I am always 'up' for an Anna Quindlen novel. She is an excellent writer who can bring any story right into your heart and make you feel it in your soul. Alternate Side is an excellent example of this talent.
The clannish all white residents of an isolated cul-de-sac in downtown Manhattan seem to be blessed with a good luck charm. They have the important jobs, the stylish cars, the smart, happy children in prestigious schools. And they have the daily grind of living handled by the brown help. They also have only six parking spaces off of the street, and life changes for Charlie and Nora when he finally gains access to one of those six spaces. No longer must he have to plan ahead and waste time shuffling the car to the alternate side ahead of the meter maid and the street sweeper.

And yet those six parking spaces bring down the balance of the neighborhood, dividing the residents into warring camps after one of the 'haves' clubs handyman Ricky with his 3 iron for blocking the parking area with his van, making Jack Fisk late for his tee-off. life begins to crumble around the edges from that point onward. But what is the difference between unburdened and free, and bereft? Who gets to decide?

I received a free electronic copy of this novel from Netgalley, Anna Quindlen, and Random House Publishing in exchange for an honest review. Thank you all for sharing your hard work with me.

This will be a difficult review, because I love every one of Anna Quindlen's books -- but I didn't love this one. She writes about New York life and motherhood, neither of which have anything to do with me, yet I still find her stories and her storytelling flawless.

However, I almost didn't finish this book because at first it was all about a parking lot on a dead end street. And a husband who was obsessed with renting a spot and proud as a peacock when his wish was granted. While I was struggling to maintain interest, a LOT of neighbors in this upper middle class community were introduced, but most of their names escaped me as I was only half paying attention.

I did stick with it and was glad to know more about the characters and less about the parking lot finally, but I couldn't help wishing I'd chosen an alternate book to read. There was a sorry incident in the parking lot (there we are again) that pretty much changed everything and everyone in some sad ways, but that wasn't enough to make me fully invested in the outcome.

An ARC from NetGalley and the publisher.

I am a big fan of Anna Quindlen and while I liked this story, it's not my favorite. An affluent neighborhood is shook up over a fight involving a parking space and it puts neighbor against neighbor but also Nora in opposition to her husband Charlie. As their marriage crumbles their twins away at college are drawn into the story. Nora faces the crisis with humor, strength and an attitude of I can do this. A good story line with strong characters make this an good read.

Thank you to Random House and NetGalley for providing me with an e-galley of Alternate Side by Anna Quindlen in exchange for an honest review. I must admit that I am a fan of Ms. Quindlen's writing, be it fiction or non-fiction. This particular novel tells the story of Nora and Charlie Nolan, who live on a dead-end upper-crust block in NYC which provides them with close relationships with their neighbors, at times too close. It is apparent that living there can and does become somewhat claustrophobic. One violent incident sets off a chain of events that will affect almost everyone on the block, including Nora and Charlie. The book is well-written and a most enjoyable read. Highly recommended for fans of relationship fiction.

Anna Quindlen has been a favorite author of mine for several years, so I was excited to have the chance to read and review her latest, "Alternate Side," the story of a couple who live in a well-to-do neighborhood in Manhattan.

Several pages in, I became slightly disenchanted, as the story went on for what seemed like forever about a parking lot on the dead-end street where the neighbors lived. The lot does play a significant role in the book, and I’m sure it was meant to also be symbolic of something, as well. I haven’t tried to figure out what, exactly.

For the most part, I stayed annoyed with most of the characters, as they were primarily elitist and self-centered, showing only an occasional glimpse of humanity. Without giving any spoilers, I’ll say that the “unexpected act of violence” brought out very little in the way of concern in anyone, except for a token bit from Nora, the main character. Nora herself was one of my least favorite characters, and although her husband, Charlie, didn’t win any points regarding the “act of violence,” I did find myself feeling a bit sorry for him as I think he could have been a better person if he had been married to someone else.

