The New Yorkers: A Novel - Softcover

Schine, Cathleen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312427832 ISBN 13: 9780312427832

Publisher: Picador, 2008

Synopsis

A New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice

Inspired by her account in The New Yorker of adopting a profoundly troubled dog named Buster, acclaimed author Cathleen Schine's The New Yorkers is a brilliantly funny story of love, longing, and overcoming the shyness that leashes us. On a quiet little block near Central Park, five lonely New Yorkers find one another, compelled to meet by their canine companions. Over the course of four seasons, they emerge from their apartments, in snow, rain, or glorious sunshine to make friends and sometimes fall in love. A love letter to a city full of surprises, The New Yorkers is an enchanting comedy of manners (with dogs!) from one of our most treasured writers.

About this title

Review

Amazon Best Books of the Month, April 2007: You don't have to be a New Yorker (or a dog owner) to appreciate Cathleen Schine's snapshot of city living in The New Yorkers. Her omniscient narrator--a delightful amalgam of Nora Ephron and Truman Capote--tells the tale of friends and neighbors on a single Manhattan block that is at once charming and arresting in its attention to the rhythms, frustrations, and welcome surprises that come with the urban territory. This novel is full of humor and romance, and Schine's bright, insightful prose blooms on every page. --Anne Bartholomew

From the Back Cover

Past the hustle and bustle of midtown, sheltered from the squawks of taxis and tourists, lies a quiet little block near Central Park kept humble by rent control. Cathleen Schine's brilliantly funny new novel shows us how living on a street like this in New York with a dog is like living in a tiny village, one that has a rhythm all its own.

Walking her dog, Beatrice, Jody falls under the spell of Everett's bewitching smile. Everett begins to appreciate his post-divorce life only when he falls in love with Howdy, Polly's puppy. Polly lives with her brother, George, who isn't looking so much for a love life as for life direction, and Howdy leads him right to it. Doris hates the trash on her block, she hates the pee on her SUV's large tires, and, above all, she hates dogs. That is, until she gets one of her own.

In The New Yorkers, as in life, canine companions compel their masters to go outside of themselves, to take part in the community they live in, to make friends, and sometimes, to fall in love.

About this edition

• Publisher: Picador
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0312427832
• ISBN 13: 9780312427832
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 320