singer, and Anne is a stay-at-home mother of three. There is always music in their home, despite their financial circumstances. You see, being musical doesn’t always pay the bills, and living in New York isn’t really cheap.
Anyway, this story is about a family, their friends and neighbors, and the changing landscape of their neighborhood. It is a story about beliefs, ideals, morals, and even a little serendipity.
The characters are well drawn, the plots are compelling, and the setting is perfect. The connections between characters and their plots are deeply satisfying. Of the three novels in this trilogy, I love this one best. I wish that I could keep reading novels about these people and their beloved neighborhood!
Morningside Heights is, of course, a neighborhood on the upper west side. Full of artsy and intelligent types, MH has its own vibe and unspoken law.
Our story centers on the Braithwaite family, headed by Charles and Anne. Charles is an opera singer, and Anne is a stay-at-home mother of three. There is always music in their home, despite their financial circumstances. You see, being musical doesn’t always pay the bills, and living in New York isn’t really cheap.
Anyway, this story is about a family, their friends and neighbors, and the changing landscape of their neighborhood. It is a story about beliefs, ideals, morals, and even a little serendipity.
The characters are well drawn, the plots are compelling, and the setting is perfect. The connections between characters and their plots are deeply satisfying. Of the three novels in this trilogy, I love this one best. I wish that I could keep reading novels about these people and their beloved neighborhood!
May 24, 2008
I have to admit that I had to put this book down when I started reading it 2 months ago. I hit chapter 8 and realized I just couldn't get into it. The characters seemed like a group of boring, middle class whiners. Yawn...
Then I picked it up again last week and I started from the beginning. I truly enjoyed it this time and I had a hard time putting it down every day. The characters are a talented group yet I could sympathize with the neuroses of each and every one. It was so easy to understand their middle-aged angst and insecurities, whether married or single, and the observations of friends and "outsiders". Their sessions with psycho-analysts as well as their self analysis exposed the same concerns, whether reality or not, that we have all had from time to time. I could only hope for the same outcomes in life that they did but I also realized that regardless of what they did, luck would play a hand in it. But I never doubted that they would figure a way to continue no matter what.
Then I picked it up again last week and I started from the beginning. I truly enjoyed it this time and I had a hard time putting it down every day. The characters are a talented group yet I could sympathize with the neuroses of each and every one. It was so easy to understand their middle-aged angst and insecurities, whether married or single, and the observations of friends and "outsiders". Their sessions with psycho-analysts as well as their self analysis exposed the same concerns, whether reality or not, that we have all had from time to time. I could only hope for the same outcomes in life that they did but I also realized that regardless of what they did, luck would play a hand in it. But I never doubted that they would figure a way to continue no matter what.
March 11, 2008
This novel tells the story of a young family living in Morningside Heights (aka Columbia University's neighborhood) in Manhattan and their friends, as they take on issues like child rearing, romance, money issues, social hierarchies, etc.
Um, can we say Jane Austin copy cat? I'll admit my bias, yes, I fail as a girl because I don't like Jane Austin. But what I can tolerate as the backdrop of her stories really doesn't make sense to me in this 1999 setting... this outlook is so anachronistic today! The attitudes expressed in this book towards relationships, marriage, gender responsibilities are SO pre-sexual/feminist revolution. Grr, this book made me so mad! I found this whole thing stupid and pointless. All it did was make me hate the upper-middle class intelligencia. Can I have those hours back that I spent on this book?
Um, but maybe if you like Jane Austin type writing, you'd have more patience for this?
Um, can we say Jane Austin copy cat? I'll admit my bias, yes, I fail as a girl because I don't like Jane Austin. But what I can tolerate as the backdrop of her stories really doesn't make sense to me in this 1999 setting... this outlook is so anachronistic today! The attitudes expressed in this book towards relationships, marriage, gender responsibilities are SO pre-sexual/feminist revolution. Grr, this book made me so mad! I found this whole thing stupid and pointless. All it did was make me hate the upper-middle class intelligencia. Can I have those hours back that I spent on this book?
Um, but maybe if you like Jane Austin type writing, you'd have more patience for this?
December 10, 2009
The first in a trilogy set in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan. The story follows the life of a family struggling to keep up with the rising costs of the city while caring for their family. Mendelson reminds me of a modern Austen and her story contains those timeless elements: love, music, literature and even includes a priest. Her writing is wonderful and her characters rich and delightful. I loved all three books in this series and highly recommend them!
NOTE: Just read the book for the second time (3/29/11)...changing my review to five stars!
NOTE: Just read the book for the second time (3/29/11)...changing my review to five stars!
January 3, 2008
I didn't really understand the point. It wasn't at all inspirational, nor did it teach me a lesson of any kind... unless of course the lesson was to be thankful I'm not a 40 something depressed, single socialite living in New York. There were a couple of different plots going on, none of which interested me terribly to the point that I had to finish just one more page before going to bed. I must admit, it was more of an obligatory read because I paid close to full price for it.
