I newyorkesi

by Cathleen Schine, Stefano Bortolussi (Translator), Leanne Shapton (Illustrator)

Cathleen Schine’s brilliantly funny new novel revolves around one city block in Manhattan, a quiet little block near Central Park kept humble by rent control. Living on a street like this in New York with a dog is like living in a tiny village, one that has a rhythm all its own. Dogs bring people together unexpectedly, people who would otherwise never meet. And the dogs act as cupids for the quiet, struggling, sometimes lonely, eccentric people, the old and the young, male and female; the people who live on the block, who are, in their ways, romantics, as all New Yorkers secretly tend to be. Walking her dog, Beatrice, Jody falls under the spell of Everett’s bewitching smile. Everett begins to appreciate his postdivorce life only when he falls in love with Howdy, Polly’s puppy. Polly lives with her brother, George, and wants him to fall in love. George isn’t so much looking for a love life as for life direction, and Howdy leads him right to it. Doris hates the trash on her block, she hates the pee on her SUV’s large tires, and, above all, she hates dogs. That is, until she gets one of her own.

In The New Yorkers, as in life, canine companions compel their masters to go outside of themselves, to take part in the community they live in, to make friends, and, sometimes, to fall in love. And Schine returns to what she does best: crafting a compulsively readable, elegantly written novel that seduces in the way we were once seduced by The Love Letter, Schine’s beloved classic.

Genres: Fiction, New York, Dogs, Chick Lit, Contemporary, Animals, Book Club

285 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2007

About the author

Cathleen Schine is the author of The New Yorkers, The Love Letter, and The Three Weissmanns of Westport among other novels. She has contributed to The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, The New York Times Magazine, and The New York Times Book Review.

Reviews

[Nancy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. I hoped for better things with this book, because I liked the premise: a group of New Yorkers who become a community because of their dogs. Because that happens, you know? If you have a dog, and you walk the dog, you get to know every dang dog in the neighborhood - and their owners. And to have that happen in New York, the city of strangers, seemed like a lovely idea.

And yet. The truth is, I just couldn't seem to stay interested in the characters. This was partly because they were not exceptionally likable: Everett is sort of mean and selfish, George is weak, Polly is controlling and annoying. Still, they all have their human moments, and I think I could have gotten past their faults, except that it seemed as if the author herself wasn't all that committed to her characters. She writes about them in a curiously detached fashion, occasionally breaking away from her narration to address the reader directly - a conceit which could be charming, but feels poorly thought out and executed instead.

Oh well. I may try another Schine novel, but I will acquire it at the library - no sense in cluttering my shelves with long shots.

[The Frahorus · Rating 2 out of 5]

Come sia finito a leggere questo romanzo non lo so neanche io, perché l'ho trovato davvero per caso e forse complice la copertina ma soprattutto il fatto che sia ambientato a New York mi hanno spinto a leggerlo, perché alla fine noi lettori onnivori siamo spinti sempre dalla curiosità. E ti trovi di fronte a un romanzo corale, dove ci sono diversi protagonisti che ruotano attorno allo stesso quartiere nell'Upper West Side, a due passi da Central Park, e proprio lì le loro vite si intrecciano, perché queste persone hanno tutte una cosa che le lega: hanno un compagno di vita a quattro zampe! E al parco più famoso al mondo si incontrano e fanno amicizia. Così conosciamo Jody, insegnante di musica che ha un pittbull di nome Beatrice, Polly che è redattrice e ha un fratello, George, che fa il barista e il loro cane si chiama Howdy (che in realtà non era loro ma del precedente inquilino dell'appartamento che purtroppo era morto e lo aveva lasciato lì da solo, povero cucciolo!), poi abbiamo Geneva, amica di Polly, Emily la figlia di Everett che fa girare la testa a Jody, Doris l'insegnante di matematica che ha un SUV e odia i cani (soprattutto quando trova la pipì sul marciapiede dove ha parcheggiato il suo macchinone), e altri personaggi più o meno secondari.

