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Visible City: A Women's Literary Novel of Voyeurism, Family, and Generations on the Upper West Side
“A glittering novel about fate, fantasy, and the anonymity of urban life.” — O , The Oprah Magazine
“Read Visible City . Tova Mirvis’s graceful yet vigorous New York novel is about the half-inadvertent window-peeping that city life enables, and where it can lead.” — New York Magazine
After chaotic days of wrangling and soothing her young children, Nina spends her evenings spying on the quiet, contented older couple across the street. But one night, through her same window, she spies a young couple in the throes of passion. Who are these people, and what happened to her symbol of domestic happiness? Soon, Nina crosses paths with both couples on the streets of her Upper West Side neighborhood and, as anonymity gives way to different forms of intimacy, all begin to confront their own desires and disappointments. Shrewdly and artfully, Mirvis explores the boundaries between our own lives and the lives of others. From its lavish ghost subway stations to its hidden stained-glass windows, Visible City conjures a New York City teeming with buried treasures.
“An utterly perfect, deeply moving evocation of contemporary Manhattan [that] reminded me of Paula Fox and Laurie Colwin, and also those master chroniclers of the privileged classes, Wharton and Fitzgerald . . . Brilliant.” —Joanna Smith Rakoff, Salon.com
“Mirvis’s meticulously choreographed novel surprises and moves us.” — New York Times Book Review
“Read Visible City . Tova Mirvis’s graceful yet vigorous New York novel is about the half-inadvertent window-peeping that city life enables, and where it can lead.” — New York Magazine
After chaotic days of wrangling and soothing her young children, Nina spends her evenings spying on the quiet, contented older couple across the street. But one night, through her same window, she spies a young couple in the throes of passion. Who are these people, and what happened to her symbol of domestic happiness? Soon, Nina crosses paths with both couples on the streets of her Upper West Side neighborhood and, as anonymity gives way to different forms of intimacy, all begin to confront their own desires and disappointments. Shrewdly and artfully, Mirvis explores the boundaries between our own lives and the lives of others. From its lavish ghost subway stations to its hidden stained-glass windows, Visible City conjures a New York City teeming with buried treasures.
“An utterly perfect, deeply moving evocation of contemporary Manhattan [that] reminded me of Paula Fox and Laurie Colwin, and also those master chroniclers of the privileged classes, Wharton and Fitzgerald . . . Brilliant.” —Joanna Smith Rakoff, Salon.com
“Mirvis’s meticulously choreographed novel surprises and moves us.” — New York Times Book Review
256 pages, Paperback
First published March 18, 2014
56 people are currently reading
2252 people want to read
About the author
Tova Mirvis
14 books349 followersI am excited to share that I have a new novel WE WOULD NEVER coming out in February, 2025. This book was inspired by a true crime story that I have followed over the years and could never quite stop thinking about. How, I wondered, could this tragic story - and so many others like it - happen? Not how did the actual crime occur, but how does a family do something so awful? How does a divorce spiral so out of control? While the news supplied me with an endless array of facts, I always came away from my Google searches feeling dissatisfied, my questions unanswered. As a novelist, I relish the way that fiction lets us go inside character's heads and really delve into their inner lives and all the complexities that we might otherwise hover above. And so I felt compelled to use this story as a springboard and turn those questions into a novel. I was interested in exploring how a family comes to do something they would have once believed they never would; how a divorce can escalate out of control; how people can lose sight of their moral compass; how the inability to forgive can have devastating consequences. We WOULD NEVER is a mystery about a murder but it's also about the mysteries of family loyalty and love and betrayal.
A little bit about me: I grew up in the small Jewish community in Memphis, Tennessee, where I felt both what was grounding about being part of a such an enclosed world as well as what was stifling. This became the subject of m first novel, The Ladies Auxiliary. My second novel, The Outside World, is also set in an Orthodox Jewish world, and is about two families whose children marry each other. In that book I wanted to write about the conflict between tradition and modernity, and also about marriage and dreams and belief and doubt. My third novel Visible City began when I moved from New York City to a Boston suburb. I was so homesick for a city I had come to live, and longed for the anonymous intimacy that comes from living among so many strangers. Visible City is about a woman who watches her neighbors from her windows and becomes entangled in their lives.
After these three novels, I wrote a memoir called The Book of Separation. It originated with an essay I wrote in the New York Times about leaving my marriage and my Orthodox Jewish faith. After the piece came out I was flooded with emails from people telling me their own stories of loss and change and it inspired me to write this book. The Book of Separation is about wrestling with doubt, about trying to be the person I was expected to be and about decided to change, when change felt as terrifying as anything I could do.
I live outside of Boston now and have three kids and three step kids. Besides writing, I love to read, run and play with my beloved dog.
