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Jacket Weather
Nick Hornby meets Patti Smith, Mean Streets meets A Visit From the Goon Squad in this quintessential New York City story about two people who knew each other in the downtown music scene in the 1980s, meet again in the present day, and fall in love.
Mike knew June in New York's downtown music scene in the eighties. Back then, he thought she was "the living night--all the glamour and potential of a New York night when you're 25." Now he's twice divorced and happy to be alone--so happy he's writing a book about it. Then he meets June again. "And here she was with a raincoat over the back of the chair talking about getting a divorce and saying she's done with relationships. Her ice-calm eyes are the same, the same her glory of curls."
Jacket Weather is about awakening to love--dizzying, all-consuming, worldview-shaking love--when it's least expected. It's also about remaining alert to today's pleasures--exploring the city, observing the seasons, listening to the guys at the gym--while time is slipping away. Told in fragments of narrative, reveries, recipes, bits of conversation and snatches of weather, the book collapses a decade in Mike and June's life and shifts a reader to a glowing nostalgia for the present.
Mike knew June in New York's downtown music scene in the eighties. Back then, he thought she was "the living night--all the glamour and potential of a New York night when you're 25." Now he's twice divorced and happy to be alone--so happy he's writing a book about it. Then he meets June again. "And here she was with a raincoat over the back of the chair talking about getting a divorce and saying she's done with relationships. Her ice-calm eyes are the same, the same her glory of curls."
Jacket Weather is about awakening to love--dizzying, all-consuming, worldview-shaking love--when it's least expected. It's also about remaining alert to today's pleasures--exploring the city, observing the seasons, listening to the guys at the gym--while time is slipping away. Told in fragments of narrative, reveries, recipes, bits of conversation and snatches of weather, the book collapses a decade in Mike and June's life and shifts a reader to a glowing nostalgia for the present.
272 pages, Paperback
Published October 12, 2021
34 people are currently reading
5141 people want to read
About the author
Mike DeCapite
7 books66 followersMike DeCapite is the author of the novel Through the Windshield, the chapbooks Travel Notes, Sitting Pretty, and Creamsicle Blue, and the short-prose collection Radiant Fog. His novel Jacket Weather was published by Soft Skull Press in October 2021.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 111 reviews
June 28, 2021
Jacket Weather reads like an elegiac memoir, a love affair between Mike and June, two soul mates in their 50's, but also between the two of them and the City. Beautifully written, it covers Mike's life in the areas that mean the most to him -- his reunion with the woman he'd known 30 years previously, trips to his original hometown of Cleveland, and his friendships in the YMCA, locker room chat that covers what they made for dinner last night and will make tonight, pasta in all its glory and preparations, and some truly hilariously means of dealing with "gravy." The New York City weather plays a huge role, usually involving storms and "lemon-grey" skies. Also loved the views seen from the window of his Williamsburg apartment with his view of the lights changing on the Empire State Building and the loss of view of Chrysler Building thanks to another black glass tower that seems to erase the structure (my personal favorite) from view. There were many favorite lines, but I'll limit it to: "It's one of these New York conversations you can't tell if she's bored or fascinated. It's a little of both. Bored fascination." But then the line "Humid air blowing up the subway stairs smells like the pachyderm house at the zoo" makes me want to book a flight to JFK now that the City is opening up once again.
April 17, 2023
"Wherever you are in New York you are at the heart of it. New York is holographic. Every part contains the whole."
I am not sure if others will love this book as much as I do, so much of it resonated for me so intensely, so personally that I felt the story sink into my skin. This is a love story, or more accurately a series of love stories.
First, it is a love letter to a New York that is almost gone. The hundred year old Italian sandwich shops and Ukrainian diners, and bars with cheap beer open until 4 am, and the grimy gyms with members 20 to 90 in their towels and jockstraps debating where to get the best capicola, and the rent control, and the perfection of the sun setting over the Hudson before Hudson Yards blocked the view. The harder we try to grab it and anchor that late 20th century NYC magic (and it was magic) the faster it runs through our fingers. This is the author's romance with this city, but it looks a lot like my own. He and I are roughly the same age, and we got to NYC around the same time I believe, the late 80's. Based on his storytelling I am guessing we were in a lot of the same bars seeing a lot of the same shows and eating in a lot of the same restaurants at odd times of the day and night.
