Big City Eyes: A Novel [Hardcover]

Delia Ephron (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 24, 2000

"Compassionate, funny, and tremendously satisfying," was The New York Times Book Review's description of Delia Ephron's first novel, Hanging Up. In her new book, she brings her heart and humor to the story of a woman's attempt to deal with passion, guilt, murder, and motherhood.

In a state of near panic because of the nighttime activities of her teenage son, Lily Davis decides to uproot herself and Sam from Manhattan to Sakonnet Bay, a small Long Island town, where presumably the opportunities for trouble and grief are less available. She becomes a reporter for the weekly paper, Sam enrolls in high school, and for at least a few weeks life proceeds as expected. Then, through unexpected and unnerving circumstances, she spies a naked woman asleep in a summer house. And everything changes. There is a murder. Or is there? And there is a man. But he is married, and Lily is filled with guilt-about her own divorce. Friendship and love relationships unravel, or threaten to. Are people and events as they seem, or is Lily just perceiving her small town through big-city eyes?

"Gentle humor and deadpan observation," said The Boston Globe of Hanging Up. "Ephron handles her characters with a deft, delicate touch." Delia Ephron has become known for her subtle ability to mix wit and sensitivity. In this book, she outdoes herself, with quirky Lily Davis, a big-city woman attempting to make sense of small-town life.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Ephron is best known for her screenwriting work (Sleepless in Seattle; You've Got Mail), but her talent for witty dialogue flourishes in her second novel (after Hanging Up), set in Sakonnet Bay, Long Island, where freelance reporter and single mom Lily Davis moves from Manhattan with her 15-year-old son, Sam. Lily decided to move to the small town when she realized Sam was sneaking out to nightclubs and hiding a knife in his bureau drawer, but her efforts to give him safe harbor are thwarted by his sullen rebelliousness and his Klingon-speaking girlfriend, Deidre. An inveterate New Yorker, Lily is uncomfortable in the cozy, gossipy town and fearful of almost everything. Do the deer grazing on her front lawn have rabies? Are Sam's antisocial tendencies and dreadful haircut "normal range behavior"? Has she become the town joke for insulting police Sgt. Tom McKee during an incident involving a dog whose head got stuck in a pitcher? Soon Lily has serious issues to worry about, such as the naked woman--dead, drugged or sleeping--she and Tom discover in a supposedly empty house. When the woman's body is later found after having been haphazardly buried by someone in a swampy area, Lily starts sleuthing to find out what happened. Not only does this investigation reveal a less than idyllic side to Sakonnet Bay, it also forces her to confront disturbing truths about her son, her divorce and her growing feelings for the married Tom. Despite billing herself as an "irritating," liberated city woman, Lily tends to musings about family and divorce that reveal Ephron's moral to the story: divorce can be confusing and painful for kids, but a loving parent can still keep her child on track. Lily learns she can't safeguard her son merely by shielding him from big-city dangers. The road to this hard-earned lesson takes the reader through a novel that sparkles with lively characters. (May)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Well-intentioned but somewhat misguided freelance writer Lily Davis, a consummate New Yorker, abruptly moves to rural Long Island to save her teenage son from himself and his urban peer group. The move seems to go well at first. She finds a house to rent, gets a job, makes a friend, but, as could be predicted, life in the country is not as placid as she had hoped. There is her son with his bizarre hair and a girlfriend who speaks Klingon, the married police officer whom Lily finds extremely attractive, and a body for whom the cause of death is not immediately apparent. She records her reactions in her weekly newspaper column, "Big City Eyes" --the title reflects her continued point of view. Ephron combines drugs, deer, coworkers, and gossip in a frenetic mix that shows country life to be in sharp contrast to Lily's city-dwelling expectations of peace and tranquility. Ultimately, people end up where they belong in this entertaining, if slightly silly, novel that reads like a movie concept. Delia has teamed with her sister, Nora, to write a screenplay based on this story. Danise Hoover

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Adult (April 24, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399143912
• ISBN-13: 978-0399143915
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,611,784 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Underwhelming, October 21, 2000

By 

Jennifer Horejsi (Ames, IA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Big City Eyes: A Novel (Hardcover)

I have to confess I had higher hopes for "Big City Eyes." I was immediately drawn into the book by Ephron's snappy style and astute and somewhat offbeat observations regarding human nature. But about halfway through the novel, I realized it all seemed familiar, not as original as I had hoped. Lily moves out of Manhattan to save her son, only to realize...what??? That small towns are gossip mills? That bad things happen in small towns? That she can be attracted to a married man? None of this is a big surprise to the reader, especially since it is spelled out in the fly leaf of the novel.

Ultimately, I'm disappointed that the novel didn't chart out a more definite journey of self-discovery for Lily. Instead it skirts around the surface. Perhaps the reason for its superficialness is that its trapped somewhere between a genre mystery and a novel. And as a mystery it fails because we don't really care that much about the victim or the perpetrator.

As a novel, it careens between Lily's tenuous relationship with her son and her equally tenuous relationship with Officer McKee. Neither of these males are exactly likeable or intriguing characters, although we do see something of an emotional breakthrough for the son. Officer McGee is married with children and possibly politically conservative. Thats about all we really know about him. Nonetheless, Lily is inexplicably drawn to him. They shag once or twice, but the affair is over with before its barely begun. The ending suggests to me that Ephron may have a sequel in mind. In of itself, this novel of marginal subplots and unmysterious murder ends with numerous unsatisfying loose ends.

However, I would still read a sequel, in the hope that the story gets better. Lily Davis is a character with potential, and I'd like to give Ephron another chance to really make her shine.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A fun beach book!, June 2, 2000

By 

Catfish_Hunter (Oak Park, Il) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Big City Eyes: A Novel (Hardcover)

Okay. So this book is not high art, but I loved it. Spending a little time in Sakonnet Bay was just the break I needed. The main character --Lily-- seemed so familiar, like an old friend, and then it struck me: I think Harriet the Spy grew up to be Lily Davis. The story is a lightweight mystery--very funny, sweet and bittersweet and Eprhron,as ususual, has given us a bunch of wacky ancillary characters that are written with a great deal of affection. I hope that she'll use Lily and Sam,Deidre and Jane in another book, because I hated to lose them at the close of this one.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I'm a guy, OK?!, November 24, 2003

By 

T jay (Kirtland, New Mexico) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Big City Eyes: A Novel (Hardcover)

Ok, I'm a guy that picks up a western or a Hamish McBeth book to take up my time when it comes to reading..what little there is. I happen across this title, for some reason, bought it. I really liked it. I had to say I drew some looks from family and friends when they heard me chucking and laughing. A joy to read from beginning to end. I could see this as a moviefor some reason with Meg Ryan and Damian Lewis as Lily Davis and Tom McKee.