Have you noticed that when some authors reach a certain stature, they seem to coast - on their past books and good name.

This is one of those books. I remember reading a good Anna Quindlen book or two nearly twenty years ago. Yeah, that's a long time. So to expect that level of dedication and commitment to future books to continue, may be too much to expect.

People often wonder about Harper Lee because she only wrote one book - but it was good. I now think not everyone has the wherewithal to write a new, fresh, well-plotted, and exciting book once a year, or even once every five years.

Unfortunately publishing is like every other business that likes to have a well defined product they can sell. In this case, it's an author who has produced before . . . .

I wanted to like this book, but it was too loosely woven together. There wasn't so much as a plot as a slice of uninteresting life of well-to-do white folks. And both New York City and the black and brown folks that populate the so-called 'outer boroughs,' were too stereotypical and non nuanced to be interesting.