The second love story is between Mike and June. June was a cool punk girl in the 80s, one Mike admired from afar and it turns out that though she was hooking up with lots of musicians she thought he was cute too. They find each other again by accident 30 years later, now in their 50's just as June is divorcing, and after Mike has divorced twice. Initially they bond over the glories of being single in the city (DeCapite references Vivian Gornick's Odd Woman and the City, describes it perfectly, but never uses its name and recommends June read it -- I loved that because through his understanding of that book and why it would matter to June he shows us how much he respects women and their autonomy, and that is a rare thing.) Of course this bonding over new singlehood quickly turns to longing. June resists, she wants to be single, but eventually they fall into romance. Sex filled days and nights, 40-block walks, finding ways to justify being together all the time, confessional conversations, but June keeps inserting distance between them. Mike lays his longing bare for the reader, and would make himself just as vulnerable to June if only she would let him. Instead she cuts off talk of love and permanence. Like the disappearing wonder of late 20th century New York June also falls apart if she is grasped too hard. And June is not just June, she is a piece of that moment in the City that he is trying to recapture. The love for June and for New York is not separable, it is all of a piece, and it is all ephemeral. Mike broke my heart longing for any signs of permanence, rejoicing over a bottle of conditioner left in his tub. We get the impression that June also loves Mike, but that the urge to have her own life not tied to a man is real, that she needs that autonomy. And we see that Mike respects that need for autonomy, respects June, but also would do about anything not to lose her.
The third love story is between the characters and great food (there is a lot of restaurant and recipe talk among the men), great music of many genres, and great books of many sorts. The lists of references warmed my soul, there was nary a band or restaurant, or city view mentioned that not part of my NYC mental scrapbook. (Mike's thoughts on "Don't Stop Believing" alone would have made me love this book - lord I hate that song and Mike's wonderings about it made me feel seen!)
For me this is an indisputable 5-star even though I was not happy with the ending. I loved this book. I suspect a lot of people will not understand the characters or the things they love and long for. For me, I understood every word, felt every word. Like June my life was saved by rock and roll. Like Mike watching the sun rise under the bridges raises the same goosebumps, the same ache as a lover's finger trailing down my arm, and like Mike the thought for me of losing either (and the certain knowledge that eventually I will) creates the same knot in my chest. I feel like I just read a friend.
I am not sure if others will love this book as much as I do, so much of it resonated for me so intensely, so personally that I felt the story sink into my skin. This is a love story, or more accurately a series of love stories.
First, it is a love letter to a New York that is almost gone. The hundred year old Italian sandwich shops and Ukrainian diners, and bars with cheap beer open until 4 am, and the grimy gyms with members 20 to 90 in their towels and jockstraps debating where to get the best capicola, and the rent control, and the perfection of the sun setting over the Hudson before Hudson Yards blocked the view. The harder we try to grab it and anchor that late 20th century NYC magic (and it was magic) the faster it runs through our fingers. This is the author's romance with this city, but it looks a lot like my own. He and I are roughly the same age, and we got to NYC around the same time I believe, the late 80's. Based on his storytelling I am guessing we were in a lot of the same bars seeing a lot of the same shows and eating in a lot of the same restaurants at odd times of the day and night.
The second love story is between Mike and June. June was a cool punk girl in the 80s, one Mike admired from afar and it turns out that though she was hooking up with lots of musicians she thought he was cute too. They find each other again by accident 30 years later, now in their 50's just as June is divorcing, and after Mike has divorced twice. Initially they bond over the glories of being single in the city (DeCapite references Vivian Gornick's Odd Woman and the City, describes it perfectly, but never uses its name and recommends June read it -- I loved that because through his understanding of that book and why it would matter to June he shows us how much he respects women and their autonomy, and that is a rare thing.) Of course this bonding over new singlehood quickly turns to longing. June resists, she wants to be single, but eventually they fall into romance. Sex filled days and nights, 40-block walks, finding ways to justify being together all the time, confessional conversations, but June keeps inserting distance between them. Mike lays his longing bare for the reader, and would make himself just as vulnerable to June if only she would let him. Instead she cuts off talk of love and permanence. Like the disappearing wonder of late 20th century New York June also falls apart if she is grasped too hard. And June is not just June, she is a piece of that moment in the City that he is trying to recapture. The love for June and for New York is not separable, it is all of a piece, and it is all ephemeral. Mike broke my heart longing for any signs of permanence, rejoicing over a bottle of conditioner left in his tub. We get the impression that June also loves Mike, but that the urge to have her own life not tied to a man is real, that she needs that autonomy. And we see that Mike respects that need for autonomy, respects June, but also would do about anything not to lose her.
