I have developed a system for blogging about non-fiction. Now here is my first fiction read, and I’m not exactly sure what to do. Spoilers matter more with fiction – with nonfiction, some of you WANT me to spoil the book for you! So, here is what I have decided to do – I’ll post about what the book made me think about while I was reading it, without talking too much about the plot. These posts might be interesting to some of you who have not read, or are not reading the book because you know me (I’m talking to you, Mama!), but these posts will probably have greater appeal to those who are following along, or those who have already read the book. We’ll see how it goes, or if I need to tweak this system as we go.

So, I read Morningside Heights last weekend – once I got to the “point of no return” (the part in a book when , I ended up reading for about four hours without stopping. I like it when that happens, but I like it even more when I read a book more slowly when I near the end because I am sad that the joy of reading that particular story (for the first time) is almost over.

Here is a brief summary, not much more than you would find on the back of the book: The book centers around the Braithwaite family – a non-famous opera singer and a piano teacher/stay-at-home mother and their children. In the late 1990s, their Manhattan neighborhood begins to change, as wealthy business people price out the intellectual/artist types as well as the elderly long-term residents. They face the unthinkable necessity of moving to the suburbs, a decision that devastates everyone they know. Aside from their personal crisis, they and the reader share in their friends’ lives, giving us a glimpse into academic dinner parties, psychotherapy sessions, and even some courtroom action. Oh, and romance. Of course.

The other day I was thinking about that Billy Joel song, Just the Way You Are:

I don’t want clever conversation
I never want to work that hard
I just want someone that I can talk to
I want you just the way you are.

I mentioned to my husband that these lyrics are not exactly complementary to the woman they are aimed at. He thought about it for a minute, then disagreed: “I think it’s a reference to pretentious cocktail parties where people try to sound more witty and intelligent than everyone else instead of just conversing.” Ha! Now I know what he was talking about! I found myself being really annoyed with some of the characters in this book, particularly since we are obviously supposed to be cheering for the artists and the academics. Pretentious indeed!

One thing that bugs me about this book is that the Latino characters are all depicted with some of the worst stereotypes possible – they are all workers at the apartment building, hired because they are related to or friends with the one Latino guy who was hired first (who, mercifully, is well-educated), they are sloppy, lazy, and out for an easy dollar, helping those who tip well and ignoring the poor elderly people who need the most help. Of course, many (but not all) of the non-Latino characters are also stereotypically objectionable, so it’s possible that other readers will overlook this defect.

A very sad (and upsetting) theme in this book is that, in today’s capitalist society, people get old alone, with no family to help them and make their “golden years” golden. I know a couple who are elderly, with five grown children and over thirty grand- and great-grandchildren. They have made plans to put themselves into an “assisted living” facility if the time comes that they cannot care for themselves because, even though they have so much family, all are scattered across the country, and (at least in the minds of the couple) NOT ONE OF THEM is able/willing to take them in and care for/assist should the time come that they need care/assistance. Because people are living longer, many have to give up their homes at some point, even if it’s the last thing they want to do – it’s even worse without extended family to help (and I realize that sometimes people require help that can only be acquired in a facility – even sadder). I have to stop talking about it because it breaks my heart.

Another theme is neighborhood gentrification and how horrible it is. I am against this as well. It is an outrage that people who have lived in a particular place (sometimes for multiple generations), then things get “better” in the neighborhood and the original inhabitants are priced/pushed out. It’s despicable when elderly people (in the case of the book), who are likely to be on a fixed income, are in danger of losing their homes (whether they rent or own) because of gentrification. However, it’s insulting to place the elderly and the working poor in the same category as artistic people who can spend thousands of dollars on a violin for a toddler and consider expensive, imported food to be an entitlement. I love the arts too, as well as academia, but give me a break!

Also, who on earth has time for psychotherapy? Four days a week?!

Since I read the book fast, this concludes my commentary. I will follow this post with a review in a day or so. (I had fun reading the book, in case you can’t tell from my comments.)