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This Beautiful Life

3.03 of 5 stars 3.03 · rating details · 3,707 ratings · 775 reviews

When fifteen-year-old Jake Bergamot receives--and then forwards to a friend--a sexually explicit video that an eighth-grade admirer sent to him, the video goes viral within hours. The scandal that ensues threatens to shatter his family's sense of security and identity--and, ultimately, their happiness. This Beautiful Life is a devastating, clear-eyed portrait of modern lif...more

Paperback, 256 pages

Published February 7th 2012 by Harper Perennial (first published 2011)

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Aug 16, 2011 Will Byrnes rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Living what appears to be an exceptional reality, with financial and career success, access to the good things in life, and a world of hope for the future, the Bergamot family discovers that the royal flush they had been dealt can easily be transformed into, or shown to be, a house of cards.

When 15-year old Jake Bergamot passes on a chance to hook up with an eighth-grader at a party, telling her she is just too young, she tries to show him she is very definitely not too young by sending him an e...more

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Apr 04, 2012 Sarah rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: own-and-have-read

This book lost me from hello, and whilst at times it made an effort to win me back I never really bought it.
The premise is good one, its what caught my attention, and I was excited to receive an uncorrected proof from Waterstones. Examining the worst challenges a family can face from the relative safety of a book can make for very thought provoking reading. But this is no "We Need to Talk About Kevin."
I felt the main barrier to me connecting with this book was the characters, and the lives they...more

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Dec 06, 2012 Steve rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A beautifully descriptive writer - the details of her settings and characters feelings made the story more immediate and real to me. An upwardly mobile family is adjusting to life in Manhattan where Richard is pursuing his new executive planning position with a New York university when their 15 year-old son, Jake, receives a raunchy video email from a 13 year-old admirer that he unthinkly forwards to a friend. Within a day the video has gone viral, widely circulated across the internet and Jake...more

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Feb 10, 2012 Abby rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: books-read-in-2011

Helen Schulman has written a well-crafted and articulate novel, full of trenchant observations about the competitiveness of everyday Manhattan life and the myriad small and big ways that people try to insulate themselves from the truth of life or relationships.

Schulman's novel is populated by characters who make compromises (whether it's the highly educated career woman who becomes a stay-at-home mother, the idealistic striver who becomes a selfish banker, the parents who inundate their children...more Helen Schulman has written a well-crafted and articulate novel, full of trenchant observations about the competitiveness of everyday Manhattan life and the myriad small and big ways that people try to insulate themselves from the truth of life or relationships.

Schulman's novel is populated by characters who make compromises (whether it's the highly educated career woman who becomes a stay-at-home mother, the idealistic striver who becomes a selfish banker, the parents who inundate their children with money in lieu of affection) and then try to anesthetize themselves from the truth through sex, money, work, therapy, or actual drugs.

The main characters in the novel are the Bergamots, a high-achieving family of strivers. The parents grew up in working-class families, but by dint of hard work and impressive educational resumes, have managed to carve out a place for themselves somewhere in the middle of Manhattan's precarious social ladder.

The son is a coddled young man who does not (or has never been taught by his parents) to take responsibility for his actions in life. The plot of the novel centers around a party he attends in Riverdale one weekend, which results in the creation of a sex tape, and the consequences of this tape's dissemination to his schoolmates and the World Wide Web. Much like the Tom Wolfe novel, Bonfire of the Vanities, all of the characters involved shrug off culpability for their actions, yet their lives are affected by this tape in irreparable ways. Schulman adroitly captures the confusion and angst that all of the characters experience in our all-consuming media and news age. What is the role of parents as role models? Should they protect or punish their children? How should parents teach their children about sex and sexuality? How should teenage girls express their sexuality in a liberated, empowered manner?

The adults involved are just as venal and confused as the children, mostly worried about culpability and protecting their own names and reputations. The novel ends as a morality tale, with an endnote about the sad dissolution of the Bergamot family. It is as if they were Icarus, flying too close to the sun, and the sad epilogue is their comeuppance. Toward the sad end, Schulman's characters risk becoming cliched New York archetypes (brought down by too much ambition in the Big Apple), but the range of characters and emotions that she explores and brings to life beforehand makes this a worthwhile read. (less)

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Oct 06, 2011 Jodie rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2011

Okay so I finished this book a couple of days ago and am still thinking about it. Mainly I think of my niece who is nearly Daisy's age and shudder to think that she could be naive enough to record a very explicit video of herself and forward it to an older boy in the hopes of impressing him. God how awful, and mainly because I actually think she might do it. But what is more disturbing is I get that hideous apprehension because I see her with her friends, trying so hard to be grown up, she idoli...more

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Dec 10, 2011 Daven rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Somebody pour me a drink. I feel like I've survived something here.

