Customer Reviews

Before & After: Stories from New York

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I got this book as a gift and wasn't expecting much from it-I actually thought the whole idea was a bit distasteful. The notion of anyone profiting from Sept. 11th, whether by money or publicity, was abhorrent to me.

I have to admit, though, that I couldn't put the thing down! There are some gems in this collection, many from writers I've never heard of but will certainly be looking out for in the future. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if this book turns out to be a collector's item in 20 years when some of the younger writers have made some headway onto the literary map (there are already some big names in here like Jeanette Winterson and Phillip Lopate).

If you don't have the time or the patience to read the whole book (there are about 60 stories in all), I'd suggest at least reading these (I'm referring to my dog-eared personal favorites):

In the Before section, stories by:
-Leelila Strogov
-Jim Merlis
-Maura Kelly
-Snooder Greenberg
-Luc Sante
-Michael Cunningham
-Thomas Beller
-Josh Kramer
-Sabin Streeter
-Josh Gilbert

In the After section, stories by:
-Debra Fontaine
-Charles Waters
-Bryan Charles
-Sam Lipsyte
-Elizabeth Grove
-Amy Brill
-Vince Passaro
-Dorothy Spears
-Joseph Lieber

All in all, I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in important, moving, funny, and of course also very sad NY stories, as well as a cross-section of some very fine writing.

"New York Before and After" is an excellent reflection of American responses to the September 11th attacks in both the public and the private sphere.

From a public perspective, this book is one of many examples of the rampant opportunism that followed the attacks. Most of the post-9/11 opportunism was political and included legislation that provided yet more tax cuts for the wealthy, and a catastrophically expensive missile defense program that has never worked. It was also apparent, in the culture industry, as evidenced by the eruption of countless obnoxious benefits, and the verbiage of irrelevant news personalities who had suddenly come to believe that their bland polemics meant something.

From a private perspective, this book beautifully exemplifies the rapid retreat that most of us made from any sustained analysis of what made 9/11 possible. For about 48 hours after the attacks, we Americans appeared to have woken up from the slumber of mass consumption and entitlement, and actually begun to take a good hard look at how the rest of the world viewed us and how are government actually works. But old habits die hard, and in the case of 9/11 they arose from the grave in a matter of days.

"New York Before and After" is a marvelous confluence of both these phenomena. Firstly, some writers made up for in ambition what they lacked in talent and used 9/11 to pump stories from their Web site into publication. A few of these stories are good and most of them are not. Without the collapse of the World Trade Center, it is doubtful they would have been published. Secondly, these writers both performed and perpetuated the collective national sin of focusing on the drama while avoiding any meaningful examination of events. Some of the writers in this collection are smart enough and talented enough to have produced a meaningful and relevant examination of events, but of course that was not the purpose of this book. Publication and the perpetuation of collective self-pity were both its purpose and result.

I may not be the most objective reader in the world as I have lived in New York for the last 8 years and saw the World Trade Centers on fire myself as I was being evacuated out of downtown Manhattan. But I found this book to be incredibly moving.

I was mainly interested in reading the 9/11/01 accounts and wasn't even sure if I would be interested in the "Before" section. But I was pleasantly surprised. The stories are a collection of everything from the humorous to the bittersweet to the ugly. The wide variety of characters span from every walk of New York life. Some people I felt could have been written by my best friends in New York. Some stories I could relate to through my own experiences.

The "After" section was grippingly real and heartbreaking. There is one story of a man who survived escaping from the Twin Towers, which is so detailed that I felt as if I was reliving the day as I read it, tears coming to my eyes. This section is also varied, getting different perspectives on what happened and how to deal with the aftermath. I work four blocks away from Ground Zero. There is rarely a day when 9/11 does not come into my thoughts. It is a comfort to read these stories and know that New Yorkers are all suffering in their own ways.

In this excellent collection of New York stories, Bryan Charles's is the standout by far. He describes how a mundane morning at work turned into a nightmare. If you want to know what it was like to be there, this is the story to read. The account of his escape from the Towers will make your heart pound. As time passes and this event takes on even greater historical importance, accademics and general readers alike will look to this story as the primary account of what happened in New York on 9/11.

This is a book that shouldn't be missed. These stories are original, funny, smart, lovely, heartbreaking and real. Way to go, Thomas Beller. It's good to see editors who go out of their way to pay attention to the voices of their generation.

This is a book that should be read if you are interested in people. This is a book not so much about a city, but about the diverse people who make up the city.
The stories are drawn largely from Tom Beller's excellent literary website, Mr. Beller's Neighborhood. Some of the stories are by professional writers, others are not. So naturally the writing styles and quality differ from story to story. Over all, the qualty is very good indeed.
The book is divided into two parts, part one has stories written before 9/11. The stories here are from people who are proud to live in and be a part of the city. The people who write and appear in these stories are not the cold unfeeling people that New Yorkers supposedly are. They are very warm, flesh and blood people, all too human, even in their occasional flashes of arrogance.
The second part is made up of stories that take place on 9/11 and after. The stories reflect people who are hurting, who have witnessed horrible things, who are trying to cope and understand what has happened to them and their city. But these people are still proud to be New Yorkers, even in the depth of their agony.
This is a small book, but the stories in it are great indeed.

Drawn from the innovative website, Mr. Bellers Neighborhood, the stories capture the small details and the overwhelming environment of New York. Over fifty (very) short non-fiction stories reveal the intricate human relationships and connection with a city that can be highly impersonal or incredibly involving. The 'before' section goes back decades with author's observations and reflections on personal moments in time. New York in the 1970's has always been a fascinating period for me so I absorbed the related stories with relish. The standouts in this half of the book are The Tomkins Square Park Riot, Old Boilers and Old Men, Tom's Restaurant, and The Turtles in Central Park (I remember hearing about the turtle phenomena!). The pivot point is 9-11. The 'after' half captures the impact of the event and each story is gut-wrenching, emotive, and still surreal. This is an interesting compilation and a fine contribution to the history of New York. On a strange side note, I read the book while visiting my hometown of Winnipeg where coincidentally the book was printed.

There's something creepy about how this group of self-indulged, narcissistic writers found a way to use a great big crisis for their good-- a great way to get published. Besides just a few entries, most of the stories are not so special, beyond looking at how the attack affected themselves. Beller has always been more of a creature of ambition than true talent-- someone with a voracious appetite for taking the limelight, coming on to the scene, exploiting what can be made out to be "Hip"...even if it's Sept 11.