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Prospect Park West
by
Amy Sohn (Goodreads Author)
From the perennially hot author and columnist Amy Sohn comes a smart, sexy, satirical peek into the bedrooms and hearts of Prospect Park West.
Hardcover, 400 pages
Published
September 1st 2009
by Simon & Schuster
(first published 2009)
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One part smut
One part celebrity worship
Four parts whiny mothers who resent their children
Top with a hefty dose of Brooklyn name-dropping and five too many mentions of Gawker - stir swiftly and chug. Do not linger over or savor.
In addition to all of that, there were several dropped storylines, which makes me think this book was in a rush to publish - and makes me wonder, WHY? With some character editing and story tightening, this book could have gained at least another star.
The racial paranoia fe...more
One part celebrity worship
Four parts whiny mothers who resent their children
Top with a hefty dose of Brooklyn name-dropping and five too many mentions of Gawker - stir swiftly and chug. Do not linger over or savor.
In addition to all of that, there were several dropped storylines, which makes me think this book was in a rush to publish - and makes me wonder, WHY? With some character editing and story tightening, this book could have gained at least another star.
The racial paranoia fe...more
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A huge tomb that really didn't have to be. But whatever, everyone needs lame books like this sometimes. To make it a little different, it didn't take place in Manhattan at all, but in the borough of Brooklyn in the currently super hot neighborhood of Prospect Park. While I know the area a little bit, the author used real places a lot and I am sure if you know that area well, the book would have been more interesting. I just couldn't picture it, which is always a downside for me. Otherwise, I lik...more
Never having lived in Brooklyn for more than a few weeks after college, and not having children, I can't speak to accuracy. This was a lightish read but maybe a little more substantial than chick lit. 4 mothers living in or around the Park Slope neighborhood, one freelance writer, one self-medicating Oscar-winning actress, one self-described hasbian raising her biracial son, and one....psychotic frump? yes, even the author had trouble identifying with a few of these characters. Multiple intersec...more
Stylishly Delicious, Wicked Fictional Romp Courtesy of Amy Sohn
In her longest - if not quite her most accomplished - novel to date, fellow Brunonian Amy Sohn offers us a witty, often wickedly funny, satirical romp through the lives of four women in the trendy Brooklyn neighborhood of Park Slope. Hers is a well written, and rather thoughtful, excursion in that well-trodded literary genre known as "Chick Lit", but it's clearly far from routine, with four rather subtlely drawn female protagonists....more
In her longest - if not quite her most accomplished - novel to date, fellow Brunonian Amy Sohn offers us a witty, often wickedly funny, satirical romp through the lives of four women in the trendy Brooklyn neighborhood of Park Slope. Hers is a well written, and rather thoughtful, excursion in that well-trodded literary genre known as "Chick Lit", but it's clearly far from routine, with four rather subtlely drawn female protagonists....more
I don't know why I keep reading Amy Sohn's books. I have some sick fascination with them. Her characters are deplorable. I start out enjoying snarking on them, but by the end I just want them to all kill themselves or each other so we can all be put out of our misery. I have read 3 of her novels on 3 different beach vacations, and that is the only thing that makes them bearable, that my friends are there, usually somewhat buzzed, and I can read the especially absurd parts aloud to them as we sit...more
The characters Sohn created in this book are mostly shallow, narcissistic and spiritually bereft. Fittingly, my investment in them was superficial. Having said that, they were certainly composites of people I know/have known, and I couldn't put the book down. The book is set in Park Slope: “It has the worst of Berkeley, California combined with the worst of the Upper East Side.” Sohn's spot-on about showcasing the irony of engineering the organic... and her scenes at the food coop had me laughin...more
The premise of the book is great and and first glance I could see why SJP would consider it a great find for TV but the meat of the story... well it's like when you get a soy hot dog... as much as it seems to be legit it's just not real meat.