A little bit about me: I grew up in the small Jewish community in Memphis, Tennessee, where I felt both what was grounding about being part of a such an enclosed world as well as what was stifling. This became the subject of m first novel, The Ladies Auxiliary. My second novel, The Outside World, is also set in an Orthodox Jewish world, and is about two families whose children marry each other. In that book I wanted to write about the conflict between tradition and modernity, and also about marriage and dreams and belief and doubt. My third novel Visible City began when I moved from New York City to a Boston suburb. I was so homesick for a city I had come to live, and longed for the anonymous intimacy that comes from living among so many strangers. Visible City is about a woman who watches her neighbors from her windows and becomes entangled in their lives.
After these three novels, I wrote a memoir called The Book of Separation. It originated with an essay I wrote in the New York Times about leaving my marriage and my Orthodox Jewish faith. After the piece came out I was flooded with emails from people telling me their own stories of loss and change and it inspired me to write this book. The Book of Separation is about wrestling with doubt, about trying to be the person I was expected to be and about decided to change, when change felt as terrifying as anything I could do.
I live outside of Boston now and have three kids and three step kids. Besides writing, I love to read, run and play with my beloved dog.
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October 29, 2015
The title "Visible City", refers to an apartment building in New York City. Residents peek
through their neighbors windows. I couldn't help but laugh and wonder about the quality
of the Fisher-Price binoculars which were used.
With all the peeking going on - and imagined stories of others lives....many of the occupants
became acquainted and begin to interact. But when the shield is removed ....
the characters grapple with a desire for their privacy (the comfort of staying invisible), with their desire for intimacy and connection. Ultimately the characters are struggling with themselves.... exploring their own blind spots. -- but it's so much easier to find fault - or make
up stories about other people.
There is an ongoing metaphor- La Farge's stained glass...,"the colors in a continual state of creation when exposed to light" ....much like our own lives ...we are constantly changing. ...
with topics on parenting, betrayal, art, culture, ... examining what we see in public vs. what is
private -- what is true -- and what is imagined.
Books set in NYC are often a draw....( THE GOLDFINCH, A LITTLE LIFE), but this one is 'good'...not 'fantastic', but good!
I do think the author has talent though ... and I'd be happy to read another book by her.
I'd like to read "The Ladies Auxillary"...another book by Tova Mirvis, next.
3. 5 stars
through their neighbors windows. I couldn't help but laugh and wonder about the quality
of the Fisher-Price binoculars which were used.
With all the peeking going on - and imagined stories of others lives....many of the occupants
became acquainted and begin to interact. But when the shield is removed ....
the characters grapple with a desire for their privacy (the comfort of staying invisible), with their desire for intimacy and connection. Ultimately the characters are struggling with themselves.... exploring their own blind spots. -- but it's so much easier to find fault - or make
up stories about other people.
There is an ongoing metaphor- La Farge's stained glass...,"the colors in a continual state of creation when exposed to light" ....much like our own lives ...we are constantly changing. ...
with topics on parenting, betrayal, art, culture, ... examining what we see in public vs. what is
private -- what is true -- and what is imagined.
Books set in NYC are often a draw....( THE GOLDFINCH, A LITTLE LIFE), but this one is 'good'...not 'fantastic', but good!
I do think the author has talent though ... and I'd be happy to read another book by her.
I'd like to read "The Ladies Auxillary"...another book by Tova Mirvis, next.
3. 5 stars
April 29, 2014
It's amazing how a book can both try too hard and not enough all at the same time.
The word that kept going through my mind while reading this was 'relentless.' Mirvis takes on a small and not very interesting reality/premise - people who live in the city are surrounded yet very much alone, they have all of these windows around them to peer and wonder at yet so little sense of their neighbors - and flips it on its head by orchestrating Disney like coincidences to create a version of Manhattan that simply does not exist - one in which the same six people will interact in a million different random ways because you know, a city of 7 trillion people is actually very, very small.
So not only do we have a series of eye rolling moments as ABSOLUTELY EVERYONE intermingles, but the characters themselves are so ridiculous. They range from extremely uninteresting navel gazers to villains who can do nothing right (the Not Nice Boyfriend, when holding a child, is only doing so 'in imitation of something he must have seen on TV'. Ok Mirvis we get it, he can't even do this right).
The novel was really immature, far fetched, and one dimensional. The attempt at depth, or something, was so overt it was cringeworthy (fiancée of bad boyfriend takes off engagement ring - it has always been too tight, she realized, but she thought that was how it was supposed to feel - woah, man. heavy.) and the writing was rather bland. A loss on all accounts.