I was also put off by the very sexist attitudes in the book, exhibited in such lines as, “Charlie was an investment banker...No one really knew what that meant except other finance guys, and they liked the fact that they spoke a secret language that others, especially women, couldn’t understand.” And this, at a dinner party, “The men would talk across the table to each other about work, and the women about their children.” I haven’t yet decided if Ms. Quindlen was poking fun at this behavior or if she was buying into it and just reporting life as she sees it. I’m sincerely hoping it’s the former, but since I lost interest in the book early on, I won’t be pursuing her intent.

On the positive side, the story is very well-written, and I believe there are plenty of others who will enjoy reading it, and will take it with more of a grain of salt than I did.

I sincerely thank NetGalley and Random House for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.
3 stars

3.5 stars A raw and realistic look into the life of the Nolans in NYC. I wanted to like this book more than I actually did- really liked the storyline, but found parts of it to be wordy.

Alternate Side by Anne Quinlan

This novel takes place on the upper West Side of a New York City neighborhood, a dead end street, where “every single one, even the renters, was white, and that everyone who worked for them, every single one, was black or Latino” (quote from the novel). The residents (doctors, lawyers, judges, finance guys, etc. you get the picture) of the neighborhood all know each other, all employ the handyman Ricky when something needs to be fixed in their buildings. You have really made it in this neighborhood, if you can lend a parking space in the 6 car neighborhood lot. One such family who just landed the coveted parking spot is Charlie Nolan, his wife Nora, their twins, Oliver and Rachel, their dog Homer and Charity, their Nanny who stayed on even after the twins have left for college. The way everyone meets their neighbors is walking their dogs, including the Nolan’s. Neighborhood gossip at its best at such get togethers and everyone knows everyone ‘ s business and Charity can fill in the gaps. This is a satire of the snobby New Yorkers and their lives. Nothing much happens in this novel until nearly half through when a violent event occurs in the neighborhood. This one events splits the neighbors apart, who do you believe whose side you are on, etc. The event also starts a downhill spiral of the neighborhood, and some of the protagonists’ lives.
The author accurately and with humor paints the life of the snobby New Yorkers, but other than that I found this book fairly boring, no more than three stars.
Thanks NetGalley, Random House and the author, Ann Quindlen for the advanced copy.

I liked this book because I could relate to the main character. I often gravitate to books that do not have a lot of action, but that have characters that are in similar stages of their lives. I have always liked Quindlen's voice and character development.

3.5 but rounding up--mostly because I really like Anna Quindlen.

With humor, understanding, an acute eye, and a warm heart, Anna Quindlen explores what it means to be a mother, a wife, and a woman at a moment of reckoning.

The setting:
Uppper West Side neighborhood on dead end street. A seemingly happy marriage [Nora and Charlie]. Fraternal twins [one boy, one girl] in college. A best friend. A much-loved housekeeper. A dog. A parking lot. A fake homeless man. A handyman. A mostly close neighborhood with one crochety, horrid neighbor. And so much more [maybe too much].

Because it's Quindlen, many a well-turned phrase. Some of my favorites:

"her eyebrows were like sparrow feathers"
[dog] "...lifted his leg in a casual arabesque."
"...Charity hung over his shoulder like a shawl..."
"The price they had paid for prosperity was amnesia. They'd forgotten who they once had been."
[at age eleven, when] "... girls are as mean as sleet and should be cryongenically frozen and then reconstituted later."

When a violent incident occurs and accounts differ, the neighborhood equilibrium [and Nora's marriage] is upset.

I was engaged from the start, probably because I really like Quindlen. And, it was a well-driven narrative with fully developed characters. I wanted to see how the storyline resolved and was not disappointed. Most likely because I do not care for a rushed and neat and tidy ending--which this [barely?] escaped. Sort of a eulogy/elegy to NYC.