E poi la vera protagonista rimane naturalmente New York, piena di contraddizioni e di cose strane, ma sempre una delle città anzi metropoli che continua ad affascinare ognuno di noi. La storia che si srotola ai nostri occhi ha una certa leggerezza, nulla di speciale, l'autrice ci narra le vite di persone semplici, che si innamorano e si lasciano, che attraversano le difficoltà che la vita ci presenta, che ridono e piangono, insomma, ognuno di noi potrebbe tranquillamente rispecchiarsi in loro.

La cosa che mi ha lasciato perplesso sin dall'inizio è stata il fatto che non c'è un solo protagonista e con l'avanzare della lettura un po' ti disaffezioni ai diversi protagonisti, perché poi devi ricordare quello che ha fatto l'altro e nel frattempo rimane in sospeso l'altro ancora eccetera. Per il resto senza lode ne infamia, come si suol dire. Ma se amate New York e i cani allora dovete leggerlo.

[Khris Sellin · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sweet slice of life story about neighbors living on a block in NYC near Central Park. It's mostly about a woman Jody and her dog Beatrice, and how dogs teach us new ways of looking at our world and those around us.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book had all the elements I'd assume would make for an interesting story: Several characters who will somehow interact despite the odds of doing so, simple and believable plot lines, a familiar setting. However, it failed to set any actual scenes. The term "Show Don't Tell" came to mind as I read. The majority of the book I felt was being told to me rather than revealed to me and I felt that detracted from the story's value.

The narrative follows several characters living in NYC who while living in close proximity, some even in the very same building, only meet through interactions created by their individual dogs. The narrator is innocuous and tells us how so and so thinks and feels before jumping to another character and doing the same. You follow primarily a late 30s music teacher named Jody and her elderly pit bull named Beatrice as they navigate the streets of NYC and Jody's love choices regarding the predictable, sensible Simon and the elusive Everett. In the meantime, Everett starts relations with Jody's younger neighbor Polly while Polly's brother George fills his days with picking up women with his dog training skills. It's straightforward, polite, but overall less interesting than the plot had the option to be.

If you're looking for a quick read you won't remember two days after finishing, this is it.

[Connie N. · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a nice, pleasant, relaxing, and enjoyable book. I'd rate it 4.5 stars, if I could. Loved Nicole Roberts' narration. The voicing was fine, pacing was well done, and her reading was very clear and consistent. There's not a lot going on in this book, meaning it's really just a snapshot of a few months in time of several people's lives who all happen to live on the same block in NYC. Kind of like a soap opera in book form. And, like a soap opera, the reader gets involved in the characters and their thoughts and feelings as they go through the every day activities of their lives. We meet Jody first, a single 30-something woman who has gotten a big pit bull for companionship. She's friendly and outgoing and basically introduces us to everyone else. Polly and George are brother and sister, living together, and adopting a puppy. Polly is pretty pushy, while George sits back and lets her take the lead. Everett is a 50-something man, divorced, and also looking for companionship. Simon is more shadowy than some of the others, although he ends up playing a prominent part in the story. Jamie is the owner of the local restaurant. Doris is the local do-gooder who wants everyone else to do what she commands. Although we are following the lives of the characters, they are drawn together by their dogs and the relationships they all have with their pets. Each character grows and changes throughout the story, and their interactions are fascinating. I loved how each character came together briefly, then would move on and someone else would come along. It was a constant shifting dance of people and scenarios. I'm not really a fan of epilogues, but in this case it was necessary as a way to end the story. Otherwise, I could have continued to listen to their stories indefinitely since there was no real beginning or end. Schine writes in a casual and easy-going manner. The thoughts of the characters are often silly, just like in real life when your mind is wandering. For instance, Polly commented on the unpleasant day she was experiencing and said, "This is what hell would be like...if it weren't hot...or freezing...if it were just...not nice." Schine offers great turns of phrases, such as Everett describing himself as an "emotional minimalist" or having "geographical distress." Cute.