The word that kept going through my mind while reading this was 'relentless.' Mirvis takes on a small and not very interesting reality/premise - people who live in the city are surrounded yet very much alone, they have all of these windows around them to peer and wonder at yet so little sense of their neighbors - and flips it on its head by orchestrating Disney like coincidences to create a version of Manhattan that simply does not exist - one in which the same six people will interact in a million different random ways because you know, a city of 7 trillion people is actually very, very small.
So not only do we have a series of eye rolling moments as ABSOLUTELY EVERYONE intermingles, but the characters themselves are so ridiculous. They range from extremely uninteresting navel gazers to villains who can do nothing right (the Not Nice Boyfriend, when holding a child, is only doing so 'in imitation of something he must have seen on TV'. Ok Mirvis we get it, he can't even do this right).
The novel was really immature, far fetched, and one dimensional. The attempt at depth, or something, was so overt it was cringeworthy (fiancée of bad boyfriend takes off engagement ring - it has always been too tight, she realized, but she thought that was how it was supposed to feel - woah, man. heavy.) and the writing was rather bland. A loss on all accounts.
March 15, 2014
Visible city pertains to an apartment building in NYC, where inhabitants peer from their windows to their neighbors' windows, and project their dreams and desires onto their neighbor's lives. Of course, what they see is the surface of each other, the conspicuous exterior. The running motif concerns the peeling of the veneers, to acutely reflect on their own lives and unearth their authentic self.
Leon, a therapist, is married to Claudia, a scholar of the sublime mural and stained glass artist, John LaFarge. Their grown daughter, Emma, is engaged, but ambivalent about her writer-fiancé, Steven. She is temporarily living with her parents since she broke her ankle, and is equivocal about her dissertation studies in French. Lately, she has noticed that her parents are not what they once seemed.
With a view onto their window, Nina perceives a life for Leon’s family that derives from her own imagination. Nina is married to a workaholic lawyer, Jeremy, who is trying to make partner, while she takes care of their two small children 24/7. She feels oppressed in the affected posture of parenthood, i.e. pretending consummate content. The contemporary parenting style incorporates the cardinal rule of never losing your temper, but beneath all this perfection lay terror.
“The only language spoken was certainty. Outwardly, she was reciting the maxims with everyone else: The kids were always delicious and she wouldn’t miss this for the world.”
Nina hides her restiveness, observing the masks of other mothers, while participating in this tacitly agreed temperament and language. Here with the other Upper West Side mommies, it is a sin to complain about motherhood.
In the midst of inescapable unease, there’s noisy construction next door, as old historic buildings are razed to make way for new steel and glass high-rises. Leon welcomes the new construction; Claudia is livid about the destruction of momentous old buildings, and periodically screams from her open window at the noise outside. Eventually, all these lives begin to entangle, and the boundaries between neighbors gradually dissolve.
The author is a sharp observer of the inner contradictions that denude people’s lives. This is demonstrated through the characters’ thoughts and inner dialogue. However, the intersecting of these individuals, which is the narrative purpose, is also the narrative’s shortcomings. The dialogue is stilted and prosaic; the emotional connections feel forced and cursory. The extended metaphor of La Farge’s stained glass--always dynamic, the colors in a continual state of creation when exposed to light-- can’t save this boilerplate story. I could not connect with any of the characters, because the emotional seams were weak, the interactions contrived.
This was a quick read, easily finished in a couple of sittings. Mirvis has a talent for the written word, for rendering passages that inspire introspection. I hope that her next novel provides fully dimensional characters and an original story.
Leon, a therapist, is married to Claudia, a scholar of the sublime mural and stained glass artist, John LaFarge. Their grown daughter, Emma, is engaged, but ambivalent about her writer-fiancé, Steven. She is temporarily living with her parents since she broke her ankle, and is equivocal about her dissertation studies in French. Lately, she has noticed that her parents are not what they once seemed.
With a view onto their window, Nina perceives a life for Leon’s family that derives from her own imagination. Nina is married to a workaholic lawyer, Jeremy, who is trying to make partner, while she takes care of their two small children 24/7. She feels oppressed in the affected posture of parenthood, i.e. pretending consummate content. The contemporary parenting style incorporates the cardinal rule of never losing your temper, but beneath all this perfection lay terror.
“The only language spoken was certainty. Outwardly, she was reciting the maxims with everyone else: The kids were always delicious and she wouldn’t miss this for the world.”
Nina hides her restiveness, observing the masks of other mothers, while participating in this tacitly agreed temperament and language. Here with the other Upper West Side mommies, it is a sin to complain about motherhood.
In the midst of inescapable unease, there’s noisy construction next door, as old historic buildings are razed to make way for new steel and glass high-rises. Leon welcomes the new construction; Claudia is livid about the destruction of momentous old buildings, and periodically screams from her open window at the noise outside. Eventually, all these lives begin to entangle, and the boundaries between neighbors gradually dissolve.