First off, let me say that I listened to this on CD going to-and-from work, and the fact that the reader was overwhelmingly droll and snooty certainly tainted my impression of the book. It was very challenging to tolerate her smug and judgmental tone.

The plot centers on an upwardly-mobile New York family of four: Richard, a highly-sought university administrator; his wife, Liz, an initially sensible stay-at-home mom who has set...more Somebody pour me a drink. I feel like I've survived something here.

First off, let me say that I listened to this on CD going to-and-from work, and the fact that the reader was overwhelmingly droll and snooty certainly tainted my impression of the book. It was very challenging to tolerate her smug and judgmental tone.

The plot centers on an upwardly-mobile New York family of four: Richard, a highly-sought university administrator; his wife, Liz, an initially sensible stay-at-home mom who has set her own PhD-fueled pursuits aside to accommodate her husband's trajectory from Ithaca to New York City; Jake, their 15-year-old private school junior son; and Coco, their precocious (and cloying) adopted six-year-old daughter. Early on, Jake is sent an explicit video via e-mail by a 13-year-old girl whom he had just met and mashed faces with the night before, and then had promptly rejected her further advances. This event drives the plot.

The recorded book reader’s grating tone was a factor in my first impressions of the novel. But her reading became inconsequential upon moving into the second half, not because the reading improved, but rather that the ludicrous character developments and overdone writing overtook all other facets. At times, I became mindful of firmly grabbing the steering wheel with both hands to resist the urge to veer off the road and into a tree.

I valued little in those last 120 pages. Schulman apparently feels compelled to transform the everyday into the most overwrought similes. I found myself playing a game of predicting how often "like" or "as" would surface between stoplights, and laughed out loud at my accuracy. Meanwhile, the older characters almost literally morphed into children; Liz became Lizzie, and teenage son Jake became Jakey. Accompanied by the names of Coco and Daisy, I was bracing myself for the executive father Richard to be suddenly addressed as Ricky. Despite the fact that this development didn't occur, it didn't stop the central couple from descending into juvenile obscenity-laced dialogue and jarring, seemingly unprovoked loathing for each other. Sorry, but I don't believe that real people who have shared a life together, had a child, adopted another, and progressed successfully together through 20 years would so suddenly and inexplicably begin to talk to each other like this.

I agree with some other readers who felt that Schulman wrote the closing pages as if a pressing deadline loomed. As a result, story threads remained unresolved (what of Jake’s infatuation with classmate Audrey, and his relationship with his crew of high school buddies?), while the final scene centers on the previously background character of Daisy, the 13-year-old video producer, fast forwarded into her early 20s. The crumbled marriage of Liz and Richard is telescoped into a handful of pages of summative exposition, and we remain unconvinced of its realism.

It has been a long time since I’ve experienced a novel that has collapsed as this one did, with such unlikable characters, such crass moments, and such an overpopulation of painfully forced figurative language. (But I do walk away unscathed, with the “man-boobs like caged hamsters” simile forever seared in my memory. And I even stayed on the road through that one.)
(less)

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Aug 28, 2011 Shelley rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: novels

Hundreds, maybe thousands, of years from now, when futuristic anthropologists are in search of the long gone 21st century American man, this book may be of service. For better or for worse, This Beautiful Life by Helen Schulman offers a crystalline glimpse of the postmodern American family and its tragic struggle to stay afloat amid a sea of moral ambiguities, fractured family dynamics and compromising technologies.

The story centers on Liz and Richard Bergamot and their two children, fifteen-ye...more

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Mar 26, 2013 Joanne Guidoccio rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

While the theme of This Beautiful Life is a timely one, the narrative dragged and disappointed many of the members in my book club.

The storyline follows the Bergamot family as they deal with a scandal that threatens their sense of security and identity.

