Local Knowledge

I thoroughly enjoyed Local Knowledge. Liza Gyllenhaal is a skilled storyteller who is acutely empathetic to the emotional complexities of family, friendship, and ambition. On the surface, this is an engaging story about the longings, secrets, and lies of small town locals. It's about a part of the American landscape in transition and the effects on the long-standing community. And underneath it's a story that reveals, with sharp precision, the inner conflicts of our convictions, why we allow ourselves to be manipulated, and how our need to succeed can sometimes lead us to cut corners though our friends may suffer the consequences. I highly recommend this book and look forward to Gyllenhaal's next one!

I was thoroughly involved in the Aldens' lives and felt I knew Maddie, the narrator of the story, because she represents so many women - wives and mothers - striving for their own identity while immersed in their family's. Her developing relationship with her first big real estate client, a sophisticated, successful gal from Manhattan, is so real, and reflects the insecurities which make us all seek out those friendships at some point in our lives. The plot emerges seemingly effortlessly, the narrative flows smoothly, the descriptive passages are vivid and beautiful. The small-town politics and personalities expose the world of rural communities and second-home residents, something I as a Florida "snowbird" can relate to. I was especially impressed with the maternal insights; I would've sworn Gyllenhaal was the mother of three girls, dealing with her teenage daughter's developing maturity and independence. Yet, when I read the conversation with her at the end of the book, I discovered that the author has no children. The story is convincing, the characters believable, the writing wonderful. The author, and her novel, are great finds.

I couldn't sleep for two nights reading this elegant, complex and compact novel. The characters are beautifully drawn, and each one feels like someone you know. Every aspect of the novel is haunting, familliar, deep. It describes our area lovingly, intricately and intelligently. I cannot wait for the next novel by this author--and I am not a relative, just an ardent admirer. This is everything a novel should be: personal, intellectual, thoughtful, and very moving. Thank you Liza Gyllenhaal for an amazing read: I've passed this on to three friends already.

This is indeed the perfect beach read -- in Florida or anywhere else! OK, so Liza is indeed my relative, but I couldn't put Local Knowledge down, and I'm picky with a short attention span. This would be a great book club pick with all the elements to spark a good discussion about loyalty, dealing with your past and coming to terms with best friends.

If Norah Jones recorded a CD of Bruce Springsteen songs, it would come out something like the beautiful music of Liza Gyllenhaal's Local Knowledge. A contemporary bildungsroman set in not-so-rural-anymore Red River in upstate New York, Gyllenhaal has Maddie Alden tell her own story and that of the two men in and around her life - her husband, Paul and his best friend Luke Barnett. The driving force of the narrative is the encounter Maddie has with Anne Zeller, her first big score as a real-estate agent. Emboldened by her success and flattered by the attention from this effortlessly elegant New York City "businesswoman on sabbatical" Maddie lives through a Berkshires summer like no other she has had. The events compel Maddie to re-examine in detail what led up to this life-changing season and how it would end. Gyllenhaal's method is to have Maddie take turns with two different stories - one in more or less present time and the other starting with Maddie's formative years and moving forward - until the two strands make contact in real time. The descriptions are rich in detail and Maddie's is an admirably honest voice. It's through her that we hear about what may lie just under the surface of all those charming small towns that prosperous urbanites have claimed as their second homes; of the lives made desperate by the collapse of local agriculture; of the the inevitable sale of generations-owned lands to people who couldn't tell an elm from a maple. Maddie is both particpant in and witness to the transformation of her home town. Gyllenhaal writes with limpid precision. Maddie doesn't miss much and she also knows she's not perfect. This makes for a very effective narrator. There are beautiful passages all over this book. It takes a writer of Gyllenhaal's abilities to keep it real and yet manage to find the precious poetry hiding under the rubble.