The author is a sharp observer of the inner contradictions that denude people’s lives. This is demonstrated through the characters’ thoughts and inner dialogue. However, the intersecting of these individuals, which is the narrative purpose, is also the narrative’s shortcomings. The dialogue is stilted and prosaic; the emotional connections feel forced and cursory. The extended metaphor of La Farge’s stained glass--always dynamic, the colors in a continual state of creation when exposed to light-- can’t save this boilerplate story. I could not connect with any of the characters, because the emotional seams were weak, the interactions contrived.
This was a quick read, easily finished in a couple of sittings. Mirvis has a talent for the written word, for rendering passages that inspire introspection. I hope that her next novel provides fully dimensional characters and an original story.
April 22, 2014
Once again, I give a higher rating than usual to a book because it's set in the city I love. The urban geometry of people living in cubes on top of one another provides limitless opportunity to create linked stories, create characters who only share a closeness in geography. Last year there was a similar book -- Triuburbia -- which could serve as a companion piece to this one, wherein the characters live outwardly enviable lives in Tribeca. In Visible City, the characters are further uptown, centered around Columbia University. But the opportunity for connection and conflict remains the same.
As the book opens, a woman watches her neighbors, a la Rear Window, drawing her own conclusions about their behaviors and lives. Here are people visible to one another in their most intimate details and not caring if they themselves are providing voyeuristic intrigue for others. As the book evolves into an examination of neighborhood clashes and unions, the author points out that "If you talk to a stranger long enough, they become a friend." With varying results. This book didn't hold the poignancy for me that Last Block in Harlem did, or anything by Paul Auster or Pete Hammill, but Mirvis shows promise and I look forward to what comes next from her.
As the book opens, a woman watches her neighbors, a la Rear Window, drawing her own conclusions about their behaviors and lives. Here are people visible to one another in their most intimate details and not caring if they themselves are providing voyeuristic intrigue for others. As the book evolves into an examination of neighborhood clashes and unions, the author points out that "If you talk to a stranger long enough, they become a friend." With varying results. This book didn't hold the poignancy for me that Last Block in Harlem did, or anything by Paul Auster or Pete Hammill, but Mirvis shows promise and I look forward to what comes next from her.
May 30, 2014
This book read like a series of writing exercises that someone with writer's block might have executed in an attempt to get their juices flowing. Put together enough completed writing exercises and character sketches, strain yourself to somehow connect the characters and pretend there's a plot, and lo and behold -- a novel.
Nina is a young mother of two small children, bored and frustrated with her stay-at-home mother existence and spying on her neighbors, who she assumes lead a far more fulfilling life. Her neighbors are a middle-aged couple whose daughter Emma has moved back in. Emma is contemplating abandoning her fiance and possibly her Ph.D. Emma, who loves children, begins babysitting for Nina and the two families become intertwined in various ways as do several other neighborhood characters.
Emma and Nina sounded exactly alike, maybe because neither of them had much personality. In fact, when a man later falls in love with Nina and rhapsodizes about her, I couldn't figure out what he was going on about. Was there personality there? If so, I missed it.
Maybe one of the reasons the characters were so thin was that the viewpoints kept shifting. We were constantly moving from one character's head to another's, and somehow despite the long inner monologues and bizarre spontaneous heart-to-heart confidences exchanged between random pairs of characters every time I turned around, I never really felt like I knew any of them.
Additionally, Tova's attempts at satire truly fell flat. The exaggerated Manhattan ubermoms who never admit to any loss of temper or frustration with their children were way over the top, as was the scene where one of them finally loses it. Even little things annoyed me, like when hypermom handed her three-year-old a beautiful cupcake and the child said in wonder, "You made this?" Um, I've raised four kids who have all been three years old. Appreciation for craftsmanship was not something they expressed at that age, especially when faced with a tempting cupcake. They were far more interested in eating it than they were in admiring handiwork.
I liked The Ladies Auxiliary, was really disappointed in The Outside World, and was hoping Tova might redeem herself with this novel. I'll probably try her next one, if there is one, but I don't have much hope for it at this point.
Nina is a young mother of two small children, bored and frustrated with her stay-at-home mother existence and spying on her neighbors, who she assumes lead a far more fulfilling life. Her neighbors are a middle-aged couple whose daughter Emma has moved back in. Emma is contemplating abandoning her fiance and possibly her Ph.D. Emma, who loves children, begins babysitting for Nina and the two families become intertwined in various ways as do several other neighborhood characters.
Emma and Nina sounded exactly alike, maybe because neither of them had much personality. In fact, when a man later falls in love with Nina and rhapsodizes about her, I couldn't figure out what he was going on about. Was there personality there? If so, I missed it.