Fifteen-year old Jake attends an unchaperoned party with his new friends in an affluent district of New York City. He briefly makes out with Daisy Cavanaugh, the twelve-year old hostess, but rejects her offer of sex. The next morning, Jake wakes u...more While the theme of This Beautiful Life is a timely one, the narrative dragged and disappointed many of the members in my book club.

The storyline follows the Bergamot family as they deal with a scandal that threatens their sense of security and identity.

Fifteen-year old Jake attends an unchaperoned party with his new friends in an affluent district of New York City. He briefly makes out with Daisy Cavanaugh, the twelve-year old hostess, but rejects her offer of sex. The next morning, Jake wakes up and finds an email in his inbox. Daisy has made and sent him a sexually explicit video. Flattered and confused, Jake forwards the email to a friend, who then forwards it to another friend. Within hours, the video has gone viral.

As Liz and Richard—Jake’s parents—react to the video, they reveal the cracks in their relationship. Art historian Liz resents giving up a teaching position so that Richard could move up in academia. The once busy and fulfilled mother now spends her days overseeing the life of her children. She is unhinged by the scandal and feels like a “modern-day Hester Prynne” as she moves through the world of the Manhattan upper classes. Richard, on the other hand, is consumed by his executive role in a large New York university and reluctantly handles “this thing with his kid.”

Many of us felt that the adults made poor choices as they tried to help their son navigate this brave, new world where privacy and shame are so easily compromised. We would also have liked more chapters devoted to Daisy. While she is described as “rich, spoiled and deprived,” we are not introduced to her parents and see very little of her after the original incident. So many questions come to mind: If she was that upset, why was she giving out autographs at school? Did she get counseling? How did her parents react?

I found the ending scenes rushed and crammed with ten years of future happenings. Author Helen Schulman could have left some of these details to our imagination.(less)

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Jan 23, 2013 Radhika rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A subject well handled by the author. We cannot save our children all the heartache and pain how much ever we want to. We live in dread of it day in and day out and pray they get into situations that can be resolved.

Richard and Liz move from a comfortable life to a fast paced well to do Manhattan life. Richard Bergamont is soon consumed by his high flying job. Liz has given up her academic career to take care of the kids.
Liz is chaperoning her lil daughter Coco to all the play dates and parties...more

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Jan 09, 2013 Joel Simon rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Parents of teenagers and pre-teens

Recommended to Joel by: My wife

Shelves: fiction

I found "This Beautiful Life", by Helen Schulman, to be a riveting, edge of your seat, but only partially satisfying novel. The main plot line is gripping, and the way it unfolds is truly a page-turner. A happy, seemingly perfect, rising middle class family, that moved from Ithaca, NY to New York City, unravels when Jake, the 15 year old son receives a lewd video from Daisy, a 13 year old girl who attends his school. Daisy hosted a party that Jake attended by chance, got drunk at and gave Daisy...more

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Jan 05, 2013 Mara rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: curiosity-piquets

I wish that Helen Schulman had not written this book for adults. I wish that she had kept the graphic sexual references that weren't completely necessary out so that parents and their tweens and teens could read it together.

Totally gobsmacked by the scariness and heaviness of this novel, so well-written that it could be true. The Bergamot family is virtually destroyed by their son Jake's Big Mistake of forwarding an unsolicited explicit video one sad young teen made for him to express her frust...more

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Nov 20, 2012 Krista rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Very relevant subject matter about a highschool-aged boy who forwards a video emailed to him by an 8th grade girl. She is responding to his wise "you're too young" rejection. The video is pornographic, so when he forwards it to his buddy in hopes for some insight, instead the buddy (of course) forwards it againand the video goes viral. This is a great story to discuss with your kids, and NOTHING should be assumed when talking to them about it. For instance, when I relayed the story to my kids, m...more

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Sep 04, 2012 Karen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Over the past few years, as teenagers and younger children became owners and users of cell phones equipped with cameras and internet capability, we have read the sad stories of sexting among middle and high school students and rued the day that kids with few inhibitions and even fewer concerns about privacy and cruelty seemed to become the norm. This novel enters the lives of a nuclear family that has what appears to be, in fact, a beautiful life. It didn't appear to me to be that, however, beca...more

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Aug 21, 2012 Psamo rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I just finished this book and absolutely despised it. I thought the subject matter was OK, if a bit overdone, but what really annoyed me is Helen Schulman's writing. It's simply not good. I hated every stock character, especially Lizzie and Richard, and I had a hard time believing a kindergartener (no matter how precocious) would say "it's awfully ...."

