Freudenberger’s novel about an unfortunately already distanced family during the stressor of the manufactured pandemic paints a too accurate picture of the sad state of modern society. No one focuses on the personal present, except the pregnant young second wife. Every other adult is consumed by their career and/or the pandemic, not the teenage daughter whose adolescent floundering is compounded by both the pandemic and her parents’ neglect. This novel portrays modern life as it is - an endless circle of dissatisfaction, boredom, and cyber fantasy worlds. Not one person can touch another. Humanity is becoming extinct. Yes, the simplistic excuse of “climate change” is a minimal part of the show. The hubris of humans - who have only recorded history for a few thousand years - to believe they can control the planet is astounding. And the inconclusive conclusion of this novel is the perfect picture of today.

The story, writing & characters completely drew me in!
Each of the different voices were unique & genuine--I felt completely invested in each of their stories.

With great thanks to NetGalley & Knopf for this e-ARC!

I had a really difficult time plugging into this book. I tried for 100+ pages and just found my mind wandering. This could be an excellent and amazing book but for whatever reason, it just could not hold my attention.

Having ‘loved’ every book by Nell Freudenberger …..
“The Newlyweds”, “The Dissident”, “Lucky Girls”, (collection of stories), “Lost and Wanted”….and now “The Limits”…..I can easily say that Nell Freudenberger is one of my favorite authors.
(I’ll always read her books).

I highly agree with this description in the blurb:
“The most thrilling work yet from the best-selling, prize-winning author of ‘The Newlyweds’ and ‘Lost and Wanted’, a stunning new novel set in French Polynesia and New York City about three characters who undergo massive transformations over the course of a single year”.

Nathalie, who lives on the island Mo’orea in Tahiti (a scientist trying to save the coral reef) and Stephen (a cardiologist surgeon, dealing with the hard knocks of Covid-19, at a New York City busy hospital), have been divorced for years.
Pia…. their feisty whip-smart fifteen year old daughter - leaves the island (and her mom) to live with her dad and stepmom, Kate.
Pia will attend a very expensive private French school (which she hates), costing more than forty thousand dollars a year.
Shortly after Pia arrives in New York, she learns that Kate is newly pregnant.
Pia and Kate barely know each other and Stephen has more demands on him at the hospital than all the tea in China.
With Covid on the rise …. risks high, (especially for a pregnant woman who’s husband works around sick Covid patients every day), Kate and Pia move to another house to isolate together. Neither are comfortable with their situation.
Ha….
…..expect a little cutlery throwing, a broken lamp from a pillow toss, slammed doors, and a desperate couch kick.

Kate is a High School teacher at a public school,(much less privileged school than Pia’s)…..and her classes are mostly taught online due to Covid.
Pia meets one of Kate’s students: Athyna.
Athyna, African American, carries the responsibility of often caretaking her nephew - while also trying to be a normal high school kid - getting a decent education.
Kate, Pia, and Athyna have incongruous relationships. They are each dealing within limited conditions….(Covid, family strife, class issues, race issues, colonialism, and inner turmoils).

Stephen and Nathalie take to emailing each other…..mostly to discuss concerns they both feel for Pia. But …..at times ….I felt their love for each …..(divorce or not)…..underlining how sad and difficult a breakup is — for every family member involved.

There is so much more that makes this book an absolute prize: …..
…..the storytelling is lush, intimate, sensuous, engaging, and attractive.
…..wonderful experiences of the characters …..both primary and supporting.
…..the enjoyment to learn more about coral, (there are hundreds of species of colors, shapes, and sizes), from the way they move, to how much climate change threatens….was an interesting part of this novel.
[“Coral reefs provide an important ecosystem for life underwater. Reef structures protect coastal communities from storm waves, provide sand for beaches and generate enormous, recreational revenue for local businesses.
Coral ecosystems face serious threats, mainly from the effects of global climate change, unsustainable fishing, and land-based pollution”].
…..I particularly liked imagining Pia . . . with her ‘70s fringe hair style that made her look like a young Patty Smith.
…..I also enjoyed the mention of the Swedish environmental activist, Greta Thunberg. I watched a few inspiring YouTubes of her challenging world leaders to take immediate action for climate change mitigation.
….. Some of the coral details - species like “the knobby Echinophyllia and the elephant skin coral, Pachyseris” and “metamorphosis in Porites rus” lost me (Google helped me understand more)….but — that was ‘my-own-minor-struggle-and-challenge. . .
I ‘did’ find it interesting— and I liked ‘the-learning-process’. My coral education has expanded (thanks to our author).
…..Overall….Nell Freudenberger’s novel is tightly packed with ingenious wisdom. . . passionately flourishing. . . with deeply sympathetic characters we come to root for and love.

