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Shelter in Place
It is the Saturday after the 2016 presidential election, and in a plush weekend house in Connecticut, an intimate group of friends, New Yorkers all, has gathered to recover from what they consider the greatest political catastrophe of their lives. They have just sat down to tea when their hostess, Eva Lindquist, proposes a dare. Who among them would be willing to ask Siri how to assassinate Donald Trump? Liberal and like-minded-editors, writers, a decorator, a theater producer, and one financial guy, Eva's husband, Bruce-the friends have come to the countryside in the hope of restoring the bubble in which they have grown used to living. Yet with the exception of one brash and obnoxious book editor, none is willing to accept Eva's challenge.
Shelter in Place is a novel about house and home, furniture and rooms, safety and freedom and the invidious ways in which political upheaval can undermine even the most seemingly impregnable foundations. Eva is the novel's polestar, a woman who moves through her days accompanied by a roving, carefully curated salon. She's a generous hostess and more than a bit of a control freak, whose obsession with decorating allows Leavitt to treat us to a slyly comic look at the habitués and fetishes of the so-called shelter industry. Yet when, in her avidity to secure shelter for herself, she persuades Bruce to buy a grand if dilapidated apartment in Venice, she unwittingly sets off the chain of events that will propel him, for the first time, to venture outside the bubble and embark on a wholly unexpected love affair.
A comic portrait of the months immediately following the 2016 election, Shelter in Place is also a meditation on the unreliable appetites-for love, for power, for freedom-by which both our public and private lives are shaped.
Shelter in Place is a novel about house and home, furniture and rooms, safety and freedom and the invidious ways in which political upheaval can undermine even the most seemingly impregnable foundations. Eva is the novel's polestar, a woman who moves through her days accompanied by a roving, carefully curated salon. She's a generous hostess and more than a bit of a control freak, whose obsession with decorating allows Leavitt to treat us to a slyly comic look at the habitués and fetishes of the so-called shelter industry. Yet when, in her avidity to secure shelter for herself, she persuades Bruce to buy a grand if dilapidated apartment in Venice, she unwittingly sets off the chain of events that will propel him, for the first time, to venture outside the bubble and embark on a wholly unexpected love affair.
A comic portrait of the months immediately following the 2016 election, Shelter in Place is also a meditation on the unreliable appetites-for love, for power, for freedom-by which both our public and private lives are shaped.
384 pages, Hardcover
First published July 2, 2020
153 people are currently reading
2437 people want to read
About the author
David Leavitt
63 books429 followersLeavitt is a graduate of Yale University and a professor at the University of Florida, where he is the co-director of the creative writing program. He is also the editor of Subtropics magazine, The University of Florida's literary review.
Leavitt, who is openly gay, has frequently explored gay issues in his work. He divides his time between Florida and Tuscany, Italy.
Leavitt, who is openly gay, has frequently explored gay issues in his work. He divides his time between Florida and Tuscany, Italy.
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November 17, 2020
The phrase ‘shelter in place’ means “finding a safe location indoors and staying there until you are given an ‘all clear’ or told to evacuate.” In David Leavitt’s latest novel, Eva Lindquist takes this to a rather alarming degree by impulse-buying an apartment in Venice to flee to in case the US goes south following the election of Donald Trump (his first election, given that his attempt at a soft coup is still ongoing.)
Said apartment, and the byzantine negotiations surrounding the acquisition of real estate in a foreign country, becomes a kind of McGuffin in Leavitt’s sparkling comedy of manners (and misbehaviour). It is a running joke throughout that the well-to-do, liberal Lindquists plan to escape to a place that was once upon a time a fascist stronghold under Mussolini. “In ’43 the city willingly handed over its Jews to the Germans,” wealth-manager husband Bruce notes reasonably. Leavitt presents both sides of this conundrum:
“The more important part, though … Well, it’s the adventure. I mean, think of it. An American woman goes to Venice, sees an old apartment, decides on the spur of the moment to buy it and fix it up.”
“Renovation as romance,” Jake said.
“Well, yes, of course,” Indira said. “What interests me more, though, is what you said earlier, this idea that suddenly this country so many of our grandparents fled to in search of freedom has become a place people feel they have to escape. Or at least be ready, at a moment’s notice, to escape. What do you think, Min? Is there a story in that?”
You’re damn right there is. What is interesting to note about this exchange is that the character Jake is Eva’s decorator of choice, while Indira is the editor of an interior design magazine, ably assisted by the busybody Min, who always seems to be putting her foot in it by blurting out private nuggets of gossip to entirely the wrong people. Which is why this delicious novel is also a comedy of errors (right on from the would-be Mussolini president all the way down to the would-be liberal nouveau riche of New York, and then even further down to its artists and supposed free thinkers, like decorators, and of course with editors and writers right at the bottom of the collective societal muck pile.)
Another character, Aaron, a newly-unemployed (and hence vociferously bitter) editor at a publishing house, pontificates at length about the parlous state of American literature, which he seems to think is in even more dire straits than the US socio-political situation. Yes, we know it is the character’s thoughts that Leavitt is voicing as opposed to his own personal opinion, but he must have gotten a frisson from writing lines like “Most male writers are too smart for their own good. It makes them assholes.” Here’s an example of a typical Aaron diatribe:
“I love Sheila Heti,” Sandra said.
“So do I,” Rachel said. “You just don’t get it because you’re a man.”
“Fine, then Jeffrey Eugenides. He’s a jerk-off. As is Jonathan Fucking Franzen, and Jonathan Fucking Lethem, and Jonathan Asshole Safran Foer. All these fucking Jonathans, they’re total jerk-offs.”
“This is why I love working with Aaron,” Sandra said. “He’s so in your face. I find it bracing.”
The novel mainly consists of conversational setpieces that take place in the form of dinners or other get-togethers at various friends’ homes. Combined with, er, liberal small talk about art and decoration (with lots about furniture and fabrics), this makes ‘Shelter in Place’ seem like a modern hybrid of Henry James and Alan Hollinghurst. Without the tortuously meandering sentences of the former. I even suspect that Leavitt takes the mickey out of Hollinghurst’s propensity for what Eva refers to disdainfully as the “gory details” with a delirious WhatsApp exchange between Jake and his foreign ‘daddy’ boyfriend Simon:
Simon: i love you
Simon: i just want to get that out, u are my love for always
Jake: That’s very flattering but how can you know that when we’ve never met?
Simon: what do u mean we’ve spent hours and hours together
Jake: Virtual hours
Simon: just because its virtual doesn’t mean it isnt real
Jake: Well, I think it does
Jake: There are five senses
Jake: We only use two
Simon: how i long to smell the scent of your feet, your socks, your trainers after you’ve been working out
Jake: we don’t call them trainers here, we call them tennis shoes
Simon: that is so hot
Even here, Leavitt is playing on the trope of cultural misunderstanding. Despite the frivolity – a soul-searching consideration for Rachel is whether or not she has to abandon Diet Coke “just because Trump drinks it” – is a much more serious subtext: “What does home even mean?” It is a question that every single character has to grapple with in some form or other. Due to the very nature of his work, Bruce especially is keenly aware of how ephemeral wealth is and how uneasily it is underpinned by crumbling structural economic conditions.
Published in October this year, and set just after Trump’s triumphant election, this seems an eclectic novel even by Leavitt’s own standards (‘While England Sleeps’, ‘The Indian Clark’, ‘The Lost Language of Cranes’.) Obviously, Leavitt is not alone in having his newly-minted novel become part of the churning post Covid-19, Trumpian meltdown zeitgeist. There is a lot here that rings so true, and which seems eerily prophetic in hindsight.