And that's just one completely unbelievable thing characters say in this book. Even tiny things annoyed me, like having a food server at a lobst...more

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Aug 18, 2012 Vic rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Spoiler alert: the following discusses plot and characters.

The central incident in this book is when the 16 year old Jake receives a very pornographic video from a 14 year old girl who he has rejected as being too young and then Jake forwards it on. That one act basically destroys Jake and wrecks his father’s job.

The story is engaging. It was a quick and easy read.

But, the destruction of Jake is pretty harsh and the basic transformation of an essentially good kid into something else feels pret...more

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Jun 16, 2012 archdandy rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: adult, first-reads-wins

I really liked this book and I'm glad that I won it through goodreads. It was an interesting story and it was refreshing to take a break from my usual style of books and read something contemporary that didn't have paranormal aspects to it, haha. I debated between giving this book four stars and three stars but obviously settled on three stars.

This was the story of a family whose teenage son receives an email from a 13 year old girl that is very graphic disturbing and bordering on pornographic....more

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May 23, 2012 Celia rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Schulman examines issues of technology, parenting, class, privilege, privacy and gender roles in this novel about a family newly transplanted to Manhattan's wealthy Upper West Side from Ithaca. When 15 year old Jake receives an unwanted erotic video in his email from classmate 13 year old Daisy, the family loses their fragile foothold among the ruling class and their various attempts to cope with their new found infamy reveals cracks running underneath the facade of their "perfect" family.

Remin...more

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May 14, 2012 Kate rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: quick-reads

The subject matter is enough to give me night sweats. One of my worst fears in life is to make a seemingly small mistake that makes everyone hate me and then results in national notoriety, or maybe even criminal charges. (Yes, I'll seek help.) But anyway, that's EXACTLY what happens to the teenage character in this story. He makes a quick error in judgment, and everything spirals out of control. It's a story about forgiveness, and dealing with life in the digital age, and how people change (or d...more

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Apr 08, 2012 Sheila DeChantal rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Jake Bergamot is your typical fifteen year old. Scratch that... Jake's life might be better than average. He lives with both parents who are still in love and married. He has a little sister who is adopted from China. He lives in a nice home in a nice neighborhood and has great friends.

Then one evening after returning home from a party and barely turning down one girls advances, but yes, still turning her down. He turns on his computer and sees that this 8th grade girl, Daisy, has sent him a sex...more

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Apr 01, 2012 Sophie Dusting rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Synopsis:

When the Bergamots move to the city, they're unsure how well they'll adapt. Soon though, Richard is consumed by his new job and Liz, who has given up her career, is hectically playing mother to six-year-old Coco and fifteen-year-old Jake. But the day Jake unthinkingly forwards a sexually explicit email attachment sent to him by a young girl is the last day of the Bergamots' comfortable middle-class existence. Within hours, the video clip is not only all over Jake's school, but all ove...more

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Mar 26, 2012 marg rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book did get marginally better, so it might be worth sticking it out, but let's not get too crazy here - marginally, after all.
The premise of this work could have been interesting - should have been - but so sadly wasn't. A fifteen year old goes to a party, messes around with an eighth grader (gross), he tells her she's too young (you think?) which then inspires her to email him a porn movie she films featuring herself. Shocked by this, Jake forwards it to his best friend, and by that eveni...more

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Mar 13, 2012 Karen rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

When teenagers lack parental guidance and have the freedom of a big city and unlimited funds, trouble is bound to follow. While Jake Bergamot tries to fit in with his new ultra-privileged, ill-mannered schoolmates, a single click of the mouse threatens to change his life forever.

The Bergamots move to Manhattan from the comfortable up-state town of Ithaca when Richard accepts an executive position at the university. The family finds themselves struggling to adapt to the well-to-do lifestyle, a f...more When teenagers lack parental guidance and have the freedom of a big city and unlimited funds, trouble is bound to follow. While Jake Bergamot tries to fit in with his new ultra-privileged, ill-mannered schoolmates, a single click of the mouse threatens to change his life forever.

