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84th out of 535 books
—
552 voters
The New Yorkers
by
Cathleen Schine (Goodreads Author),
Leanne Shapton
"An enchanting comedy of manners (with dogs!) from one of our most treasured writers" Cathleen Schine's brilliantly funny new novel revolves around one city block in Manhattan, a quiet little block near Central Park kept humble by rent control. Living on a street like this in New York with a dog is like living in a tiny village, one that has a rhythm all its own. Dogs brin...more
Hardcover, 290 pages
Published
May 1st 2007
by Sarah Crichton Books
(first published January 1st 2007)
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So very skillful. I heard her read from this last year at Wordstock. Sophisticated use of POV. Good interwoven stories. (2007)
And now, December of 2012, I'm re-reading this book, because it is so skillfully done. Also, it's quite enjoyable, although I am getting rather tired of New York, but then, I live out in the wilderness of Seattle, by choice, so all the descriptions of how wonderful the city is just leave me cold. I like visiting New York, and then when I notice that I am spending more and...more
And now, December of 2012, I'm re-reading this book, because it is so skillfully done. Also, it's quite enjoyable, although I am getting rather tired of New York, but then, I live out in the wilderness of Seattle, by choice, so all the descriptions of how wonderful the city is just leave me cold. I like visiting New York, and then when I notice that I am spending more and...more
This book had all the elements I'd assume would make for an interesting story: Several characters who will somehow interact despite the odds of doing so, simple and believable plot lines, a familiar setting. However, it failed to set any actual scenes. The term "Show Don't Tell" came to mind as I read. The majority of the book I felt was being told to me rather than revealed to me and I felt that detracted from the story's value.
The narrative follows several characters living in NYC who while l...more
The narrative follows several characters living in NYC who while l...more
Meh. I hoped for better things with this book, because I liked the premise: a group of New Yorkers who become a community because of their dogs. Because that happens, you know? If you have a dog, and you walk the dog, you get to know every dang dog in the neighborhood - and their owners. And to have that happen in New York, the city of strangers, seemed like a lovely idea.
And yet. The truth is, I just couldn't seem to stay interested in the characters. This was partly because they were not excep...more
And yet. The truth is, I just couldn't seem to stay interested in the characters. This was partly because they were not excep...more
I recall, as a fairly sheltered college student, traveling to New York City for the wedding of a distant relative. It hadn’t occurred to me that there could be neighborhoods in this crowded place of constant motion. When I supposed that it must get lonely living where you would never serendipitously bump into someone you knew, a cousin tried to set me straight by explaining that people frequent the same places and thus you would often encounter the same people. I don’t think I truly grasped what...more
As soon as I read the synopsis for this book, I knew that, as a dog-lover, I just had to read it. (I should have done more shopping around though because, yet again, Barnes and Noble had the eBook available for $9.99 and the actual book for $7.18...Grrrrrrr, B&N.) A book about a neighborhood coming together, and pulling apart, all due to their dogs and dog and dog owner manners, I was ready for the promised funny and light and entertaining story. That's not quite what it was, however. As I r...more
Dec 27, 2011
Anastasia
rated it
3 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
usa,
contemporanei
Era proprio quello che ci voleva, mi sento appagata.
Ho fatto letture impegnate praticamente tutto l'anno, merito uno stacco a Natale. Fra l'altro come si può pretendere di leggere roba seria quando per casa ti girano due bambini urlanti, due violinisti che, giustamente, sviolinano di continuo, una mamma (non la mia) sempre ai fornelli e un papà (questa volta è mio) che ha un difetto notevole: non riesce mai a stare zitto.
Insomma, non si capisce neanche come abbia fatto a leggere un libro intero...more
Ho fatto letture impegnate praticamente tutto l'anno, merito uno stacco a Natale. Fra l'altro come si può pretendere di leggere roba seria quando per casa ti girano due bambini urlanti, due violinisti che, giustamente, sviolinano di continuo, una mamma (non la mia) sempre ai fornelli e un papà (questa volta è mio) che ha un difetto notevole: non riesce mai a stare zitto.
