Others: Positive Nathan Glass has come to Brooklyn to die. Divorced, estranged from his only daughter, the retired life insurance salesman seeks only solitude and anonymity. Then Nathan finds his long-lost nephew, Tom Wood, working in a local bookstore - a far cry from the brilliant academic career he'd begun when Nathan saw him last. Tom's boss is the charismatic Harry Brightman, whom fate has also brought to the "ancient kingdom of Brooklyn, New York." Through Tom and Harry, Nathan's world gradually broadens to include a new set of acquaintances - not to mention a stray relative or two - and leads him to a reckoning with his past life.
Lists: …
Jonathan Lethem
2003 · 511 pages · 2 reviews
Others: PositiveThis is the story of two boys, Dylan Ebdus and Mingus Rude. They are friends and neighbors, but because Dylan is white and Mingus is black, their friendship is not simple. This is the story of their Brooklyn neighborhood, which is almost exclusively black despite the first whispers of something that will become known as "gentrification." This is the story of 1970s America, a time when the most simple human decisions—what music you listen to, whether to speak to the kid in the seat next to you, whether to give up your lunch money—are laden with potential political, social and racial disaster. This is the story of 1990s America, when no one cared anymore. This is the story of punk, that easy white rebellion, and crack, that monstrous plague. This is the story of the loneliness of the avant-garde artist and the exuberance of the graffiti artist. This is the story of what would happen if two teenaged boys obsessed with comic book heroes actually had superpowers: They would screw up their lives. This is the story of joyous afternoons of stickball and dreaded years of schoolyard extortion. This is the story of belonging to a society that doesn't accept you. This is the story of prison and of college, of Brooklyn and Berkeley, of soul and rap, of murder and redemption. This is the story Jonathan Lethem was born to tell. This is THE FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE.
What made the match, strongest first
Émile Zola
1996 · 324 pages · 1 review
Others: PositiveIn this novel the author chooses as his locale the newly built food markets of Paris. Into this extravagance of food - which Zola describes in set pieces that wet the tongue, excite the ear, and stir up the belly - he places his young hero, the half-starved Florent, who has just escaped imprisonment in Cayenne. Florent finds himself at odds with a world he now knows is unjust. Gradually he takes up with the local Socialists, who are more at home in bars than on the revolutionary streets.
What made the match, strongest first
Jonathan Lethem
1999 · 311 pages · 3 reviews
Others: Overwhelmingly positiveFrom Amazon: Brooklyn's very own self-appointed Human Freakshow, Lionel Essrog is an orphan whose Tourettic impulses drive him to bark, count, and rip apart our language in startling and original ways. Together with three veterans of the St. Vincent's Home for Boys, he works for small-time mobster Frank Minna's limo service cum detective agency. Life without Frank Minna, the charismatic King of Brooklyn, would be unimaginable, so who cares if the tasks he sets them are, well, not exactly legal. But when Frank is fatally stabbed, one of Lionel's colleagues lands in jail, the other two vie for his position, and the victim's widow skips town. Lionel's world is suddenly topsy-turvy, and this outcast who has trouble even conversing attempts to untangle the threads of the case while trying to keep the words straight in his head.
What made the match, strongest first
Mason Deaver
2019 · 336 pages · 4 reviews
Others: Overwhelmingly positiveWhen Ben De Backer comes out to their parents as nonbinary, they're thrown out of their house and forced to move in with their estranged older sister, Hannah, and her husband, Thomas, whom Ben has never even met. Struggling with an anxiety disorder compounded by their parents' rejection, they come out only to Hannah, Thomas, and their therapist and try to keep a low profile in a new school. But Ben's attempts to survive the last half of senior year unnoticed are thwarted when Nathan Allan, a funny and charismatic student, decides to take Ben under his wing. As Ben and Nathan's friendship grows, their feelings for each other begin to change, and what started as a disastrous turn of events looks like it might just be a chance to start a happier new life. At turns heartbreaking and joyous, I Wish You All the Best is both a celebration of life, friendship, and love, and a shining example of hope in the face of adversity.
Elena Ferrante
2000 · 477 pages · 1 review
Others: PositiveOstatni tom bestsellerowej serii, którą otwiera Genialna przyjaciółka. W skład tetralogii wchodzą również Historia nowego nazwiska oraz Historia ucieczki. Wszystkie powieści odniosły międzynarodowy sukces i zostały docenione także w środowisku pisarskim. Elenę i Lilę łączy niełatwa więź oparta na miłości, nienawiści, zazdrości, dominacji i podległości. Wspólnie wychowywały się na przedmieściach Neapolu. Elena zdecydowała się opuścić rodzinne miasto, aby kontynuować edukację w Pizie. W trakcie studiów została poczytną pisarką, a potem żoną nobilitowanego wykładowcy i matką. Tymczasem Lila pozostała w rodzinnym mieście, wyszła za mąż w wieku szesnastu lat, urodziła synka. Z czasem porzuciła dostatnie życie przy boku męża, podjęła ciężką pracę w fabryce. W końcu kobiecie udaje się odnieść sukces zawodowy, jednak żyje w miejscu, gdzie rządzą nepotyzm, szowinizm i przestępczość. Ostatecznie losy dwóch przyjaciółek ponownie się splatają w mieście, które je kiedyś połączyło.
What made the match, strongest first
Kristy Boyce
2024 · 3 reviews
Others: PositiveWhen it comes to romance, sometimes it doesn't hurt to play games. A fun YA romcom full of fake dating hijinks! Musical lover Riley has big aspirations to become a director on Broadway. Crucial to this plan is to bring back her high school’s spring musical, but when Riley takes her mom’s car without permission, she's grounded and stuck with the worst punishment: spending her after-school hours working at her dad’s game shop. Riley can't waste her time working when she has a musical to save, so she convinces Nathan—a nerdy teen employee—to cover her shifts and, in exchange, she’ll flirt with him to make his gamer-girl crush jealous. But Riley didn’t realize that meant joining Nathan's Dungeons & Dragons game…or that role playing would be so fun. Soon, Riley starts to think that flirting with Nathan doesn't require as much acting as she would've thought.
Loved ita classic ulster novel people by a great cast of characters all of them facing unconventional bizarre situations and coming to terms with the vagaries of chance and the capriciousness of destiny it's mysterious and engaging i came to care very deeply for these characters and as a big oster fan i would possibly count it as his most enjoyable novel that i've read so far