The third love story is between the characters and great food (there is a lot of restaurant and recipe talk among the men), great music of many genres, and great books of many sorts. The lists of references warmed my soul, there was nary a band or restaurant, or city view mentioned that not part of my NYC mental scrapbook. (Mike's thoughts on "Don't Stop Believing" alone would have made me love this book - lord I hate that song and Mike's wonderings about it made me feel seen!)
For me this is an indisputable 5-star even though I was not happy with the ending. I loved this book. I suspect a lot of people will not understand the characters or the things they love and long for. For me, I understood every word, felt every word. Like June my life was saved by rock and roll. Like Mike watching the sun rise under the bridges raises the same goosebumps, the same ache as a lover's finger trailing down my arm, and like Mike the thought for me of losing either (and the certain knowledge that eventually I will) creates the same knot in my chest. I feel like I just read a friend.
January 1, 2022
This is one of those surprises. I discovered this novel by accident, just drawn by the title, and for me, it was darn near perfect. A beautiful novel of a second chance love affair told by Mike, in brief vignettes, about the love of his life, June. It’s also a love letter to NYC, to music, to the weather. The dialogue is fantastic, the writing is gorgeous, music fills its pages, and friendships, and small talk and food are celebrated. I just could not have loved it more.
February 3, 2022
Jacket Weather is about two people who met in the 1980s in New York City’s downtown music scene, fell in love, went their separate ways and reconnect in the 2010s, finding that their love is still there. How nice to read a book where two people in their fifties can have such a deep passion and desire for one another. Mike and June. A true New York love story.
The storytelling tended to be a bit disjointed with passages being more poetic than straight prose. This might be an issue for some readers.
There are some good discussions of music and the names of the groups will either have you drawing a big blank or give you a big smile. When Mike goes through June’s old concert ticket stubs she has held onto, I couldn’t help but try to remember which of the shows I might have gone to. So it’s helpful if you can connect to the characters, the New York City of yesterday and today. And there’s lots of discussion about food – including references to a number of excellent NYC Italian restaurants. Take notes.
Having some understanding of Mike DeCapite’s world makes for a more enjoyable read.
Rated 3.5 stars.
The storytelling tended to be a bit disjointed with passages being more poetic than straight prose. This might be an issue for some readers.
There are some good discussions of music and the names of the groups will either have you drawing a big blank or give you a big smile. When Mike goes through June’s old concert ticket stubs she has held onto, I couldn’t help but try to remember which of the shows I might have gone to. So it’s helpful if you can connect to the characters, the New York City of yesterday and today. And there’s lots of discussion about food – including references to a number of excellent NYC Italian restaurants. Take notes.
Having some understanding of Mike DeCapite’s world makes for a more enjoyable read.
Rated 3.5 stars.
June 9, 2021
I wanted to like this book. The setting and storyline appealed to me, but I knew after the first few pages it was not for me. The writing style is very scattered making it difficult to follow the characters or the story; not to mention lots of name dropping of (famous?) people which added to the confusion. (Will these names come up again? What is their relationship to the narrator, the others?) I kept reading, through the first chapter (p. 43) to see if it got better...it didn't.
dnf
October 11, 2021DNF'd at 20%. I can see people really enjoying the writing style but this just isn't for me. It's just words on a page.