Insomma, non si capisce neanche come abbia fatto a leggere un libro intero...more
I was intrigued to read this book that it would really characterize a particular neighborhood in NYC. Unfortunately, I didn't really get drawn into the characters of the dogs or people. A lot of the characters, despite their relationships seem apathetic towards one another. I suppose I kept reading, hoping that the book would become more engaging. Alas...it didn't really happen. I still read the whole book though..usually I give up..so something kept me going.
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
Parere che oscilla tra le tre e le quattro stellette.
E' un libro grazioso, una lettura piacevole, e ci sono molti frammenti molto intensi e degni di nota.
I personaggi, come molti hanno notato, non sono personaggi di cui ci si potrebbe ricordare ad oltranza o che ti colpiscono con la loro intensità... a parte i cani, forse, che sono i veri protagonisti di questo romanzo di quartiere. Ma ciononostante, ci si trova istintivamente a simpatizzare per qualcuno e a trovare irritante qualcun altro, e, l...more
E' un libro grazioso, una lettura piacevole, e ci sono molti frammenti molto intensi e degni di nota.
I personaggi, come molti hanno notato, non sono personaggi di cui ci si potrebbe ricordare ad oltranza o che ti colpiscono con la loro intensità... a parte i cani, forse, che sono i veri protagonisti di questo romanzo di quartiere. Ma ciononostante, ci si trova istintivamente a simpatizzare per qualcuno e a trovare irritante qualcun altro, e, l...more
Why are books about The City so painful to get through these days? I pick them up with such anticipation, but the way they are written are just painfully hard for me to read sometimes.
This book had many many characters, that after a while, was easy to follow, but there was hardly any spacing when jumping from one to the other, which was very very annoying. All the characters lives were interwined with each other and they simi-centered around a couple of the characters dogs. But at one point, one...more
This book had many many characters, that after a while, was easy to follow, but there was hardly any spacing when jumping from one to the other, which was very very annoying. All the characters lives were interwined with each other and they simi-centered around a couple of the characters dogs. But at one point, one...more
I really enjoyed this novel - I am sure it will appeal to dog lovers and owners everywhere. I am not a dog owner, but I certainly enjoyed the tender way the author handled the personal realtionships of the dogs owners to their dogs and to eachother. The book looks at the interaction between the residents of a very ordinary street in New York's Upper East Side. Love, infatuation, frienship and interpersonal relationships are examined with humour and sensitivity. The book shows us how pets actuall...more
They almost seem to be living on an isolated island, with their solitary pursuits and their quirky habits. We meet them one by one, introduced by the unidentified narrator, who seems to be another person in the neighborhood that we never meet.
Jody is a blond music teacher, living alone in her studio apartment in the West Side neighborhood in New York. The block featured in this novel is described as "not fashionable," but the appeal is its proximity to the park, as well as its rent-controlled ap...more
Jody is a blond music teacher, living alone in her studio apartment in the West Side neighborhood in New York. The block featured in this novel is described as "not fashionable," but the appeal is its proximity to the park, as well as its rent-controlled ap...more
Feb 05, 2009
Bookmarks Magazine
added it
"If Cathleen Schine's The New Yorkers were a movie, it would be directed by Nora Ephron and would feature lots of fuzzy sweaters and adorable close-ups of dogs," opines the Seattle Times. Critics agree that while sweet and engaging enough, The New Yorkers is not riveting, although it does offer an insightful, microcosmic view of urban alienation. Each character taken individually is somewhat unremarkable; it's the dogs that enliven their owners and, by extension, their owners' abilities to conne
...more
Cathleen Schine has created a kind of country village emerging on a New York city block, complete with welcoming cafe and a group of interconnected neighbors who display a series of mishaps and mistakes; skirt, face and avoid tragedies; swallow large doses of loneliness; garner small and great kindnesses; and act, against all odds (to the rest of the world who apparently believes that we don't even smile at our neighbors), behave like a true and caring community.