The Bergamots move to Manhattan from the comfortable up-state town of Ithaca when Richard accepts an executive position at the university. The family finds themselves struggling to adapt to the well-to-do lifestyle, a far cry from the life they left behind. When Jake opens an email from a younger female admirer, his shock at the explicit video attached distracts him from his initial reaction - that he sent it to his best friend. Before he had the time to think about the repercussions of that action, the video has gone viral.

Schulman found a very important and relevant topic for the 21st century. This story takes place in 2003, nearly 10 years ago, however things haven’t gotten any better since. Today, our youth are glued to their smart phones and social networking sites. Provocative pictures and videos have reached a new level of self identification. I fear at this young age, they can’t even comprehend the repercussions of their actions and how they could influence the future.

This heartbreaking novel is highly inappropriate in so many ways. I have read some of the negative comments and reviews and I wonder if their aversion to this story is a glimpse of what they hate about today’s society and modern technology. These things are happening out there right now. Not just in the big metropolis of New York, but in small town Nebraska too and it doesn’t matter what your social standing is.

As a mother of a young teenage girl, I initially thought this would be a fantastic book for her to read. I am always trying to find progressive ways to teach her the costs of poor decisions. However, in no way is this book appropriate for her thirteen year old mind. Instead, Schulman wrote an explicit novel about a serious lack of judgment by this young girl who is the same age as my daughter.

I question who the target audience is that the author is writing for. This story could give the wrong message to the younger, immature reader and I fear some of the graphic details could peak their curiosities. Their minds still believe it couldn’t happen to them. Perhaps the message should have focused on the ramifications Jack and Daisy lived with for the years following the viral disaster and less on the tasteless details.

Great story, poor delivery.

(less)

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Feb 18, 2012 Danielle rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-i-own, for-review

An ideal family. Lizzie Bergamot is certain that despite her family’s lack of fortune that they’ve got it all and it’s only getting better by the minute. The Bergamot’s recent move to the big city was the result of a very lucrative job offer for her husband and it’s side effects could be seen everywhere. From the overnight Mommy-Daughter spa-esque treatments at the Plaza Hotel to the very prestigious schools for both of her children, Coco and Jake. It also meant new territory and potential hazar...more An ideal family. Lizzie Bergamot is certain that despite her family’s lack of fortune that they’ve got it all and it’s only getting better by the minute. The Bergamot’s recent move to the big city was the result of a very lucrative job offer for her husband and it’s side effects could be seen everywhere. From the overnight Mommy-Daughter spa-esque treatments at the Plaza Hotel to the very prestigious schools for both of her children, Coco and Jake. It also meant new territory and potential hazards no one in the family had encountered before, but Lizzie never expected those hazards to be played out inside the walls of her own home. Least of all in the bedroom of her teenage son Jake. Suddenly the walls of their perfect life come crumbling down and the entire family is left with scars that may never heal.

This is by far one of my greatest fears. My son or daughter doing something so damaging that it alters their entire life just by clicking the mouse. People do things on the internet everyday that they’d never admit to, things they’d never do in a public place and unfortunately children & teenagers especially are even more prone to push the limits. It’s even more tantalizing to when it’s uncharted territory that can be incredibly intriguing to a curious and often naive young person. Unfortunately all it takes is one click, one photo or video forwarded to a friend, and suddenly your world is turned on it’s head.

That’s exactly what happened to Jake Bergamot when he received a video from a thirteen year old girl he knew from school. Once he’d forwarded it to a friend moments after receiving it the domino effect began and the lives of everyone involved were changed forever. Everyone from the girl who sent it, Daisy, to his little sister Coco, who wasn’t old enough to understand the video she accidentally discovered on her mother’s computer. I’m positive I’m not alone in my concern over this matter. Any parent I know who has children growing up today is aware of the risks surrounding computer use by the children in our lives. What was interesting about This Beautiful Life was reading how the situation played out and the ripple affect it had on nearly everyone in the book. It nearly destroys their family and in many ways that was hard to read, but it certainly gave me a greater understanding about what to do and not do in this particular circumstance; I only hope I never have to deal with it.

Overall I felt like This Beautiful Life was very well written and the opportunity to be a “fly on the wall” so to speak was an invaluable lesson. There were times during my reading though that I felt dragged a bit. Helen Schulman does explain in an interview with Brian Gesko of The Paris Review Daily that, “My characters are human, warts and all…”. Well, in many cases I felt like I simply didn’t need to know the every minute detail of her character’s lives. Yes, those things make them real, but in some cases it definitely slowed my reading. That being said, I still absolutely enjoyed the story overall and I’d be open to reading more by Schulman in the future.