A criticism of the novel is that it is about a navel-gazing bunch of privileged, wealthy New Yorkers who have to manufacture existential angst because their vanilla lives are so boring and perfect in comparison. Indeed, the most exciting crisis to intrude on their pampered social circle is probably Trump’s victory itself. My question to these critics is simple: Why is this viewpoint invalid? You just have to look at the state of liberalism globally to comprehend the deep mistrust, and often hatred, shown towards dyed-in-the-wool liberals, whose concern and so-called activism are merely seen as a kneejerk reaction to their privileged position being threatened. As Leavitt writes so eloquently of Venice itself:
Because Venice, its foundation—the city’s literal foundation—is an illusion. Illusions sustain it, and of all the illusions, the most potent may be the assumption that the city will actually last, that it won’t sink into itself, or be submerged by a flood. And so when you’re there, in this place that honestly shouldn’t exist, that goes against nature, you can imagine something similar for yourself—that you won’t sink into the mud or get swept away by a tidal wave.
Said apartment, and the byzantine negotiations surrounding the acquisition of real estate in a foreign country, becomes a kind of McGuffin in Leavitt’s sparkling comedy of manners (and misbehaviour). It is a running joke throughout that the well-to-do, liberal Lindquists plan to escape to a place that was once upon a time a fascist stronghold under Mussolini. “In ’43 the city willingly handed over its Jews to the Germans,” wealth-manager husband Bruce notes reasonably. Leavitt presents both sides of this conundrum:
“The more important part, though … Well, it’s the adventure. I mean, think of it. An American woman goes to Venice, sees an old apartment, decides on the spur of the moment to buy it and fix it up.”
“Renovation as romance,” Jake said.
“Well, yes, of course,” Indira said. “What interests me more, though, is what you said earlier, this idea that suddenly this country so many of our grandparents fled to in search of freedom has become a place people feel they have to escape. Or at least be ready, at a moment’s notice, to escape. What do you think, Min? Is there a story in that?”
You’re damn right there is. What is interesting to note about this exchange is that the character Jake is Eva’s decorator of choice, while Indira is the editor of an interior design magazine, ably assisted by the busybody Min, who always seems to be putting her foot in it by blurting out private nuggets of gossip to entirely the wrong people. Which is why this delicious novel is also a comedy of errors (right on from the would-be Mussolini president all the way down to the would-be liberal nouveau riche of New York, and then even further down to its artists and supposed free thinkers, like decorators, and of course with editors and writers right at the bottom of the collective societal muck pile.)
Another character, Aaron, a newly-unemployed (and hence vociferously bitter) editor at a publishing house, pontificates at length about the parlous state of American literature, which he seems to think is in even more dire straits than the US socio-political situation. Yes, we know it is the character’s thoughts that Leavitt is voicing as opposed to his own personal opinion, but he must have gotten a frisson from writing lines like “Most male writers are too smart for their own good. It makes them assholes.” Here’s an example of a typical Aaron diatribe:
“I love Sheila Heti,” Sandra said.
“So do I,” Rachel said. “You just don’t get it because you’re a man.”
“Fine, then Jeffrey Eugenides. He’s a jerk-off. As is Jonathan Fucking Franzen, and Jonathan Fucking Lethem, and Jonathan Asshole Safran Foer. All these fucking Jonathans, they’re total jerk-offs.”
“This is why I love working with Aaron,” Sandra said. “He’s so in your face. I find it bracing.”
The novel mainly consists of conversational setpieces that take place in the form of dinners or other get-togethers at various friends’ homes. Combined with, er, liberal small talk about art and decoration (with lots about furniture and fabrics), this makes ‘Shelter in Place’ seem like a modern hybrid of Henry James and Alan Hollinghurst. Without the tortuously meandering sentences of the former. I even suspect that Leavitt takes the mickey out of Hollinghurst’s propensity for what Eva refers to disdainfully as the “gory details” with a delirious WhatsApp exchange between Jake and his foreign ‘daddy’ boyfriend Simon:
Simon: i love you
Simon: i just want to get that out, u are my love for always
Jake: That’s very flattering but how can you know that when we’ve never met?
Simon: what do u mean we’ve spent hours and hours together
Jake: Virtual hours
Simon: just because its virtual doesn’t mean it isnt real
Jake: Well, I think it does
Jake: There are five senses
Jake: We only use two
Simon: how i long to smell the scent of your feet, your socks, your trainers after you’ve been working out
Jake: we don’t call them trainers here, we call them tennis shoes
Simon: that is so hot
Even here, Leavitt is playing on the trope of cultural misunderstanding. Despite the frivolity – a soul-searching consideration for Rachel is whether or not she has to abandon Diet Coke “just because Trump drinks it” – is a much more serious subtext: “What does home even mean?” It is a question that every single character has to grapple with in some form or other. Due to the very nature of his work, Bruce especially is keenly aware of how ephemeral wealth is and how uneasily it is underpinned by crumbling structural economic conditions.
Published in October this year, and set just after Trump’s triumphant election, this seems an eclectic novel even by Leavitt’s own standards (‘While England Sleeps’, ‘The Indian Clark’, ‘The Lost Language of Cranes’.) Obviously, Leavitt is not alone in having his newly-minted novel become part of the churning post Covid-19, Trumpian meltdown zeitgeist. There is a lot here that rings so true, and which seems eerily prophetic in hindsight.
A criticism of the novel is that it is about a navel-gazing bunch of privileged, wealthy New Yorkers who have to manufacture existential angst because their vanilla lives are so boring and perfect in comparison. Indeed, the most exciting crisis to intrude on their pampered social circle is probably Trump’s victory itself. My question to these critics is simple: Why is this viewpoint invalid? You just have to look at the state of liberalism globally to comprehend the deep mistrust, and often hatred, shown towards dyed-in-the-wool liberals, whose concern and so-called activism are merely seen as a kneejerk reaction to their privileged position being threatened. As Leavitt writes so eloquently of Venice itself:
Because Venice, its foundation—the city’s literal foundation—is an illusion. Illusions sustain it, and of all the illusions, the most potent may be the assumption that the city will actually last, that it won’t sink into itself, or be submerged by a flood. And so when you’re there, in this place that honestly shouldn’t exist, that goes against nature, you can imagine something similar for yourself—that you won’t sink into the mud or get swept away by a tidal wave.
June 11, 2021
Un romanzo che si avvia in leggerezza: un gruppo di amici più o meno cinquantenni, più o meno milionari, più o meno sconvolti dalla vittoria di Trump, intellettuali, liberal e molto brillanti, che ruotano intorno alla coppia Lindquist, tra il loro attico sulla Quinta Avenue e la casa per i weekend nel Connecticut. Le loro chiacchiere frivole sullo sfondo delle loro splendide abitazioni, dei ristoranti di lusso, degli eventi culturali e degli hotel eleganti, si trasformano via via in conversazioni tutt’altro che futili, e ci rivelano i veri personaggi, umani molto umani, che stanno dietro quelle figure sofisticate, con i loro umani e concreti problemi, di soldi, di lavoro, di salute, di sesso. Pagina dopo pagina, fra un pettegolezzo e l’altro, fra un ricordo e uno screzio, si scopre che c’è di più: i sentimenti di Bruce che è intelligente e gentile, quelli di Min che è umile e resiliente, quelli di Eva che è nevrotica e arrogante, e soprattutto i sentimenti del riservatissimo Jake, che scopriremo solo alla fine, dopo un crescendo di tensioni intrecciate che sfocia nel finale a sorpresa. Il romanzo è piacevolissimo, pieno di riflessioni interessanti e acute, pieno di sensibilità e di ironia, costruito ad arte, movimentato e di taglio cinematografico (potrebbe essere un film di Woody Allen, di quelli seri) e ritengo che Mondadori abbia fatto un enorme errore a cederlo a SEM.
