Local Knowledge (Paperback)

~ (Author) "It's a beautiful part of the world..." (more)
Key Phrases: spec houses, Red River, Richard Zeller, Maple Rise (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

“A powerful and deeply moving novel about the lies we tell ourselves, the moral corners we cut, and the loved ones we betray to get what we want. Gyllenhaal has x-ray vision into the human heart and a sharp eye for contemporary mores and social maneuvering. She knows women and men and children, and pins them to the page with some of the most dazzling prose I’ve read in a long time.”
—Ellen Felman, author of Lucy

Product Description

From an exciting debut author—a novel about three people haunted by the mistakes of their past and their plunge into an uncertain future.

Maddie Alden has always longed for more than her small town could offer. Now that it’s being overrun by wealthy New Yorkers looking for a respite from the city, Maddie has gotten herself a lucrative new job in real estate. And her first sale brings her a charismatic new friend who is everything Maddie longs to be. Little does Maddie realize that the glamorous Anne will shake up her quiet marriage— and will force Maddie to face the truth about the past, and the terrible secret she shares with her husband and his best friend…

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Product Details

• Paperback: 368 pages
• Publisher: NAL Trade; First Edition edition (January 6, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451225783
• ISBN-13: 978-0451225788
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #329,895 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This is what you need to read on the beach during your winter break in Florida., January 7, 2009

By	Derek Kot (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

If Norah Jones recorded a CD of Bruce Springsteen songs, it would come out something like the beautiful music of Liza Gyllenhaal's Local Knowledge.

A contemporary bildungsroman set in not-so-rural-anymore Red River in upstate New York, Gyllenhaal has Maddie Alden tell her own story and that of the two men in and around her life - her husband, Paul and his best friend Luke Barnett. The driving force of the narrative is the encounter Maddie has with Anne Zeller, her first big score as a real-estate agent. Emboldened by her success and flattered by the attention from this effortlessly elegant New York City "businesswoman on sabbatical" Maddie lives through a Berkshires summer like no other she has had. The events compel Maddie to re-examine in detail what led up to this life-changing season and how it would end.

Gyllenhaal's method is to have Maddie take turns with two different stories - one in more or less present time and the other starting with Maddie's formative years and moving forward - until the two strands make contact in real time. The descriptions are rich in detail and Maddie's is an admirably honest voice. It's through her that we hear about what may lie just under the surface of all those charming small towns that prosperous urbanites have claimed as their second homes; of the lives made desperate by the collapse of local agriculture; of the the inevitable sale of generations-owned lands to people who couldn't tell an elm from a maple. Maddie is both particpant in and witness to the transformation of her home town.

Gyllenhaal writes with limpid precision. Maddie doesn't miss much and she also knows she's not perfect. This makes for a very effective narrator. There are beautiful passages all over this book. It takes a writer of Gyllenhaal's abilities to keep it real and yet manage to find the precious poetry hiding under the rubble.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I've read it on the beach in Florida!, January 9, 2009

By	Beverly Gyllenhaal - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is indeed the perfect beach read -- in Florida or anywhere else! OK, so Liza is indeed my relative, but I couldn't put Local Knowledge down, and I'm picky with a short attention span. This would be a great book club pick with all the elements to spark a good discussion about loyalty, dealing with your past and coming to terms with best friends.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars comfortably unsettling, February 5, 2009

By	Wendy Soneson "wtheb" (boston) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Maddie Alden compels us to empathize with her choices from the everyday to the more soul searching. We are grateful for the grounding force of her husband Paul, as she works through her feelings and loyalties, trying to discover her values, and striving for honesty with herself and others. Gyllenhaal pulls us deep into Maddies world with succinct and luscious details. She lets us see with Maddie's perceptive eyes, constantly trying to uncover layers of truth about her friends, family, and purpose in life. Scenes are vivid, dialogue rings authentic, and somehow we care about this out-of-the way town that might be nothing like any we ever experienced. Lacking any moralistic or political agenda, Local Knowledge lets us make our own decisions about our rapidly changing landscapes and social cultures. The characters have enough zing to be entertaining, but still feel vaguely like someone we once knew. There is a sadness to the mood of the book but not without an ever present feeling that there is a splendid sunrise about to appear - life may be filled with unexpected turns, but one can find solace in the turn of a child's smile, a ripening vegetable patch, or the memory of a beloved friend. The story of a long and twisted summer relationship that would be a welcome escape on a cold winter weekend.