Customer Reviews

The Girl Next Door: A Novel

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I chose The Girl Next Door because I had read and enjoyed The Reading Group by the same author. Unfortunately, I did not The Girl Next Door as much.

This novel is comprised of intertwining stories of residents of a New York City apartment building. It was a pleasant read. But there was no "hook" here at all. Other than one emotional chapter, each story is mundane and predicable. The characters are one dimensional, almost stereotypes. There are so many characters, that we never feel invested in any of them. The writing is okay - but certainly not witty, insightful, full of attitude, poetic, or anything else that would make this novel stand out.

It's not bad, really. There's just nothing about it that would make me recommend it to a friend.

This book had an interesting premise, but it never took off for me. The characters are all stereotypes and too shallowly drawn to care much about. I don't understand Eve at all, for I firmly believe "wherever you go, there you are" yet she seems to have lost herself whilst crossing the pond. Her husband Ed, of course, has no such problems and throws himself into his work. When he notices Eve, he is annoyed by by her and the person she has become.

We are told Kim and Jason used to have a fabulous relationship, but for most of the book they are little more than two ships passing in the night. The confrontation and subsequent events are given short shrift, so we have to take the author's word for the resolution to their conflict.

Rachel and David and family are worth rooting for until ... they're not. Their conflict comes out of the blue and really is not believable.

The gay couple are evidently thrown in because someone told the author that it's not unusual for a gay couple to own a home together in NYC.

Of the three single women, Charlotte, Emily, and Madison, only Emily gets any real face time in this book. Even that is shallow and fleeting. Trip is the stereotypical player and his transformation feeds into the fallacy that a woman can change a man.

Violet, the elderly widow, is the most interesting of the characters, and we do learn a lot about her.

The story is told in little vignettes. Each chapter is a specific month; the changes in POV are clearly labeled. But, there is very little interaction between the various characters, and what there is feels stilted and staged (i.e., the roof garden). The conflicts and resolutions are very predictable. I finished the book and wondered what the point of it all was. The story just ends.

A beach read, at best.

I have mixed emotions about this book. It traces a few months in the lives of residents of a New York apartment building. It's a little hard to get into because there are so many characters that even with a chart at the front, it is difficult to keep them straight. The story lines relating to Charlotte/Emily/Jackson and Kim/Jason are terrific. The story lines relating to Rachel/David and Ed/Eve/Violet are not so great. Plus there are several characters that are introduced almost as though they are more than main characters but we're never told more, which gives the book an almost unfinished feel. The Ed/Eve/Violet storyline is the main storyline and it is the most flawed. The idea is supposed to be that Eve brought Violet out of her shell through their friendship but there is nothing in the book about Eve drawing Violet out. It is Violet who reaches out to Eve. I just don't think the story of their friendship had the impact the book was trying to claim.

Like I said, I really enjoyed the Charlotte/Emily/Jackson storyline and how all three of those characters evolved by surprises brought into their lives. Kim/Jason was also very well developed and you found yourself cheering for them, in spite of their many flaws. I wouldn't go running out to buy more of this author's books, but I'd read one if I came across it.

I read Elizabeth Noble's earlier novel, "The Reading Group" years ago. This novel has shown a progress in her writing style over the years ... more in-depth and more professionally written. But her storytelling style is still the same ... a wonderful style of writing where you just want to sit and read all day long until this novel is finished. She is the modern-day version of Maeve Binchy.

This novel has a variety of characters living in the same apartment building in NYC. If you're expecting an in-depth build-up of each character, please don't bother reading this because you will be disappointed. There are a few characters where they have more "life" to them than others, but all of their stories are interconnected even if it is just because they live in the same building. There are a couple of characters that I wish she would have developed more ... such as Tod and Gregory, Arthur Alexander and more. I realize that it would be a much bigger novel if she was able to flesh their stories out more (as well as the other "minor" characters in the book) ... but it was a tease just to read a few pages about them and that was it. It was not very well-thought out in my opinion.

The stories of the characters that were prominent in this book are good and got my tissues out as their stories made me cry (especially the story of Eve and Ed and their baby and also Violet's story). That was a very well-written part of the book. The other issue that Noble touched upon, infidelity, was so-so. You have the perfect family and it falls apart because the husband had an affair. I did not connect with Rachael or David and their pain/misery as much as I was touched by Eve and Ed's story. It is such a typical infidelity story that it makes me wonder if it was necessary to this book. There was another story of a couple in pain, Kim and Jason, and their story was much more relatable than of Rachael and David's story.