[Lisa Gordon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this novel - I am sure it will appeal to dog lovers and owners everywhere. I am not a dog owner, but I certainly enjoyed the tender way the author handled the personal realtionships of the dogs owners to their dogs and to eachother. The book looks at the interaction between the residents of a very ordinary street in New York's Upper East Side. Love, infatuation, frienship and interpersonal relationships are examined with humour and sensitivity. The book shows us how pets actually help us as humans to come together socially and to interact, where without the help of a pet dog we may never have bothered. I loved the characters and found them very believable and intersting...the descriptions of the dogs were adorable. I gave the book 4 stars, not five as I did find the ending a little sad, abrupt and perhaps disapointing in way. It was however a great and entertaining read. It wont disappoint.

[Kerry · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was intrigued to read this book that it would really characterize a particular neighborhood in NYC. Unfortunately, I didn't really get drawn into the characters of the dogs or people. A lot of the characters, despite their relationships seem apathetic towards one another. I suppose I kept reading, hoping that the book would become more engaging. Alas...it didn't really happen. I still read the whole book though..usually I give up..so something kept me going.

[Andi M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This quiet novel about neighbors on a single New York City block reminds me of Jane Austen, as I see it as a contemporary comedy of manners. Schine's writing is comfortable, warm and wonderful.

[Bookslut · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was boring and disappointing. I was so excited to find a cute dog book, told as a million little interacting dog stories, but I don't think it was originally written that way. I feel like some publisher must have found this book and thought, 'Hey, this has trace elements of dog, and dog books are so popular right now. If you can give me a little more dog in your plot, we can make this really fly'. So they designed a great cover and added line drawings of dogs throughout the book and retrofit the plot to sort-of be a dog book and fooled me, big time.

I love the idea of these books that are snippets of many different stories that weave together to make one big whole, and I stuff my to-read list with them, but I don't know that I ever really like them. There must be some essential element that makes them successful, and must authors don't figure it out. I do have some suggestions, that could have at least improved this one. First off, have one character amidst the jumble that is your most dominant character, and start the book with one of their snippets. She started and ended this book with a character named Jodi, so I feel like that strikes a sacred covenant with the reader, that Jodi will be important and my brain will weight her story more heavily than all the others in the pile. So it's a way to sort and organize, and ultimately prioritize a story, and keep it from being a jumble. But the author violated our sacred understanding by having the bulk of the book be about Polly, and left me always with the nagging feeling 'where's Jodi? When do we get back to her part of this?' My second suggestion would be to not have so many of the snippets be so freaking boring, so people would want to pick up your book.

[nici · Rating 2 out of 5]

Le aspettative che mi ero creata ammirando la bella copertina, il titolo e i disegni di cagnolini fra le pagine non sono state soddisfatte.
Ho fatto fatica ad immedesimarmi nelle situazioni, innanzitutto perché l´autrice passa di continuo da un protagonista all´altro, da una scena all´altra, anche all´interno dello stesso paragrafo. Inoltre i personaggi vengono descritti sempre nello stesso contesto casa-bar sotto casa-parco sotto casa, e già dopo 50 pagine queste dinamiche risultano noiose. Gli stessi protagonisti risultano ripetitivi e limitati all´interno delle solite frasi o pensieri, non hanno profondità e nessuno di loro mi ha colpito.

[Rob · Rating 1 out of 5]

I give this book 1 star because I like dogs I like New York. Otherwise, I thought this was a hugely disappointing novel. Reading it was akin to biting into a meringue and expecting it to be dense and flavorful, only to discover that it's mostly just substance-less, whipped up, showy fluff. I almost quit reading about halfway through but soldiered on just to say that I finished. When you read this book, you can almost hear the author's thoughts as she was writing as she ponders which Hollywood actors and actresses she would cast in the movie adaptation. The characters could have had some depth, but instead are written as caricatures, almost silly and cartoonish. The Doris character was completely unnecessary and irrelevant. I will give Cathleen Schine props for finishing a book and getting it published, something I aspire to do one day. But God help me if what I publish is this bad. I would hope that someone close to me would have the decency to be honest and tell me so if it is. I question why no one close to Cathleen Schine cared enough about her to be honest about how terrible this book is.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