Maybe one of the reasons the characters were so thin was that the viewpoints kept shifting. We were constantly moving from one character's head to another's, and somehow despite the long inner monologues and bizarre spontaneous heart-to-heart confidences exchanged between random pairs of characters every time I turned around, I never really felt like I knew any of them.
Additionally, Tova's attempts at satire truly fell flat. The exaggerated Manhattan ubermoms who never admit to any loss of temper or frustration with their children were way over the top, as was the scene where one of them finally loses it. Even little things annoyed me, like when hypermom handed her three-year-old a beautiful cupcake and the child said in wonder, "You made this?" Um, I've raised four kids who have all been three years old. Appreciation for craftsmanship was not something they expressed at that age, especially when faced with a tempting cupcake. They were far more interested in eating it than they were in admiring handiwork.
I liked The Ladies Auxiliary, was really disappointed in The Outside World, and was hoping Tova might redeem herself with this novel. I'll probably try her next one, if there is one, but I don't have much hope for it at this point.
February 7, 2016
I was annoyed at first because everyone was so miserable in their lives. Everyone was putting on a face for the outside world. Was there no one who was happy with who they were?
The book could have used a character who was happy and fulfilled, just for a contrast. I dislike the thought that everyone in the entire world is like this.
Or am I just fooling myself? Am I just another one of these dissatisfied folks, fooling myself into thinking that my life is acceptable? Running from the truth?
Nah. These characters saw their own discontent.
So what do they do with their discontent? That is what is important to see in the novel. So Dog Man tries again. So Jeremy blows up, but Nina may or may not be along for the ride, we're not sure. Leon says no and goes. Emma says no and goes. Claudia left to figure out what has just happened to her, her daughter and husband spinning off.
Perhaps Nina is the only one with integrity. She doesn't run but says "what do I do with this knowledge, now that I know that I can decide?" I have hope for Jeremy and Nina.
Perhaps I shouldn't judge the others, though. Now everyone is going to figure things out at the same point in their lives. Perhaps it is integrity to recognize when it's wrong, whenever it's wrong, and act upon it.
But that doesn't seem right either. We don't live in a vacuum; our decisions in the past shape us as much as the decisions to be made in the present moment and future. Emma is young and so has less to bind her, but Leon....
The book could have used a character who was happy and fulfilled, just for a contrast. I dislike the thought that everyone in the entire world is like this.
Or am I just fooling myself? Am I just another one of these dissatisfied folks, fooling myself into thinking that my life is acceptable? Running from the truth?
Nah. These characters saw their own discontent.
So what do they do with their discontent? That is what is important to see in the novel. So Dog Man tries again. So Jeremy blows up, but Nina may or may not be along for the ride, we're not sure. Leon says no and goes. Emma says no and goes. Claudia left to figure out what has just happened to her, her daughter and husband spinning off.
Perhaps Nina is the only one with integrity. She doesn't run but says "what do I do with this knowledge, now that I know that I can decide?" I have hope for Jeremy and Nina.
Perhaps I shouldn't judge the others, though. Now everyone is going to figure things out at the same point in their lives. Perhaps it is integrity to recognize when it's wrong, whenever it's wrong, and act upon it.
But that doesn't seem right either. We don't live in a vacuum; our decisions in the past shape us as much as the decisions to be made in the present moment and future. Emma is young and so has less to bind her, but Leon....
May 11, 2014
One of the characters comments that someone looking at a marriage from the outside can never really know what truly goes on between man and wife. Another wonders who has had the desire to just run from everything as fast and as far as you can. Looking out her window at her neighbors, Nina imagines their lives to be what she wants them to be. As she gets to know the people in her community she realizes that appearances deceive and their is tremendous dissatisfaction and tension beneath the surface. Is anyone content? Has anyone's life become what they envisioned? Is it too late to change?
An insightful and thoughtful book about how our lives seem to drift in a direction we had not planned or anticipated; how our choices can fool us; who can change that course and who cannot.
I loved The Ladies Auxiliary for it's glimpse into a somewhat closed community, how those people interacted, and the consequences of their actions on each other. This book is similar and largely why it appealed to me I suppose.
I enjoyed it, and found it somewhat poignant, because don't many of us wonder how we came to be where we are? What would I do if faced with the possibility of changing my life? It's interesting to speculate.
An insightful and thoughtful book about how our lives seem to drift in a direction we had not planned or anticipated; how our choices can fool us; who can change that course and who cannot.
I loved The Ladies Auxiliary for it's glimpse into a somewhat closed community, how those people interacted, and the consequences of their actions on each other. This book is similar and largely why it appealed to me I suppose.