Detto questo, però, la passione e il dolore autentici che c’erano nei primi lavori di Leavitt, non ci sono più: per molti scrittori, anche di grande talento (cito solo McEwan) purtroppo, è così: le intense e sofferte lotte della gioventù, una volta che ci si è affermati e si vive bene, non si provano più e non si riesce a mettere nei romanzi quelle degli altri con la stessa autenticità. La tecnica può compensare, la saggezza anche, ma la giovinezza, spesso, è lo strumento più importante di un artista.
Detto questo, però, la passione e il dolore autentici che c’erano nei primi lavori di Leavitt, non ci sono più: per molti scrittori, anche di grande talento (cito solo McEwan) purtroppo, è così: le intense e sofferte lotte della gioventù, una volta che ci si è affermati e si vive bene, non si provano più e non si riesce a mettere nei romanzi quelle degli altri con la stessa autenticità. La tecnica può compensare, la saggezza anche, ma la giovinezza, spesso, è lo strumento più importante di un artista.
December 25, 2020
Reading this felt like going out to dinner and getting seated next to the worst type of Manhattan couple. And then being force fed their loud voices for the entire meal.
March 29, 2025
“Would you be willing to ask Siri how to assassinate Trump?”
Well, that first sentence in the book certainly got my attention. What about you? And, if I am truly being honest, it probably led me to consider reading this book.
This story professes to be a social comedy of sorts about individuals sheltering in place at the beginning of the Covid pandemic. And, as readers we would soon come to realize, the relevance of that question.
Main protagonist, Eva Lindquist threw out that question to her guests, shortly after the 2016 presidential election, not to entice a murder, but to show the guests’ nervousness about the erosion of freedom of speech in America. After all, Eva is a daughter of Polish Jews, and she is all too aware of what happened when rightwing politics caused her parents to flee the country. She is reminding her guests about the French Jews who thought they would be protected by the Nazis, by simply being French citizens. Of course, those of us appreciative of history, know what really occurred. Especially, those who do not erase the factual truth of history.
“The news isn’t news anymore, it’s just pompous opinionating, the purpose of which is to keep us anxious, because these people, these newspeople, even your beloved Rachel Maddow, they know that as long as they can keep us anxious, as long as they dangle the carrot of consolation in front of us, they’ve got us hooked. They’re no different than the French papers in 1940, just more sophisticated. And more venal.”
Whether we like Eva or not, or her entitlement as a wealthy hostess, we may still find her shallow character interesting and appealing in her lack of likability. It seems other characters can do nothing more than appease her or talk about her behind her back.
The true irony of it all is that as much as Eva hates Trump, she is just as self-indulgent and lacking in compassion for others as he is.
On one hand, despite the characters, the story still finds a way to a pleasant ending, and allows those of us who are uncomfortable since this latest election, to find some comforts in the characters ranting. On the other hand, being in the presence of these characters was about as much fun as lockdown was at the beginning of the Covid pandemic.
3.5 stars
Well, that first sentence in the book certainly got my attention. What about you? And, if I am truly being honest, it probably led me to consider reading this book.
This story professes to be a social comedy of sorts about individuals sheltering in place at the beginning of the Covid pandemic. And, as readers we would soon come to realize, the relevance of that question.
Main protagonist, Eva Lindquist threw out that question to her guests, shortly after the 2016 presidential election, not to entice a murder, but to show the guests’ nervousness about the erosion of freedom of speech in America. After all, Eva is a daughter of Polish Jews, and she is all too aware of what happened when rightwing politics caused her parents to flee the country. She is reminding her guests about the French Jews who thought they would be protected by the Nazis, by simply being French citizens. Of course, those of us appreciative of history, know what really occurred. Especially, those who do not erase the factual truth of history.
“The news isn’t news anymore, it’s just pompous opinionating, the purpose of which is to keep us anxious, because these people, these newspeople, even your beloved Rachel Maddow, they know that as long as they can keep us anxious, as long as they dangle the carrot of consolation in front of us, they’ve got us hooked. They’re no different than the French papers in 1940, just more sophisticated. And more venal.”
Whether we like Eva or not, or her entitlement as a wealthy hostess, we may still find her shallow character interesting and appealing in her lack of likability. It seems other characters can do nothing more than appease her or talk about her behind her back.
The true irony of it all is that as much as Eva hates Trump, she is just as self-indulgent and lacking in compassion for others as he is.
On one hand, despite the characters, the story still finds a way to a pleasant ending, and allows those of us who are uncomfortable since this latest election, to find some comforts in the characters ranting. On the other hand, being in the presence of these characters was about as much fun as lockdown was at the beginning of the Covid pandemic.
3.5 stars
May 9, 2020
A good first sentence is important. Just ask Tolstoy. Or Dickens. Or so many famous authors, really. So the author went with that here, in a novel that seems like it surely must have been retitled to accommodate present day nightmarish world. An attention getting first sentence uttered at a fancy party. A moral challenge of sorts to the guests. But the novel itself isn’t at all as daring or radical or dangerous as all that. In fact it’s relatively mild and very plush, as in too many cushions on the couch plush. It’s a novel about (and possibly for) a very specific type of people, the New York City wealthy liberal social elite (is there a name for this sort of fiction, there ought to be, there’s enough books like that to at the very least populate a subgenre, something like $liblitNYC…but no, that sounds like an Elon Musk baby name), set in the immediate aftermath of the 2016 election which they collectively bemoan. The novel revolves around Eva, a woman strikingly undeserving of being a center of attention, since her main attribute seems to be spending her spouse’s, the infinitely preternaturally patient amiable Bruce’s, money. Which is to say Eva doesn’t work and hasn’t in all of the years she’s been married, she seems to have no pursuits outside of throwing parties, socializing and decorating. She’s like a Kardashian, but much less sexualized, in fact practically prudish. Nevertheless, despite her qualities or, more likely, because of them, she attracts quite a following with similar, but less vapid, individuals of similar but less moneyed class. And then chat. They love to chat, over food, which is catered, by a rotating roster of young gay men Eva hires. There’s so much chattering, the book quite often reads like a play, only it’s much more dynamic than a regular play and has more descriptions. Bruce adores Eva for no apparent reason. Though eventually her Evaness becomes too much as she becomes obsessed with buying a complicatedly deeded apartment in Venice to get away from, as she perceives it, impending fascist state and more specifically her republican neighbor. Bruce is nice to a fault, he’s even friendly with the republican neighbor. In fact, Bruce begins to develop something like social conscience. In fact, Bruce might even try to look for love outside of his plushly vapid marriage. Bruce might try to be happy. Which is all very lovely, had the novel not been so much about Eva, the tedious, tedious Eva. So let’s look at some pros and cons here…this is my first time reading the author and as far as introductions go, it’s pretty good, the writing is quite enjoyable and clever and I wouldn’t be oppose to checking out some of his short fiction, which is apparently his forte. Was this meant to be a satire? If so it isn’t terribly funny. It has its moments, but mostly it doesn’t seem especially exaggerated as satires tend to be, because the characters are very much lifelike in their representation of a certain social class, you know, the class that people who were made happy by the results of the 2016 election hate so much. But it isn’t a straight dramatic narrative either. Maybe it’s meant to be a comedy of manners. There are moments where it’ either pedantic or literary snippy in just the right way. The characters are somewhat obnoxious and mostly tedious, though none so much as Eva, their queen elect, Bruce is really the only genuinely likeable person. Why or how that marriage has survived or lasted is a mystery. The main explanation seems to be that Bruce is just that agreeable and easygoing. Frankly, it’s difficult to imagine anyone to be that agreeable and easygoing. The dialogue is fun and snappy. The novel read easily and it did entertain, albeit it a somewhat frustrating manner. So overall, pretty good, definitely not great, but at least a very quick read. Thanks Netgalley.
November 11, 2024
4,5, rounded up.
