Customer Reviews

Love, Work, Children: A Novel

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Cheryl Mendelson casts her net a bit wider in this second novel, still focusing on one family in the Morningside Heights area of New York City but branching out to include their friends and coworkers. Though it doesn't have the warmth of Anne Braithwaite's (from MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS) wonderful perspective, it's a fascinating novel and a bit of a reach, I suspect, that bodes well for future books.

The heart of the novel is the narrative voice, with its strong sense of moral clarity and fair play. Everyone in the world is compared to Jane Austen these days, but Cheryl Mendelson really HAS inherited Austen's sense of the importance of being honest and reasonable in all one's doings, from behavior at work to the choice of a spouse. And, thank goodness, Mendelson also has something of Austen's wit. The chapter describing the meeting of the Devereaux Foundation is hysterical; Hilda Hughes is a wilder and less exasperating take on the lifelong analysand than Merrit was in MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS; and the moments involving children are always, always spot-on.

I think it may have been difficult for Mendelson to write from the perspective of a male character who had chosen poorly in both marriage and career. Because these issues are so important to her novels, Peter Frankl's failure at both leaves the reader in a moral quandary: we want him to leave his wife and quit his job, yet know that neither of these is really feasible. Of course, this is just like real life, where complications attach to any decision, but Mendelson is not sure what to do with Peter as he searches for a solution.

The one real criticism I have of the novel is that several of the characters are simply unrepetently nasty, if not evil, every single time we encounter them on the page. Of course we all know these ghastly people in life, but to describe them with no redeeming qualities whatsoever is too jarring in this novel that presents fine ethical questions and shades of behavior. The weakest part of MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS was the evil great-nephew (whose name I forget) of the old lady, and in LOVE, WORK, CHILDREN he has been cloned several times over! We just don't need these characters to be quite so black-and-white; we can see them as petty or destructive or even malignant without such overkill.

That said, LOVE, WORK, CHILDREN is a wonderful novel and a very promising follow-up to MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS. Cheryl Mendelson is a superb writer who deserves a far wider and more vocal readership.

In "Love, Work, Children," Cheryl Mendelson continues her scrutiny of the eccentric, well-to-do, and sophisticated people who populate the Manhattan neighborhood of Morningside Heights. Mendelson focuses on Peter Frankl, his wife, Lesley, and their two grown children, Susan and Louis. Peter is miserable in his job at a law firm, and he secretly dislikes his self-centered wife. However, being a moral and altruistic man, Peter would not consider divorcing Lesley and, for the most part, he suffers in silence. However, when Lesley gets into a serious car accident, the family's equilibrium is upset and nothing is ever the same again.

Mendelson's leisurely prose style requires great patience from the reader. The author digs deeply into the psyches of at least a half-dozen main characters, and her complicated plot unfolds at a snail's pace. Romance plays a large part in this novel, and there are a number of young lovers who engage in complicated mating rituals before they settle down with their soulmates. As the title implies, the author also examines the world of work, especially what makes a job either satisfying or stultifying. In "Love, Work, Children" Mendelson looks at a particular lifestyle in which everyone knows everyone else's business and no one hesitates to interfere with people's lives.

The characters in this book are colorful and offbeat. Besides the Frankl family, we meet Mallory, a pretty and popular young woman who is a fledgling journalist and Alexei, a young Russian man who is good looking, brilliant, talented, and very poor. He is a chess grandmaster who sings divinely, fixes computers, and gives a large part of his meager earnings to his family. Alexei pursues Mallory, but she looks down at him, since his future is so insecure. Hilda Hughes is a frumpy and nervous woman who works for the Devereaux Foundation, a charitable organization to which Peter Frankl is devoted. Hilda is very intelligent and insightful, but she is also isolated and a bit batty. Her sessions with her therapist are very amusing and undoubtedly helpful because, over time, Hilda slowly starts to emerge from her shell. If there are villains in this story, they are Edmond Lockhart, his estranged wife Wanda, and his partner, Ivy Hurst. Edmond, Wanda, and Ivy are selfish, mean-spirited, and devious, and they cause the Frankls much grief.

Cheryl Mendelson's novels are not for everyone. Readers who like fast-moving narratives and clear cut themes may find Mendelson irritating. However, those who love well-developed characters and gentle humor will be entertained, and many readers will enjoy the author's thoughtful riffs on life's vicissitudes. "Love, Work, and Children" explores many important themes: Is everyone suited to be a parent? How responsible are we for the way our kids turn out? Should we stay in unsatisfying marriages for the sake of our children? Is it better to take a job that pays well or that makes us happy? Why is life so messy and complicated? "Love, Work, Children" is a quirky, rambling, and unpredictable look at the strivings, failures, hopes, and triumphs of a group of New Yorkers whose lives are immeasurably enriched by the love of their family and friends.

I'm enjoying this sequel to Morningside Heights. I've always loved an author's return to previous characters and "updating" them. Rita Mae Brown does this with her writing, often bringing back well-loved characters.

The review just above mine compares Mendelson's writing to George Eliot and Jane Austin. I'd like to add that, perhaps, some of the writing of the late, great Laurie Colwin has influenced Mendelson's view of polite New York society.

I am looking forward to her third, and final, novel in the trilogy.

If you loved Morningside Heights, you will also love this book. I just read it on a summer vacation and found it delightful and engaging. I'm glad that Cheryl Mendelsohn is still writing and I am eager to read her next book.

