A Fortunate Age: A Novel [Hardcover]

Joanna Smith Rakoff (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 7, 2009

Instantly compelling and immensely satisfying, A Fortunate Age details the lives of a group of Oberlin graduates whose ambitions and friendships threaten to unravel as they chase their dreams, shed their youth, and build their lives in Brooklyn during the late 1990s.

There’s Lil, a would-be scholar whose wedding brings the group back together; Beth, who struggles to let go of her old beau Dave, a onetime piano prodigy trapped by his own insecurity; and Emily, an actor perpetually on the verge of success— and starvation—who grapples with her jealousy of Tal, whose acting career has taken off. At the center of their orbit is wry, charismatic Sadie Peregrine, who coolly observes her friends’ mistakes but can’t quite manage to avoid making her own. As they begin their careers, marry, and have children, they must navigate the shifting dynamics of their friendships and of the world around them—from the decadent age of dot-com millionaires to the sobering post–September 2001 landscape. Smith Rakoff’s deeply affecting characters capture a generation.

--This text refers to the Kindle Edition edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Instantly compelling and immensely satisfying, A Fortunate Age details the lives of a group of Oberlin graduates whose ambitions and friendships threaten to unravel as they chase their dreams, shed their youth, and build their lives in Brooklyn during the late 1990s.

There’s Lil, a would-be scholar whose wedding brings the group back together; Beth, who struggles to let go of her old beau Dave, a onetime piano prodigy trapped by his own insecurity; and Emily, an actor perpetually on the verge of success— and starvation—who grapples with her jealousy of Tal, whose acting career has taken off. At the center of their orbit is wry, charismatic Sadie Peregrine, who coolly observes her friends’ mistakes but can’t quite manage to avoid making her own. As they begin their careers, marry, and have children, they must navigate the shifting dynamics of their friendships and of the world around them—from the decadent age of dot-com millionaires to the sobering post–September 2001 landscape. Smith Rakoff’s deeply affecting characters capture a generation.

Explore the reading group guide for A Fortunate Age --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

Rakoff's debut novel is a ponderous, meandering and nostalgic portrait of a postcollegiate group of Gen-Xers awkwardly navigating weddings, pregnancies, betrayals and funerals in pre- and post-9/11 New York City. At the center of the group is Sadie Peregrine, a rising book editor who is having trouble reconciling her personal and professional ambitions. Rounding out her circle is Lil, a depressed and flailing scholar; Emily, a starving actress; Tal, a successful actor; Beth, a would-be English prof; and Dave, an enigmatic musician and Beths ex-boyfriend. The writing is episodic and relies heavily on exposition, and many character interactions and plot developments occur off the page and are referred to only indirectly. At her best, Rakoff offers a carefully studied glimpse into her characters minds. Too often, though, the large cast and the hopscotch chronology come at the expense of narrative tension, of which there isn't much. Thirty-somethings looking back wistfully on their 20s and their struggles with the vicissitudes of adulthood might get a bang out of this. (Apr.)
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Scribner (April 7, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1416590773
• ISBN-13: 978-1416590774
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (42 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,153,479 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Joanna Smith Rakoff's novel, A Fortunate Age, was a New York Times Editors' Pick, a winner of the Elle Readers' Prize, and a selection of Barnes and Noble's First look Book Club. Like the characters in that novel, she attended Oberlin College, and she holds degrees from University College, London, and Columbia University. She's written for the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, Vogue, O: The Oprah Magazine, and numerous other publications. She lives in New York with her husband, son, and daughter.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Reality Bites for the class of 1994, April 12, 2009

By 

Melanchthon "melanchthon" (USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: A Fortunate Age: A Novel (Hardcover)

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Six characters in search of themselves move to New York City after graduating from Oberlin in 1994, experiencing love, disappointment, personal growth, and perspectival change. There's a great deal to like here; the four female protagonists in particular are well-developed, interesting characters who have to deal with real problems, and/or have to learn to distinguish reality from deception. The male characters are somewhat less effective and more stereotypical, but are also quite effective. I enjoyed the book and will recommend it to others. My main complaint is the blurbing that the book is supposed to capture the experience of a generation. Well, maybe it does, but not my generation. These characters are three years younger than me and it is as if we live in entirely different worlds. The majority of the country did not attend a well-healed private college and did not have the luxury of leading lives like these. That doesn't mean that the book doesn't speak to very real conflicts in the lives of people who were in their late twenties in the 1990s--just that its appeal is less universal than the publisher seems to think. It's been compared to Mary McCarthy's _The Group_, which I think is fair--but like that book, you will only really love this one if you identify strongly with the social group being described.

19 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Long disappointing novel about a very self-absorbed group of friends..., April 7, 2009

By 

C. Quinn (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Fortunate Age: A Novel (Hardcover)

I began this book thinking that I was really going to enjoy it, but soon realized that this novel would be one I had to slog through to finish. Though I'm the right age and education level to blend right in with these characters, I felt not one ounce of connection to any of them. The book was long and frequently tedious, and characters veered off on major life diversions with never a hint of the underlying motivations.

I was extremely disappointed with this novel and didn't feel the narrative spoke to me at all. These characters seemed to revel in immaturity, and the endless posing was exhausting to read. I felt like every character was a negative stereotype of one age or another, and they therefore never rang true to me. I had a really hard time with this book; the more I read, the less I liked it and the less connection I felt to the characters. I believe that Lil's wedding should have marked the transition to maturity, but none of these characters ever seem to actually mature. This is my generation, and I would hate to think that any of my friends resembled these folks...

I definitely found the characters mired in perpetual adolescence, and apparently unable to recognize that fact. Getting married and having babies doesn't make you an adult, and I feel these characters were all hiding their immaturity behind the trappings of adulthood. The ending was rushed despite my belief that the book is way too long. My constant feeling while reading was that we were missing too much- too many decisions and actions without any explanations. I think that helped contribute to my feelings of separation from the characters. I couldn't even summon up any sympathy when one one of the characters meets an unexpected end, and can't see how these people can be considered a group of "friends" given how they act toward one another.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars New York, New York, April 2, 2009

By 

Eileen Granfors (Santa Clarita, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Fortunate Age: A Novel (Hardcover)

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As Mary McCarthy presented the "new" women of the thirties, Rona Jaffe, the women of the fifties, and Nancy Thayer, the women of the seventies and eighties, Joanna Smith Rakoff explores the lives of women coming of age in the 21st century.

The story centers on Oberlin chums who move to New York, seeking their place in the world on and in romance. Sadie, Beth, Lil, and Emily find that life is not simply the grand adventure of deep thinking and literary finesse college taught them it would be.

There are problems with men, problems with one another, bills to pay, and bosses to please. Parents are disappointed or distant; friendships disintegrate and rebloom.

What I liked best about this book is that Rakoff takes her time telling the story, developing each woman's personal history and inner voice. She takes time with the men, so that they do not come off as caricatures of goodness or neglect.

This is a fine debut novel with a deeply satisfying story about the world of young New Yorkers today. Rakoff is especially on target in the ambivalence of Caitlin and Sadie in the chapters about the "new" child-as-god approach to motherhood, with a fitting finish, a long, uncomfortable ride in a limousine for a nursing mom.