So on Nov. 6th, having finished another Leavitt novel, I by chance looked on my Kindle to discover that I also had THIS book of his - courtesy of an ARC from Netgalley and Bloomsbury (thank you and apologies!) from four years ago, when it was published in the wake of the first wave of the pandemic and the end of Hewhoshallnotbenamed's first term in office. Looking at the first line: ' "Would you be willing to ask Siri how to assassinate Trump?" Eva Lindquist asked.' I was certainly intrigued, and when I learned the book opens on the night of his upset victory in 2016, I was hooked.
One would think in the aftermath of the unthinkable happening once AGAIN, I wouldn't want to be reminded of the horrors to come, but I actually found the book rather comforting, seeing how we have been there before - and survived (... many of the reactions of the characters mirror what I and many friends have contemplated in the past week - like making sure one's passport is up to date in case of the need to emigrate!). The book mainly centers around Eva and her husband Bruce, upper class Manhattanites and their (rather too) large circle of friends and acquaintances and how they muddle through.
I suspect the title was changed to cash in on the pandemic, which does NOT feature in the book, since the book ends in early 2017 - but more or less refers to the fact Eva gets a notion to buy an apartment in Venice (Italy, not CA.) and refurnish it as a coping mechanism.
The book is really just an utter delight, veering off into all sorts of unexpected tangents, and I quickly raced through it, finishing the second half in less than a day. Amongst the many pleasures is the fact that several of the characters are writers or in publishing, and Leavitt has great fun casting snarky comments about the likes of Sheila Heti, Lydia Davis, and Barbara Kingsolver through them. It stands apart from his other novels I've read, which tend to center around more lurid gay dramas, but he really is an excellent wordsmith in both comic and tragic mediums. So glad I discovered this at such a fortuitous time.
So on Nov. 6th, having finished another Leavitt novel, I by chance looked on my Kindle to discover that I also had THIS book of his - courtesy of an ARC from Netgalley and Bloomsbury (thank you and apologies!) from four years ago, when it was published in the wake of the first wave of the pandemic and the end of Hewhoshallnotbenamed's first term in office. Looking at the first line: ' "Would you be willing to ask Siri how to assassinate Trump?" Eva Lindquist asked.' I was certainly intrigued, and when I learned the book opens on the night of his upset victory in 2016, I was hooked.
One would think in the aftermath of the unthinkable happening once AGAIN, I wouldn't want to be reminded of the horrors to come, but I actually found the book rather comforting, seeing how we have been there before - and survived (... many of the reactions of the characters mirror what I and many friends have contemplated in the past week - like making sure one's passport is up to date in case of the need to emigrate!). The book mainly centers around Eva and her husband Bruce, upper class Manhattanites and their (rather too) large circle of friends and acquaintances and how they muddle through.
I suspect the title was changed to cash in on the pandemic, which does NOT feature in the book, since the book ends in early 2017 - but more or less refers to the fact Eva gets a notion to buy an apartment in Venice (Italy, not CA.) and refurnish it as a coping mechanism.
The book is really just an utter delight, veering off into all sorts of unexpected tangents, and I quickly raced through it, finishing the second half in less than a day. Amongst the many pleasures is the fact that several of the characters are writers or in publishing, and Leavitt has great fun casting snarky comments about the likes of Sheila Heti, Lydia Davis, and Barbara Kingsolver through them. It stands apart from his other novels I've read, which tend to center around more lurid gay dramas, but he really is an excellent wordsmith in both comic and tragic mediums. So glad I discovered this at such a fortuitous time.
August 22, 2020
I received a free advance review copy from the publisher, via Netgalley.
This is such a hard book to write about. I had the impression that it was going to be all about a group of New Yorkers’ reactions to Trump’s election, and was almost dreading that, but it’s not really about that. It’s more about how people grab onto different notions of safety and home when their emotional comfort is disrupted.
Eva Lindquist is the character the story revolves around, though she is a supremely unlikeable character. She is spoiled, remote, and unwilling to put herself out for anybody—or even consider anybody else’s circumstances. When she decides she must buy an apartment in Venice to flee to, and that apartment must be bought for her by her wealth manager husband, Bruce, and decorated by her longtime interior designer, Jake, that sets in motion not just a train of change in their lives, but in their entire circle of friends and acquaintances—and even their dogs.
The book is probably three-quarters dialog. Normally, I don’t enjoy such a heavy dose of dialog, but this was so well written that I didn’t mind. Even though I don’t have anyone like these people in my life (for which I’m grateful), I came to know them through their words and to understand how their lives worked. Not sympathize, but just to understand how their day-to-day lives operated and how that, and their backgrounds, affected their reactions to the external forces on them.
I’m still wondering what inspired David Leavitt to choose to write about these lives, which are so far removed from most people’s. Yet I’m thinking about the book a day later, and that means he was effective at creating a world and making me want to read about it.
This is such a hard book to write about. I had the impression that it was going to be all about a group of New Yorkers’ reactions to Trump’s election, and was almost dreading that, but it’s not really about that. It’s more about how people grab onto different notions of safety and home when their emotional comfort is disrupted.
Eva Lindquist is the character the story revolves around, though she is a supremely unlikeable character. She is spoiled, remote, and unwilling to put herself out for anybody—or even consider anybody else’s circumstances. When she decides she must buy an apartment in Venice to flee to, and that apartment must be bought for her by her wealth manager husband, Bruce, and decorated by her longtime interior designer, Jake, that sets in motion not just a train of change in their lives, but in their entire circle of friends and acquaintances—and even their dogs.
The book is probably three-quarters dialog. Normally, I don’t enjoy such a heavy dose of dialog, but this was so well written that I didn’t mind. Even though I don’t have anyone like these people in my life (for which I’m grateful), I came to know them through their words and to understand how their lives worked. Not sympathize, but just to understand how their day-to-day lives operated and how that, and their backgrounds, affected their reactions to the external forces on them.
I’m still wondering what inspired David Leavitt to choose to write about these lives, which are so far removed from most people’s. Yet I’m thinking about the book a day later, and that means he was effective at creating a world and making me want to read about it.
August 27, 2021
"nessuno di voi ha mai pensato che eva sia un tantino fascista? (...) oh, non intendo nel senso politico della parola, dico nel senso che crede di sapere cosa è meglio per gli altri più dei diretti interessati".
mi è preso il mammatrone: perché in questo sono come lei, uno dei personaggi più insopportabili sgorgati dalla mente di uno scrittore.
mi è preso il mammatrone: perché in questo sono come lei, uno dei personaggi più insopportabili sgorgati dalla mente di uno scrittore.
July 14, 2020
In 1986 I read David Leavitt's novel The Lost Language of Cranes and it blew me away. Although I have his novel The Indian Clerk on by TBR shelf, I haven't read more by him and it was time to correct that. Especially, it was time for this novel.
Reading in the age of Coronavirus is not easy. I pick up my Kindle, read for a bit, then find myself on Twitter or checking my email or placing an order for delivered groceries. It isn't the books--they are great books. I just have trouble concentrating.
But, I had no problem with Shelter in Place--it's a comedy of manners under the Trump presidency that kept me entertained. These characters are rich and liberal and, well, flaky.
Eva won't even say the president's name, (think Voldemort) and yet she wouldn't stand in the long lines to vote. After Eva and her friend Min visit Venice, she decides to buy an apartment there, a place to escape to when America is no longer safe. Her obliging husband Bruce plays his role in their marriage: he earns--she spends. A successful wealth manager, he is rich enough to indulge his wife's whims.
And Eva does spend.
Eva is determined the Venice home would be redecorated by her favorite decorator Jake. But hearing he would have to go to Venice, he has been stalling. Likeable, secretive, Jake is the straight man in the novel--well, a gay straight man, a foil to the people who hire him.
When Eva's dogs start peeing on the sofa, she has the maid wrap it in aluminum foil! "Some things matter more than decor," Eva proclaims, and yet she has not considered what will happen to the dogs when she--or she and Bruce--goes to Venice.
