Monday, October 17, 2005

Book Report: Morningside Heights

by Cheryl Mendelson, the author of Home Comforts. I really enjoyed this book. It is highly readable. Here are a couple of reviews from Amazon.com

"Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly : The busy, intersecting lives of a group of Manhattanites living in the staid but rapidly changing Upper West Side neighborhood of Morningside Heights near Columbia University are the focus of this talky, occasionally stilted debut novel by Mendelson (Home Comforts: The Art and Science of Keeping House). Opera singer Charles Braithwaite; his wife, Anne, a pianist; and their three (soon to be four) children are the novel's ostensible protagonists. The book's real hero, however, is their beloved neighborhood, which they fear they will soon have to leave, unable to afford their cramped apartment. They are surrounded by a large cast of the sort of people commonly found on Manhattan's Upper West Side-independent scholars, professors, eccentric neighbors, with rich stockbrokers invading the haunts of the original residents. Narrative drama, such as it is, is provided by the death of an elderly resident of the Braithwaite's building. What were the true circumstances of her death, what role was played by her shifty trustee-and most importantly, who will get her apartment? The incorporation of neighborhood history and description is sometimes a bit stiff, and Mendelson's tone can be stuffy-as befits her subjects-but the accumulation of day-to-day detail, social commentary and emotional insight eventually yields a consistent picture of a rarefied milieu.Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist: In the first entry in a projected trilogy set in the Manhattan neighborhood of Morningside Heights, first-novelist Mendelson homes in on a charmed and charming circle of friends with the zeal of an anthropologist. For the first time in their placid marriage, the Braithwaites are experiencing serious tension. The overambitious gentrification plans of their co-op's new board of directors and the impending birth of their fourth child have pushed the couple's precarious finances past the breaking point. Charles, an opera singer, and Anne, who has turned domesticity into a deeply creative act, must now seriously consider a dreaded move to the suburbs. In addition, they are concerned about their best friends, a brilliant but lonely scientist and an acclaimed writer still reeling from yet another disastrous relationship. Readers will find it hard to resist Mendelson's radiant optimism, for she creates a world in which people naturally find and follow the arc of their true talents, lovers' defenses miraculously melt away, and decency and compassion are richly rewarded. This is one seductive novel. Joanne Wilkinson. Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved"

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