The New Yorkers

by: Cathleen Schine

Published by: Picador

Reviewed by Jamie Driggers

It is a random block of New York. Not highly fashionable, not highly desired, not highly known. Except to those that live there. It is on this block that previously unknown neighbors meet, interact, and occasionally fall in love over the course of four seasons.

There’s Jody, sufferer of insomnia, teacher of children, late-thirties’ spinster who went for a dog rather than the obligatory cat. On one of many of her walks with Beatrice (the dog), she falls instantly for Everett, oblivious stranger, divorcee, and one whose ordinary face becomes a thing of beauty when he smiles. And these are only two of the many people we become intimately familiar with as we read our way through a year on one New York block.

This is an intriguing book. She leaps through time and points of view in what seems a random fashion, but it works. And, of course, the further you read, the less random the POV shift really is. It took a long time for me to decide I liked the book. Just when I began to root for a character, we’d switch over to another set of people and an entirely different set of problems-and who knew if I’d ever get back to that unmarried girl and her unrequited love?

But, I have to admit that as the people came together and formed relationships and walked their dogs, I was hooked. And, of course, different character streams still eventually lead back to all the other players. It is only one block, after all, and even in the anonymity I have always thought that New York possesses, neighbors are still neighbors-especially where dogs are involved.

Armchair Interviews says: Very nice story of big-city strangers becoming friends.

Author’s Web site: http://CathleenSchine.com