November 17, 2021
This is perhaps the most pointless book my eyes have ever grazed upon
October 10, 2021
JACKET WEATHER by Mike DeCapite is a scrumptious novel that’s like taking a bite out of the big apple! I loved it! It’s set in New York City, and it’s about a couple, Mike and June. I loved the autobiographical characterization of Mike and the older ages of all the characters. I loved the writing style that was tiny vignettes of everyday life. All the talk of cooking pasta dinners made me hungry and all the musical references made me thankful there’s a playlist included for this book. This novel is a love letter to New York about a remarkable love story. Highly recommend!!
.
Thank you to Soft Skull Press for my advance reading copy!
.
Thank you to Soft Skull Press for my advance reading copy!
July 24, 2021
Jacket Weather is less about the story and more about the motions and ambience of daily living-- fifty-something narrator Mike, named after the author, spends his days reconnecting with an old flame, trading Italian recipes with his friends at the gym, and observing the changes in seasons and settings around him in New York City. Jacket Weather is filled with good conversation, sparse yet vibrant prose, and holds a sort of giddiness displaying how we don't always necessarily grow old, not on the inside.
November 18, 2021
Maybe it's because I'm spinning on the edge a certain age and recognize behavior that both I, and friends of mine, exhibit; Maybe the idea of new love with an old friend is an idea I like. Whatever the case, I can't say enough about DeCapite's novel. This book is filled with observations and dialogue that has to be read aloud to get. The writing is crisp. The observations sharp.
Drop what you are doing, go out and buy this book today, right now.
Drop what you are doing, go out and buy this book today, right now.
October 12, 2022
3.5 stars. This audiobook didn’t really have a plot as such, it was mainly just descriptions of everyday events. It was charming, though, and I liked the references to music and the name-checking of bands. Short and sweet with decent narration—he reminded me of Al Pacino.
December 20, 2022
This was very yikes. I did not enjoy.
October 15, 2021
Jacket weather is astounding. A story, yes, but also conversations, musings, observations. A love letter to a woman, good friends, good food, New York, and simply being alive. Occasional sentences so starkly profound that you just drop the book to let your mind follow the prompts, but then continue on because you are compelled to see what happens next. It’s is a book that makes it seem as if you’re overhearing a private conversation that you become a part of. It sticks with you. I hope there will be more to come.
January 23, 2024
Well... It’s a real page turner but in the sense that you cannot wait to finish so you never have to read or think about it again. At moments, Mike and June’s relationship were tender and sweet, but I was grasping on to those brief moments of significance to make up for the other 253 pages I had to deal with. I don’t even know what plot was… oh wait, there wasn’t one! I guess that was the point... Perhaps I wasn’t the target audience and that’s okay. I appreciated the real life moments but not so much of the repetitive conversations about cooking pasta with his friend Lou. I have an 8 am class tomorrow. I will never know why I stayed up late to finish this book. I will be old one day like the characters in this book and still not know. Then again to each their own!
November 20, 2021
This is one of the best books of the year. DeCapite's writing is flawless. A clever book about a couple that meets again after more than twenty years. It takes place in New York, the city becoming a character itself.The narrative is fragmented and the cast of characters appear and disappear from the scene, giving the narrative a theatrical atmosphere.
Highly recommend it. Definitely, a character driven book that literary fiction readers will really enjoy and appreciate. Loved it!
Highly recommend it. Definitely, a character driven book that literary fiction readers will really enjoy and appreciate. Loved it!
November 4, 2023
If you KNOW New York (not the tourists spots but the spots and routines of people who’ve lived 40+ years there) you’ll feel at home. But that’s it, you’ll feel at home. Not excited, not passionate. Also lots of reference to mortality which is real and gives me perspective but at the end of the day is pretty morbid to read. Not the crazy romance they advertised but after all, I only bought this for the cover.
February 9, 2022
DeCapite’s aria to NYC most pushes edges of realism and emotion into hybrid autofiction/memoir. The city is co-protagonist as narrator Mike re-finds romance, and life enriches his eye for the shifting of light, especially in Manhattan’s fall season. He sings the lyricism of the street: “Leaves utterly yellow, sky utter blue. It stops me inside. And that effect reminds me it’s me in there, and not some imposter. At the same time, this sight goes so deep, so far back, that am I even me anymore, at that point?” It’s the autumn of life and love for the “me” of Mike. Clear and cool “jacket weather” is all those autumns and more. Shuffling alternately hyper/atmospheric passages, DeCapite also has an ear for dialog, and a taste for Italian dishes. As DeCapite has said, “The book is about me the way a poem is about the poet.”
