First published 2006
A group of ambitious friends celebrates their good fortune in 2000 when they land a coveted Manhattan sublet with prime views of the World Trade Center. Their excitement turns to horror as their balcony becomes a viewing platform for the September 11th attacks. In another story, a schoolteacher flees to Rome to escape news of her ex-husband's serious illness, finding an unexpected companion in a rebellious art scout from aristocratic background who fights against his own circumstances and advancing age. A third tale follows a brother consumed by his love for his schizophrenic sister, whose tragic condition has poisoned his faith in family bonds entirely. Eisenberg crafts these stories with surgical precision, revealing how ordinary people navigate a world that has grown increasingly chaotic and unpredictable. Her characters discover that crisis illuminates hidden psychological territories, exposing the gaps between their expectations and harsh reality. The stories move between past and present, showing how distant memories continue to influence present choices in an American landscape marked by both personal and political upheaval.
Genres: literary-fiction, american-fiction, contemporary, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: crisis-illuminates, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Manhattan, Rome, World Trade Center
Period: 2000, September 11th
240 pages · Hardcover · Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Content warnings: mental-illness