As soon as I read the synopsis for this book, I knew that, as a dog-lover, I just had to read it. (I should have done more shopping around though because, yet again, Barnes and Noble had the eBook available for $9.99 and the actual book for $7.18...Grrrrrrr, B&N.) A book about a neighborhood coming together, and pulling apart, all due to their dogs and dog and dog owner manners, I was ready for the promised funny and light and entertaining story. That's not quite what it was, however. As I read, I kept wondering to myself 'when is it going to get funny?' and 'cancer and loneliness and isolation and dog-hating is funny?'. It was a good book and I did like it, but it didn't live up to the reviews. At times, this book was very sad and, because I am overemotional when it comes to our furry friends, I felt the tears well up in my eyes more than once, but I would not rank it among the best books I've read. The writing was excellent and the story certainly progressed, but it never really captured me.

[Gina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I give this book 2 stars simply due to the fact that I finished the book. A finished book deserves at least two stars. However, I did not enjoy this book. Not only was it HIGHLY unrealistic (I get the fact that it's fiction, but it was trying to be realistic, and highly ineffectual), I found it to be very offensive towards women. The author (who is a woman btw) portrays the women in this book as being highly emotional and afraid of making one wrong move in regards to dating men. There was not a single strong female character in this book. However, I do look forward to using this book in my feminist philosophy class as an example of how women still are portrayed as weak and helpless in the 21st century. I would not recommend this book to anyone.

[Beatriz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cathleen Schine just gets me. I’m not so happy about some of the decisions regarding plot, but this is a book about dog people. Last time I read a novel by Schine, it was a book about grammar and My Fair Lady. What can I say, we are kindred spirits and I could read her novels forever as long as she keeps writing them because we care about the same things.

[Mayda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sometimes you need a catalyst to get something going. In this tale, canines are the catalysts that result in some pretty interesting developments. Set in a neighborhood near New York’s Central Park, some very diverse people are brought together in some unusual ways. Filled with warmth and touched with humor, this audio book is entertaining is a nice way. Even people who don’t particularly like dogs will find themselves drawn into the lives of these characters. It might even make you want to take a dog – yours or a friend’s – for a walk . . . just to see what might happen!

[Andrea · Rating 4 out of 5]

Those who gave this book a low rating because it had "too many dogs" in it, missed the point. I'm not a dog owner, nor a dog lover, nor a dog hater. But I sure love an interesting novel with wonderful, three-dimensional characters that is beautifully written in an amusing, lyrical style. This story held my attention from beginning to end. I copied some sentences and paragraphs to quote to friends because they impressed me so much. It was the second book in a row I've just read by Cathleen Schine and I'm about to start a third. When you find an author who blows you away with their skill, you have to read all her work. Well, I do, anyway. I have found a new favourite writer.

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 3 out of 5]

People meet and fall in love via their dogs in this book of light fiction. Friends pointed me toward this book after I complained about the hours I’ve spent this summer with Al Qaeda and fundamental extremists and the poor of sub-Sahara Africa and the test-weary world of disadvantaged New Jersey schools. There is nothing that lingers in your bones after reading this book, nothing that leads you toward writing editorials to the Times. Simple little stories of relationships combined with the steady love of loyal dogs.

[Emi Yoshida · Rating 3 out of 5]

Music-teacher Jody lives in quiet Manhattan solitude for nearly 20 years; then one day she rescues a pit-bull, names her Beatrice and suddenly she gets intimate with everybody in her building and the neighboring ones. The New Yorkers is a great book about the relationships between dogs and their owners, interspersed with some beautiful tributes to New York City real estate. But I didn't find the human relationships to be so compelling or credible, and I particularly disliked the narrator spontaneously talking directly to me.

[Hester · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book belonged to my mother-in-law and at first I put it in the giveaway pile. So glad I decided to read it. It has a coziness and charm that is just the right kind of reading for our present situation. Having lived in NYC I appreciated the setting, even though it deals with just a very small corner of the city. I liked following intertwining story lines of the cast of characters and their dogs. Schine's writing is witty and assured. Anyone who uses words like "rigmarole" (one of my favorites) is okay by me!