January 6, 2023
This book is truly remarkable. Simple, elegant, and unlike anything I’ve ever seen. Captures the small moments of New York City, and what it feels like to be in love. So good.
December 8, 2021
wonderful writing style that might not speak to all, but it definitely spoke to me. so many beautiful lines that hit me right in the chest
October 4, 2021
Look. I started this book last night around 1 a.m. after Saturday Night Live and stayed up until around 4 reading it. Then I picked it up again this morning and finished it around 5 this evening.
It's...New York. It's the older man in the jean jacket sitting next to me at the bar on a Friday night. It's the guy running the sound board at the Mercury Lounge. It's the lady who is always checking the guest list at the Bowery Ballroom. It's a NEW YORK [all caps] book. It's CBGBs, it's Mars Bar, it's Trash and Vaudeville Jimmy standing there in those leather pants.
The writing style is original and I loved it. It was exactly like talking to a New Yorker. The conversations about food, the food prep, the cost, the prep of the food, the location to get the better price of said food. The naked men in the YMCA.
It's not going to be a book for everyone. New York is not for everyone. And that's fine. It chews people up and spits them out. Only the strong survive - and this book is no different. It's for real ones.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.
It's...New York. It's the older man in the jean jacket sitting next to me at the bar on a Friday night. It's the guy running the sound board at the Mercury Lounge. It's the lady who is always checking the guest list at the Bowery Ballroom. It's a NEW YORK [all caps] book. It's CBGBs, it's Mars Bar, it's Trash and Vaudeville Jimmy standing there in those leather pants.
The writing style is original and I loved it. It was exactly like talking to a New Yorker. The conversations about food, the food prep, the cost, the prep of the food, the location to get the better price of said food. The naked men in the YMCA.
It's not going to be a book for everyone. New York is not for everyone. And that's fine. It chews people up and spits them out. Only the strong survive - and this book is no different. It's for real ones.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this book.
April 6, 2022
Yes, this is filed under romance in most libraries; that's not really what I walked away from it thinking about, though. I walked away thinking about the shortness of life, the importance of friendships, and the neuroses that plague so many of us over things that are objectively almost nothing. So, if you want a romance book, technically this is one, but goddamn, there is so much more than that in this 250 page novel.
Our story is set in modern day New York City, in multiple boroughs. The characters are largely Jewish and/or Italian, and both cultures' foods play a huge part in both the bonding of the characters AND the humor.
But let's talk about the humor a little bit - I'm not necessarily a raving Hemingway fan, but if you've read his books, he sets things out fairly straight - like how masters of sarcasm say something obviously untrue, and maybe even inflammatory, with a 100% smile-free face and somehow it just makes you light up or even double over - THAT is how DeCapite lays out humor in his book. Surrounding dialogue, there's nothing to suggest that the passage is supposed to be funny, but it just builds up and gets more and more ridiculous until you've got your hand over your mouth and your shoulders are shaking in a crowded and yet somehow completely silent coffee shop. Not based on a true story.
But also, to get the humor you've got to pay close attention to the characters - what they say or do, or what their words or actions imply about their feelings or past, things like that. I had to re-read a couple passages, but take ot from me, if you really think as you're reading this, you'll get images of characters that rival those of impenetrable 1000 page tomes.
A last thought before I sign off is that this novel is more of a portrait than a story - if the two are even different. I'd recommend this to people who have storms broiling in them all the time, to people who are afraid to plan further than tomorrow, to people who love fun, to those who feel they can't find any fun, to those who are old and worrying about their health, to the young who SHOULD be worried about their health, and finally, to anyone who really loves Italian food. Oh yeah, have a pen and paper handy, because you'll be getting about 50 recipes and names of restaurants in NYC.
This book is a highly successful microcosm of a life, and disregard that paragraph above, because I'd recommend it to basically everyone.
Stay well, y'all.