The writing was all over the place and not very easy to follow which I think is the only thing that makes it not chick lit; you have to pay attention, and not in a good way. There are so many characters that when Sohn goes off on tangents (they're convienie...more
The writing was all over the place and not very easy to follow which I think is the only thing that makes it not chick lit; you have to pay attention, and not in a good way. There are so many characters that when Sohn goes off on tangents (they're convienie...more
Prospect Park West by Amy Sohn chronicles the lives of four SAHM's in Brooklyn's Park Slope neighborhood. Park Slope is an area in Brooklyn filled with "bourgeois bohemian breeders" - it is a socially progressive enclave just outside Manhattan filled with couples with young children in classic brownstone homes.
Prospect Park West is not all Bugaboo strollers and trips to the Park - the four Moms whose stories are each featured in the novel are grappling with much more than just what to make for d...more
Prospect Park West is not all Bugaboo strollers and trips to the Park - the four Moms whose stories are each featured in the novel are grappling with much more than just what to make for d...more
Set in my hood, I had to take a look. It had all the spots– Tea Lounge, 3rd Street Playground, The Coop, and P.S. 321. It had the stereotypes: the mother who puts knee-pads on her kid; the aging, opinionated, hippy coop member who just got back from Burning Man; the nannies and play dates and “the loop.” To say that it was mocking us families who live here is an understatement. But I didn’t mind that; it’s good to laugh at oneself often. But there was something I minded…a lot…and it was the fact...more
Prospect Park West takes place in Park Slope, Brooklyn, New York. It's marketed as "Sex in the other Borough". I love SATC, the show and movie but I've never read the book so I can't comment on that but I can only hope that SATC is better written. I work in Park Slope so I know the neighborhood and the people who live here and I thought this would be a funny and satircal look at the neighborhood but no. There is not a sympathetic character in the entire book. They are all selfish, egotisitical,...more
The characters in here are horrible, trashy people. But you realize that with the first paragraph of this book, so if you continue much further into it, it's no one's fault other than your own.
For me, I equate reading this to watching the Real Housewives shows. I know it's bad and wrong and the people are horrible, but I keep watching, or in this case, I keep reading.
And truth is, it makes me feel better about myself to make fun of the people who populate Park Slope. I have my reasons for this....more
For me, I equate reading this to watching the Real Housewives shows. I know it's bad and wrong and the people are horrible, but I keep watching, or in this case, I keep reading.
And truth is, it makes me feel better about myself to make fun of the people who populate Park Slope. I have my reasons for this....more
I thought this book would be a trashy, fun read. I was very wrong. I don't even know how to write a review for it so here are the three big things I have to say about Prospect Park West:
1) There is A LOT of sexy business in this book. But this isn't like romance novel sex. This is like "Did I just read that right?" sex. I was telling my husband about some of the things in this book and he actually made me stop talking.
2) Sohn seems to highly sexualize breast feeding in this book. As someone brea...more
1) There is A LOT of sexy business in this book. But this isn't like romance novel sex. This is like "Did I just read that right?" sex. I was telling my husband about some of the things in this book and he actually made me stop talking.
2) Sohn seems to highly sexualize breast feeding in this book. As someone brea...more
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Rachel is stuck in a loveless marriage and has dreams of meeting a man who will sweep her off her feet and carry her around for the rest of her life. Rachel and her husband's non-existence sex life has been dried up since before their daughter was born. She ends up meeting a man who she has a steamy affair with, Stuart who is also married. When she winds up pregnant there is no way to deny the consequences of their actions. Lizzie used to be a lesbian but she is now married to a man with whom sh...more
Jul 15, 2011
Cheryln Kurz
rated it
1 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
No one!
Recommended to Cheryln by:
No one if they liked me
I love chick-lit but this book was beyond superficial! I hate every single character in this book. Even the children. I know that sounds bad, but the author made the kids seem like whining leeches. The husbands were jerks and the women were snotty, self-righteous, self-absorbed, pretentious, and obnoxious. Just horrible horrible women that I would have to smack if I ever met them.
