A Long Island Story

Trying hard to read it. Disappointed evayse I live on Long Island.

Anyone whos read Rick Gekoskis previous novel Darke will remember a savagely biting tale of a man one loves to hate. Can this possibly be the same Rick Gekoski who has written this inconsequential novel of a marriage falling apart? A novel that promised a story of its time (the McCarthy era hardly touched upon), a story of its place (no sense of the setting whatsoever), a story of a Jewish family in crisis (emotional depth nada).

The writing here is virtually all tell and no show. The dialogue is unconvincing (despite being generously sprinkled with authentic Yiddish), the under-developed characters are all pretty dislikeable and the plot goes nowhere. The authors end-note tells us that this is semi-autobiographical so to cut Mr Gekoski some slack, perhaps he was just too close to the material. But after this lightweight piece, I do hope he returns to the Darke side.

My thanks to Canongate for the review copy courtesy of NetGalley.

After a consistent streak of speculative fiction I was ready for some proper literature and this did the trick. A methodically plotted and meticulously executed story of a struggling marriage set in the summer of 1953 against the backdrop of McCarthys witch trialsthis novel turned out to be a fictionalized autobiographical account of the authors childhood, something the readers dont get to find out until the afterword. So the authors fictionalized counterpart is Jake, a precocious 10 year old, but the novel isnt told from his perspective, its very much an adult world with adult crises, the main one of which seems to be the reconciliation of what dreams and reality, the what might have beens against what is, even city against suburb works here as a metaphor for reluctantly accepting lifes currents. This is a very quiet sort of story, not much action of any sort, purely character driven work, but as such its very well done and even when the characters arent immediately or easily likeable they are compelling in their struggles and battles. Representationally the book does a terrific job of recreating a place in time and presenting fraught family dynamics that are essentially placeless and timeless. Nevertheless, because its such an internal sort of narrative, it makes for quite heavy reading and you should really be in the mood for it, otherwise it may end up seeming as plodding and tedious as the actual Long Island. I found myself enjoying this book, it was psychologically well observed and emotionally intelligent and suited the mood for a slow afternoon read.

As a gal from Long Island herself who left when I was a teenager, I love reading books about my birthplace. This book didn’t let me down. I’ve spent a lot of time in D.C. and can understand why people would need a break. Ambition, the hardness of the area can make you get caught up and forget what is important. Only by slowing down does someone see the realities of what their lives really consist of and what needs to change. A Long Island Story is this book.

As a mother, a wife of a non-politician who works in politics I really identified with Addie without the negativity. Mother’s lose themselves if they aren’t careful we get sucked into the identities of the people we are raising, the person we are married to that we forget to take care of ourselves and sometimes become lost and more selfish that we should be. That selfishness comes out by nitpicking, trying to get people to do things the way you think they out to do things and that negativity can kill a relationship that might have been thriving beforehand.

Rick Gekoski covers a deep and diverse area of marriage and takes you into the underbelly of how people relate to each other. I didn’t read his debut novel Darke however I might be doing so now.

A Long Island Story was well written with its lyrical styling. Some of the sentences were so musical that sometimes painted a picture that you could not help but forget the tragicness of the whole family dynamic.

My only critic would be that sometimes the characters felt as if they weren’t fleshed out enough. Sometimes I wanted more from them and for them. Maybe that is just how the book should be though.

Thanks, NetGalley, Rick Gekoski and Cannongate Books for allowing me to read A Long Island Story in lieu of my honest review.

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