[Susan · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was in the right spot at the right time for this book, I guess. I loved it and would probably have given it 4 stars, but maybe that's just because it appealed to me at this moment in time. Anyone who is single and loves animals would probably relate to it. Maybe any dog lover would like it. The main gist of the story follows tenants in an apt. complex in New York and their dogs and how they all interact with one another through their dogs.

[Adele Goetz · Rating 3 out of 5]

How could I not like this book? It's all about how dogs are awesome, especially when their owners are oddball New Yorkers. I'm sold.

[Irez]

una storia che fa appassionare come ci si può appassionare ad un pezzo di legno.
una perdita di tempo colossale.

[Michelle · Rating 2 out of 5]

Still not ready to read books about dogs. I probably would have enjoyed it more had I waited.

[Cinzia Giorgio · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inaspettato, tenero, ironico. Un romanzo perfetto.

[Wendy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I almost gave up on this right away, but it does take an exceptionally boring book for me to quit, so I plugged on. Do I regret it? Well, not quite, but I did not care for this. There is very little depth to any of the characters; we don't get to know them too well - perhaps Polly is the most thought-out of the bunch -and while that may, in one sense, be a good thing, it is also frustrating in a novel.

I must live in a bubble, or people in NYC have gotten worse than when I lived there quite a few decades ago, but I was just pretty floored by the endless examples of animal exploitation presented in a book that is supposedly about dogs. But then, so many people differentiate between dogs and, say, foxes, who Simon goes every year to hunt in Virginia. Or dogs and minks, who Doris wears - although, considering Doris' character, I guess the fur coats are probably quite apt. And the fact that she ends up breeding dogs. How she transforms so quickly from dog hater to dog lover is not really believable, though. I am glad we didn't have to spend more time reading about her than we already do, but her relationship with her sister is very minimally touched on and yet it is her sister's disapproval that suddenly and weirdly turns Doris.

And we just get a whole lot that here. I had a pit mix for many years, and still miss him like crazy. But the death of Beatrice faild to bring any tears to my eyes. The characters in this book seem kind of outdated (I know this was 2007, before much social media or texting, but the lack of technology, and the lack of even swear words just makes it seem unrealistic. Or maybe I just have more foul-mouthed pals than the average American?), and half-dead.

At the beginning, I liked the writing very much, this detached voice in third person. Then it occasionally went into first person and I wondered "who is this 'I' telling the story?" For a while I wondered if it might actually be someone's dog, but in the end I guess it was just Schine herself.

I just found this book full of animal exploitation and very dull and sisappointing. I would not recommend it.

[Diana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd rather give this book 2 1/2 stars than three. But decided to be generous by not stopping at two.

I listened to the audio version. At first I enjoyed the book...I love NYC, I love dogs and I loved the idea that the story basically takes place on one block which shows how much New York City is really just a bunch of neighborhoods with regular folks, (some nice, some not so much), like any other city.

But I was disappointed in much of the storyline, not the least of which is how the author and her characters mock and make fun of the one person on the block (Doris) who gives a damn about the condition of the neighborhood. Doris goes around picking up trash and complains to the local government (eventually deciding to run for the local Council herself, a choice which the author portrays as being pushy and ridiculous) about dog owners not "curbing" their dogs, sometimes leaving poop on the sidewalks and allowing their dogs to pee against her car, which of course leaves a strong smell of urine on the vehicle. The author portrays Doris as a bitchy, nagging, shrew, an exaggerated character which the audio book reader revels in, using a craggy, stereotypical "witch-like" voice for the woman. Very poor choice and so annoying!

I also sense a touch of anti-Semitism from the author who injects an arbitrary and completely irrelevant comment into a wedding scene when one of the main characters notices some men in "dark hats with scraggly beards" (I'm paraphrasing because I don't have the book in front of me). Another guest at the wedding tells her they are "some Jews", to which the character wonders "Whose Jews?" And that's it...an odd, and off-putting bit of dialogue that went nowhere and added nothing to the story line. What was up with that?