I enjoyed it, and found it somewhat poignant, because don't many of us wonder how we came to be where we are? What would I do if faced with the possibility of changing my life? It's interesting to speculate.
Read
August 27, 2014Made it halfway through this before giving up. Told from multiple perspectives of neighbors in NYC, there were just too many changes in narrative for me to stay connected to the story.
March 15, 2014
4.5 stars. "Visible City" starts out feeling very much like Hitchcock's Rear Window (which is my very favorite Hitchcock movie by the way) and turns out to be something much more. Nina can't help but to spy on her apartment building neighbors. She yearns for their seemingly calm lives and makes up stories as to what she thinks is going on with them. They seem to have their lives all together when she feels like her life is falling apart. When she meets the neighbors that she had been watching, she quickly realizes that the grass is not always greener on the other side. I ate through this book so quickly and had a hard time putting it down. It is a well written reflection on the idea that we all have doubts about what we are doing or not doing and we are all a little scared even if we are trying hard not to show it.
I loved how Mirvis was able to weave all of the characters together. Books with a lot of characters can be sort of a mixed bag for me. Sometimes they get a little bit too confusing but Mirvis is able to really give each character their own voice. Nina starts out as the main character but more are added as the book goes on.
There were so many little details that I really loved in this book. I loved reading about Emma's struggle to decide where her life is supposed to be going. It felt really real to me. I also loved the bit about Nina's husband, who is supposed to be working a well-regarded job that he isn't really sure that he likes, exploring the underground of the city instead of being at home with his family. All of these little details really made the characters interesting and really come to life for me.
This book definitely resonated with me. I think the struggle to feel like we are in the same boat as everyone else when it comes to our dreams, hopes, and fears is an amazing realization and one that I find I need reminders about myself.
I loved how Mirvis was able to weave all of the characters together. Books with a lot of characters can be sort of a mixed bag for me. Sometimes they get a little bit too confusing but Mirvis is able to really give each character their own voice. Nina starts out as the main character but more are added as the book goes on.
There were so many little details that I really loved in this book. I loved reading about Emma's struggle to decide where her life is supposed to be going. It felt really real to me. I also loved the bit about Nina's husband, who is supposed to be working a well-regarded job that he isn't really sure that he likes, exploring the underground of the city instead of being at home with his family. All of these little details really made the characters interesting and really come to life for me.
This book definitely resonated with me. I think the struggle to feel like we are in the same boat as everyone else when it comes to our dreams, hopes, and fears is an amazing realization and one that I find I need reminders about myself.
August 10, 2016
A beautiful book about love and loneliness and the power of longing. Mirvis' writing is gorgeous, and the book intertwines characters' lives in fascinating and delightful ways. Highly recommended!!!
May 3, 2023
Holy. Shit. I think the last book that resonated this way was Laurie Colwin’s “Family Happiness.” It took a bit to get into it and sort out who was who, but once I was in, I was IN. So good.
February 25, 2014
I received this book from the GoodReads Free Giveaways and that’s why I’m doing a review.
I should start off by saying that this is a NOVEL, not a book. So if you are looking for a light fluffy read, then this is probably not the read for you. While it is NOT a really difficult read, you’ll definitely have to use more brain cells than you would while reading some of the popular Fiction out there.
“Visible City” by Tova Mirvis is a novel about how people frequently become trapped in a rut during the course of their life. This rut may come in the form of career, relationship, or general life issues; and oftentimes, we may not realize we’re even stuck in that rut. This causes us to ascribe to the people around us the attributes which we feel are lacking in our own lives. Some examples…That woman loves being a stay-at-home mom. That man is so passionate about his job. That couple has a relationship full of so much love….However, once we truly connect with the people around us; we realize they have the same doubts, fears, and dreams as we do.
The novel is about the way the 5 main characters interact with each other and how those interactions may or may not help each of them in answering the question, “Is this all I can expect from life, or is there something more out there for me?”
I liked the novel and thought it was pretty good. And, I would more than likely read another book by this author if it was about a topic that I was interested in. I would also recommend it to my friends, if I knew they enjoyed this type of novel.
My only complaint is that the first 50 pages or so were an extremely rough read. Since this was an Advance Reading Uncorrected Proof Copy, I’m not entirely sure if those pages were fully edited yet. The issue was that the author used so many commas and made the sentences so complex, that I had to reread many of them several times before being able to fully follow what was going on. It felt like the sentences in those pages had 50 words each and 10 commas. The flow of the sentences and even the paragraphs was disrupted making it incredibly hard to get into the story. After those 50 pages though, the novel got easier to read and more enjoyable. But like I said, I liked the novel, so I’m glad I powered through the beginning and didn’t give up on it.