December 8, 2012
This could have been set in Morningside Heights ten years ago, now, or ten years from now...so that part was fun. The depth of all the characters' musings and talkings and thinkings...was a bit much at times-the author likes to write and usually writes nonfiction I guess and that showed, but overall I liked it. a bit slow to get into, but picked up and then had a bit of a quick coming together at the end, but not rushed too much.
I'll probably read the other two after it, but need a break.
I'll probably read the other two after it, but need a break.
September 23, 2012
I really enjoyed this book. Sometimes novels can be hard to get into, but her character development was very interesting from the beginning so I found myself hooked from page 1. Although the ending may have been a little bit weak (spoiler alert: all the bad people get what's coming to them and all the good people get married!), it was still a pretty satisfying ending and a good read.
March 31, 2019
2.5 stars
The writing is strong and that keeps this book from being a throwaway.
But the issues the characters are dealing with— who will inherit the million dollar apartment? Will Charles ever be recognized as a great singer? Will Anne be forced to put her children into (gasp) public school? An annoying amount of navel gazing among privileged New Yorkers.
The writing is strong and that keeps this book from being a throwaway.
But the issues the characters are dealing with— who will inherit the million dollar apartment? Will Charles ever be recognized as a great singer? Will Anne be forced to put her children into (gasp) public school? An annoying amount of navel gazing among privileged New Yorkers.
June 21, 2007
This is my favorite new author. Interesting and insightful descritpion of ordinary lives in middle class new york city. Delightful. Unfortunately, she is a bit too tidy at the end. I think it would be a much bigger book if everything did not turn out so well.
June 30, 2009
Mendelson's fiction is 20th century Anthony Trollope, meaning that it follows multiple characters, their interactions and personal motivations. I don't know how Cheryl Mendelson manages this degree of insight into such a wide variety of individual psyches, but it certainly works!
June 6, 2025
Cheryl Mendelson is an exciting, heroic new writer to me. Morningside Heights is very beautiful and quite impossible to put down. I loved her storytelling, her extraordinary understanding of people, the acrobatic breadth and depth of her intelligence, and her goodness.
Here is what Goodreads said about it:
Following the tremendous success of her first book, a nonfiction work on housekeeping that became a surprise bestseller, Cheryl Mendelson brings to her debut novel the same intensely readable style that made Home Comforts so popular. In the spirit of Anthony Trollope, she roots her story very much in a specific time and place—1999, in an old-fashioned New York City neighborhood that’s becoming rapidly gentrified—and the enormously engaging result resembles a twentieth-century version of The Way We Live Now.
Anne and Charles Braithwaite have spent their entire married life in a sedate old apartment building in Morningside Heights, a northern Manhattan neighborhood filled with intellectual, artistic souls like themselves, who thrive on the area’s abundant parks, cultural offerings, and reasonably priced real estate. The Braithwaites, musicians with several young children, are at the core of a circle of friends who make their living as writers, psychiatrists, and professors. But as the novel opens, their comfortable life is being threatened as a buoyant economy sends newly rich Wall Street types scurrying northward in search of good investments and more space. At the same time, the Braithwaites weather the difficult love lives of their friends, and all of the characters confront their fears that the institutions and social values that have until now provided them with meaning and stability—science, religion, the arts—are in increasing decline. Though the group clings to the rituals and promises of such institutions, the Braithwaites’ imminent departure sends shock waves through their community. As the family contemplates the impossible—a move to the suburbs—their predicament represents the end of a cultured kind of city life that middle-class families can no longer afford.
This intelligent and captivating social chronicle is the first of a trilogy of novels about Morningside Heights; readers sure to be drawn in by Mendelson’s habit-forming prose have much more to look forward to.
July 6, 2017
I thoroughly enjoyed and identified with this study of creative/intellectual middle-class life set in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of Manhattan of 1999, just as this lifestyle was beginning to disappear, taken over by the millions and minions of the newly rich, who pushed much of the middle class out of the city and made it far more difficult to afford than ever before.
In the late 70's and into the early 80's, when I arrived in the city, it was still possible to start a life... find a relatively cheap, if not glamorous apartment, enjoy inexpensive activities, restaurants and and other venues. One could spend an entire day just reading the enormous Sunday NY Times, which cost $1.00, and take a bus or subway for 50 cents (half price on Sundays!) if it was too far to walk, though I often walked the entire way from the Upper West Side back home to my apartment on 34th St. near 1st Avenue. It was an adventure.
By 1999, as the author makes clear, options for the poor and the previously comfortable middle-class were narrowing. It could be frustrating and difficult at best, and worse at other times.
