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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sweet Nebraska goy looking for meshugenah (wacky)Jewish girl,
By
This review is from: The Good People of New York (Hardcover)
That could have been the ad that resulted in the pairing of New Yorker Roz Rosenzweig and Edwin Anderson - and the result is this marvel of a book by Thisbe Nissen. From the first page, I was smitten with the couple and the writing, which is as smart, sassy, funny and quick-paced as New York itself. A sample bit, as Roz and Edwin are driving home to meet his family, including mother Esther, very early one morning: Edwin said....."Esther's up and at 'em by five. She'll probably have breakfast made already."... "Oh, good lord" Roz moaned. Edwin:"Probably not best to take the Lord's name in vain around her either, especially at this hour of the day." Roz: "Jesus, I forgot.".... "Jesus, we're in trouble" Edwin said to the sky. One more thing about this delightful novel: if you've ever read and enjoyed the late writer Laurie Colwin's books you'll definitely find similarities here, as this is somewhat a comedy of manners, a thinking person's guide to the intricacies of the human heart, full of style and wit.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Writing style great, story mediocre,
By
This review is from: The Good People of New York (Paperback)
I don't know why, but the Iowa Writers' Workshop produces some of the best writing in America, and as far as style goes, Thisbe Nissen is no exception. Her phrasing is beautiful--a memory that aches like a death, for instance. Her dialogue is good. Where the novel falls down is the story and characters, about two-thirds of the way through. The book simply goes nowhere. Characters who start out being major players drop out and either are never heard of again or briefly described in an irrelevant incident. I thought Edwin was a leading role, it seems all he was there for was to be the father of Miranda. Roz could have gone to a sperm bank. What happened to good friend Fran who was so close to Miranda and at whose party Roz met Edwin? She just disappears. What is the point of that Christmas scene in Nebraska where we get the life story of Kathy and Duane, Shauna and Rod, little Brittney and all the others? To show the contrast with Manhattan? What happens to little Gert, who makes such an impression on Roz, she names her daughter after her? What happens to Miranda's budding acting career? Roz is a lawyer in an interesting field, but we never hear about her work or her clients or her friends. This is one of those books where I finish the last page and ask myself what this was supposed to say to me.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good People, Good Enough?,
By
This review is from: The Good People of New York (Paperback)
I'd been waiting for this paperback for a long while. I thought the book sounded fascinating. And indeed, parts of it are. Feeling generous, I gave it four stars. I found parts of it be not well played (characters fade away--time shifts too quickly). In other parts of the book, I was geniunely moved by the characters and their traumas. There is a sense of growth--particularly in Roz and Miranda (Roz most of all, who becomes just a wonderful person--we see that Miranda is missing out during her rebellious years). Other plot twists I might have done without, but still, that is how life isn't it? We can't pick and choose what happens. Nissen seems to have drawn on some of her real life (as she hints at in her acknowledgements) and it may well be unfair to judge her twists and turns, particulalry if they are real. PErsonally, I liked Edwin and Darrin a great deal and would ahve liked to hear more from them. At it's heart, this is a story about mother and daughter. Being neither a mother or daughter, I might not be the best to comment on this book--however, in the end (and I Loved the END) they are indeed good people. And it is a good, but not great, book.
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