“The Matchmaker’s Gift” by Lynda Cohen Loigman

Genre: Historical Fiction/Women’s Fiction
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Pub. Date: Sept. 20, 2022

This novel is women’s fiction written in the form of historical fiction. I suspected as much after reading the blurb. I’m not usually a fan of women’s fiction, but the Lower East Side of Manhattan is the setting of one of the protagonists in the story. My home was in that neighborhood decades ago, in a subsidized apartment not far from the district’s gritty alleys and tenement-style apartments, which in the 1970s, were filled with the neighborhood’s Jewish, Italian and Chinese heritage. I read the book out of nostalgia.

In this dual timeline novel, the author weaves together the tale of a young Jewish child named Sara and her granddaughter, Abby. Sara, in 1910 discovers that she is blessed with the gift of finding marriage matches but only for those in true love. This gift remained with her until she passed away in her golden years. She explains to Abby that when she has found two soul mates, she simply knows, sees, and feels it. In this story, there is a lot of sweet-natured magical realism. Her granddaughter refuses to believe in such nonsense. That is until after her grandmother’s death when she recognizes that she, too, possesses the ability.

Loigman brings feminism into the novel long before it was even a word. When Sara was in her twenties, devout older men who do not believe a matchmaker should be female take Sara to a religious court in an attempt to stop her matchmaking. Without giving spoilers, I will share the decision was not very believable. I loved reading about my old hangouts but this book while charming was too predictable for me to truly enjoy.

I received this Advance Review Copy (ARC) novel from the publisher at no cost in exchange for an honest review.

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“Alternate Side” by Anna Quindlen

Genre:          Literary Fiction
Publisher:    Random House
Pub. Date:    March 2018

The author, Anna Quindlen, writes something you do not often find: bestseller literary fiction.  Most books on the bestseller list are usually commercial fiction, not literary.  Both types of fiction require talent.  But the aim of commercial fiction is entertainment.  The aim of literary fiction is art.  Generally, there is a more attention to style.  Also, the plot is usually less obvious.  I’m a big fan of literary fiction.  In Quindlen’s novel, “Alternate Side” (referring to alternate side parking) you will find a good example of such a style.

She writes about the residents who live on a dead-end block in New York City where all own their brownstones.  Each brownstone belongs to a single family.   If you are a New Yorker, you know that only the ultra rich can afford to own a house in Manhattan.  We meet a husband, wife, their college-aged twins and their Australian sheepdog.  The story goes back and forth in time.  We read about when the couple met in college.  They move into NYC, because of its hip reputation.   They do not have any money so they live in closet-sized rooms in cockroach infested buildings.  Even with the lack of space, and the pesky bugs, they fall in love with the city.    By the time they are in their 50s, they are overly privileged and their marriage is in trouble.  (Next sentence is a spoiler).  The marriage dissolves without any major blowups, or indiscretions, but simply because they have nothing left to say to one another.  Plus, the husband is ready to move out of the city and the wife’s love affair with the Big Apple is as strong as when they were young.  “There ain’t no good guy, there ain’t no bad guy.  There’s only you and me and we just disagree”

Their block is a tight-knit community.  They are excited when a new puppy arrives on the dead-end and mourn with the owner when a pet dies.  They have an annual summer barbecue, one with a police permit, not like those in other, less desirable, neighborhoods.   One resident throws an elaborate, yearly Christmas party.   At this time of year, all put wreaths on their door.  That is how you can tell if someone is renting: no wreath.  The owners don’t mingle with the renters but are welcoming when the owners return.  But not all are rich city snobs as it may sound.  Our wife knows that the block’s Latino handyman’s kids have colds.   She goes to his apartment in the Bronx to give him their unused humidifier.  She is disturbed to see how different he acts in his own neighborhood.  Before he sees her, his walk has a swagger.  She notices how, when not in his uniform, he dresses cool and loose, sporting a leather jacket.  When he does recognize her, he adjusts his posture into a meek manner and humbly addresses her as “Missus.”  They are both embarrassed and she wishes she never entered his domain.  As a one-time social worker who did home visits, I know this class difference embarrassment.  The author does such a good job with this moment.  She isn’t shy about it at all.  I cringed.

Despite being so friendly, we learn that not all the owners are so fond of each other.  Still, they are loyal and keep each other’s secrets. At parties, a dignified older woman is usually fall-down drunk.  No one gossips about her drinking problem.  When she goes away for a month or so, no one asks any embarrassing questions.  One self-appointed resident makes himself the official rule man on the block, sending the others’ silly emails regarding what is and isn’t acceptable.  They tolerate him but inside their own homes they are laughing at his made-up rules.  There is one guy known for his explosive temper.  Oddly, he is married to a psychotherapist.  Still, no one questions why a woman who helps others for a living is not capable of helping herself and stays married to a creep.

