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Ground Up: A Novel
by
Michael Idov
Light streams through the windows as the espresso machine roars; a gorgeous, rich scent fills the air; and witty conversation unspools over the porcelain cups.
That’s the café dream. Mark and Nina are about to experience the reality. Determined to re-create the perfect Viennese coffeehouse, they descend on New York’s gritty but hip Lower East Side to educate the locals
Paperback, 272 pages
Published
July 21st 2009
by Farrar, Straus and Giroux
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10 Questions for Michael Idov
An online exclusive interview
By Chris Ross
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
This interview took place at Café Regular du Nord, a narrow, tin-ceilinged coffee shop set on a sun-dappled street in Brooklyn’s Park Slope neighborhood. Author Michael Idov chose the location, proclaiming it to be one of the rare purveyors of quality coffee in the city. Coffee — and the fragile entrepreneurial dreams so often attached to it —...more
Based on the author's own short-lived experience opening -- then closing -- New York coffee house.
Mark Scharf, the novel's narrator, is the slacker son of Russian-Jewish emigres. He fancies himself a writer, and pens snarky reviews of first-novels for Kirkus Reviews. His wife, Nina Liau, is a trust-fund baby and disaffected lawyer who fancies herself a fine-arts photographer. She's also a good cook. At one of their dinner parties, guest who turned out to be a Michelin reviewer co...more
Mark Scharf, the novel's narrator, is the slacker son of Russian-Jewish emigres. He fancies himself a writer, and pens snarky reviews of first-novels for Kirkus Reviews. His wife, Nina Liau, is a trust-fund baby and disaffected lawyer who fancies herself a fine-arts photographer. She's also a good cook. At one of their dinner parties, guest who turned out to be a Michelin reviewer co...more
p.130 "In 2000, when I swapped the Midwest for NY, I knew exactly what I was getting: the limestone canyons and the deco spires and all that jazz from the title sequence of Manhattan. 6 yrs and 0 trips to the Bronx Zoo or Yankee Stadium later, when I thought of the city, the city itself was the last thing that came to mind. I'd stopped looking up or even around. Absent the visual anchor of the Twin Towers, I couldn't even draw the skyline properly, and took that handicap as proof of belongi...more
Anyone who ever dreamed of proprietorship of a hip, happening espresso bar will laugh aloud on just about every page, as an enthusiastic but inexperienced New York couple launches Kolschitsky, an intellectual salon-style coffee house in the Viennese tradition. Unfortunately, problems crop up--lack of successful marketing, low-rent competition from Jumpin' Joe's Java, exhaustion from hard work--and cause stress on the couple's relationship, already the victim of a controlling mother-in-law. The ...more
I liked this book, especially how the author lampoons the hyper-educated trust-fund baby class of his two protagonists who thought it would be oh-so-cool to open a coffee shop. (Not open a business, which is evident from the opening section they have no interest in.) However, I made the mistake of reading Idov's Salon one page essay about his own failed coffee shop, which summarizes the best parts/lessons of the book much more succinctly. The parts of the novel that tried to embellish the sto...more
This is the story of an aimess intellectual couple and their quest to run a hip coffee shop in Manhattan. The book is based on the author's real-life foray into cafe ownership. As someone who has always romanticized the notion of owning a cafe (I mean, who hasn't), preferably with a small bookstore attached, I was curious to see how this one would play out. From choosing the name of the shop (nothing with a pun) to hiring "coffee artists" to figuring out which pastries to sell and what...more
It's amazing when you can see the end coming from the first page.
Here's the scenario - two upper-middle class, overeducated brats with nothing to do and too much money to burn decide to find their purpose. But, like Preston in Avenue Q, they fall short by the end. In the middle, they have a disastrous time opening and running a "Viennese-Style" coffee shop in the East Village. They want to form a new cafe society. And, like the screeching breaks of the car wreck to co...more
Here's the scenario - two upper-middle class, overeducated brats with nothing to do and too much money to burn decide to find their purpose. But, like Preston in Avenue Q, they fall short by the end. In the middle, they have a disastrous time opening and running a "Viennese-Style" coffee shop in the East Village. They want to form a new cafe society. And, like the screeching breaks of the car wreck to co...more
I really really enjoyed this novel.
The subject matter interested me to begin with and the way the novel opens sucked me right in.
This book took me on a journey and ran me through a gamete of emotions.
It is a bit high brow literary sounding and pretentious at parts but that's what makes the characters come alive I think. And the author does balance it well with a great sarcastic whit that I just ate up.