The women all did horrible things and none of them paid for their a actions. There's a "karma is a b*tch" things, lik...more
The women all did horrible things and none of them paid for their a actions. There's a "karma is a b*tch" things, lik...more
This book was ok in that I was interested in knowing how it was going to end (though I must say the ending annoyed me), it kept me interested throughout, I liked how the characters became intertwined as the story progressed. It felt as though the author was trying too hard though; there was a lot of "junk" that seemed to be there to make the story relevant to current times and to, I suppose, make it funny, well, actually, more satirical; satire can be smart and funny, but in this case it cheapen...more
Aug 16, 2012
Dawn
added it
It was silly of me to think that all this time Stephen King was the only famous writer to make his dislike of black people known and to make a profit off of it but it seems I've been corrected. Not only does this book have the most annoying and lackluster characters, which is a task since it's set in New York, a place built on character all by itself, but she also has 2 1/2 black characters in the whole book of about a dozen and still manages to throw in a racist remark or stereotyping on every...more
I'm not sure why I'd thought this would be a fun read. The characters are pretty awful, completely self-centered, manipulative, ignorant, delusional, and, at times, mean. But the plot was interesting so I stuck with it. But who wrote the Book Club Guide? They are like bad test questions, essays that make you sigh before your start. And in the "Enhance Your Book Club" section, one recommendation says try to scope out where "progressive new moms or bohemian bourgeois breeders in your own town or c...more
This book clearly aspires to be a Sex and the City- style look into the lives of stay at home mothers in Park Slope but ends up depicting these women as whining, ungrateful and obnoxious instead of liberated and whatever else they are supposed to be. Besides misplacing some of the locations in the community that are in the story.
The character I had the biggest problem with was Karen, the grasping, social climbing, helicopter mother who seemed to go off the deep end for no particular reason. Also...more
The character I had the biggest problem with was Karen, the grasping, social climbing, helicopter mother who seemed to go off the deep end for no particular reason. Also...more
i started reading this at work so i could periodically walk over to coworkers and read ridiculous passages out loud, for example, "he knew epstein's hollywood stock had gone up lately, with the box office success of mumbai express and his upcoming lemony snicket adaptation with michael chabon."* then i just kept reading. it's about 90% place and name dropping, so if you don't know all the stupid places in brooklyn she's talking about, it's all just noise. but, you know, i just. kept. reading.
*so...more
*so...more
I did like this book, mainly because I kept wondering how the four main characters were going to get themselves out of the messes they created. It is a trashy book; reading it is like watching a reality show. I got a bit depressed at the beginning because I am the same demographic as these ladies -- new baby, working at home, living near Park Slope -- and I started to wonder if this was what life held! On the other hand, there were so many little things that rang true in between the snark that i...more
This was a fun read. Quick, easy and enjoyable. It kind of reminded me of Sex and the City but with married mothers lol. I found it interesting how the characters were all connected however slight that connection might have been. I found, while reading, I could easily visualize the neighborhood, the coop, the parks, and the buildings. I like a book that draws such a clear picture that I can watch as I read.
I think my only real gripe with the book is it seemed kind of rushed at tying up the end o...more
I think my only real gripe with the book is it seemed kind of rushed at tying up the end o...more
just read this in between other books, was in a hurry to return to the library. the title is the street i live on, so maybe i can catch a break for being curious enough to read? i was also stubborn enough to finish it but it really should have been relegated to the didn't-finish shelf. what a collection of uniformly unlikeable characters, name-dropping and sloppy, lazy writing. there were a few sharp moments, but in general the attempts at satire didn't even feel accurate enough for me to be stu...more
Dec 15, 2009
Randi Reisfeld
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Young moms, Brooklynites, showbiz savvy
Recommended to Randi by:
The cover and blurb sucked me in -- plus a review in either Peop
What starts out as a VERY CLEVER and sexy satire of young moms/dads in upscale, crunchy Brooklyn loses its bite after a while. Not enough "happened" for my taste, but ultimately, I just didn't care enough about any of the characters. The ending was as unsatisfying as the character's dilemma on page one, when she can't...well, you can figure it out!