That many of these very human enc...more
That many of these very human enc...more
This took me a while to get through. At first, I really couldn't get into it. There is something strange about the writing style. It's narrated by a phantom narrator who knows everything about the characters. The narrator tells about one character, then in the same sentence, talks about another character. When you read these sentences, paragraphs, it makes it seem as though these characters are all together in one room, when the are not. For example, something like 'Polly and George sat on the c...more
Not a highbrow read, but a pleasant way to visit New York when you no longer live there. I found it by chance, browsing, after an early November visit to my old neighborhood on the Upper West Side. We took lots of pictures, the Gingkos were reflecting golden in the avenues and friendly folk were out walking their dogs.
This novel is about people who live in NY and love dogs and was written as a tribute to
New Yorkers after the 911 tragedies.
A lonely single professional woman takes a dog and beco...more
This novel is about people who live in NY and love dogs and was written as a tribute to
New Yorkers after the 911 tragedies.
A lonely single professional woman takes a dog and beco...more
I give this book 2 stars simply due to the fact that I finished the book. A finished book deserves at least two stars. However, I did not enjoy this book. Not only was it HIGHLY unrealistic (I get the fact that it's fiction, but it was trying to be realistic, and highly ineffectual), I found it to be very offensive towards women. The author (who is a woman btw) portrays the women in this book as being highly emotional and afraid of making one wrong move in regards to dating men. There was not a...more
I wasn't sure I'd like this book because the way it started: "We'll begin our story with Jody." I usually don't like books that stress you're reading, as this one does at the beginning of almost every chapter. There are also occurrences of statements like "As the reader may have noticed, …" appearing mid-paragraph. It really took me out of it when that happened. For some reason, I stuck with it and found the overall story pretty compelling. Set in a New York City neighborhood, the characters and...more
Un romanzo delicato, ambientato in una New York inedita, popolata da persone comuni, che svolgono lavori comuni, si comportano in maniera comune, e in comune hanno (quasi tutti) una passione per i cani.
E' una storia fatta di piccole cose e di piccole e grandi scelte: Jody, che ama definirsi "zitella" e la sua pitbull Beatrice, la giovane Polly appena abbandonata dal suo ragazzo, Simon, amante della caccia ed Everett, divorziato e ormai amareggiato dalla vita. Bei personaggi, soprattutto George,...more
E' una storia fatta di piccole cose e di piccole e grandi scelte: Jody, che ama definirsi "zitella" e la sua pitbull Beatrice, la giovane Polly appena abbandonata dal suo ragazzo, Simon, amante della caccia ed Everett, divorziato e ormai amareggiato dalla vita. Bei personaggi, soprattutto George,...more
This novel looks at a number of people and dogs that live on one block in New York City. She tells the story from a number of points of view and shows how the different characters interact with each other and are changed by this interaction. I found several of the characters appealing, and all of them believable. A theme running through the book is that we are all only human after all and have feelings and behaviours that we are not always proud of, but that are things that make us vulnerable to...more
Sometimes you need a catalyst to get something going. In this tale, canines are the catalysts that result in some pretty interesting developments. Set in a neighborhood near New York’s Central Park, some very diverse people are brought together in some unusual ways. Filled with warmth and touched with humor, this audio book is entertaining is a nice way. Even people who don’t particularly like dogs will find themselves drawn into the lives of these characters. It might even make you want to take...more
The New Yorkers is een vluchtig, gezellig, prettig, warm, geinig, aangenaam, aardig, tof, gemoedelijk, knus, behaaglijk, comfortabel, komisch, leuk, amusant, lollig, grappig en wollig boekje over honden en mensen en mensen met honden, over hun relaties, hun verliefdheden, hun zorgen en bekommernissen, hun lekkere koffietjes in hun appartementjes en hun ontspannende wandelingetjes door hun toffe buurt en hun toevallige en minder toevallige ontmoetingen met andere mensen met hondjes, die aanvoelt...more
I was on the edge of loving this book - the setting, the characters, the fabulous but "regular" lifestyle of living a few blocks from Central Park, but never quite got there. Come on - dogs were characters complete with personalities - I should have love it! I appreciated the way the author writes and assembles words into sentences, but a I think a few of the characters felt forced or maybe a bit too odd to believe. I liked the exploration of relationships (canine and human) but the story itself...more
Read this for book group, but I'll have nothing to say about it. I generally like all of Cathleen Schine's books and find them quick, light reading.