MGA
Our story is set in modern day New York City, in multiple boroughs. The characters are largely Jewish and/or Italian, and both cultures' foods play a huge part in both the bonding of the characters AND the humor.
But let's talk about the humor a little bit - I'm not necessarily a raving Hemingway fan, but if you've read his books, he sets things out fairly straight - like how masters of sarcasm say something obviously untrue, and maybe even inflammatory, with a 100% smile-free face and somehow it just makes you light up or even double over - THAT is how DeCapite lays out humor in his book. Surrounding dialogue, there's nothing to suggest that the passage is supposed to be funny, but it just builds up and gets more and more ridiculous until you've got your hand over your mouth and your shoulders are shaking in a crowded and yet somehow completely silent coffee shop. Not based on a true story.
But also, to get the humor you've got to pay close attention to the characters - what they say or do, or what their words or actions imply about their feelings or past, things like that. I had to re-read a couple passages, but take ot from me, if you really think as you're reading this, you'll get images of characters that rival those of impenetrable 1000 page tomes.
A last thought before I sign off is that this novel is more of a portrait than a story - if the two are even different. I'd recommend this to people who have storms broiling in them all the time, to people who are afraid to plan further than tomorrow, to people who love fun, to those who feel they can't find any fun, to those who are old and worrying about their health, to the young who SHOULD be worried about their health, and finally, to anyone who really loves Italian food. Oh yeah, have a pen and paper handy, because you'll be getting about 50 recipes and names of restaurants in NYC.
This book is a highly successful microcosm of a life, and disregard that paragraph above, because I'd recommend it to basically everyone.
Stay well, y'all.
MGA
April 30, 2022
I read this slowly savoring the often poetic writing, delicious observations and anecdotes. No fast driving story here, but somehow still hard to put down. Observations that could become too overly romantic and sweet in another writers hands are tapered by reality and an edge.
Sometimes the wealth of characters and energy of NYC here made me wish I lived in a big city again, spoiled with all there is to observe in any corner. His few anecdotes (how to better describe them?) about the suburbs are lonely and sad. Walgreens at night hilarious and painfully true. (Makes me wonder what kind of terrible boring suburb he’s from originally. They aren’t all quite as sad and boring as this.)
I love the old guys at the Y and laughed at all of Lou’s voicemails. I loved that the romance was middle aged, and acted like 20 something first love, but more painfully aware of time as your are.
I wasn’t that interested in June herself- not because she’s not interesting, but because we didn’t get enough of her to really care. We learn about unusual exciting or painful events in her past and hear funny or endearing lines about her, but we never really know her. So it’s hard to feel exactly what it is that makes him so heartbreakingly invested now. He describes the intoxication of being in early love perfectly with the whole vulnerable truth, and it’s more about that than who June really is and whether or how we feel about her.
I read so many passages out loud to my husband and we laughed at so many on point observations and swooned over the writing. Overall a realization of the need for mindfulness, presence to have any quality of life as we become more aware of the march of time. A truly one of a kind read. Don’t expect a typical structure, but trust that each line and anecdote and observation somehow works together as a collection.
Sometimes the wealth of characters and energy of NYC here made me wish I lived in a big city again, spoiled with all there is to observe in any corner. His few anecdotes (how to better describe them?) about the suburbs are lonely and sad. Walgreens at night hilarious and painfully true. (Makes me wonder what kind of terrible boring suburb he’s from originally. They aren’t all quite as sad and boring as this.)
I love the old guys at the Y and laughed at all of Lou’s voicemails. I loved that the romance was middle aged, and acted like 20 something first love, but more painfully aware of time as your are.
I wasn’t that interested in June herself- not because she’s not interesting, but because we didn’t get enough of her to really care. We learn about unusual exciting or painful events in her past and hear funny or endearing lines about her, but we never really know her. So it’s hard to feel exactly what it is that makes him so heartbreakingly invested now. He describes the intoxication of being in early love perfectly with the whole vulnerable truth, and it’s more about that than who June really is and whether or how we feel about her.
