Love, Work, Children

by Cheryl Mendelson

Book Overview

Morningside Heights, a Manhattan neighborhood sandwiched between Columbia University and the Hudson River, is home to an eclectic mix of academics, struggling artists, and rooted families. In this distinctive world, Peter Frankel, a successful partner in a prestigious law firm, lives a seemingly contented life with his talented wife and his two Ivy League--educated children.

Yet in middle age Peter finds himself discontent. His wife's narrowness...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0375760695
• ISBN13: 9780375760693
• Release Date: July 2006
• Publisher: Random House Trade
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.3" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

A Rare Novel

Cheryl Mendelson is a rare thing: an erudite author who neither underestimates the intelligence of her readers nor uses her knowledge simply to show off. While her love of music, books and ideas are clear throughout the book, they serve only to enhance the story, which is populated by interesting and relatable characters. I recognized some of the people in her book, recognized myself in several of them, and truly cared about them and their struggles. This novel was not only a pleasure to read, but gave me new insights--about New York, New Yorkers, and my own life in this city. If that sounds unusual and rare, it's because it is.

An absorbing, leisurely delight

I am writing this before I am finshed reading the book--but close. I very much enjoyed "Morningside Heights", and this book is its equal. I love the fact that although these are modern day stories, the author takes an in depth, leisuely approach to exploring character development, similar to that of novels written in the nineteenth century. Some of the reviews here have criticized the author because the readers found the characters to be somehow morally despicable, with no redeeming qualities. I did not find that to be the case at all. These are complex individuals, with strengths and weaknesses. I could recognize myself and others in them. If at times there is a touch of the old-fashioned about this novel (and only a touch), it felt to me refreshing and reassuring. I truly enjoyed both of this author's novels. I understand that a trilogy is planned.....is it possible that the author would consider a quartet--or even a quintet??

Great follow-up to Morningside Heights!

If you loved Morningside Heights, you will also love this book. I just read it on a summer vacation and found it delightful and engaging. I'm glad that Cheryl Mendelsohn is still writing and I am eager to read her next book.

"Chanelling" Laurie Colwin?

I'm enjoying this sequel to Morningside Heights. I've always loved an author's return to previous characters and "updating" them. Rita Mae Brown does this with her writing, often bringing back well-loved characters. The review just above mine compares Mendelson's writing to George Eliot and Jane Austin. I'd like to add that, perhaps, some of the writing of the late, great Laurie Colwin has influenced Mendelson's view of polite New York society. I am looking forward to her third, and final, novel in the trilogy.

Another splendid novel of manners!

Cheryl Mendelson casts her net a bit wider in this second novel, still focusing on one family in the Morningside Heights area of New York City but branching out to include their friends and coworkers. Though it doesn't have the warmth of Anne Braithwaite's (from MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS) wonderful perspective, it's a fascinating novel and a bit of a reach, I suspect, that bodes well for future books. The heart of the novel is the narrative voice, with its strong sense of moral clarity and fair play. Everyone in the world is compared to Jane Austen these days, but Cheryl Mendelson really HAS inherited Austen's sense of the importance of being honest and reasonable in all one's doings, from behavior at work to the choice of a spouse. And, thank goodness, Mendelson also has something of Austen's wit. The chapter describing the meeting of the Devereaux Foundation is hysterical; Hilda Hughes is a wilder and less exasperating take on the lifelong analysand than Merrit was in MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS; and the moments involving children are always, always spot-on. I think it may have been difficult for Mendelson to write from the perspective of a male character who had chosen poorly in both marriage and career. Because these issues are so important to her novels, Peter Frankl's failure at both leaves the reader in a moral quandary: we want him to leave his wife and quit his job, yet know that neither of these is really feasible. Of course, this is just like real life, where complications attach to any decision, but Mendelson is not sure what to do with Peter as he searches for a solution. The one real criticism I have of the novel is that several of the characters are simply unrepetently nasty, if not evil, every single time we encounter them on the page. Of course we all know these ghastly people in life, but to describe them with no redeeming qualities whatsoever is too jarring in this novel that presents fine ethical questions and shades of behavior. The weakest part of MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS was the evil great-nephew (whose name I forget) of the old lady, and in LOVE, WORK, CHILDREN he has been cloned several times over! We just don't need these characters to be quite so black-and-white; we can see them as petty or destructive or even malignant without such overkill. That said, LOVE, WORK, CHILDREN is a wonderful novel and a very promising follow-up to MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS. Cheryl Mendelson is a superb writer who deserves a far wider and more vocal readership.