2 of 2 members found this review helpful.
“ I found it an enjoyable read. I'm not familiar with Claire Messud's other work; here, she seems to be attempting the tone of a modern day Edith Wharton novel, or, given some of the convoluted sentences, Henry James. Class, education and fabulous real estate figure a lot into the proceedings; judging from some of the comments I've read here and on Amazon, the characters' wealth and privilege inspire some mighty fierce class resentment in a great many readers, who've been crying "shallow’" "superficial" and "unsympathetic" to the four winds. This doesn’t bother me – it is set in Manhattan, after all -- but what I found troublesome was that it's trying very hard to be a New York Novel but doesn't quite ring true. Messud's vision of the city never seems to go beyond that of a tourist's with a good guidebook and, judged by the dialogue, the characters could as easily be living in London as Manhattan.
I also question her use of 9/11. As a New Yorker who experienced that day, I wasn't completely comfortable with its being used as a plot device in a novel of this sort. Just a little too soon....and not completely convincing, either.
All in all, a diverting book by an obviously talented writer that received some puzzlingly over-the-top reviews. ”