This book describes all that, and the mindset of the people affected. But, in this case, there's a twist, which I will not reveal... let's just say it gives hope in the age of Trump, which is far worse than anything these characters could imagine!
In the late 70's and into the early 80's, when I arrived in the city, it was still possible to start a life... find a relatively cheap, if not glamorous apartment, enjoy inexpensive activities, restaurants and and other venues. One could spend an entire day just reading the enormous Sunday NY Times, which cost $1.00, and take a bus or subway for 50 cents (half price on Sundays!) if it was too far to walk, though I often walked the entire way from the Upper West Side back home to my apartment on 34th St. near 1st Avenue. It was an adventure.
By 1999, as the author makes clear, options for the poor and the previously comfortable middle-class were narrowing. It could be frustrating and difficult at best, and worse at other times.
This book describes all that, and the mindset of the people affected. But, in this case, there's a twist, which I will not reveal... let's just say it gives hope in the age of Trump, which is far worse than anything these characters could imagine!
April 23, 2020
I loved this book, largely because I am an academic, a teacher, a musician, and a writer. So all of the subjects the Braithwaites were interested in I was interested in. I also love getting to know the neighborhood in New York (Morningside Heights) and what is important to the people who live there.
The side story of the inheritance and the search for what really happened to their sweet 103 year old neighbor lends a nice drive forward to the plot line, as well as the Merritt/Morris (love the double Ms) romance.
It is a smart, domestic novel! I have three children myself and often wonder how I am supposed to raise them to the ideals of a humanistic, liberal arts life in today's world. All the same problems and hopes.
The side story of the inheritance and the search for what really happened to their sweet 103 year old neighbor lends a nice drive forward to the plot line, as well as the Merritt/Morris (love the double Ms) romance.
It is a smart, domestic novel! I have three children myself and often wonder how I am supposed to raise them to the ideals of a humanistic, liberal arts life in today's world. All the same problems and hopes.
April 11, 2018
It's been a while since I found a book worth reading over, that is, immediately after having turned the last page. This one fits that description and I look forward to making new connections. The characters are sophisticated, complex, conflicted, likable, and unlikeable all at once and the ties between all of them are just as twisted and intriguing. Furthermore, it really puts the current ludicrous housing market of cities into perspective, leaving you with hope and of course, despair.
October 24, 2018
Characters and place that stay with you. For any city-dweller the people and vignettes will ring true and rich. Worth a read, has just the right amount of suspense to keep moving forward. But note this is the author’s first foray into fiction after success in non-fiction. The prose, while clear, is somethings weighty and not as fluid as this reader prefers. I think she will only get better, though.
August 13, 2024
This book has been on my tbr list for ages. I finally read it because I found a like-new first edition copy of it in a local bookstore and could not pass it up - and I am SO GLAD I bought it! The author has been compared to Anthony Trollope, which I would nod my assent to, but also I would add Jane Austen AND I have to throw in Whit Stillman’s films, which all sounds like quite a mashup but it was a beautiful thing.
This definitely hit my sweet spot: I love reading about NYC and I also love the whole 1990s vibe. Those were my own childbearing/childrearing years, so it felt a bit like coming home (even though I live in the kind of suburbs that Anne and Charles so desperately wanted to avoid, lol).
This is an erudite novel, written with a keen wit and intelligence that is balanced with enough warmth to make you feel positively cozy while you read about the Braithwaite’s and their circle of friends. These are people who were raised in the city and want to raise their children in the city. They are aging and the city is changing and there are so many things to worry about… but also there are the comforts of home and family, friends and neighbors, and always art, music, and wonderful food to sustain and nourish their souls.
The author has done an exceptional job of creating these complex, unique, endearing, and utterly believable characters. They are three dimensional and well-rounded and their relationships have real depth. I wish I had a whole stack of books about the rest of their lives. I imagine this will be a book that I’ll return to when I need a “cozy comfort read” from time to time, much like how I return to the Jane Austens on my bookshelf.
If I could live another lifetime, I would love to come back as a born-and-bred New Yorker because I don’t think anyone else can ever know the city like they do, no matter how long you may have lived there. It’s a unique experience, and one that I will never get to have. I remain intrigued by this lifestyle that is so foreign to my own, and yet… there was also a lot in these pages to make me smile and nod in recognition.