Bruce's secretary is battling cancer, her husband abandoning her. He becomes overly involved with her life, his version of charity.
Bruce also has been consorting with the enemy---the Trump supporting neighbor Alec whose kids won't talk to him since the election. Alec can't even say Hillary's name. The election results came as a miracle to him. "One man's miracle is another's nightmare," Bruce says. Walking their dogs at night, they confide to each other.
Shelter in Place targets our idiosyncrasies when our world suddenly changes, on the national and personal level. Sometimes we grow, other times we dig in and hold on tighter.
I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
Reading in the age of Coronavirus is not easy. I pick up my Kindle, read for a bit, then find myself on Twitter or checking my email or placing an order for delivered groceries. It isn't the books--they are great books. I just have trouble concentrating.
But, I had no problem with Shelter in Place--it's a comedy of manners under the Trump presidency that kept me entertained. These characters are rich and liberal and, well, flaky.
Eva won't even say the president's name, (think Voldemort) and yet she wouldn't stand in the long lines to vote. After Eva and her friend Min visit Venice, she decides to buy an apartment there, a place to escape to when America is no longer safe. Her obliging husband Bruce plays his role in their marriage: he earns--she spends. A successful wealth manager, he is rich enough to indulge his wife's whims.
And Eva does spend.
Eva is determined the Venice home would be redecorated by her favorite decorator Jake. But hearing he would have to go to Venice, he has been stalling. Likeable, secretive, Jake is the straight man in the novel--well, a gay straight man, a foil to the people who hire him.
When Eva's dogs start peeing on the sofa, she has the maid wrap it in aluminum foil! "Some things matter more than decor," Eva proclaims, and yet she has not considered what will happen to the dogs when she--or she and Bruce--goes to Venice.
Bruce's secretary is battling cancer, her husband abandoning her. He becomes overly involved with her life, his version of charity.
Bruce also has been consorting with the enemy---the Trump supporting neighbor Alec whose kids won't talk to him since the election. Alec can't even say Hillary's name. The election results came as a miracle to him. "One man's miracle is another's nightmare," Bruce says. Walking their dogs at night, they confide to each other.
Shelter in Place targets our idiosyncrasies when our world suddenly changes, on the national and personal level. Sometimes we grow, other times we dig in and hold on tighter.
I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.
May 22, 2020
"Shelter in Place is a novel about house and home, furniture and rooms, safety and freedom and the invidious ways in which political upheaval can undermine even the most seemingly impregnable foundations."
This is oddly interesting for a book without much of a plot and nobody to root for. And yet it is hard to look away. It is full of unlikable, self-centered people having excessively long conversations, mostly about themselves. The opening line, and the descriptions, make it sound like it will be a different story than it is. The book opens on a strong, interesting note, and goes a bit downhill from there into the private dysfunctions of upper class liberals. There are some interesting side plots, but I tend to struggle with a book where I can't find much redeemable with the protagonists.
This book is very dialogue centered, with long stretches of conversations between characters. I find too much dialogue a bit tedious, and sometimes lose track of which character is actually speaking. The thing with this book is that the dialogue is probably one of the best parts, but I just find the characters so difficult to like that I am struggling to review the book fairly.
I will say that this is a well-written book, with some interesting premises. I just felt that thy weren't fully explored and it had the potential to be better than it was. That said, if you view it as a satire of the way upper class liberals behaved in late 2016/early 2017, it is a very funny skewering of that particular response, and becomes a very different book. Through that viewpoint, the book becomes exponentially better, but I couldn't quite tell if it was meant to be serious or not.
Overall I would say a solid 3 stars.
Thanks NetGalley and publishers for an ARC in exchange for an honest review
This is oddly interesting for a book without much of a plot and nobody to root for. And yet it is hard to look away. It is full of unlikable, self-centered people having excessively long conversations, mostly about themselves. The opening line, and the descriptions, make it sound like it will be a different story than it is. The book opens on a strong, interesting note, and goes a bit downhill from there into the private dysfunctions of upper class liberals. There are some interesting side plots, but I tend to struggle with a book where I can't find much redeemable with the protagonists.
This book is very dialogue centered, with long stretches of conversations between characters. I find too much dialogue a bit tedious, and sometimes lose track of which character is actually speaking. The thing with this book is that the dialogue is probably one of the best parts, but I just find the characters so difficult to like that I am struggling to review the book fairly.
I will say that this is a well-written book, with some interesting premises. I just felt that thy weren't fully explored and it had the potential to be better than it was. That said, if you view it as a satire of the way upper class liberals behaved in late 2016/early 2017, it is a very funny skewering of that particular response, and becomes a very different book. Through that viewpoint, the book becomes exponentially better, but I couldn't quite tell if it was meant to be serious or not.
Overall I would say a solid 3 stars.
Thanks NetGalley and publishers for an ARC in exchange for an honest review
December 18, 2020
2.5 stars.
One of the most utterly “meh” books I’ve ever forced my way through. It wasn’t such a terrible chore but I never enjoyed it and the real interesting stuff was just treated as side filler for these obnoxious mega wealthy privileged poorly written “intellectuals”. I never plan to read the author again and this and another utterly meh bad read I read just before it have cemented why I almost never read white male authors. Just ugh.
This also was was yet another book that isn’t really what the synopsis claims. Seeing that more and more lately and I always hate the books.
And our very average white dude author- holy shit, the drivel. But I feel like the real story is the places he shows away from. A remarkable lack of confidence or desire to push the novel anywhere truly worthwhile. I found that interesting. And perhaps telling.
Anyway, I’m so behind on reviews and literally writing from a hospital bed so while I hope and have notes for a longer review I just wanted to make sure I at least got a few thoughts down.
Not worth your time if you’re considering this one, though. In fact given the extremely political nature of the book, it ranks as literally the worst and most useless take on this era so read just about any other book- better yet by someone who isn’t a white Christian male. They’ve all got a lot more to say politically and won’t shy away like this author did. Race and AIDS and queerness pop up repeatedly in side characters. Our lead is Jewish and frankly even there the book didn’t remotely touch anything of substance or even to what actual Jewish experiences in the Trump era have been like. Hence my assumption the author is not himself Jewish. So the heck was I even reading this? Bumping down to 2 stars for this realization alone...
One of the most utterly “meh” books I’ve ever forced my way through. It wasn’t such a terrible chore but I never enjoyed it and the real interesting stuff was just treated as side filler for these obnoxious mega wealthy privileged poorly written “intellectuals”. I never plan to read the author again and this and another utterly meh bad read I read just before it have cemented why I almost never read white male authors. Just ugh.
This also was was yet another book that isn’t really what the synopsis claims. Seeing that more and more lately and I always hate the books.
And our very average white dude author- holy shit, the drivel. But I feel like the real story is the places he shows away from. A remarkable lack of confidence or desire to push the novel anywhere truly worthwhile. I found that interesting. And perhaps telling.
Anyway, I’m so behind on reviews and literally writing from a hospital bed so while I hope and have notes for a longer review I just wanted to make sure I at least got a few thoughts down.
Not worth your time if you’re considering this one, though. In fact given the extremely political nature of the book, it ranks as literally the worst and most useless take on this era so read just about any other book- better yet by someone who isn’t a white Christian male. They’ve all got a lot more to say politically and won’t shy away like this author did. Race and AIDS and queerness pop up repeatedly in side characters. Our lead is Jewish and frankly even there the book didn’t remotely touch anything of substance or even to what actual Jewish experiences in the Trump era have been like. Hence my assumption the author is not himself Jewish. So the heck was I even reading this? Bumping down to 2 stars for this realization alone...