For a first time writer I was really impressed.
The subject matter interested me to begin with and the way the novel opens sucked me right in.
This book took me on a journey and ran me through a gamete of emotions.
It is a bit high brow literary sounding and pretentious at parts but that's what makes the characters come alive I think. And the author does balance it well with a great sarcastic whit that I just ate up.
For a first time writer I was really impressed.
What happens when a couple of yuppie trust fund brats decide to open a coffee shop? It’s a disaster, of course.
Mark writes book reviews, Nina is a photographer, and neither of them know jack about business. So, they open Kolschitzky, a pretentious coffeehouse modeled after the ones they loved on their honeymoon in Vienna.
Of course, the business is a failure from the start, and the state of their marriage quickly parallels the state of their coffeehouse.
Qui...more
Mark writes book reviews, Nina is a photographer, and neither of them know jack about business. So, they open Kolschitzky, a pretentious coffeehouse modeled after the ones they loved on their honeymoon in Vienna.
Of course, the business is a failure from the start, and the state of their marriage quickly parallels the state of their coffeehouse.
Qui...more
I liked this a lot. It's about a married couple who decides to open a cafe on the Lower East Side of Manhattan (based on their experiences with Viennese coffeehouses). Just about everything goes wrong that possibly could go wrong. It was interesting -- good characters/dialogue and insight into all the little ins and outs of running a small business in NYC.
2 1/2 As I love all things Manhattan and all things caffeinated, this should have been the perfect book for me. A married couple with decent artsy jobs are searching for something more- and open a Viennese Cafe. This started out as very literary and clever, but as each month went by and they sank deeper into debt, the story fizzled out.
A clever, fun read about a New Yorker and his wife who decide to open a Vienna-style coffee house in the city, with the expected disastrous effects on their budget and marriage. Idov went through a similar adventure with his own wife, so the details are authentic and vivid. A good one if you're looking for something engaging and quick.
Oh my God, this is such a New York book. I read it thinking, oh man, I've met these people, at a party, or slumming in the LES. It is a great cautionary tale and if you live in the city, you will want to try to find where this place was, where they got the pastry and check your "gruyere" sandwich next time you're at a cafe.
This provided a welcome diversion during an otherwise crappy, stressful week; lots of juicy details about coffee, pastry, real estate, the Lower East Side, and marriage (subjects I know nothing about, so it was all wonderfully exotic). I'm looking forward to the author's next book.
I enjoyed this book about starting up a coffeehouse in NYC. This was always something I wanted to do personally, but I never saw the money in it. This book proves my point, I think, although after living in Seattle, those coffeehouses somehow eked by with people like me frequenting them. The book was well written for the most part; a great first novel. Worth reading, although a bit predictable.
Ellen
is currently reading it
As a coffee fiend, I was completely drawn in to the coffeehouse theme. So far, it's actually turned out to be a great read -- nicely developed characters, touching story, and I can just smell the coffee!
I really like this book. Idov style of writing is so enticing that I did not want this book to end! Unfortunately, this is his only novel. Hope to see more of his books in the future.
It's great cosmopolitan literature, where the idea and story component are not secondary... Very New-York-style and ironic.
Very entertaining book about a young couple who decide to open a coffee shop. Their complete failures at running the business could have been a real buzz killer, but Idov manages to make you laugh with the characters. Good to the last drop (pun intended).
Pretty funny, pretty New York. I think to an extent you have to live in New York to really dig this.
As seen on Wormbook.
The protaganist was a spoiled brat and deserved everything he got!
This book is a really dry read. It has been hard to get through.
I really want to award this book 5 stars based on the sheer enjoyment I got out of reading it, but alas, despite being a stellar first novel, it's not a 5 star book. It kept me laughing through both the good and bad times of the semi-fictional characters and their enterprise. Despite the author's attempts to lampoon snobs of various varieties in the novel, he did end up trying too hard at times to flex his own erudition. Finally, it kept me engaged throughout because it details the practicalitie...more
Not sure I'll finish it. I couldn't tell you why but maybe the plot if marriage dissolution and subsequent mending doesn't appeal to me entirely right now. I just want to read about happy people, preferably single happy people.
It starts out great but becomes a little predictable and clichéd toward the end.
funny in a NYC way
entertaining and a fast read
entertaining and a fast read
Denise
marked it as to-read
Excellent review in Kirkus
coffee
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