This book is still a cozy read and it is perfect for those rainy autumn days or for those long dark nights when only reading a novel is satisfying to while away the hours. This book is good for that.

10/23/09

Oohhh this book was addicting. I have held it in my hands the last 24 hours, hoping everyone would just melt away so I could find out more about the inhabitants of this wonderful building. I thought there was a LONG list of people and I wondered if I would be able to keep up, but within a couple of pages I was hooked -- From Eve and Ed moving to New York from the UK, to Jason and Kim's difficult marriage, Charlotte, Emily and Jackson and the entertaining Madison, I loved it all.

You will feel like you are one of the renters in this building, sharing their lives, heartaches and trials. It is like regular life, not what it seems from the outside -- I loved how the characters talked about books. That is always a favorite of mine when I read!

I hope Ms. Noble comes out with a sequel, because I want to know what is going on with all my favorite people; how Ed and Eve are doing, if Emily and Jackson make it... Way to go Ms Noble this book is sure to be a hit!!

If you like this type of book (and I do on occasion) it's a fine read but nothing memorable. It focuses on a handful of people living in a condo building in NYC. Characters meet and interact, some get together, relationships change, people are a bit wiser or happier at the end of the story. An easy, feel-good read, ideal for plane rides and beaches.

"Who lives behind the door across the hall or in the apartment one floor down? a new best friend? an enemy? the love of your life? Are the people behind those closed doors the same people you meet in the hall? "The Girl Next Door" by Elizabeth Noble opens the doors in a New York City co-op apartment building and introduces us to the lives of its' inhabitants. Eve Gallagher is an Englishwoman, whose husband Ed, a banker, convinces her to leave her beloved home in an English village to advance his banking career in New York City. Through Eve's interactions we meet and get to know her neighbors in the building. In this enjoyable novel, populated with interesting charaters, we easily become caught up in a year in the life of Eve and her neighbors. Lessons are learned, lives are changed and the reader is left satisfied."

Books that fall under the label of "Chick-lit" often get a bad rap. Let's face it, there's good and bad in every genre. This "Chick-lit" novel is pretty good.

I did like the characters, even though they are all a bit clichéd (the slut, the lonely woman looking for love, the slacker who finds love, the gay couple, etc, etc.), but I thought the author did a great job of bringing the characters to life, and I liked the way the story was told. Each "chapter" is actually a month, and within that month, the characters get their own section.

The story is set in New York City, and I get the feeling the author did that primarily to find fault with the city. There was a bit of negativity about the city I found bothersome. Still, I enjoyed THE GIRL NEXT DOOR a great deal and give it four stars.

I thought I may have a hard time keeping up with such a long list of characters, but it was actually pretty simple. Every type of relationship you can think of is represented in this novel - good and bad marriages, single men, single women and friendships. Although the novel is somewhat centered around Ed and Eve Gallagher, we meet all of the residents in this New York City apartment building. As relationships are begun, ended, cemented and transformed, the main story in the novel is that of Eve and an elderly single resident, Violet. As Eve is uprooted from England and left on her own much of the time while her husband dedicates himself to his job, these two women form a friendship and a bond that helps both of them to begin to heal from their separate sorrows. I found this book to be much deeper than I thought it would be, and it stayed in my mind for days after I finished it.

I had a good time reading this book. I even bought it for one of my sister-in-laws as a holiday gift!
This is the story of Eve, a young English expatriate who moved to New York because her husband was promoted to a great position in the financial world. She gets to know the city and a city within the city - the people in her apartment building. The story is told by switching to different residents' points of view. The prose is colorful and easy-to-read. There are several fun stories within this apartment building.
Eve forms an interesting friendship with a fellow Brit, the 82-year-old Violet. There's also a quiet young librarian, a triathloner in the entertainment industry, a handsome trust fund guy who abandons his bravado as he falls in love, a gay couple, the Cuban building staff, and a wealthy young couple who have a marital crisis. Eve makes it through a life-changing crisis of her own.
Each character is well-developed and draws the reader into his or her world. This is not heavy literary fiction, but it's a fun, frothy read!