May 1, 2021
Per me è stato abbastanza deludente. Presentato come uno sguardo sulla America liberal intellettuale del dopo elezioni di Trump, mi aspettavo una storia che davvero mostrasse il nervo scoperto di un mondo privilegiato (a cui sfacciatamente appartengono tutti i protagonisti del libro) colpito da un evento politico incompreso e inatteso. Invece ho trovato una trama abbastanza insulsa in cui ogni tanto capitano a caso dei riferimenti alle vicende in questione, senza mai un affondo significativo. Anzi sono le relazioni personali all’interno di questo gruppo che costituiscono il vero intreccio ma le motivazioni profonde dei singoli non emergono. Il libro secondo me si salva per la padronanza indiscutibile della scrittura e dei tanti dialoghi che la punteggiano. Capisco però di esprimere un giudizio forse non condivisibile.
April 2, 2023
Stel : Trump wint de verkiezingen in Amerika en je voelt je niet veilig meer in je eigen land, wat doe je dan ?
Je koopt een appartement in Venetië !
Een verhaal over de "rich and famous" en hun beslommeringen.
Veel gepraat en hier en daar een verrassende twist.
Je koopt een appartement in Venetië !
Een verhaal over de "rich and famous" en hun beslommeringen.
Veel gepraat en hier en daar een verrassende twist.
August 30, 2020
This is a charming book. There are a lot of interesting characters having interesting conversations. It's not much more than that. Definitely not a political satire, which is how it’s marketed. If you like stories about annoying rich New Yorkers and their problems who try to pretend they care about Trump’s rise to power while simultaneously spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on apartments in Venice and weekending to their second home in Connecticut then this is the book for you. If the point was to show that Neoliberal Capitalist elites are every bit as awful as their conservative counterparts, well...I already knew that. The book could have used a true leftist character or a lot more of Calvin, who only appears in one chapter. More of the secretary and her family would have been nice too.
This reminds me of Huxley's manners comedies. I mean that as a compliment.
This reminds me of Huxley's manners comedies. I mean that as a compliment.
May 24, 2020
Shelter in Place is set in a world completely unfamiliar to me, the New York City dwellers with second homes in Connecticut. David Leavitt creates a funny cast of characters in this book that gives shelter a new meaning. When Eva feels the US may become unsafe after Trump’s inauguration she seeks solace in the project of buying an apartment in Venice. Then she must have it redone by the decorator who has done all of her homes. This book was funny and the interiors were vivid!
December 3, 2021
Mi dispiace dirlo ma l’ho trovato di una noia mortale. Scrivere un romanzo con soli dialoghi è una scelta coraggiosa ma questi non coinvolgono affatto il lettore e anzi lasciano galleggiare la fragile storia in una dimensione indefinita e precaria. Ho simpatizzato molto con il personaggio che compra una casa a Venezia dove fuggire nel caso in cui la presidenza Trump si trasformasse in dittatura, visto che noi italiani potremmo ritrovarci Silvio Berlusconi come Presidente della Repubblica.
December 13, 2020
Now that the Trump administration is singing its swan song, it finally feels safe to read fiction about it. Shelter In Place has been described as a “comic portrait of the months immediately following the 2016 election”, but I must say I didn’t find it laugh-out-loud funny. It doesn’t quite manage to properly skewer the caricatures of the “elites”, and the satire is a bit too subtle for my taste. Still, humour (or lack thereof) aside, it’s a quick and compelling read, one that points to the timely issues of privilege and progressive politics.
My full review is up now on Keeping Up With The Penguins.
My full review is up now on Keeping Up With The Penguins.
December 7, 2020
This book went from one extreme to the other. Lowbrow to highbrow and back, like whiplash.
I was so completely offended by parts of it (to quote some of the characters, the "gory details", including some text message exchanges which no one should ever have to see) but then elsewhere there was so much hilarious witty banter that I laughed out loud several times, so when I came to another disgusting section I pushed through (as the author would say, no pun intended) and for the most part, it paid off.
The story starts out with the 2016 election: some liberal New Yorkers are so devastated with the outcome that they feel they may need to consider leaving the country. I really appreciated that even though the author seemed to sympathize with them for the most part (I am assuming, that's the impression I get), he also tells the story of their conservative next-door neighbors who are Trump supporters, but have children who hate Trump so much that they refuse to speak to their parents because they voted for him, and how hateful, ridiculous and childish that is. Thanks for that, David Leavitt. That happens so much, that, let's call it what it is, INTOLERANCE. Bravo to you for telling both sides.
I am hesitant to recommend, because as I said, there is subject matter in this book that is R-rated, vile and offensive. A lot of people who know me would probably be surprised that I liked it, actually, (if they read it) and even got past the first 10-15 pages. But I did, and I'm glad I persevered, because it was supremely entertaining and a lot of fun.
I was so completely offended by parts of it (to quote some of the characters, the "gory details", including some text message exchanges which no one should ever have to see) but then elsewhere there was so much hilarious witty banter that I laughed out loud several times, so when I came to another disgusting section I pushed through (as the author would say, no pun intended) and for the most part, it paid off.
The story starts out with the 2016 election: some liberal New Yorkers are so devastated with the outcome that they feel they may need to consider leaving the country. I really appreciated that even though the author seemed to sympathize with them for the most part (I am assuming, that's the impression I get), he also tells the story of their conservative next-door neighbors who are Trump supporters, but have children who hate Trump so much that they refuse to speak to their parents because they voted for him, and how hateful, ridiculous and childish that is. Thanks for that, David Leavitt. That happens so much, that, let's call it what it is, INTOLERANCE. Bravo to you for telling both sides.
I am hesitant to recommend, because as I said, there is subject matter in this book that is R-rated, vile and offensive. A lot of people who know me would probably be surprised that I liked it, actually, (if they read it) and even got past the first 10-15 pages. But I did, and I'm glad I persevered, because it was supremely entertaining and a lot of fun.
October 26, 2020
All my reviews can be found on my blog, He read, she read, at http://vickieonmarco.blogspot.com
The book opens with a group of Eva’s friends, devastated by the results of the 2016 presidential election, coming together at her country house in Connecticut to commiserate.
They are New Yorkers, living in a world of the arts, decorating, publishing, writing, and for Eva’s husband, Bruce, finance. It seems Eva is the Gertrude Lawrence to this non glitterati group; they all congregate at her homes, subservient to her control.
Convinced she must flee the horrors that await the new Administration, Eva is hell bent on purchasing an apartment in Venice as an escape. She in encouraged in this venture by her old friend, Min, who would love to spend time there. The catch is, she will only purchase it if her long time decorator, Jake, agrees to take on the project.
I enjoyed this novel with its breezy, witty dialog and, for the most part, “Rolex” or First World problems. It is an entertaining, distracting, fast read.
The book opens with a group of Eva’s friends, devastated by the results of the 2016 presidential election, coming together at her country house in Connecticut to commiserate.
They are New Yorkers, living in a world of the arts, decorating, publishing, writing, and for Eva’s husband, Bruce, finance. It seems Eva is the Gertrude Lawrence to this non glitterati group; they all congregate at her homes, subservient to her control.
Convinced she must flee the horrors that await the new Administration, Eva is hell bent on purchasing an apartment in Venice as an escape. She in encouraged in this venture by her old friend, Min, who would love to spend time there. The catch is, she will only purchase it if her long time decorator, Jake, agrees to take on the project.
I enjoyed this novel with its breezy, witty dialog and, for the most part, “Rolex” or First World problems. It is an entertaining, distracting, fast read.
May 25, 2020
I’m not entirely sure what this book was going for. Based on the description, I thought it’d be one thing, but it was something else. It was somewhat disjointed - many half stories without completion. The chapters jump around and seem unfinished.
A world of privilege, a sense of being owed something (many things) because of one’s status. A need for constant validation and getting it purely based on the company kept. The only characters that were remotely likable are Bruce and Jake - but neither of them are stand up men.
