Take a photo of a barcode or cover
danaerinw's review against another edition
4.0
Does the name of this author sound familiar? That might be because you last heard this name along with “Gossip Girl.” That’s right! Cecily von Ziegesar is back (finally) and with a non-YA novel. Now, I’ve heard some meh reviews about it so far, but truthfully, I would disagree with that (I think those people were just hoping for another Gossip Girl).
This novel shows off one of von Ziegesar’s greatest skills: creating a whole world of incredibly unique and quirky characters and then throwing them together to let us watch what happens. All while letting New York City shine as it’s own character in the background. To go into each character would be overwhelming, but each character is so well developed and described you feel like you’ve known them for years within minutes of reading about them. The plot does move you through a full year, which can seem a little fast. However, I think that it ends up working really well and she’s able to cover a lot of ground without feeling like the reader missed anything.
I don’t think it’s necessarily a novel for everyone, but if you like an ensemble novel, then I would recommend it for you.
This novel shows off one of von Ziegesar’s greatest skills: creating a whole world of incredibly unique and quirky characters and then throwing them together to let us watch what happens. All while letting New York City shine as it’s own character in the background. To go into each character would be overwhelming, but each character is so well developed and described you feel like you’ve known them for years within minutes of reading about them. The plot does move you through a full year, which can seem a little fast. However, I think that it ends up working really well and she’s able to cover a lot of ground without feeling like the reader missed anything.
I don’t think it’s necessarily a novel for everyone, but if you like an ensemble novel, then I would recommend it for you.
stefk7833's review
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
bookwormishme's review against another edition
4.0
4.5 stars / This review will be posted at BookwormishMe.com on 17 November 2020.
Welcome to Cobble Hill, a charming neighborhood in Brooklyn. Here live a bunch of rather interesting characters whose lives are intertwined in ways you could never imagine. There’s Stuart Little, lead singer for the Three Blind Mice, along with his wife Mandy, former teen model, and son Ted.
Tupper Paulsen lives round the corner with his wife Elizabeth, an artist. Elizabeth isn’t around much, as she’s always off creating another piece of wild art. Tupper invents things. His claim to fame is a macaw that hides recording equipment.
Then there is Nurse Peaches. She is the school nurse at the elementary in Cobble Hill, but she’s a rather reluctant nurse. She’d much rather be banging the drums in a rock band. Her husband is the music teacher at the posh high school, where her son Liam attends on scholarship.
And let’s not forget Roy Clarke, famed author of the Rainbow Collection of books. He’s British but relocated to the States when his wife, Wendy, an expat, was hired as a senior editor for a famous magazine. They came to the states with their daughter Shy, who attends the same school as Liam.
Absolutely nothing really in common, but Ziegesar does an incredible job of weaving all these characters into a cohesive story about live in a small, upper middle class neighborhood in the borough of Brooklyn. Each one has a story and a back story that is somewhat riveting. Their secrets bind them, and their lives intersect in the most common ways. The beauty is how the little things that you can’t imagine turn these very different people into friends. It’s a wonderful story that only took me a bit of time to read. I just couldn’t put it down. Loved this one.
Welcome to Cobble Hill, a charming neighborhood in Brooklyn. Here live a bunch of rather interesting characters whose lives are intertwined in ways you could never imagine. There’s Stuart Little, lead singer for the Three Blind Mice, along with his wife Mandy, former teen model, and son Ted.
Tupper Paulsen lives round the corner with his wife Elizabeth, an artist. Elizabeth isn’t around much, as she’s always off creating another piece of wild art. Tupper invents things. His claim to fame is a macaw that hides recording equipment.
Then there is Nurse Peaches. She is the school nurse at the elementary in Cobble Hill, but she’s a rather reluctant nurse. She’d much rather be banging the drums in a rock band. Her husband is the music teacher at the posh high school, where her son Liam attends on scholarship.