I can’t do the novel justice, but I want to at least say that this is an impressive work. The story weaves in and out of various people’s lives. It has a sort of meandering feel that resembles real life - but she never drops the thread. Everything holds together and every character’s storyline is connected, contributing to the plot. All of the characters, whether their part is small or large, are just delightful! Without being overly wordy, the author manages to communicate so much - not just what the characters do, but also why they do it (in some ways the book is about self-awareness, and how we are all constantly learning about ourselves as we try to figure out LIFE). She pokes some mild fun at everything from religion to science to psychoanalysis. Marriage, motherhood, careers and the choices we must make about them, loneliness, poverty and class and wealth and gentrification, aging, the role of church and education and the arts are all topics that come in and out of conversation and bring weight to bear upon various situations (and people). There is a little mystery to solve, and several crises to weather: personal, professional, and parental! But it never feels “stressful.” This is life as most of us know it, as lived one day at a time…
We often hear about how it’s easy to feel isolated even in the middle of a city full of people, but here we have a picture of community that is warm and thriving in the middle of this often-confusing and sometimes chaotic world. I think it’s a hopeful sort of book that gives readers “kind eyes” to see ordinary life in a kind of mellow light. But even if that’s a reach, it will certainly give readers some pleasant hours of enjoyment.
The book has heart! And I loved it so much.
This definitely hit my sweet spot: I love reading about NYC and I also love the whole 1990s vibe. Those were my own childbearing/childrearing years, so it felt a bit like coming home (even though I live in the kind of suburbs that Anne and Charles so desperately wanted to avoid, lol).
This is an erudite novel, written with a keen wit and intelligence that is balanced with enough warmth to make you feel positively cozy while you read about the Braithwaite’s and their circle of friends. These are people who were raised in the city and want to raise their children in the city. They are aging and the city is changing and there are so many things to worry about… but also there are the comforts of home and family, friends and neighbors, and always art, music, and wonderful food to sustain and nourish their souls.
The author has done an exceptional job of creating these complex, unique, endearing, and utterly believable characters. They are three dimensional and well-rounded and their relationships have real depth. I wish I had a whole stack of books about the rest of their lives. I imagine this will be a book that I’ll return to when I need a “cozy comfort read” from time to time, much like how I return to the Jane Austens on my bookshelf.
If I could live another lifetime, I would love to come back as a born-and-bred New Yorker because I don’t think anyone else can ever know the city like they do, no matter how long you may have lived there. It’s a unique experience, and one that I will never get to have. I remain intrigued by this lifestyle that is so foreign to my own, and yet… there was also a lot in these pages to make me smile and nod in recognition.
I can’t do the novel justice, but I want to at least say that this is an impressive work. The story weaves in and out of various people’s lives. It has a sort of meandering feel that resembles real life - but she never drops the thread. Everything holds together and every character’s storyline is connected, contributing to the plot. All of the characters, whether their part is small or large, are just delightful! Without being overly wordy, the author manages to communicate so much - not just what the characters do, but also why they do it (in some ways the book is about self-awareness, and how we are all constantly learning about ourselves as we try to figure out LIFE). She pokes some mild fun at everything from religion to science to psychoanalysis. Marriage, motherhood, careers and the choices we must make about them, loneliness, poverty and class and wealth and gentrification, aging, the role of church and education and the arts are all topics that come in and out of conversation and bring weight to bear upon various situations (and people). There is a little mystery to solve, and several crises to weather: personal, professional, and parental! But it never feels “stressful.” This is life as most of us know it, as lived one day at a time…
We often hear about how it’s easy to feel isolated even in the middle of a city full of people, but here we have a picture of community that is warm and thriving in the middle of this often-confusing and sometimes chaotic world. I think it’s a hopeful sort of book that gives readers “kind eyes” to see ordinary life in a kind of mellow light. But even if that’s a reach, it will certainly give readers some pleasant hours of enjoyment.
The book has heart! And I loved it so much.
August 31, 2021
This was a pretty easy read over the last couple of weeks while I was moving so it took me longer than it should have. It’s a pretty interesting story about people who live in a very defined area in New York City. I liked it well enough to go out and purchase used copies of the two other books that are part of this trilogy to read later this year.
May 20, 2018
Great characters, however their conversations would sometimes lose me. Not because their interests was boring. No. It was their snobbish attitude sometimes toward others bluh. The idea of this book and it's characters drew me to it, ut it lost me a hundred times in the dialogues.
March 22, 2020
This was a real let down for me. I was expecting a lot more. I thought it was slow and foresaw the ending (that doesn't usually occur for me). Nevertheless, I enjoy the process the author uses to get the reader there. I felt the whole story line was drawn out needlessly.
July 25, 2020
I thought this book was boring and would not recommend it to anyone. I understood what the author was trying to convey, but she certainly did not do it in an interesting way. There was a large variety of characters, which was the only aspect that provided any interest at all to me.
January 29, 2024
Sometimes difficult to read, the author digs deep into details of psychological minutiae that I found tedious. Still the multiple storylines were captivating. There’s a mystery buried amongst all the different storylines which also makes it a page turner.
July 11, 2019
I don’t know how many times I’ve read this and I know I’ll read it again. I love the main family in the story and the surrounding characters help create a rich tapestry of life in New York City.
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