FICTION

Why We Came to the City

by Kristopher Jansma
Viking. Feb. 2016. 432p. ISBN 9780525426608. $26.95; ebk. ISBN 9780698152137. F
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In this sprawling novel by the author of The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards, five twentysomethings come of age in contemporary New York City, realizing, in one character's own words, that they "are not special." But they are special, young people of privilege and Cornell University grads with great jobs: William's in finance; Sara's an editor; her fiancé, George, is an astrophysicist; Irene is an artist; and Jacob is a poet. OK, Jacob is a psychiatric aide since there's no money in poetry, and Irene is a gofer in a gallery, but at least she has benefits. And they all pull together for her when she gets cancer.
VERDICT This hefty novel, with its multiple characters and shifting relationships, is the kind that book clubs will love, although character development isn't really its long suit; too often, it relies on cumbersome lists of individuals' quirky behaviors. Perhaps the most refined character is the city itself, evoked throughout in descriptions of side streets, bars, clubs, hotels, and galleries and in three exceptional and beautifully compact chapters, written in Joshua Ferris-esque, first-person plural prose, that get at the heart of what it's like to be young and alive in the big city. [See Prepub Alert, 8/31/15.]
Reviewed by Reba Leiding, emeritus, James Madison Univ. Lib., Harrisonburg, VA , Feb 01, 2016
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