I read so many passages out loud to my husband and we laughed at so many on point observations and swooned over the writing. Overall a realization of the need for mindfulness, presence to have any quality of life as we become more aware of the march of time. A truly one of a kind read. Don’t expect a typical structure, but trust that each line and anecdote and observation somehow works together as a collection.
April 8, 2022
I picked this up on a total whim after Anne Bogel mentioned it on What Should I Read Next? as a potential read-alike for Catcher in the Rye. I am one of the few people I know who liked Catcher in the Rye, and it turns out I am the exact right reader for this book, too. For me, the appeal is in the New York City setting. I moved out of the Hudson Valley, about 90 miles north of NYC, a decade ago, and I love reading books that re-connect me to my home state. I could see the streets and landmarks of New York as the author described them, and that was really enjoyable. The writing is also just the right mix of poetic and straightforward. It was quick to read, but there were also a lot of simply beautiful lines that I highlighted. Here are just a few of the little moments in the book that especially resonated with me:
"July’s July. Every July is all Julys. I sort my memories by the month. By the season. Don’t we all?"
"Some things, when you notice them, turn out to have been ongoing."
"The year for me is a continual recycling of microseasons and weathers and specificities of light I experienced before I was 20."
"June says “I don’t know when the world changed.” “Because it happens gradually. Step by step, you go from the inside to the outside. Life is a process of being gently shown the door."
"There’s only us and only now. And if we can stay here, it’ll always be now, and if it’s always now, we can stay."
I didn't really get Salinger vibes from the book, but I did really, really love it.
"July’s July. Every July is all Julys. I sort my memories by the month. By the season. Don’t we all?"
"Some things, when you notice them, turn out to have been ongoing."
"The year for me is a continual recycling of microseasons and weathers and specificities of light I experienced before I was 20."
"June says “I don’t know when the world changed.” “Because it happens gradually. Step by step, you go from the inside to the outside. Life is a process of being gently shown the door."
"There’s only us and only now. And if we can stay here, it’ll always be now, and if it’s always now, we can stay."
I didn't really get Salinger vibes from the book, but I did really, really love it.
November 28, 2021
I really wanted to like this book. The premise intrigued me. I love a good exploration of a relationship over time. I’ve also enjoyed books written in a similar type of prose in the past. Still, I could not get into this one. I didn’t connect with any of the characters and everything felt much too disjointed. For me, the cover aesthetic, was the best part.
December 7, 2021
(2.5) i really wanted to like it but the writing style just wasn’t for me. very hard to keep up with.
January 18, 2022
Beautiful story but it took me a while to get used to the writing style. I thought it was a bit confusing and I didn't get many of the references (name droppings).
September 20, 2022
no plot (which can work sometimes, but in this case it simply did not), shrouded in egoism, made me feel like i was being talked down to, overall painfully frustrating. this book was a waste of paper
August 10, 2022
I can't remember who or what recommended this book to me. And honestly, when I first started reading, I thought I might not finish it. (I even put it away for a few weeks in the middle.) It has an extremely unique style. It is not a novel, despite the declaration on the cover. I would call it a memoir, albeit a different take even on that. All of that being said, I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
It is about the anecdotes and observations, the people and places, the stories and the moments of every day life. And in particular, life in New York City, largely with Italian and/or Jewish characters, and lots and lots of food. While I am "of a certain age" and recognize the similarities in our anxieties and approach to life, I also was stopped in my tracks by the beauty (& originality) of the writing. The dialogue is truly amazing. You feel like you are there eavesdropping while others live their lives. And, some of the observations, while a bit jarring in context, are truly breathtaking. I found myself stopping to contemplate sentences, the words so precisely constructed that they evoke an immediate, visceral reaction. I actually started writing my favorites down in a notebook. Here's a sampling:
* Happiness is just a change in the light.
*Men go on dreaming and pitying themselves, while women turn the crank that makes the world go round.
*The kind of days you'll remember forever and forget by tomorrow.
*It's the card you mailed in childhood that dropped into your box today.
*Anything can happen anytime.
*Isn't the past just the present, minus the uncertainty?
This is definitely a book you will either love or hate. Kind of like New York City itself. I'm on the loving side and hope that the author continues to share his observations and thoughts on the small and large parts of our collective, and often crazy, human existence.