I am writing this before I am finshed reading the book--but close. I very much enjoyed "Morningside Heights", and this book is its equal. I love the fact that although these are modern day stories, the author takes an in depth, leisuely approach to exploring character development, similar to that of novels written in the nineteenth century. Some of the reviews here have criticized the author because the readers found the characters to be somehow morally despicable, with no redeeming qualities. I did not find that to be the case at all. These are complex individuals, with strengths and weaknesses. I could recognize myself and others in them. If at times there is a touch of the old-fashioned about this novel (and only a touch), it felt to me refreshing and reassuring. I truly enjoyed both of this author's novels. I understand that a trilogy is planned.....is it possible that the author would consider a quartet--or even a quintet??

Cheryl Mendelson is a rare thing: an erudite author who neither underestimates the intelligence of her readers nor uses her knowledge simply to show off. While her love of music, books and ideas are clear throughout the book, they serve only to enhance the story, which is populated by interesting and relatable characters. I recognized some of the people in her book, recognized myself in several of them, and truly cared about them and their struggles.

This novel was not only a pleasure to read, but gave me new insights--about New York, New Yorkers, and my own life in this city. If that sounds unusual and rare, it's because it is.

I wondered if this book would be as good as the author's previous book, Morningside Heights, and it was -- maybe slightly better. Of course, some readers may wonder why one should care about the "sophisticated", self-absorbed people of Morningside Heights. My answer is that it is a lot of fun to read about quirky people and the reading is easy with a happy ending, so why not have a good read without too much work. I look forward to the third book in this purported trilogy.

Mostly I agree with what Mr. Burgess has already said (review May 13, 2008) about the content of the novel. But additionally, I realized about halfway through the book that Mendelson's narrative style, jumping as she does from one character's point of view to another's, often in the same paragraph, made it impossible for me to relax. Common practice is to at least skip a line between one character's mind and another's. Perhaps Ms. Mendelson doesn't know this, but where the heck was her editor????!!!

I also had trouble with Mallory and her parents' dismissal of Alexei, the cute, talented, chess-playing and opera-singing, smart but foreign (and therefore unacceptable?) hot guy who ends up with Susan, the musicologist, instead. I really hated Mallory's repeated insistence that he probably couldn't sing, when the reader already knows he's got a great voice. And that's just one of the many things that grated. Here's another: the novel opens with the P.O.V. of Judy Rostov, whose husband Henry is killed instantly in the car accident that puts Leslie Frankl into a coma for weeks. Then Judy disappears completely. I kept waiting, but she isn't even mentioned again except briefly, halfway through the book, and then once at the end, when it is surmised that Henry drove into the pole on purpose to kill himself because he had been having an affair with Leslie. Huh? Interesting, but not developed at all.

Oh and just one other thing: having driven up and down Manhattan's West Side Highway for almost 30 years, I can't imagine ANY time of day when you could drive at 80 miles an hour (in the scene with Susan and her soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend, Chris). Maybe 3 or 4 a.m. when there would be the fewest number of other cars. But I doubt it.

I see (in the recommended tags) this book is compared with Anita Shreve? I don't think so. Ms. Shreve knows how to write.

Mama always told me I shouldn't judge a book by its cover. But the cover photograph on this was so intriguing that I took a chance and checked it out from the library. The whole book, not just the cover: they come that way.

It wasn't actually bad. If Jane Austen wrote for daytime TV she might have come up with something like this. But there were too many times when I wished Cher could have waltzed in from MOONSTRUCK, slapped a couple of characters into the middle of next week and told them, "Snap out of it!"

Most of these characters have degrees from fine universities. But too often they have no common sense at all.

The story centers on Peter Frankl and his family. As I read I wondered if his last name was a reference to Victor Frankl, author of MAN'S SEARCH FOR MEANING. But then I began to doubt that Cheryl Mendelson would be erudite enough for that.

Peter's shallow, materialistic wife is nearly killed in a car wreck and spends a goodly part of the book in a coma. With the passage of time Peter comes to see that his life is not what he thought it would be and he begins to question his major decisions.

His daughter, Susan, is working on a doctorate at Columbia University. However, she's easily the stupidest character I've encountered in years. She gets involved with a man who has Wrong written all over him. Reflecting on his literally criminal mistreatment of her, Susan muses that in this day and age she shouldn't expect devotion from a man like Mom received from Dad. Her Musicology studies must have been broad enough to include "Stand by Your Man" by Tammy Wynette. Snap out of it!

Her friend Mallory is even worse. An aspiring writer, she's being courted by Alexi who is a dynamite chess player, computer technician, and striving for a career singing opera. Mallory scorns him because he doesn't come from money and hasn't even got a B.A. Snap out of it!

Things end up about the way you expect them to. Virtue is rewarded, vice avenged. Yawn.

Contrast this with Edith Wharton's THE AGE OF INNOCENCE. Wharton's writing is subversive in showing the steel talons under the velvet gloves of respectable society. More importantly, Wharton has a point of view about her characters. Mendelson doesn't find her characters interesting enough to bring anyone but Alexi to anything resembling life.

But the cover photograph of Riverside Park is very nice.

Mendelson's largest crime in this novel is that she violates the principle we all should've learned in middle school - in writing, show, don't tell. Mendelson states plot elements and charater development as fact, rather than letting them emerge through detail and action. Worse, her characters are wooden and not believable. The novel left me unsatisfied, unconvinced, and angry that I'd wasted my time. I've never felt compelled to write a book review before, but this book was so terrible, I had to put out a warning. Stay away.