I'd be fascinated to get your take on Olga Dies Dreaming, probably the only real literary "hit" book I can remember that is very explicitly about South Brooklyn and Manhattan's inexorable leakage first into downtown BK and now increasingly into Sunset Park et al. Gonzalez's writing about that sense of disorientation is so, so specific to my life (versus "hurr durr gentrification bad, something something Starbucks something something skinny jeans") that I was willing to forgive the book for occasionally being gruesomely didactic. But I think you've probably got exactly the right level of proximity to the subject matter to have an interesting take on it.
All good questions. I had mixed feelings about the novel. Having grown up in Bay Ridge, I know of the dynamics of Sunset fairly well, and I think Gonzalez is indeed good at capturing the anxieties and frustrations around gentrification. For me, I also found the writing didatic and wasn't that much in love with the prose style overall. There were political elements that were a bit implausible if I recall, like the closeted brother shooting *down* a ferry project to Sunset Park in some bid to aid real estate developers (developers love gimmicky ferries). Sometimes I feel these novels, driven by certain corporate or editorial imperatives, reach for very pat denouements, and you run the risk of having it all feel like daytime TV
This is a great site - FdB recommended it and I can see why.
I was wondering why I was looking at a young Brian Wilson on the home page - now it makes sense.
thank you! yes, it's been a Beach Boys year
Try Celeste Ng Our Missing Hearts and St John Mandel’s most recent Sea of Tranquillity
I'd be fascinated to get your take on Olga Dies Dreaming, probably the only real literary "hit" book I can remember that is very explicitly about South Brooklyn and Manhattan's inexorable leakage first into downtown BK and now increasingly into Sunset Park et al. Gonzalez's writing about that sense of disorientation is so, so specific to my life (versus "hurr durr gentrification bad, something something Starbucks something something skinny jeans") that I was willing to forgive the book for occasionally being gruesomely didactic. But I think you've probably got exactly the right level of proximity to the subject matter to have an interesting take on it.
All good questions. I had mixed feelings about the novel. Having grown up in Bay Ridge, I know of the dynamics of Sunset fairly well, and I think Gonzalez is indeed good at capturing the anxieties and frustrations around gentrification. For me, I also found the writing didatic and wasn't that much in love with the prose style overall. There were political elements that were a bit implausible if I recall, like the closeted brother shooting *down* a ferry project to Sunset Park in some bid to aid real estate developers (developers love gimmicky ferries). Sometimes I feel these novels, driven by certain corporate or editorial imperatives, reach for very pat denouements, and you run the risk of having it all feel like daytime TV
Hmmm not really the beach book reading type I see.. ;)
I read Glass Hotel right after Station Eleven, just a few months into the pandemic. A wonderful book.