Moms in Manhattan
Trying a different approach than usual, this week I’ve got three different books to talk about, all of which are about parents who live in Manhattan.
First up is Love and other impossible pursuits, by Ayelet Waldman. After reading Becca’s post about it, I couldn’t resist requesting it from the library. It was a quick read, full of amusing references to Bugaboos and the craziness of preschool admissions in New York. And while I was never entirely clear on what exactly was so compelling about Emilia’s husband, her affection for Central Park shone loud and clear.
The main story in Love&… is about Emilia’s ambivalent relationship with her five-year-old stepson. Stepfamilies are also at the heart of This is my daughter, by Roxana Robinson. If Waldman writes like Warhol painted, full of bright colors and pop references, then Robinson is the master of the black and white sketch, bringing out the spirit of her characters with a few deft strokes. She tells the story of Peter and Emma’s failed first marriages and their attempts to build a family with their young daughters, moving smoothly across viewpoints, revealing each characters’ hopes and failings.
I got this one out from the library because I really liked Robinson’s collection, A perfect stranger and other stories, and wanted to see what she did with a novel. Unfortunately, I was left thinking that this is almost a novel-length short story, without a real plot to move things along. And at novel length, I found myself stumbling over some of the superficial details — what Upper East Side mother would ever let her daughter sit on her lap in the front seat of a moving car?
Last up is What do you do all day? by Amy Scheibe. This one has been weighing on my conscience for a while, because I got it free from the publicist, and I felt an obligation to write about it. (As you may recall, I don’t feel any obligation to say nice things about the books I get for free, but I do feel like I should acknowledge them.) I started reading it when I got it, and was enjoying it, but then put it down for a while and never felt particularly compelled to pick it up.
When I did pick it up again, I found that I enjoyed this book. The plot is flimsy, with the writing not quite strong enough to keep me suspending disbelief at some points. But I liked Jennifer Bradley, Scheibe’s heroine. She’s lovably imperfect, always feeling that those around her are happier with their lives, more on top of things. She’s also nice — inviting an emotionally needy fellow mom to join her and her friends for lunch, knowing how much she’d want to be asked, something I can’t imagine Emilia ever doing.
Ultimately, What do you do all day? is a fantasy novel, a story of a world where you have the perfect response to racist putdowns on the spot (not 20 minutes too late), where you can waltz into a new, better kindergarten for your daughter the same day that her old teacher has a psychotic break, and where your old boss offers to hire you as partner, not assistant, after four years out of the work force. Think of it as Bunny Planet for stressed out moms.
March 8th, 2006 at 9:08 am
i really liked “this is my daughter,”– i thought it was a really well-done picture of step-parent and step-child relationships and i’m really interested in that. i think we don’t see that in fiction enough.
but then i looked at the book jacket, which compared her work to Edith Wharton (one of my faves) and henry james, and i thought, “just writing about rich new york doesn’t put you on their level!”
i’d like to read her short stories, thanks for the rec.
March 10th, 2006 at 9:13 am
I didn’t read this post the other day, because I was in the middle of reading Love and Other Pursuits and wanted to form my own opinion. Not Waldman’s best book, imo, I much preferred Daughter’s Keeper. I’m not really sure what Ayelet is up to with this book, it seems like a major departure from what she’s done before. Is she trying to become the ur-urban mommyblogger, in the way that Dooce is the ur-suburban mommyblogger?