Brooklyn's famed neighborhood of Park Slope has it all: the sprawling, majestic Prospect Park; acclaimed public schools; historic brownstones; and progressive values. The more upwardly mobile New Yorkers discover its virtues, the more that claiming a stake in Park Slope becomes a competitive sport.In the park, the coffee shops, and the playgrounds of the neighborhood, four women's lives collide one long, hot Brooklyn summer. Melora Leigh, a two-time Oscar-winning actress, frustrated with her career and the pressures of raising her adoptive toddler, feels the seductive pull of kleptomania; Rebecca Rose, missing the robust sex life of her pre-motherhood days, begins a dangerous flirtation with a handsome local celebrity; Lizzie O'Donnell, a former lesbian (or "hasbian"), wonders why she is still drawn to women in spite of her sexy husband and adorable son; and Karen Bryan Shapiro finds herself split between two powerful obsessions: her four-year-old son's well-being and snagging the ultimate three-bedroom apartment in a well-maintained P.S. 321-zoned co-op building. As the women's paths intertwine (and sometimes crash), each must struggle to keep her man, her sanity, and her play dates.
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Kate Reading strikes exactly the right note in performing this razor-sharp satire of self-obsessed social climbers in trendy Park Slope: she reads each character's point of view with absolute earnestness, truthfully conveying their cattiness, pettiness, and outrage when their needs aren't met. She deftly creates distinctive voices for each character—from jaded, throaty drama queen Melora to nasal, whiny Karen, from an Australian celebrity actor to a Swedish nanny—always sounding utterly authentic and never missing a beat. Her masterful performance makes this scathingly entertaining novel a must-listen on audio. A Simon & Schuster hardcover (Reviews, June 1). (Aug.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
"Darkly comedic." -- New York Post Page Six
--This text refers to the
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More About the Author
Amy's new novel, Motherland, will be published in August 2012 by Simon & Schuster. Beyond that . . .
In 1973 Amy was born in Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan. Raised in Brooklyn Heights, Amy went on to attend Hunter College High School in Manhattan, alma mater of Supreme Court justice Elena Kagan. In 1995 Amy was graduated from Brown University, Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude, and with Honors.
In 1995 Amy returned to Brooklyn to pursue a career as an actress. It didn't go well, though she did appear in an episode of "Law and Order" for forty seconds, an episode for which she still receives residuals. In 1996 she became a columnist at New York Press, writing her autobiographical "Female Trouble" column, a chronicle of dating below Fourteenth Street that elicited loads of invective from readers and shamed her parents at dinner parties. This column was satirized in a cartoon by Anthony Haden-Guest that featured a blond and brunette talking, with the brunette telling the blond, "I'm the new you." This was thought to be based on Amy and Candace Bushnell, though Anthony never admitted it outright.
In 1999, Simon & Schuster published Amy's first novel, Run Catch Kiss, which has since been translated into four languages. According to the New York Times review of the book, "A little-known event that took place around the time that Richard M. Nixon was resigning as President was the birth of Amy Sohn, who has emerged as a representative of her generation." The review included the word "concomitant," "concupiscence," and "Spenglerian," three words that do not appear in the novel.
In 1999 Amy became a columnist at the New York Post, where she enraged management by comparing Mayor Giuliani to Hitler and writing an expose on the Yankees locker room. In 2000, Amy co-created, wrote and starred in a television show for Oxygen's "X Chromosome" animated series entitled "Avenue Amy."
In August 2001 Amy landed at New York magazine. At New York, her columns mirrored the trajectory of her life, from "Naked City" to "Mating" to "Breeding." In 2004 Simon & Schuster published her second novel, My Old Man, about a May-December relationship between a rabbinical school dropout and an aging screenwriter. It took place in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn.
In 2008 she became a columnist at England's Grazia magazine, where she wrote a column called "Diary of a Recessionista." The recession soon took over and the column was axed. Over the years, Amy has also written for Harper's Bazaar, Premiere, Playboy, Elle, The New York Times, and Details. She is a recipient of a reader award from Playboy called the Golden Bunny and was voted one of Park Slope's 100 most influential people. She is certain she is the only individual to have received both honors.
In 2009 Simon & Schuster published Amy's third novel, Prospect Park West, about four Park Slope mothers on the verge of a nervous breakdown. It was translated into five languages.