And let’s not forget Roy Clarke, famed author of the Rainbow Collection of books. He’s British but relocated to the States when his wife, Wendy, an expat, was hired as a senior editor for a famous magazine. They came to the states with their daughter Shy, who attends the same school as Liam.
Absolutely nothing really in common, but Ziegesar does an incredible job of weaving all these characters into a cohesive story about live in a small, upper middle class neighborhood in the borough of Brooklyn. Each one has a story and a back story that is somewhat riveting. Their secrets bind them, and their lives intersect in the most common ways. The beauty is how the little things that you can’t imagine turn these very different people into friends. It’s a wonderful story that only took me a bit of time to read. I just couldn’t put it down. Loved this one.
rachelrreads's review against another edition
2.0
This read like Cecily von Ziegesar doing a poor imitation of Emma Straub. Much like Straub's novel Modern Lovers, von Ziegesar focuses Cobble Hill on a number of eccentric and incredibly privileged residents of Brooklyn's Cobble Hill neighborhood. Cobble Hill was rather light on plot and slow paced. The characters were mired with privilege comingled with weird personality traits, which on the whole made them rather unlikable. While the vibe was certainly different from von Ziegesar's famous Gossip Girl series, there were also some striking similarities in the insanely privileged and oftentimes ridiculous behavior of the book's characters. But when it comes to this kind of novel about privileged New Yorkers in which it's more about ambience and character study than it is about narrative, I still contend that other authors - like Emma Straub, for example - do it better.
thejellyfishjournals's review against another edition
emotional
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
landielou's review against another edition
4.0
Pretty good
I liked this book. Kind of escapist, nothing feels too real or stressful. Complex characters-some likable, some not. Happy ending.
I liked this book. Kind of escapist, nothing feels too real or stressful. Complex characters-some likable, some not. Happy ending.
milly709's review against another edition
3.0
This was a weird, light, frivolous read. There was almost zero substance and it felt like nothing really happened. Despite that, or maybe because of that, I quite enjoyed it. I docked a star because there were a couple of things that made me feel uncomfortable. She wrote a very minor character as genderfluid and it felt like they were just stuck in there for diversity's sake and felt like tokenism. Then there was the other very minor character, "Black Ryan." I'm not sure why they little storyline was in the book and felt uncomfortable to me, and also like tokenism.
janalithgow's review against another edition
1.0
This book is bad. I read the first part, skimmed the next part, and finally gave up.
emwolf's review against another edition
4.0
4.5/5. LOVED these quirky, well-developed characters and the way their lives intertwine with one another. A very fun, sweet read.
thebeerknitter's review against another edition
2.0
I received an advance copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.
All opinions are my own.
I am, to put it mildly, a HUGE fan of the Gossip Girl series. I have all of them on my bookshelves as I type this. I was SO excited to read this. What is not to like about the misadventures of spoiled rich people?
I wanted so badly for this to be better. But it started off slowly and dragged a lot. I am a VERY fast reader and this took me almost 5 days to finish. I felt like there were a lot of good plot ideas that never really went anywhere. The whole thing was very disconnected. It was kind of jumbled and just... not good. I didn't like any of the characters, and I really disliked the hell out of Mandy. I also cannot for the life of me understand why anyone would still be with Elizabeth.
2 stars / would not recommend.
All opinions are my own.
I am, to put it mildly, a HUGE fan of the Gossip Girl series. I have all of them on my bookshelves as I type this. I was SO excited to read this. What is not to like about the misadventures of spoiled rich people?
I wanted so badly for this to be better. But it started off slowly and dragged a lot. I am a VERY fast reader and this took me almost 5 days to finish. I felt like there were a lot of good plot ideas that never really went anywhere. The whole thing was very disconnected. It was kind of jumbled and just... not good. I didn't like any of the characters, and I really disliked the hell out of Mandy. I also cannot for the life of me understand why anyone would still be with Elizabeth.
2 stars / would not recommend.