So I can't recommend this book unfortunately, despite the sweet premise that revolves around a bunch of arbitrary folks in a NYC neighborhood, many of whom love their dogs, and who connect by chance, forming a sort of ad hoc community as they live their lives.

[Tsippora · Rating 2 out of 5]

You know the book "a letter from New York"?
It is both a better New York book and a better dog book. Just go read that tbh.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2...

I read the reviews before I read the book, I thought I would like the book anyway. I was Wrong.

It's just ...not good.

I powered through the whole book just to give it a fair chance, maybe there was a glimmer of something good but...nope.

I don't know why it's even considered a dog book? There are a few dogs but they are in the background. That's like saying twilight is about high school in a small town. Or that harry potter is about some kids in England. I mean, technically not wrong but not right either?
It's not even that much about New York?

It read like a dull gossip column.

And I wanted to like the characters, I wanted to like at least one!! Out of six!! And yet every single one of them was so ..hateful?
boring, narcissistic and pathetic. Mostly I was just working on not hating them TOO much.

And you know it's bad when I didn't even shed one single tear when a dog died. Me. Not crying. That's how bad it was.

[Ds · Rating 4 out of 5]

Di solito non leggo questo genere di romanzi, non fanno per me. Però, devo ammettere, complice la copertina suggestiva e la sensazione di leggerezza della trama, mi sono sentita spinta a provare. L'ho divorato, ne ero assolutamente presa, pagina dopo pagina. E non è poi così leggero come credevo. Perché questo romanzo ha certo come protagonista New York, una New York un po' nascosta, ma anche tutti i suoi personaggi umani, con le loro vite, tutte diverse e un po' simili, con le loro pesantezze, con le loro cose difficili da affrontare, con i loro difetti e pregi. Ribadisco, non è leggero se lo si va ad analizzare. Ma viene scritto con leggerezza, senza squallore, senza soffermarsi troppo perché non ce n'è bisogno. I protagonisti non sono affatto perfetti, sono persone che semplicemente vivono le loro vite. E vogliamo parlare dei fantastici cani? Il filo conduttore di tutte queste esistenze, l'amore che unisce tutti. L'unica cosa che mi ha un attimo lasciata perplessa è il finale. Finisce tutto, o quasi, con un bel fiocchetto. Che ti lascia con una piacevole sensazione, però sembra un po' irrealistico. Comunque, è stata una bellissima sorpresa.

[Joan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't dislike it enough to stop reading, but it was kind of boring, and there were a lot of inconsistencies that jumped out at me. I should have loved this book! It had lots of characters and little sub plots and dogs too, but it just didn't hit.

This is a book about a bunch of New Yorkers, many with dogs, that live on the same street and run into and interact with each other. Some get along, some don't, some may get along very well at some point.

In addition to it being bland, I don't know if the author could decide whether she wanted the narrator to be in the 3rd or 1st person. The narrator wasn't its own character, but would randomly interject a thought in the first person, which I found disconcerting. The narrator was omniscient, and therefore couldn't really be a person running around and knowing everyone's thoughts and feelings.

The characters themselves weren't really distinctive, most of them remained static throughout. The one antagonist did such a 180 by the end of the book that it made Scrooge's transformation in A Christmas Carol look absolutely commonplace.

Again, I didn't hate it, but it was very blah.

[Kay D · Rating 3 out of 5]

I chose this book for a nice easy read while I was staying in New York. I didn't read it until I got back, but I don't think it mattered, I loved the descriptions of the city and Central Park especially (I really liked it there). I really enjoyed the characters, there were quite a lot of them but they were all easy to tell apart and all had their own personalities. Loved the dogs too, and enjoyed getting to know Beatrice and Howdy.

The book was fun, it made me smile while reading it and I enjoyed the characters' individual storylines. The reason it just gets 3 stars is that I just feel a little bit indifferent about it now - it all a little bit too nice and fluffy for my liking. I like a little bit of peril in my books but there was little of it here. This isn't a fault of the book, just my preference.