Fiction
2022 Vintage (first published in 2021)
Finished on December 23, 2022
Rating: 3.5/5 (Good)
Publisher's Blurb:
Thirty years later, something is wrong with Spence. The Great Man can't concentrate; he falls asleep reading The New York Review of Books. With their daughter, Sarah, away at medical school, Pru must struggle on her own to care for him. One day, feeling especially isolated, Pru meets a man, and the possibility of new romance blooms. Meanwhile, Spence's estranged son from his first marriage has come back into their lives. Arlo, a wealthy entrepreneur who invests in biotech, may be his father's last, best hope.
Morningside Heights is a sweeping and compassionate novel about a marriage surviving hardship. It's about the love between women and men, and children and parents; about the things we give up in the face of adversity; and about how to survive when life turns out differently from what we thought we signed up for.
I have read some amazing novels this year, many of which were recommended by fellow bloggers and friends. I learned about Morningside Heights from JoAnn, who said, "The novel is written with striking tenderness and compassion. It is heart-breaking, funny at times, and filled with love." I loved Lisa Genova's brilliant novel Still Alice (the main character of which suffers from early onset Alzheimer's), and when I learned that Morningside Heights deals with the disease as well, my curiosity was piqued.
This is my first exposure to Joshua Henkin's writing and while I enjoyed this story and the characters, I never felt any connection to them, and the book didn't have the same emotional impact and resonance as Still Alice. The narrative is predictable, and obviously sad, but the characters are flat and surprisingly, there isn't much tension or action to move the plot other than just the passage of time.
Good, but not great.
I will give that one a pass. This coming year I hope to catch up on my series not completed. Still have a few to go in the Shetland series by Ann Cleeves for one example.
ReplyDeleteTina, I'm hoping to dive into some of my "chunksters" this year. Maybe with the longer books, I'll have time to blog about our trip to Glacier.
DeleteI'm looking forward to hearing more about Glacier!
DeleteJen, hopefully in the next few weeks I'll have some travel posts to share.
DeleteFlat characters in a story that should be emotional are such a disappointment. I would never have chosen Still Alice on my own but I did read it with my book club. I liked it much more than I expected.
ReplyDeleteJen, Still Alice remains one of my all-time favorite novels. It blew me away. (You can find my review here)
DeleteOkay. yeah I think I might have gotten this from the library once but I didn't really start it. The Still Alice book was very impactful. Ugh I still think of it. that poor woman! We must solve this disease asap.
ReplyDeleteSusan, I know that JoAnn really enjoyed this book, and while I liked it enough to finish reading it, it's not one that I loved.
DeleteThis was a solid 4-star read for me, but I struggled with Still Alice and never read anything else by that author. It's always so interesting to compare perspectives!
ReplyDeleteJoAnn, I had hoped to love it as much as you... it was good, but never tugged at my heartstrings the way Still Alice did.
DeleteOh Still Alice was such a great read. I don't think I used to track favorites of the year way back when I read it but for sure it would have made my list. I do have this one on my Kindle and would like to get around to it and see what I think.
ReplyDeleteIliana, Still Alice is one that I could read again, it was so good. I really wanted to like this one more than I did...
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