Oh man oh man. This was a RIDE. This was GOOD. So good that when I was only a couple of chapters in I spent a good fifteen minutes debating over bring it with me for the long weekend because I wanted to keep reading it so badly but I knew I'd finish it and have to end up lugging it around Vermont--it was a library book, or I'd have forced upon an unsuspecting stranger. So good that even though I decided not to bring it, the characters continued to weigh on my mind.

The alternating times were a complete ride. The present day felt so very dystopian (even as I was simultaneously reading a legitimate dystopian where the internet stops working, for goodness sake) but also quite plausible--and I'm glad I read this after having been in New York City for a year, and I'm glad I read half of this while baking slowly in the early-summer sun, and I'm glad Klein is an excellent writer because it was so easy to be present in the scenes, to feel the desparation of the countless people throughout the city Michael walked by, to feel the relaxed "what-can-you-do" attitudes of bodega owners, to feel how cloying the subway Paul was stuck on felt.

And the way the past unravelled, well. That's some elegant crafting.

Paul and Michael had such very different personalities, but their first person narration felt the same--my one complaint about this book is that both Michael and Paul had very similar voices, and though I normally think two authors writing is gimmicky, I wish it had been done here. Other than voice, I was impressed by how the four of them had their own backgrounds and gimmicks, and I reveled in the way all relationships felt naturally quirky. I was offered very honest snapshots of their lives.

And the ending!!! I am so very rarely, if ever, satisfied with an ending, but on two major accounts I was very impressed with how this ended. Three, really, because there's some gorgeous matter-of-factism. What an amazing ending!

Maybe this hasn't been getting much attention because it hugs the line of commercial and literary quite closely, but it's so worth picking up. ( )

The Disaster’s the Problem

In his debut novel, Randall Klein portrays the going awry of two thirty-something marriages, and, apart from a few puerile observations, most will find this, the central theme, mostly satisfying. In fact, you might argue that if Klein had stuck with martial infidelity, his novel would have been just fine.

However, for some reason, he introduces from the get-go an unknown disaster taking place in lower Manhattan that shuts down the city, all the city, including all means of communication. Okay, if the disaster is really big and if it fundamentally alters the lives of the characters. Unfortunately, neither of these two things happen, leaving the novel to fizzle to nothing in the end. In other words, the big disaster against which we are to contrast the little personal disasters of the couples disappoints, and the couples’ disastrous marriages just seem too prosaic to hold our interest for the full length of the novel.

Michael and Paul narrate the story from their prospectives as they try to navigate home, Michael from the Cloisters north and Paul from the south during a disaster that has paralyzed New York City. The pair first met in the waiting room of a hospital as their wives, Rebecca and Jenny respectively, deliver their first babies. Later, Paul and Jenny’s child dies. The men run into each other again and begin a friendship as couples. Michael, who is a wannabe artist, makes furniture and volunteers to redo Paul and Jenny’s nursery into an office for Jenny; she’s a wannabe writer. One thing leads to another and Michael and Jenny begin an affair, which they believe neither of their partners is aware of. As they wend their ways home, Michael and Paul reveal their inner most thoughts about their wives, the effects of child birth, their ambitions, their sexual experiences and predilections, of which Paul’s, a wannabe actor, prove the most intriguing, and which Jenny uses against him, artfully jumping on a high horse with spindly legs.

It’s not a bad first effort exploring the relationships of young couples, but the whole artifice of the disaster littered with flawed thinking hurts the book. Then there’s Paul and the difficulty some may have believing in the creditability of such a character. It’s not so much what he does, but how he thinks about what he does and what his wife Jenny does. Then again, maybe such people do exist; who knows?

Bottom line, then, a novel okay for a lazy summer weekend when you don’t have anything better to do, but don’t expect more. ( )

The Disaster’s the Problem

In his debut novel, Randall Klein portrays the going awry of two thirty-something marriages, and, apart from a few puerile observations, most will find this, the central theme, mostly satisfying. In fact, you might argue that if Klein had stuck with martial infidelity, his novel would have been just fine.

However, for some reason, he introduces from the get-go an unknown disaster taking place in lower Manhattan that shuts down the city, all the city, including all means of communication. Okay, if the disaster is really big and if it fundamentally alters the lives of the characters. Unfortunately, neither of these two things happen, leaving the novel to fizzle to nothing in the end. In other words, the big disaster against which we are to contrast the little personal disasters of the couples disappoints, and the couples’ disastrous marriages just seem too prosaic to hold our interest for the full length of the novel.

Michael and Paul narrate the story from their prospectives as they try to navigate home, Michael from the Cloisters north and Paul from the south during a disaster that has paralyzed New York City. The pair first met in the waiting room of a hospital as their wives, Rebecca and Jenny respectively, deliver their first babies. Later, Paul and Jenny’s child dies. The men run into each other again and begin a friendship as couples. Michael, who is a wannabe artist, makes furniture and volunteers to redo Paul and Jenny’s nursery into an office for Jenny; she’s a wannabe writer. One thing leads to another and Michael and Jenny begin an affair, which they believe neither of their partners is aware of. As they wend their ways home, Michael and Paul reveal their inner most thoughts about their wives, the effects of child birth, their ambitions, their sexual experiences and predilections, of which Paul’s, a wannabe actor, prove the most intriguing, and which Jenny uses against him, artfully jumping on a high horse with spindly legs.

It’s not a bad first effort exploring the relationships of young couples, but the whole artifice of the disaster littered with flawed thinking hurts the book. Then there’s Paul and the difficulty some may have believing in the creditability of such a character. It’s not so much what he does, but how he thinks about what he does and what his wife Jenny does. Then again, maybe such people do exist; who knows?

Bottom line, then, a novel okay for a lazy summer weekend when you don’t have anything better to do, but don’t expect more. ( )

Based on the average of reviews, I guess this is an unpopularly strong review for this book. I really liked it. Not "liked" liked, but came to appreciate it as a book about relationships and love, people's innermost thoughts and lust, and....well, life.

This is not necessarily a book I'd enthusiastically recommend, but I devoured the last hundred pages or so in a single sitting, so there's that.

Fans of books about interpersonal relationships will enjoy the tale as it unfolds and, for me, it will resonate with me for some time. ( )

Two couples have babies at the same hospital on the same day and become friends. The story takes place in two timelines - one starting after the birth of the babies, and one where the two men are trying to get home after a catastrophe of some sort in NYC (a year later). The writing is atmospheric, and I could picture the neighborhoods the author writes about - also, I could empathize with the blackout situation since I was living in NYC when the blackout of 2003 occurred during a spell of very hot weather. It was awful! I characterize the four people involved as follows: one is pathetic and weak, one is unapologetically manipulative, one is a jerk, and one is a relatively good person. In my opinion, at the end of the story, each got what they deserved. And I loved it! ( )