It is about the anecdotes and observations, the people and places, the stories and the moments of every day life. And in particular, life in New York City, largely with Italian and/or Jewish characters, and lots and lots of food. While I am "of a certain age" and recognize the similarities in our anxieties and approach to life, I also was stopped in my tracks by the beauty (& originality) of the writing. The dialogue is truly amazing. You feel like you are there eavesdropping while others live their lives. And, some of the observations, while a bit jarring in context, are truly breathtaking. I found myself stopping to contemplate sentences, the words so precisely constructed that they evoke an immediate, visceral reaction. I actually started writing my favorites down in a notebook. Here's a sampling:
* Happiness is just a change in the light.
*Men go on dreaming and pitying themselves, while women turn the crank that makes the world go round.
*The kind of days you'll remember forever and forget by tomorrow.
*It's the card you mailed in childhood that dropped into your box today.
*Anything can happen anytime.
*Isn't the past just the present, minus the uncertainty?
This is definitely a book you will either love or hate. Kind of like New York City itself. I'm on the loving side and hope that the author continues to share his observations and thoughts on the small and large parts of our collective, and often crazy, human existence.
January 10, 2022
Mike DeCapite, in a short interview with Shawn C. Mishak:
"Jacket Weather covers ten years, but it collapses them so that everything that happens in one of the ten Septembers is in the September part of the book, and the same with October and so on. It seems true to my experience. You remember that something happened ina particular month or season but no necessarily what year. At least when you get to be my age. Even so, there's an arc, like the arc of the year. I'm really not trying to tell a story. I'm trying to give a reader a place to go. And go back to."
Mike DeCapite when asked about the title of the book:
"These people in the book are in their fifties. So by the time they get it together it feels late already. They're starting to feel a chill."
wow
(link to the interview referenced:https://www.clereviewofbooks.com/home...)
"Jacket Weather covers ten years, but it collapses them so that everything that happens in one of the ten Septembers is in the September part of the book, and the same with October and so on. It seems true to my experience. You remember that something happened ina particular month or season but no necessarily what year. At least when you get to be my age. Even so, there's an arc, like the arc of the year. I'm really not trying to tell a story. I'm trying to give a reader a place to go. And go back to."
Admittedly and embarrassingly, it took me picking up this book a few times to adjust to DeCapite's writing style and the format of this book. I found the non-linear vignettes weightless and uninteresting at first. I'm so glad I kept reading through my doubt because boy was I wrong. Once I settled into this book I started to feel a fondness for the protagonist, Mike, his perspective, and the characters closest to him. I also found it so fun and touching to identify the semi-autobiographical aspects in Jacket Weather. June and Mike's later-in-life love story reads so genuine and offers a perspective on love and mortality I don't often find myself considering.
DeCapite describes his New York in a way that caught me off guard and made me nostalgic for a city I've never held much fondness for and for the places I've lived and loved in.
Jacket Weather is a beautifully written collection of vignettes full of detailed, nostalgic deceptions, gentle humor and the warmth of human connection.
Mike DeCapite when asked about the title of the book:
"These people in the book are in their fifties. So by the time they get it together it feels late already. They're starting to feel a chill."
wow
(link to the interview referenced:https://www.clereviewofbooks.com/home...)
January 31, 2022
I read this as a memoir and enjoyed it more that way despite the tagline „a novel“ being right there on the cover. (Do not convince me it is a novel because it‘s not. Okay…)
DeCapite‘s style really grew on me and I like the way he had different types of segments with lyrical musings on light and day to day mundane observations. I loved all the food descriptions and talks with Lou. Somehow I would have wanted more about June, she didn‘t feel centred even though I had assumed she‘d be more „part of it all“. But there were wonderful musings on love when you turn older, a unusual perspective to read about.
A good read!
DeCapite‘s style really grew on me and I like the way he had different types of segments with lyrical musings on light and day to day mundane observations. I loved all the food descriptions and talks with Lou. Somehow I would have wanted more about June, she didn‘t feel centred even though I had assumed she‘d be more „part of it all“. But there were wonderful musings on love when you turn older, a unusual perspective to read about.
A good read!
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