#ShelterinPlace #NetGalley
A world of privilege, a sense of being owed something (many things) because of one’s status. A need for constant validation and getting it purely based on the company kept. The only characters that were remotely likable are Bruce and Jake - but neither of them are stand up men.
#ShelterinPlace #NetGalley
Read
August 11, 2020Definitely not a political satire, which is how it’s marketed, but if you like stories about annoying rich New Yorkers and their problems who try to pretend they care about Trump’s rise to power while simultaneously spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on apartments in Venice and weekending to their second home in Connecticut...then this is the book for you! It was fine. Jake was a good character. I liked it. It was fine.
October 18, 2020
Slightly bitchy but real and oddly moving. There are two interesting surprises-- one is foreshadowed and keeps the reader intrigued. The other is smack out of the blue: a little sneaky but fun. Only flaws are perhaps a paucity of physical description, and a couple of extended soliloquies that don't quite feel realistic. But those are trivial complaints.
June 29, 2020
Rich people drama. Diverting and entertaining and Leavitt is a master storyteller.
If you are in the mood for liberal rich people and the way they live now in the Trump era , this is for you.
If you are in the mood for liberal rich people and the way they live now in the Trump era , this is for you.
November 16, 2020
Tiresome, petty. Couldn’t care less about the characters. Too bad because I’ve liked his other books.
February 18, 2021
Thank you @netgalley for the ARC, I wouldn't have known anything about this novel if I hadn't been looking through the lists of a new book to read and a new author to be exposed to.
Let me say this... The opening paragraph made me snort outloud.
The rest of the book not as much. Now that may seem cruel, it isn't. There are other reviews out there that will give you the synopsis and deeper dives into the content of the book... I am not here to rehash any of that information.
The book opens on the Saturday after the President is elected in 2016. Let it be said the main character of the book isn't too pleased and that is the basic premise of where the book takes us, I guess.
I appreciated that the characters were wealthy literary folk. It made the conversations and situations plausible and entertaining. I was transported to a part of New York Literati that I will never be able to experience. I felt very much like I was eavesdropping at a fancy restaurant on people I would never actually know.
Rich people.
Rich entitled people who can afford to by houses / apartments in another country and have their decorator fly to design the space. It was so out of my very own league that it made the concept of the book entertaining but maddening. I suppose reading it when the nightly podcasts and news tell me how many people are unemployed, reading about a character who buys an apartment in Venice because she nary wants to live in this country anymore under the current (as of November 2016) presidency rings a lot hollow to me. I wanted to like these characters... but I just couldn't. I couldn't get there. Plus all the characters were using one another in a way that just was so hollow. I don't think truly any of them like one another very much.
The writing and the dialogue is expansive, lovely and honestly what kept me engaged. But it was a hard one to finish for me. I just sorta stopped caring about the main characters and some of the secondary characters. Also some characters completely disappear. There is one ... who could have become a much bigger character I think... just sort of stopped being in the story. It was weird. So when the book ended and just kinda tidied everything up in a nice little bow I was satisfied.
I liked the book. It was good. Not great. It needed a little more zing and zang that I think a good decorator would give to a Venice apartment with bland beige walls and an overgrown garden could.
***spoiler and I promise my only one ***
There is one monologue in the story near the end that is touching as hell (in a way) but I wanted to punch the character because he was explaining why he didn't want to return to Venice. This is why the character is punch-able to me... His actions and the author choosing to have this character reveal that he had a lover who dies of AIDS but the character refused after that to ever get a test himself was completely offensive to me. I don't know what the point of that is. And it's never really explained and there is no repercussions for the character.
Which is kinda the way the book goes. Great promise... a couple of great potential storylines that just kinda didn't really go anywhere like I hoped.
Let me say this... The opening paragraph made me snort outloud.
The rest of the book not as much. Now that may seem cruel, it isn't. There are other reviews out there that will give you the synopsis and deeper dives into the content of the book... I am not here to rehash any of that information.
The book opens on the Saturday after the President is elected in 2016. Let it be said the main character of the book isn't too pleased and that is the basic premise of where the book takes us, I guess.
I appreciated that the characters were wealthy literary folk. It made the conversations and situations plausible and entertaining. I was transported to a part of New York Literati that I will never be able to experience. I felt very much like I was eavesdropping at a fancy restaurant on people I would never actually know.
Rich people.
Rich entitled people who can afford to by houses / apartments in another country and have their decorator fly to design the space. It was so out of my very own league that it made the concept of the book entertaining but maddening. I suppose reading it when the nightly podcasts and news tell me how many people are unemployed, reading about a character who buys an apartment in Venice because she nary wants to live in this country anymore under the current (as of November 2016) presidency rings a lot hollow to me. I wanted to like these characters... but I just couldn't. I couldn't get there. Plus all the characters were using one another in a way that just was so hollow. I don't think truly any of them like one another very much.
The writing and the dialogue is expansive, lovely and honestly what kept me engaged. But it was a hard one to finish for me. I just sorta stopped caring about the main characters and some of the secondary characters. Also some characters completely disappear. There is one ... who could have become a much bigger character I think... just sort of stopped being in the story. It was weird. So when the book ended and just kinda tidied everything up in a nice little bow I was satisfied.
I liked the book. It was good. Not great. It needed a little more zing and zang that I think a good decorator would give to a Venice apartment with bland beige walls and an overgrown garden could.
***spoiler and I promise my only one ***
There is one monologue in the story near the end that is touching as hell (in a way) but I wanted to punch the character because he was explaining why he didn't want to return to Venice. This is why the character is punch-able to me... His actions and the author choosing to have this character reveal that he had a lover who dies of AIDS but the character refused after that to ever get a test himself was completely offensive to me. I don't know what the point of that is. And it's never really explained and there is no repercussions for the character.
Which is kinda the way the book goes. Great promise... a couple of great potential storylines that just kinda didn't really go anywhere like I hoped.
August 24, 2020
This book vastly improved in the second half. The first half was very slow & I found myself nodding off no matter what time of day I tried to read, but I was completely engaged in the second half & it whizzed by. I think the problem is that this book was built around a theme instead of a plot or a character. The plot and the characters were then designed around that theme, which unfortunately led to a thin plot and very little character development. Instead of a central story, this book is more made of a series of vignettes. This series of conversations would have made a much better play than a novel.
April 10, 2022
Ho terminato questo libro con un senso di perplessità.
È il primo testo di Leavitt che leggo quindi non sapevo esattamente cosa aspettarmi.
Si tratta certo di un romanzo scorrevole, con accenni sofisticati ed un ottimo ritmo : i dialoghi in particolare sono brillanti, efficaci, cinematografici. Come altri hanno scritto sarebbe un testo ideale per una trasposizione televisiva.
Leavitt tratteggia con precisione il mondo artefatto e un po' ipocrita della buona borghesia di Manhattan: i protagonisti si muovono con apparente disinvoltura nella bolla dorata di ristoranti, attici prestigiosi e sontuosi palazzi fra New York, Connecticut e Venezia. Ogni possibile contaminazione con il mondo dei mortali viene gentilmente ma inevitabilmente allontanata (con un'unica significativa eccezione) : problemi come ammalarsi, restare senza un tetto sopra la testa o abbastanza denaro in banca sembrano non toccare Eva e la sua corte, il ché rende quantomeno difficile provare troppa simpatia per qualcuno di loro.
Lo sviluppo della trama renderà evidente quanto egualmente profondi siano in realtà i drammi di ciascuno dei personaggi, anche se non connessi alle necessità puramente primarie.
Un romanzo ben congegnato dunque, forse anche troppo: l'impressione che ne ho tratto é più quella di un'opera di mestiere, di un autore con stile e contenuti precisi e già stabiliti (forse già espressi in precedenza?).
Una lettura delle opere precedenti è d'obbligo: "Ballo di famiglia" é lì che aspetta sul comodino.
