Neat premise, (view spoiler)[the occasion of a Boomer mom coming out late in life (hide spoiler)] is handled enthusiastically and mostly unjudgmentallNeat premise, (view spoiler)[the occasion of a Boomer mom coming out late in life (hide spoiler)] is handled enthusiastically and mostly unjudgmentally. The main characters are plenty engaging, & the numerous family scenes ring true.
Cute and fluffy, but sooo darned slick and calculated. By its own standard, I'd give it one date and send it home with a handshake at the end of the eCute and fluffy, but sooo darned slick and calculated. By its own standard, I'd give it one date and send it home with a handshake at the end of the evening.
I thoroughly enjoyed 10:04, Lerner's last novel just before Topeka School. I recommend reading that one instead.
Topeka School is hard to love. The mulI thoroughly enjoyed 10:04, Lerner's last novel just before Topeka School. I recommend reading that one instead.
Topeka School is hard to love. The multiple narrators are supposed to sound profoundly thoughtful, but the men all come across as self-absorbed twirps. And the sole woman sounds like a slightly nicer self-absorbed man.
And if you read this, you will learn much more than you ever wanted to know about a) high school debate meets and b) privileged white male neuroses and rage. ...more
Wowee. I've gone and lived long enough for the "hey kids, let's put on a show!"
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plotline to come back around, and, in this booWowee. I've gone and lived long enough for the "hey kids, let's put on a show!"
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plotline to come back around, and, in this book, pretend it's something fresh.
It's a ball while you're reading it: vivid 1940s Noo Yawk lovingly resurrected. Nobody exhaustively brings a Brownie-camera snapshot to life like Gilbert. From a playwright's natty doeskin trousers to a Brooklyn Don Juan's fuck-you glare to the showgirls' nodding ostrich-plumes, it's all here. Ditto the colorful character who wears five layers of clothing at once and the sliced-open dollhouse-dream shot of an old theater's demolition. Reading this book is like flipping through a Vivian Maier album with someone who won't quit making up A Story for every single shot, even the one of the toddler fleeing pigeons.
By the time we gallop through five more decades to the conclusion, this kind of snapshot roulette does us in. The ending feels off-kilter, random (him? really? him?) and unsatisfying although its explication is slooow, repetitive and ponderous.
Female sexuality gets some refreshingly frank scenes early in the novel. Our main character takes charge of her own sex life and suffers (briefly) for it, this being the 40s. And of course living long and well is the best revenge, and we get some other heartfelt Readers' Digest-caliber advice about friendship.
And in spite of Gilbert's oral history research for it, this is the kind of New York book that calls the Garment District "the garment center." Because y'know, you can make it all up just by looking at the pictures.
I would have loved it when I was eight. Reading it now, I'm more than a bit skeptical and annoyed at[image] I would have loved it when I was eight. Reading it now, I'm more than a bit skeptical and annoyed at[image] ...more
lucky little cat
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