Crossing Brooklyn Ferry

by Jennie Fields

Book Overview

Escaping the narrow, wealthy life she led in Manhattan, Zoe Finney moves her family to Park Slope, Brooklyn, an area of beautiful old brownstones where working-class families have lived for generations.A poor girl who married into money, Zoe finds comfort in the close-knit neighborhood.She hopes the change will reinvigorate her profoundly depressed husband and provide a happy place for her small daughter, Rose, to grow. But her arrival there alters...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0060099437
• ISBN13: 9780060099435
• Release Date: July 2002
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.4" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Wonderful for so many reasons

This book was a read that I accidentally came across because I was looking for Joy Fielding, but I thought I would give this book a try. Boy was I not disappointed that I did. This is a story dealing with the struggles of the heart. Just becuase its wrong may be what makes it so right. A true love story,is it better to stay faithfull or live out your true desires. This book is filled with characters that you connect with instantly and you feel thier pain through each and every description that Jennie Fields gives you. Even though I was late in getting my hands on this book, still a great read. I will definitely look for more of Jennie Fields work

A SURPRISE TO ME

I have to admit that I purchased this book 1) because my best friend from high school lived in Park Slope 2)because it has Brooklyn in the title and that's where I grew up 3) I felt nostalgic just looking at the cover. What a surprise it was to me when I finally got around to reading it. A thoroughly enjoyable love story with terrific descriptions of living in a "neighborhood" and all that that brings with it. It ended up to be one of my top 10 picks of the year.

Great Setting, Great Characters

I found myself immediately intrigued by the relationships of the many characters populating the book's locale, Brooklyn's Park Slope, a neighborhood of nineteenth century brownstones, whose exterior sameness Jennie Fields contrasts with the unique individuals that inhabit them. The dilemma of Zoe, the book's main character, torn between her commitment to her severely depressed husband, and her deepening attraction to her reciprocally smitten next door neighbor, drives the novel forward. And skillfully interwoven subplots, including Zoe's recurring struggle with her own irrational demon, kleptomania, made me feel as though I'd been allowed inside the characters' brownstone homes -- and at times even into their bedrooms -- to witness the hidden turmoil of their lives.

My favorite book in a long time.

This book was so unexpectedly beautiful and touching. A few of my friends had mentioned liking it, but I'd never heard of the author so I wasn't sure if I'd like it. Turns out the writing is poetic and sensitive, and the characters were so real to me, I couldn't put the book down. I cried at the end. What more could you ask for from a novel. I loved the theme of neighborhood and continuity too.

Very well characterized and thoughtfully written.

Jennie Fields does a great job of showing, rather than telling, this story; her artful writing draws in the reader and reveals everything gradually. I genuinely felt for the main character, Zoe, who has had a lifetime of hardship and pain, and who is still managing to cope gracefully. Reading about the budding romance between Zoe and Keevan filled me with anticipation -- it was absolutely delicious! Fields does an excellent job with the setting -- the descriptions are so vivid and accurate that they matched perfectly my memories of having lived in the same neighborhood. The story's subplots, too, were expertly woven. When I finished this book, I found myself thinking it would make a terrific film, if handled sensitively.