I should start off by saying that this is a NOVEL, not a book. So if you are looking for a light fluffy read, then this is probably not the read for you. While it is NOT a really difficult read, you’ll definitely have to use more brain cells than you would while reading some of the popular Fiction out there.
“Visible City” by Tova Mirvis is a novel about how people frequently become trapped in a rut during the course of their life. This rut may come in the form of career, relationship, or general life issues; and oftentimes, we may not realize we’re even stuck in that rut. This causes us to ascribe to the people around us the attributes which we feel are lacking in our own lives. Some examples…That woman loves being a stay-at-home mom. That man is so passionate about his job. That couple has a relationship full of so much love….However, once we truly connect with the people around us; we realize they have the same doubts, fears, and dreams as we do.
The novel is about the way the 5 main characters interact with each other and how those interactions may or may not help each of them in answering the question, “Is this all I can expect from life, or is there something more out there for me?”
I liked the novel and thought it was pretty good. And, I would more than likely read another book by this author if it was about a topic that I was interested in. I would also recommend it to my friends, if I knew they enjoyed this type of novel.
My only complaint is that the first 50 pages or so were an extremely rough read. Since this was an Advance Reading Uncorrected Proof Copy, I’m not entirely sure if those pages were fully edited yet. The issue was that the author used so many commas and made the sentences so complex, that I had to reread many of them several times before being able to fully follow what was going on. It felt like the sentences in those pages had 50 words each and 10 commas. The flow of the sentences and even the paragraphs was disrupted making it incredibly hard to get into the story. After those 50 pages though, the novel got easier to read and more enjoyable. But like I said, I liked the novel, so I’m glad I powered through the beginning and didn’t give up on it.
April 20, 2014
"Visible City" is a departure from Mirvis's previous books, yet it works for me on so many levels. I love how she plays with this concept of "Visible," what we see of others, how they view us, how we think we are being perceived. This novel weaves together the story of many characters, which I often find frustrating, but not here: each story nestles nicely into the next and they each feed off one another. One of the characters, Jeremy, a frustrated lawyer, becomes involved in "visibility" in the most literal of ways, becoming obsessed with that which is hidden in New York, starting with the secret defunct subway entrance at City Hall. His wife, Nina, is more "Rear Window"-esque, spying on neighbors from her living room window, out of her own frustration at the confines of motherhood. And then there are those who are spied upon, an older couple grappling with their inner selves compared to how they are seen by others.
The writing is lush and beautiful and while I loved the ending, I could have stayed enmeshed in the world for much longer. Truly a lovely read.
The writing is lush and beautiful and while I loved the ending, I could have stayed enmeshed in the world for much longer. Truly a lovely read.
June 22, 2015
I love New York stories as much as I don't like the city itself, which is considerably. And so it was my main reason for picking up this book, but it turned out to be such a lovely meditation of urban isolation, social identity and parenthood that geography really didn't even matter. The classic grass is greener premise of neighbors in a posh neighborhood witnessing each other through windows gets explored and played out as the lives observed become lives interconnected. It's amazing how small a city that large can seem. It's amazing how far our perceptions of others are from reality. I think anyone who's ever spied at strangers through their windows and wondered about their lives, anyone whose life didn't turn out the way they planned it, whose relationships became situations of ritual and convenience would enjoy this book tremendously. The fact that it is incredibly well written, with concision of language and emotional intelligence, certainly helps as well. Really enjoyable book. Recommended.
February 9, 2015
I would have given this book one star, but the story line surrounding abandoned NYC subway stations was fascinating. However, the rest of the plot felt forced, and I disliked all the characters, even the children.
June 18, 2014
If I could remember which publication recommended this book, I'd cancel my subscription.
Bah!
Bah!
May 3, 2014
An initially inightful read that quickly became predictable and trite. The premise was promising: a look into the lives of two families living across from each other. But Mirvis lost momentum and engagement in the middle of the book.
July 1, 2014
Brava! Witty- clever- smart- insightful- pitch perfect - well done!!
June 12, 2024
Written very well, but the book didn’t hook me as much as I wanted it to. It didn’t seem to have a lot of conflict or any conflict resolution at the end. Talented author, but not my favorite.
November 18, 2014
Set in the Upper West Side of NYC, this story is an examination of relationships between husbands/wives, children/parents, coworkers, neighbors, psychotherapist/client, and friends. There are no happy characters from the beginning to the end of the book. Middle aged Claudia Stern and her husband, Leon Davidson, have a marriage at a crossroads. Their daughter, Emma, and her finance Steven are at a crossroad as Emma realizes she doesn't want to marry Steven nor finish her graduate degree. Nina, a young mother of Max and Lily, is unhappy in her marriage to Jeremy because she feels he is only focused on his career as a lawyer. Nina and her friend Wendy are in a dispute with the customers at the neighborhood cafe, Georgia's, because their small children are too loud and customers want children banned. A tenant in Nina's building, Arthur, doesn't like children either. In the end it Is a story of misery, loneliness, entrapment where people are living out roles in which they would rather not be day and night or they act another way when not around those where they need to maintain a role. During the day the animals in the zoo are trapped in cages and act one way, but at night, while still trapped, they are able to live more true to their nature. In some ways, the animals have more freedoms than people.