A couple of excerpts:
“There was Nathalie: not only the identical, dark eyes, but that stubborn insistence, steamrolling over counterarguments in pursuit of what she wanted. But at the same time there was his daughter, who looked so lonely”.

“Underwater sculpture covered with bleaching-resistant baby coral was the kind of thing that might make funders open their wallets in a big way. Maybe it would even help to bankroll their less-sexy cryopreservation efforts. She could imagine the
counterargument of course, from those who opposed such aggressive interventions. But did anyone other than the coral specialists understand how drastic the times really were, how they called for most drastic measures?”

Everything’s off-kilter during the early months of COVID. The children, especially, are not okay. Pia, the daughter of a French scientist who researches coral in the South Pacific, reluctantly agrees to be with her cardiologist Dad in New York. Dad, Stephen has his hands full with his expectant wife, Kate, who must be shielded from the pandemic. A school teacher, Kate struggles to bond with her stepdaughter while understanding the realities her teen students face. One of these is Athyna, afflicted by severe anxiety. The plot lines converge fluidly in a story that’s full of heart and a page-turner. A+

I didn’t dislike it, but I didn’t like it enough to not be able to put it down. My interest was lost every time Nathalie was speaking, and it all just felt a little unsettling. But I was interested enough to finish.

It took me a few pages to get settled in to this title. Once I did, and I'm glad I stuck with it, I loved the story. The characters and action began to happen and I was invested in what would happen with their lives. Nell did an awesome job writing each of the parts of the story and wove them together really well. Thank to NetGalley for the ARC. Five stars.

Thanks to Netgalley and Knopf for the ebook. Fifteen year old Pia has two parents that are currently overwhelmed. Divorced for years now, her mother works against a ticking clock to try and figure out a way to save the coral reef of an island off the coast of Tahiti. Her father, a surgeon at a normally busy New York City hospital, is dealing with the calm before the storm of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. Pia ends up spending most of her time in New York with a stepmother, a newly pregnant Kate, whom she doesn’t know and feels like she doesn’t need to, because Pia is desperately trying to find a way to get back to Tahiti and back to a young diver who she admires for his political stance and might even love.

Freudenberger is one of my favorite modern American authors. Her novels are totally original and complex. Not a typical “woman’s” novel, rather a compelling journey. This book deals with a family in crisis, but that is a mere fraction of all that is going on within this novel. Again, this book is set against the backdrop of the disruption of Covid.

Pia leaves her South Pacific home to return to her father and his new wife in Manhattan as a result of the pandemic. However, the family relationship is complicated by Pia’s resentment at being at her father’s home and the revelation of her stepmother’s pregnancy.

Her mother, Nathalie remains in the South Pacific studying the complications of coral disease. As a reader, I learned a great deal about the undersea world and the people dedicated to preserving it.

Add to all this, a sub-plot about a young student of her stepmother’s, Athyna. Of course, as an educator, I was especially drawn to this aspirational and open hearted young woman.

This is another special Freudenberger novel, not to be missed. Thank you Netgalley for the opportunity of reading and reviewing this novel.

Nell Freudenberger is the author of The Newlyweds and Lost and Wanted, The Limits is a tension-filled literary work set in French Polynesia (Tahiti) and New York City during Covid

Kate is David's newish wife. She is pregnant and teaching from home during covid while he spends almost all of his time at the hospital helping address the pandemic. When his daughter Pia from his first marriage begins to find trouble halfway across the world, his ex wife ships her to New York. Now Kate struggles to connect with her isolated students via zoom, juggle morning sickness and deal with a deeply unhappy teenager.

When Pia meets one of Kate's students by chance, the trajectory of all three females collide.
Freudenberger has created a beautiful rendering of covid. While Limits includes some of the claustrophobic working against the clock feeling, there also some very hopeful moments. This is an enjoyable read that focuses on family issues as well as colonialism and race.
Ready for a trip to Tahiti? A complex novel about relationships and families? Or maybe just a wonderful contemporary story? The Limits is for you!
.#knopf #Pantheon #Thelimits #Nellfreudenberger