This one had an odd POV--a hidden narrator with real opinions who occasionally made herself known but never revealed her identity.
If you're not a dog lover, you may not appreciate this book much. Or, I should say, if you are a dog lover, you'll appreciate this book more.
My favorite Schine is still probably The Love Letter, or the first one I read, Al...more
This one had an odd POV--a hidden narrator with real opinions who occasionally made herself known but never revealed her identity.
If you're not a dog lover, you may not appreciate this book much. Or, I should say, if you are a dog lover, you'll appreciate this book more.
My favorite Schine is still probably The Love Letter, or the first one I read, Al...more
Toward the end of the book I started to notice the recurring theme about change -- about the ability of people - and dogs - to make real changes in their approach to life.
The book portrays an interconnected group of neighbors in New York who walk their dogs, get take-out food, eat out at the local restaurant and fall in and out of love.
The book offers all the characters you would hope for, including a looking-for-love young woman, a curmudgeonly older man, an unmarried 40-year-old music teache...more
The book portrays an interconnected group of neighbors in New York who walk their dogs, get take-out food, eat out at the local restaurant and fall in and out of love.
The book offers all the characters you would hope for, including a looking-for-love young woman, a curmudgeonly older man, an unmarried 40-year-old music teache...more
People meet and fall in love via their dogs in this book of light fiction. Friends pointed me toward this book after I complained about the hours I’ve spent this summer with Al Qaeda and fundamental extremists and the poor of sub-Sahara Africa and the test-weary world of disadvantaged New Jersey schools. There is nothing that lingers in your bones after reading this book, nothing that leads you toward writing editorials to the Times. Simple little stories of relationships combined with the stead...more
"An enchanting comedy of manners (with dogs!) from one of our most treasured writers" Cathleen Schine's brilliantly funny new novel revolves around one city block in Manhattan, a quiet little block near Central Park kept humble by rent control. Living on a street like this in New York with a dog is like living in a tiny village, one that has a rhythm all its own. Dogs bring people together unexpectedly, people who would otherwise never meet. And the dogs act as cupids for the quiet, struggling,...more
This book was set out on the shelf at my library labeled 'reader's choice.' I felt like I missed something because I wouldn't recommend it. The book was a peek into the lives and happenings of the residents along one block of a New York street (and their dogs) during one year. It focused on the relationships formed as people met and became involved with one another during the course of their dogwalks. I don't know if 'existential' is the right word, but just as we don't often have any great triu...more
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
All dog lovers are suckers for books about dogs and the relationships people have with them. It's a rule, and a smart part on an author's part: You have an instant audience. This was true to the form--sentimental, a good story, and just enough about the dog/family relationship to keep things firmly in the dog book genre. Schine keeps it interesting by capturing the sense of neighborhood, of lifestyle, of characters that exemplifies living in a giant metropolis microcosm. My second Schine novel i...more
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| Dog Lovers! | 2 | 16 | Aug 15, 2008 06:26pm |
Cathleen Schine is the author of The New Yorkers, The Love Letter, and The Three Weissmanns of Westport among other novels. She has contributed to The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, The New York Times Magazine, and The New York Times Book Review.
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Aug 23, 2007 11:09pm
"Wordstock 2007 will be held November 9-11, 2007 at the Oregon Convention Center in Portland, Oregon. Authors who will appear this...more
updated Aug 24, 2007 10:44am