January 31, 2016
Probably just not fair to this book, that it was read after I just read 2 really good books. This book was almost boring and dull (trying not to compare). It is an ok story of the people in a neighborhood in the city!
November 20, 2017
This was probably more like 3.5 stars. The number of connections and cross-connections got a little bit ridiculous, and, in my opinion, got in the way of the powerful emotions the author was able to capture in describing different marriages and friendships.
October 24, 2019
This was a truly excellent evocation of the upper west side of NYC, but I don't share the literary fiction publishing world's fascination with upper middle class existential crises, so I found it hard to care about the characters' arcs.
April 3, 2015
melancholy. insightful. gorgeous writing. full review soon at http://entertainmentrealm.com
June 16, 2017
I didn't finish this book; it just was not interesting to me.
July 1, 2017
A novel about the courage to change. Brings to mind T.S. Eliot: "We think of the key / Each in his prison / Thinking of the key / Each confirms a prison". The characters in this novel of Manhattan long to be anywhere but in their own lives, but are constrained by societal, familial, and (most of all) self-imposed expectations. Each is utterly alone despite being surrounded by people, and how each character attempts to handle his or her isolation and seeks his or her passion is at the heart of the story. The novel isn't subtle; coincidence is rampant and our omniscient point of view allows a fair amount of expostulation. Don't look for fancy language either. But it's a quick and easy read, well enough crafted.
April 12, 2025
I feel so guilty. Before I actually began doing Netgalley, I received this book for review from the author in 2014!!
With a note from the author! Somehow, it got buried until I chose it for a book club this month.
It is a story of 2 Manhattan apartment buildings, where Nina looks into the windows across from her. She is a lawyer who is now a stay at home mom to 2 kids whose husband is working ridiculously long hours at a law firm. The storyline intersects several people from the neighborhood and the 2 buildings, each of whom is having a personal crisis. We see how these lives unfold through their inner thoughts. The story stayed with me as I imagined what happened to each of them when the book ended.
With a note from the author! Somehow, it got buried until I chose it for a book club this month.
It is a story of 2 Manhattan apartment buildings, where Nina looks into the windows across from her. She is a lawyer who is now a stay at home mom to 2 kids whose husband is working ridiculously long hours at a law firm. The storyline intersects several people from the neighborhood and the 2 buildings, each of whom is having a personal crisis. We see how these lives unfold through their inner thoughts. The story stayed with me as I imagined what happened to each of them when the book ended.
July 29, 2019
It's about 3 different couples in NYC and how their lives gradually intersect. Intertwined are stories of abandoned subways, hidden stained glass windows, and children who talk too loudly in the local cafe. I enjoyed how the characters' individual lives slowly found themselves a part of another character's life. There's adultery, job abandonment, and questions about one's own parenting skills. There wasn't a single character whose storyline I didn't enjoy, and the conclusion was a nice and sentimental way to end the story.
April 21, 2020
Not sure why I didn't add this book back when I read it. I read it for the book group. One of our members is the mother-in-law of the author, so the meeting in which we discussed the book we had the rare opportunity to discuss it with the author.
The total isolation of living in NYC but how close together everyone lives.
The ideal couple, who seem so comfortable with each other and with their routines, when viewed from a distance. How different reality from what you observe.
How a lot is not exactly how one thinks they are.
That's all I remember after these 3 years.
The total isolation of living in NYC but how close together everyone lives.
The ideal couple, who seem so comfortable with each other and with their routines, when viewed from a distance. How different reality from what you observe.
How a lot is not exactly how one thinks they are.
That's all I remember after these 3 years.
September 14, 2020
The author tries to balance several characters living in the same section of New York City, all of whom are dissatisfied with their lot in life, their life partners, career choices, their parents, and their children. These characters all lead mostly privileged lives but spend the book whining about their jobs, their spouses, the noise in the coffee shop, and most other things that middle to lower class people struggle with on a daily basis. There are no really likable characters here, except for the infant and toddler children of one of the couples. The book changes points of view, depending on which character the author wants to have whine at any given point. The plot points are laid out well, interconnecting all the characters, but I think the author squanders the set up with an ending that, in my opinion, didn’t really resolve anything.
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