Also, big question: I know the author must have connections in showbiz, but how she got away with so many real-life celebrities inhabting this book,...more
Also, big question: I know the author must have connections in showbiz, but how she got away with so many real-life celebrities inhabting this book,...more
Hmmm. Didn't care for this one. It may be a case of my expectations being too high. The tag lines on the cover of the advanced promo copy that I read say, "Finally there's sex in another part of the city..." and "You'll never look at brownstones, babies or Bugaboos the same way again." Those lines are true, but the book fell flat for me.
Set in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, Prospect Park West, follows the lives of four married women during one summer.
* Melora Leigh, an actress who fe...more
Set in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, Prospect Park West, follows the lives of four married women during one summer.
* Melora Leigh, an actress who fe...more
I enjoyed this more than I thought I would - perhaps because I am now familiar with the landscape. Quick read, interesting characters. I think the original cover design did the novel more justice. The new cover for the paperback pictures a happy mom & her child. The original depicted the architecture of the area, leaving the inhabitants unseen. It was more fitting since Prospect Park West delves into the unseen lives behind the closed doors of the expensive real estate. Wait, I take it back,...more
This was one of the hot releases of the fall, I suppose. I found that the characters were not well developed (really stereotypical, one-dimensional and flat) and the plot was non-existent. It is chic-lit in it's late 30's, i.e. mommy-lit. Sohn occassionally has a cute turn of phrase, but more often than not it seems like she is trying to hard to be cute, wry, insightful and/or witty. I've heard that Sarah Jessica Parker has already optioned this to be a movie - and I suppose it will be one of th...more
It's about mommyhood in the neighborhood where I work. Of course I was going to read it (#37 on BPL's hold-list)! PPW is chock-full of satire and snark, and for the first 100 pages or so I found myself smirking at least twice before turning to the next page. Now most of the parents I interact with are good eggs. They clearly love and enjoy their children, and they're in check about themselves and their roles as parents. However, it wouldn't make for a viable satire if the stereotypes skewered wi...more
This book was not at all what I was expecting. For starters, it was way dirtier than I expected from chick lit. Not that everyone was having sex (though they sometimes did), but it was all they could think about. Also, no one liked themselves or anyone else and whatever they had, it wasn't enough. Basically the whole book can be summed up as sex and unhappiness, with a side of craaaaaazy. I did read all 400 pages in a few days, though, so it was definitely addicting. Having learned Amy Sohn's ne...more
If you like a good soap opera, then this is your book. There isn't one thing about any character that is likeable. But it is all laughable.
A quick read about shallow people who want more than they can afford - and probably more than they need - where Cosabella panties are the norm and Manolo Blahnik's are average - all situated in in a borough far from Ohio.
Perhaps it's really Oz!
This is as enjoying as watching reruns of Melrose Place. [Except the clothes are a little better and they don't have...more
A quick read about shallow people who want more than they can afford - and probably more than they need - where Cosabella panties are the norm and Manolo Blahnik's are average - all situated in in a borough far from Ohio.
Perhaps it's really Oz!
This is as enjoying as watching reruns of Melrose Place. [Except the clothes are a little better and they don't have...more
| topics | posts | views | last activity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I'll take Manhattan.... | 2 | 29 | May 01, 2010 05:35am |
Amy Sohn is the author of the new novel Prospect Park West, as well as My Old Man and Run Catch Kiss. She has written for New York Magazine, The New York Times, The Nation, and Harper's Bazaar. She has written pilots for ABC, Fox, HBO, and Lifetime. She lives in Brooklyn, New York with her family.
More about Amy Sohn...
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