Pub date March 20th, 2018
Writing: 4 Plot: 3 Characters: 3.5
New chat acronym (for me): ICE - I can’t even

Nora loves New York City. She is one of those people who finds “home” when they first move to the city. This is her narrative: her ongoing love story with the city; her slowly unraveling marriage with a husband who is a good man but is becoming unhappy with the life he is living; and the jolt her life receives from a violent act in her neighborhood.

Told through interactions with neighbors from her block (a special cul-de-sac with actual houses right in New York City), friends from college, and work colleagues, we are exposed to an array of opinions, obsessions, stereotypes, and prejudices that are drawn with detail and make sense for that person in that situation. The short but intense violent act brings out discussions on loyalty, racism, and morality. It brings to light a divided city, a divided neighborhood, and eventually, a divided marriage. I appreciate the fact that no character spouts a party line -- the opinions are individualistic and internally consistent.

It’s kind of a smaller story than it could have been it really focuses on Nora and how she evolves as a character rather than the Bonfire-of-the-Vanities-style social commentary that it could have been. However, there is plenty of social observation and analysis: the “shadow government” run by the nannies and housekeepers on the block, how to live in the “new cleaner, safer, impossible without money New York” and the general feeling that things are going “awry” on the block. I loved the line “The slightly aberrational spouse was a status symbol too. The husband who cooked. The wife who played golf.” Another great line “The truth was that their marriages were like balloons. Some went suddenly pop, but in more of them than not the air simply headed out until it was a sad, wrinkled little thing with no lift to it anymore.”

I didn’t feel a lot of empathy for the main character, to be honest, and I enjoyed trying to figure out why. She is well written, and there is nothing wrong with her. She isn’t a bad person and in fact works hard to be a good person. It feels like she just fell into an awfully good life without having to work for it and I guess that bugs me. And she doesn’t seem to have a lot of empathy for her husband who clearly wishes a different kind of life. Or rather, she has empathy, but she is unwilling to give up anything that she wants in order to make his life better. It helps me understand my own values a little better - I like anything that makes me think!

Well written, good for fans of introspective, women’s fiction and / or tales of New York City.

Anna Quindlen has written another masterpiece. She lets the world in on a secret all New Yorkers know, The city isn't the giant metropolis everyone thinks it is. Instead, it is a series of little neighborhoods. Quindlen tells an engrossing tale of neighbors on a dead-end street in Manhattan, while weaving in a study of the haves and the have-nots. Highly recommended.

Net Galley ARC. Nora Nolan is a museum director, her husband, and investment banker.
Quindlen is not kind to these wealthy New Yorkers who live their lives rubbing shoulders with other similarly well-off neighbors on their comfortably upper-class street.

It takes Quindlen a third of the way through the book to get to the inciting incident, a squabble over a parked car on a lot shared by residents of their dead-end street. But I know why she did it. I'm not sure readers would fully understand just how disrupting this event is--how it strips the facade of tolerance and inclusion away from everyone involved--had we not spent quite a bit of time with these people. The book reminded me so much of Tom Wolfe's [book:The Bonfire of the Vanities|2666]. And the incident, like Bonfire, sets up the tension between the haves and the have-nots of NYC.

I was charmed by Quindlen's writing and her insights. There are scenes in this book that exemplify what it's like to love a place, to feel at home in a town you've adopted. The description of Nora's walk to work through NY's streets is an ode to the city and the odd characters that make it up.

There is a wistful nostalgia for the old city, in all its crumbling- and crime-ridden glory, and the new NY Nora and her neighbors find it has become in their reclusive dead end street. Her ability to describe the pitfalls of long-term marriages gone flat, relationships in general, and complex characters, was awe-inspiring. More than once I said aloud, exactly! Like Bonfire, it is heartbreaking as well as genuinely funny and perceptive.

I tried really hard to like this book and even actually read halfway through because I kept thinking that something was going to happen, but not much ever did except for the assault on the neighborhood handyman. I absolutely love Anna Quindlen and reading both her fiction and nonfiction has made me a better writer myself, but this novel was just not my cup of tea I guess. I prefer stories with more relate-able characters, with some softness, with some direction, some action.

