A Day at the Beach (Hardcover)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: Gerhard Falktopf, New York, Jeff Greenfield (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Schulman (P.S.; The Revisionist) doesn't disappoint with this narrative spanning 24 terrible hours in the life of the Falktopf family on a certain September day. Husband and wife Gerhard and Suzannah, somewhat mismatched, struggle to come to terms with each other, the turns their lives have begun to take and their artsy downtown Manhattan existence. Suzannah is a 36-year-old former dancer turned stay-at-home mother of autistic son Nikolai, while choreographer Gerhard is autodidactic, worldly, anal retentive and unaffectionate, and has just been notified by his dance company's board that he is to be replaced by someone "committed to the spirit of the early Gerhard Falktopf" and that the company is trying to usurp his works, including his crowning achievement, yet-to-be-premiered A Day at the Beach. The Falktopfs watch (separately: Suzannah from their apartment, Gerhard from a nearby bank) in horror as the towers burn and collapse before fleeing to East Hampton. There, Gerhard and Suzannah navigate their troubled marriage and a few moral predicaments brought on by chance meetings with long-lost friends. Schulman's novel succeeds as a haunting, poignant remembrance. (June)
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From The New Yorker

On September 11, 2001, the fifty-five-year-old German choreographer Gerhard Falktopf is doing the same thing he’s been doing for weeks—pacing about his Village loft and ranting about the loss of his dance company—while his former muse, Suzannah, frets about their son Nikolai’s first day at school. But when Nikolai looks out the window and observes that "the birdies are on fire," Gerhard shakes off his sense of paralysis, plunders his bank account, and loads assorted dependents into the company’s Mercedes S.U.V., bound for the Hamptons. As it turns out, his family would have been safer if they’d stayed home. Schulman, in her fourth novel, gets both her cultural moment and the psychological particulars of a disintegrating marriage exactly right, and her writing is distractingly, almost brazenly beautiful. The result slyly demonstrates both the inadequacy of art and its insolent resilience in disaster’s aftermath.
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (June 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0618746544
• ISBN-13: 978-0618746545
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #745,844 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautifully written and nuanced book, July 18, 2007

By	Danielle Trussoni (Providence, RI) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I came to A DAY AT THE BEACH with all sorts of preconceptions of what a `9/11 Book' should or could be, and Helen Schulmen shattered all of them. From the very beginning, the relationship between Suzanna (an ex-dancer) and Gerhard (her choreographer) is electric. Although the larger tragedy of 9/11 is present, it takes the backseat to the rich, fully realized lives of the characters. I would highly recommend this book for book groups, as it opens the door to discussions about the devastating effects of historical tragedies in the lives of individuals.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Very Personal Take on a Monumental Tragedy, September 28, 2007

By	Paul Byrne (Melbourne Victoria Australia) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Schulman's novel portrays the relationship between a choreographer and his wife and how September 11 impacts on their lives and the life of their child. Living near the World Trade Center, our main protagonits are forced to flee the city after the planes fly into the buildings. It is a brilliantly written novel and in its short length manages to convey a whole world of grief and horror in writing that is muscular, compelling and compassionate. One of the main strengths of this book is the different perspectives of these horrific events through the main characters' eyes, Gerhard and Suzannah. As readers we vacillate between them, sometimes identifying with Gerhard and frustrated with his ex-dancer wife Suzannah. Then there are other times when we are furious with Gerhard's teutonic arrogance, understanding full well Suzannah's impatience with him. Another strength of Schulman's writing is the way she holds back divulging why certain characters behave the way they do till much later. In doing this, Schulman forces us to reassess our judgements of these people and we as readers are all the better for this. It is a superb book. I urge you to read it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't put it down., August 25, 2008

By	K. Lewis (washington, d.c.) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: A Day at the Beach: A Novel (Paperback)

While 9/11 is used as a jumping-off point and as a backdrop to this novel, it's about so much more. The poignancy of coping with an autistic child is detailed beautifully, as is a mother's (sometimes obsessional) love for her child, while the father stands (willingly)on the sidelines. The characters are richly detailed and the dialogue propels the story forward. I wanted the book to continue, so I could follow these people and see what happened next! But I think the reader is left with a pretty good idea, based on this unbelievably significant and traumtic day in their lives.