This Beautiful Life by Helen Schulman is the telling of a tragic situation that hopefully many families will be able to avoid in our technology laden world. As a parent it can be difficult to balance the need children growing up today have to be connected technologically speaking with the potential for danger that lurks a few mouse clicks away. In the case of Lizzie Bergamot and her son Jake there were so many things I would have done differently, but as a parent I also know that you simply do the very best you can and hope your children make the right choices. This Beautiful Life was an eye opening read that I think parents everywhere could benefit from reading and one I’d definitely recommend.

Originally reviewed and copyrighted at my site There's A Book.(less)

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Feb 18, 2012 Kelsey Burnette rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Not really my kind of book. It was too unhappy and unsettling, what can I say? I'm shallow? For me, the characters were too depressing--who would want to identify with them? Am I naive? Are people really that sad and pathetic? Is it really so hard to get through life? Sometimes, maybe. But who wants to dwell on it?!

It is an interesting look at how difficult the teen years can be. How one small, impulsive, unkind decision can have far reaching consequences entirely beyond anyone's, let alone a yo...more

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Jan 28, 2012 Jaime rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This Beautiful Life by Helen Schulman tackles the controversial subject of teenage sexuality and the unintended consequences of life with the Internet. A true Molotov cocktail, this book is sure to get the conversation started at your local book club.

The book begins with an uncomfortable scene involving thirteen year old Daisy Cavanaugh filming a sexually explicit video for sixteen year old Jake Bergamot. It involves nudity, a bat, and a whole lot of chutzpah that I certainly didn't possess at...more

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Jan 02, 2012 Denise rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This Beautiful Life tells the story of the Bergamots, new to New York City and trying to find their place in this wealthy, no-holds-barred lifestyle. Just when it looks like Richard, Liz, 15 yr old Jake and their adopted, 6-yr-old daughter Coco have adapted to this strange new world, Jake receives a sexually explicit email from a young admirer and forwards it to a friend. The video astonishingly quickly goes viral and soon the whole school has seen it. The Bergamots struggle to deal with the rep...more

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Dec 25, 2011 Catherine Woodman rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This is a there go I but for the grace of God kind of story. This was on the 100 notable books of 2011 list, and I am grateful for that, because otherwise I would have missed this book, and that would have been a shame. I do not always agree that those books are the best of the year, but they are usually very good at the least, and since I am not completely steeped in the book world, I would mis many of them.

Liz and Richard Bergamot are upper middle class everyday parents. He is the reason they...more

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Dec 06, 2011 Elizabeth rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition Recommends it for: People who break

Shelves: 2011

This is one of those books that shows up in my reserved section at the library and I have no idea how it got there. However I found it, I'm glad I did. What thoughtful and articulate writing for a story that is both a story that's been told a thousand times and also, pulls off a contemporary feeling.

What happens when a family confronts a crisis? The Bergamots are a new to being fancy family just arrived in Manhattan. Glorious, a lot of money and into the big leagues Manhattan, mistakes are not t...more

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Nov 18, 2011 Hoover Public Library Adult Fiction rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: family-issues, general-fiction

Helen Schulman writes a very contemporary story. What would happen if your teenage son did something incredibly stupid and damaging to himself and all those around him? This is the story of a very successful couple who've moved to New York City to live the American dream. Richard and Liz Bergamots are highly educated and motivated. Richard has just accepted a coveted position at a NY university while Liz has put her career on hold for her children. Jake is fifteen and Coco is six. Jake seems to...more

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Nov 07, 2011 Judith rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The cover of this book has an illustration of a delicately (if not magically) balanced house of cards which appears to be so fragile that a mild wind could blow it over. And that is the story of this family, and is reflective of many real-life families as well. The parents are successful, attractive, loving and attentive to their children. And yet, their teenage son goes to a party and meets a young girl who later "sex-texts" a pornographic video of herself to try to get his attention. He, being...more

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BBCode	[url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12388837-this-beautiful-life?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book][img]http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327935324l/12388837.jpg[/img][/url] [url=http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12388837-this-beautiful-life?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_book]This Beautiful Life by Helen Schulman[/url]

This Beautiful Life

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