I'm a huge fan of Anna Quindlen but this was not my favorite. Although an interesting look inside a marriage--and at "alternate sides" of many things--it wasn't as plot-driven as I usually like. Nora and Charlie's marriage is rocky at best, with twins about ready to leave for college, and "parking wars" that threaten to strain relationships with the neighbors. But when an unfortunate incident occurs, the neighbors must take sides and Nora and Charlie are on opposite sides which further separates them. Can their marriage survive or is it indicative of deeper issues dividing them? This is a fascinating look at contemporary issues that plague relationships, city living, and the disparities of wealth and poverty.

Book was good and well written but was quite slow. Nothing really happens throughout the book, until the very end.

DNF at 65%.

What the heck happened in Ms. Quindlen's latest book Alternate Side??? Seriously, I'm dumbfounded and disappointed. Where's the plot??? I can't believe this is the same author who wrote Black and Blue, One True Thing and Every Last One, which are all books I quite enjoyed.

Alternate Side is certainly a character driven narrative and we get to know the characters quite well....but man are there ever a lot of them! It took me a third of the book to finally figure out who everyone was only to have more characters introduced. I will concede that the writing is superb and ALMOST kept me invested enough to finish the book. This is also the reason for my 2 stars rather than 1. Unfortunately the story didn't seem to lead anywhere. I kept waiting and waiting....It took almost half the book to get to "the incident" and even that was a letdown. Ms. Quindlen's past books focus on shocking and unthinkable events. Quite frankly, Alternate Side was dull and inconsequential.

I know this author can deliver so I'm going to assume that this was just a once off miss. I'm definitely prepared to give her future books a try. Readers that enjoy a well written character study may actually enjoy this story much more than I did. It mainly focuses on what it's like to live in New York and the growing pains of an established marriage. Crossing fingers that her next book delivers more of a plot punch.

A gracious thank you to Netgalley, Random House and Anna Quindlen for an advanced copy in return for an honest review.

I love every single thing about this book and about the author. She never disappoints.

I enjoyed this-- the writing is really great and the story is quite engrossing despite not too many big events happening. Certainly a very detailed slice of a certain type of life. However, it's hard at times to feel much sympathy or connection to the characters because so many of them are so incredibly wealthy, their dissatisfaction can come to feel off-putting.

ALTERNATE SIDE (2018)
By Anna Quindlen
Random House, 304 pages
★★★

On a scale from zero to five, how should one rate a very well written novel populated with no one you find remotely interesting or likable? Anna Quindlen’s latest, Alternate Side, takes us inside a single cul-de-sac block. Residents sport surnames such as Nolan, Fenstermacher, Lessman, Fisk, and Rizzoli but the only diversity you find in this neighborhood is the imported help. How much do you care about rich, over-privileged, over-pampered Manhattanites? I couldn't care less.

Ostensibly Alternate Sides revolves around Nora and Charlie Nolan, who have been married for 25 years. They have twins, Rachel and Oliver, who still address their parents as “Mommy” and “Daddy,” though they are both about to enter elite colleges. But maybe infantilization should be expected within a family where the emotional and physical heavy lifting is done by Charity, the Nolans’ nanny/housekeeper. As everyone tells them, the Nolans have a golden marriage, which is of course, a version of Chekov’s gun that tells us they don’t. It’s also pretty obvious by the middle of the first chapter that Charlie is a jerk who wants to be a player, and a shallow and dull one to boot. He’s the sort that likes to speak in One. Word. Sentences. This annoys Nora no end and she’s grown bored with him. Not that Nora is the deep end of the pool herself. She abandoned her college idealism and now runs the Museum of Jewelry, a vanity enterprise whose owner used her own stash to build the permanent collection. Nora’s also being courted by a wealthy entrepreneur to head his private foundation, which would make Nora the player Charlie will never be.