If you are familiar with alternate side parking in NYC, you know that people have been known to sleep in their car to ensure that they move their car at the set time to  have a space in the morning.   Before the couple arrived, one of the dead-end’s brownstones burned down, and the owner chose not to rebuild.  The other residents turn the space into a small parking lot for the block only.  The lot is not large enough to accommodate all residents.  You have to earn it.  The author doesn’t explain how one earns it, but income is implied.  The husband is so thrilled with getting the spot that he sends his kids a text with a picture of their car in the lot.  He feels he has finally made it into the big-time.  There is an act of violence that happens around this parking lot and the community begins to show their true feelings about their neighbors.  Stewing class and racial tensions boil over when an arrogant, rich, white lawyer resident (spoiler) hits the handyman in the leg with a golf club for blocking the entrance to the parking lot.   When the handyman is in the hospital, it becomes clear that some genuinely like the guy.   Others see him only as the hired help.  After the incident, arguments break out.

This novel is a great slice-of-life story on a large canvas.  Slowly, you begin to realize that the married couple are not the real protagonists after all.  The story is really about the enviable dead-end block, which turns into a metaphor of a divided city.  The author is subtle.   Still, you start to understand how this novel is direct in other venues.  She never mentions politics, but I cannot help but think that recently the United States is making global headlines for being a divided country.  If you are not accustomed to literary fiction, you may find the book a bit slow for your tastes.   For me, a few paragraphs are too detailed reading more like a poem than a novel.   But overall, Quindlen’s narrative is a remarkable character study on the complexities of neighborhood, family, and political dynamics.

Open link to purchase on Amazon.

I received this Advance Review Copy (ARC) novel from the publisher at no cost in exchange for an honest review.

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“Lillian Boxfish Takes a Walk” by Kathleen Rooney

Pub. Date:  January, 17, 2017

Publisher:  St. Martin’s Press

This novel caught my eye because I am a native New Yorker, and this tale’s location is New York City. The story takes place from the 1930s till New Year’s Eve, 1984. Our heroine is Lillian Boxfish. As a young woman, Lillian took the city by storm. Working at Macy’s she was the highest paid advertising woman in the country. She also managed to have a few books of her poems published. Her every move was documented in the society pages. She was a dynamo of a woman that other working females longed to be. Then she married and had a child forcing her to retire. She hid her pregnancy for as long as possible because back then once a woman became a mother it was unheard of for her to remain in a high powered job. So she stayed at home in her Murray Hill townhouse located in midtown Manhattan to raise her son. Now in the 1980s the city as a much more dangerous place than it was in the 1930s. Her grown son is always after her to move and join him and his family in the suburbs. But there was no way that Lillian would ever leave her beloved city.

On the last night of 1984, 85-year old Lillian, who is as sharp and NY savvy as ever, decides to take a ten-mile walk to get to a party. The walk takes her through some touristy (though not for her) as well as gritty sections of Manhattan to attend a party. Lillian’s New Year’s Eve stroll is really a stroll through her life, mixing in a Manhattan history lesson. She reminisces on her city life throughout the years, from the Jazz Age to the birth of hip-hop, from the Prohibition’s speakeasies to the 80s AIDS epidemic. The blurb of this book says that the novel is a love letter to the city, but I feel that the author, Kathleen Rooney, made the city as much of a character as Lillian. And what a fascinating character she created in Lillian: bright, witty, open minded, and always ahead of her time. But most of all, her inquisitiveness makes her a very charming human being. During her stroll, young teens attempt to mug her. She realizes that this might be the last walk of her life. Lillian had no intention of going down without at least trying to talk to them. And talk she did. She convinced them into a trade, her mink coat for a new trendy coat worn by one of the boys. They loved that she knew their favorite hip-hop songs, and had questions on the lyrics that she considered to be poems. So instead of her mugging being a tragic scene, it is a very funny one with the boys walking away scratching their heads.

There is much humor in this book. You will laugh often. But Lillian feels real and real life is never always fun. You might shed a tear as I did when Lillian walks past the hospital where she was once inpatient, suffering from a severe episode of depression. This is when her husband divorced her and married another woman. In the hospital, she had electric shock treatments which left her missing memories of that part of her life, including and worst of all, missing memories of her son during that time. But have no fear, Lillian has so much passion for life you will soon be smiling again reading about her next adventure during her walk to reach her destination, which is a New Year’s Eve party. The party is being thrown by a young, and of course, starving artist. At this party she will mingle with men dressed as women and Lillian will not bat an eyelash. Rooney did a wonderful job of capturing the essence of a New York woman. In her endnotes, we learn that the character Lillian was inspired by Margaret Fishback, which explains the odd last name of Boxfish.

I felt in many ways this novel was really a historical fiction taking the reader through half a century of New York City’s history. Though I am sure others might find this book to be a bit cheesy I enjoyed it. I do love Manhattan. Or maybe I enjoyed it for it was easy to fall in love with Lillian. She reminded me of all the old black and white movies where the actress Rosalind Russell played roles as fast-talking newspaper women. I also love black and white movies. No matter, as an ex-New Yorker, I cannot wait to hop on a train for a visit to the one and only Big Apple.

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