È il primo testo di Leavitt che leggo quindi non sapevo esattamente cosa aspettarmi.
Si tratta certo di un romanzo scorrevole, con accenni sofisticati ed un ottimo ritmo : i dialoghi in particolare sono brillanti, efficaci, cinematografici. Come altri hanno scritto sarebbe un testo ideale per una trasposizione televisiva.
Leavitt tratteggia con precisione il mondo artefatto e un po' ipocrita della buona borghesia di Manhattan: i protagonisti si muovono con apparente disinvoltura nella bolla dorata di ristoranti, attici prestigiosi e sontuosi palazzi fra New York, Connecticut e Venezia. Ogni possibile contaminazione con il mondo dei mortali viene gentilmente ma inevitabilmente allontanata (con un'unica significativa eccezione) : problemi come ammalarsi, restare senza un tetto sopra la testa o abbastanza denaro in banca sembrano non toccare Eva e la sua corte, il ché rende quantomeno difficile provare troppa simpatia per qualcuno di loro.
Lo sviluppo della trama renderà evidente quanto egualmente profondi siano in realtà i drammi di ciascuno dei personaggi, anche se non connessi alle necessità puramente primarie.
Un romanzo ben congegnato dunque, forse anche troppo: l'impressione che ne ho tratto é più quella di un'opera di mestiere, di un autore con stile e contenuti precisi e già stabiliti (forse già espressi in precedenza?).
Una lettura delle opere precedenti è d'obbligo: "Ballo di famiglia" é lì che aspetta sul comodino.
October 13, 2020
3.5 stars - This is a mostly charming book filled to the brim with great dialogue and quite the cast of characters.
This book centers around a middle-aged group of friends and the first page immediately starts off in November of 2016 when Trump wins the presidency. The group is devastated but move on with their privileged lives as they shift in other ways. One buys a house in Venice, another decides to give his secretary money for cancer treatments, one loses a job, another gains a job, one starts and affair, while another ends one. These friends are continually a part of each other’s lives even through their changes.
This book seems to be almost all told with great dialogue that is clever and quick-paced. I would get lost in the fun conversations during their dinner parties in which everyone was speaking at the same time and it felt like a genuine get-together.
The characters are mostly unlikeable, but the older I get the more I realize that doesn’t entirely matter as much. It’s still a great cast and the characters feed off of each other well.
Finding the differences between a house and home is a pretty big theme in this book. From stately Connecticut homes, shabby NYC studios, dilapidated Venice apartments, to luxurious hotel rooms, we are constantly going from one setting to another and comparing them. What makes someone feel comfortable in a place? Is it living with family or alone? Is the space immaculately decorated by a designer or is it filled with your own things? The characters are all trying to figure this question out in their own lives throughout this book.
Thank you to @netgalley and @bloomsburypublishing for the chance to review this delightful book.
This book centers around a middle-aged group of friends and the first page immediately starts off in November of 2016 when Trump wins the presidency. The group is devastated but move on with their privileged lives as they shift in other ways. One buys a house in Venice, another decides to give his secretary money for cancer treatments, one loses a job, another gains a job, one starts and affair, while another ends one. These friends are continually a part of each other’s lives even through their changes.
This book seems to be almost all told with great dialogue that is clever and quick-paced. I would get lost in the fun conversations during their dinner parties in which everyone was speaking at the same time and it felt like a genuine get-together.
The characters are mostly unlikeable, but the older I get the more I realize that doesn’t entirely matter as much. It’s still a great cast and the characters feed off of each other well.
Finding the differences between a house and home is a pretty big theme in this book. From stately Connecticut homes, shabby NYC studios, dilapidated Venice apartments, to luxurious hotel rooms, we are constantly going from one setting to another and comparing them. What makes someone feel comfortable in a place? Is it living with family or alone? Is the space immaculately decorated by a designer or is it filled with your own things? The characters are all trying to figure this question out in their own lives throughout this book.
Thank you to @netgalley and @bloomsburypublishing for the chance to review this delightful book.
July 6, 2020
It's been a long time since I've read a David Leavitt novel, but now I want to read the ones I missed. SHELTER IN PLACE was a pitch-perfect satire of a privileged group of friends after the Trump election. It would be easy for me to accuse these characters of being ridiculous--except I know people who actually behave like this, so the book struck me as being refreshingly honest about the hypocrisy and self-entitled nonsense that exists in post-Trump America.
My favorite character was Eva, whose rants about the political climate of the country set the tone for the rest of the book. To counter her arguments, the book has a couple of Republican characters who think Eva's outrage is unfounded and over-the-top. And indeed, Eva is an over-the-top character. She's decided to buy and redecorate a new home in Venice so she can escape the fall of democracy in the U.S. What makes Eva so interesting is that she's completely oblivious to her own sense of entitlement. She's the type of person I would hate in real life, but as a character, she's fascinating.
I also enjoyed the text message exchanges with Jake, the gay interior decorator, and his virtual boyfriend Simon. Jake brings some levity to the novel; his relationship issues were one of the more serious parts of the novel.
With humorous dialogue throughout the book, SHELTER IN PLACE shines a mirror on the cultural elite. Not everyone will like this tongue-in-cheek book, but I hope it finds its niche. It's very clever.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
My favorite character was Eva, whose rants about the political climate of the country set the tone for the rest of the book. To counter her arguments, the book has a couple of Republican characters who think Eva's outrage is unfounded and over-the-top. And indeed, Eva is an over-the-top character. She's decided to buy and redecorate a new home in Venice so she can escape the fall of democracy in the U.S. What makes Eva so interesting is that she's completely oblivious to her own sense of entitlement. She's the type of person I would hate in real life, but as a character, she's fascinating.
I also enjoyed the text message exchanges with Jake, the gay interior decorator, and his virtual boyfriend Simon. Jake brings some levity to the novel; his relationship issues were one of the more serious parts of the novel.
With humorous dialogue throughout the book, SHELTER IN PLACE shines a mirror on the cultural elite. Not everyone will like this tongue-in-cheek book, but I hope it finds its niche. It's very clever.
Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
January 11, 2021
Ultimo romanzo di uno scrittore che agli esordi avevo molto amato ma che poi si era perso per strada. In molti hanno visto in questo libro la rinascita di David Leavitt ma onestamente la lettura mi ha soddisfatto a metà. Pagine e capitoli di dialoghi che forniscono sicuramente uno spaccato preciso della vacuità dell'alta borghesia newyorkese, poiché in gran parte si discute del nulla e i personaggi si parlano uno sopra l'altro tanto che a volte viene difficile capire chi sta realmente dicendo cosa. La lettura scorre veloce, il romanzo è scritto bene e alcune battute restano impresse ma alla fine rimane un po' qual senso di vuoto che ti spinge a chiedere "ma alla fine cos'ho letto?". Bisogna arrivare praticamente alla fine del libro per capire le motivazioni di Jake e della sua "avversione" per Venezia e in quelle pagine a tratti pare di ritrovare quel Leavitt che tanto avevamo ammirato agli esordi della carriera. Il resto, se si fa eccezione per quei capitoli in cui si narrano le vicende di Bruce e della segretaria, si legge e si dimentica dopo qualche istante. Con un personaggio, quello di Eva, cui tutti ruotano intorno, che si fa sempre più insopportabile man mano che si procede, con le sue idee balzane e il suo modo di pensare e di conseguenza agire che tanto ricorda i radical chic di Tom Wolfe (e ovviamente non è un complimento). L'intenzione di Leavitt è probabilmente quella di trasmetterci l'inutilità dei personaggi e quindi del perché Trump abbia vinto le elezioni del 2016 e in questo senso c'è perfettamente riuscito ma l'approfondimento psicologico dei personaggi dei suoi primi libri resta un lontano ricordo.
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