As a pundit on popular culture, she has appeared on such networks as VH1, MTV, Fox News, CNN, Lifetime, MSNBC, and PBS. She has written television pilots for ABC, Fox, Lifetime and most recently, HBO and Sarah Jessica Parker, who optioned Prospect Park West. She has written two films, a Gen X Big Chill called Spin the Bottle, and a Gen X horror film called Pagans.
She grew up in Brooklyn, where she still lives today. She has a brother, five years younger. She voted for Barack Obama and raised money for him. Her favorite writers are Laurie Colwin, Hilma Wolitzer, Charles Bukowski, Nathanael West, Mary Gaitskill, and Bruce Jay Friedman. Her favorite films include Gregory's Girl, The Landlord, The Apartment, My Life as a Dog, and Together.
She had her seventh birthday party at Kramer versus Kramer but not all the children were permitted by their parents to come. As a child she was taken to the films Heartland, Splash, Heart Like a Wheel, The Magical Mystery Tour, and Mr. Hulot's Holiday and is glad about it. She thinks Wainwright elevates Apatow and not the other way around. She has strong biceps but weak abs. She is aware that her inspiration for this list was the Kevin Costner speech in Bull Durham. She has had sexual fantasies about Richard Ford and they were productive.
If she could switch careers she would be a Broadway musical theater producer or a sommelier. She dresses to the left. She believes that when it comes to hair highlights, cheap is expensive. Her favorite joke is, "What's the difference between a Jew and a Gentile? A Gentile leaves without saying goodbye and a Jew says goodbye without leaving." She also enjoys a very tasteless Katharine Hepburn joke whose punchline is, "How do you turn it off?" Her favorite candy is York Peppermint Patties and she always has a knot in the same section of her hair when she wakes up. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and daughter.
Like her at www.facebook.com/amysohn and visit her at www.amysohn.com.
In 1973 Amy was born in Roosevelt Hospital in Manhattan. Raised in Brooklyn Heights, Amy went on to attend Hunter College High School in Manhattan, alma mater of Supreme Court justice Elena Kagan. In 1995 Amy was graduated from Brown University, Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude, and with Honors.
In 1995 Amy returned to Brooklyn to pursue a career as an actress. It didn't go well, though she did appear in an episode of "Law and Order" for forty seconds, an episode for which she still receives residuals. In 1996 she became a columnist at New York Press, writing her autobiographical "Female Trouble" column, a chronicle of dating below Fourteenth Street that elicited loads of invective from readers and shamed her parents at dinner parties. This column was satirized in a cartoon by Anthony Haden-Guest that featured a blond and brunette talking, with the brunette telling the blond, "I'm the new you." This was thought to be based on Amy and Candace Bushnell, though Anthony never admitted it outright.
In 1999, Simon & Schuster published Amy's first novel, Run Catch Kiss, which has since been translated into four languages. According to the New York Times review of the book, "A little-known event that took place around the time that Richard M. Nixon was resigning as President was the birth of Amy Sohn, who has emerged as a representative of her generation." The review included the word "concomitant," "concupiscence," and "Spenglerian," three words that do not appear in the novel.
In 1999 Amy became a columnist at the New York Post, where she enraged management by comparing Mayor Giuliani to Hitler and writing an expose on the Yankees locker room. In 2000, Amy co-created, wrote and starred in a television show for Oxygen's "X Chromosome" animated series entitled "Avenue Amy."
In August 2001 Amy landed at New York magazine. At New York, her columns mirrored the trajectory of her life, from "Naked City" to "Mating" to "Breeding." In 2004 Simon & Schuster published her second novel, My Old Man, about a May-December relationship between a rabbinical school dropout and an aging screenwriter. It took place in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn.
In 2008 she became a columnist at England's Grazia magazine, where she wrote a column called "Diary of a Recessionista." The recession soon took over and the column was axed. Over the years, Amy has also written for Harper's Bazaar, Premiere, Playboy, Elle, The New York Times, and Details. She is a recipient of a reader award from Playboy called the Golden Bunny and was voted one of Park Slope's 100 most influential people. She is certain she is the only individual to have received both honors.
In 2009 Simon & Schuster published Amy's third novel, Prospect Park West, about four Park Slope mothers on the verge of a nervous breakdown. It was translated into five languages.