Clearly Ms. Quindlen has other fish to fry in addition to autopsying a failing marriage. The novel’s title alludes to New York City’s infamous even side/odd side parking scheme. It also signifies class distinctions and a central who-did-what-and-why dispute that magnifies the class divide. Quindlen’s hidden objective is to deliver a mash note to New York. In this sense, the alternate sides are Manhattan’s seductive allure and mythos versus the reality of chaos, dodgy street characters, decaying infrastructure, and class-defiant rats. Among the many ways Quindlen highlights this is by abutting the street of the haute bourgeoisie with SRO apartments.

In a sense, Quindlen offers a fictional update to Jacob Riis’s 1890 look at New York’s bifurcations in How the Other Half Lives, though the Nolans and their neighbors are pretty far north of the halfway marker on the SES pole. The novel’s central device underscores this. Charlie is ecstatic when he becomes eligible to rent one of six parking spaces in a lot near his home. Never mind that keeping a car in Manhattan is roughly as useful as owning a Zamboni in Ecuador, it bespeaks the Nolans’ wealth that Charlie thinks nothing of spending $325 a month to park a car he seldom uses. The space isn’t about being pragmatic; it’s a status-conferring form of conspicuous consumption. If the Nolans’ golden marriage is Checkov’s gun, that space is his rifle or, more properly speaking, a club through which class conflict erupts and neighbors must take sides.

Perhaps you see my dilemma. Quindlen’s novel is exceedingly well crafted and its prose flows far more smoothly than Midtown traffic. The novel falters, though, because Quindlen focuses on the wrong side of the class chasm. Although (for plot purposes) Nora visits the Bronx and abstractly sympathizes with a Latino handyman after an attack—something many of her neighbors can’t comprehend—when she ultimately must change her life, she simply slides from one version of privilege to another. Is she supposed to be our sympathetic character? From where I sit she is as unspeakably awful as everyone else in her neighborhood, simply in a quieter and more dignified fashion.

Throughout the novel characters used the phrase “first-world problem” when trying to put things into proper perspective. Alas, none of them actually has any genuine perspective. I’ll go on record and say that only Los Angeles celebrities are more smug and out-of-touch than wealthy New Yorkers. I didn’t feel anyone’s pain in Alternate Side. Do I care about people who worry about good plastic surgeons, pedicures, hold hen sessions at trendy restaurants, and bemoan how hard it is to get a good Cobb salad? As much as I admire Anna Quindlen as an author, the experience of reading Alternate Side is like being trapped inside of one of Woody Allen’s particularly unctuous New York movies. Thus, when Nora reminds us of the many reasons she could never leave Manhattan, we can but shrug over her impoverished imagination. Give Quindlen three stars: five as a writer and one for characterization.

Rob Weir

Alternate Side will be released on March 18. I read an advance copy courtesy of Random House and NetGalley.

I am a fan of Anna Quindlen, and was excited to receive a copy of this book through Net Galley. I wish I could say that I like this as much as I do her other books, but I could not. The setting is a neighborhood in New York City. Ann and Charlie are empty-nesters. Charlie is disillusioned with city life, but Nora is not ready to make the changes. An act of violence in their neighborhood draws lines in the sand and forces Nora to take a long hard look at herself and life. Sometimes it only takes a simple thing to cause us to reflect on life, where we are and who we have become; Ann is no exception to this.

I love Quindlen's writing style, and the way she personifies her characters. Their dialogues are real and believable, and even the strife the characters encounter are true-to-life. In a way many readers can relate to obsessing over both big and small things in life. Charlie's obsession with his hard won parking spot is a prime example of something ludicrous and certainly something I cannot relate to well. It may be that it was hard for me to move beyond that opening gambit. I can still recognize that each of us have our own triggers and idiocies.

I will continue to read Anna Quindlen, even if this was not one of my favorite of her stories. She has such a talent with words and emotions, and how women think. I am grateful for the opportunity to have read this book.