As a pundit on popular culture, she has appeared on such networks as VH1, MTV, Fox News, CNN, Lifetime, MSNBC, and PBS. She has written television pilots for ABC, Fox, Lifetime and most recently, HBO and Sarah Jessica Parker, who optioned Prospect Park West. She has written two films, a Gen X Big Chill called Spin the Bottle, and a Gen X horror film called Pagans.
She grew up in Brooklyn, where she still lives today. She has a brother, five years younger. She voted for Barack Obama and raised money for him. Her favorite writers are Laurie Colwin, Hilma Wolitzer, Charles Bukowski, Nathanael West, Mary Gaitskill, and Bruce Jay Friedman. Her favorite films include Gregory's Girl, The Landlord, The Apartment, My Life as a Dog, and Together.
She had her seventh birthday party at Kramer versus Kramer but not all the children were permitted by their parents to come. As a child she was taken to the films Heartland, Splash, Heart Like a Wheel, The Magical Mystery Tour, and Mr. Hulot's Holiday and is glad about it. She thinks Wainwright elevates Apatow and not the other way around. She has strong biceps but weak abs. She is aware that her inspiration for this list was the Kevin Costner speech in Bull Durham. She has had sexual fantasies about Richard Ford and they were productive.
If she could switch careers she would be a Broadway musical theater producer or a sommelier. She dresses to the left. She believes that when it comes to hair highlights, cheap is expensive. Her favorite joke is, "What's the difference between a Jew and a Gentile? A Gentile leaves without saying goodbye and a Jew says goodbye without leaving." She also enjoys a very tasteless Katharine Hepburn joke whose punchline is, "How do you turn it off?" Her favorite candy is York Peppermint Patties and she always has a knot in the same section of her hair when she wakes up. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and daughter.
Like her at www.facebook.com/amysohn and visit her at www.amysohn.com.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Published too quickly?,
By A. Drugay "Space Traveler, Part-Time Genius, ... (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Prospect Park West: A Novel (Hardcover)
One part smutOne part celebrity worship Four parts whiny mothers who resent their children Top with a hefty dose of Brooklyn name-dropping and five too many mentions of Gawker - stir swiftly and chug. Do not linger over or savor. In addition to all of that, there were several dropped storylines, which makes me think this book was in a rush to publish - and makes me wonder, WHY? With some character editing and story tightening, this book could have gained at least another star. The racial paranoia felt forced, the lesbian action felt psychotic, and the beleaguered descriptions of the effects of prescription medications felt too intimate. Psycho mom Karen was my favorite, character, though. She was pretty crafty. The smutty parts, seemingly written by a horny 16-year-old who just learned the F word, were the most entertaining ones.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A fast, trashy, addictive read, despite the boring moms,
By lazytime (NYC) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Prospect Park West: A Novel (Hardcover)
As a former resident of Park Slope, Brooklyn, I can testify that Amy Sohn has nailed it on many levels here -- I'm just not sure people without first-hand knowledge of this NYC neighborhood will care that much. It's a fun, fast, trashy read and I became a bit addicted to the book -- but I also skimmed a lot at times. Some of the characters are dull and a lot of them blur together. Not one of them is a person worth liking, which will be a problem for some readers but made it delicious anti-Slope satire for me. There's nothing more boring to me, however, than reading about some overentitled, status-obsessed mommy worrying about getting her kids into the "right" school district. But for anyone who has ever survived the Park Slope Food Coop, this book will have you cackling out loud. Very current, but the pop cultural references (and they are countless) will date this book, so read it soon or don't bother.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing,
By J.B. "J.B." (NY, NY) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Prospect Park West: A Novel (Hardcover)
I figured this book would be fun. I live in Brooklyn, have young children, and know there is ample, good material around for a satire of urban parenting. However, "Prospect Park West" book found almost none of it. Instead, the author relies on cardboard-thin characters and zero humor to impart little other than nastiness. All of the young mothers are shallow, all of the marriages are strained and void of any communication, and all of the children are after-thoughts. Plus, not one of the characters is fully developed, and as a result, their major actions come across as bizarre.Also, when the book is not mean, it has an odd idea that living in Brooklyn puts you inside the pages of US Weekly. Satire is supposed to raise greater truths through barbed humor. This book has no larger focus and no comic touch, just barbs. I am sorry that its publication will most likely crowd out any other novel on modern-day parenting in the city. It's still a worthy topic for a nuanced satire.
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