Unarmed and unafraid

Nissen's minimalist writing technique and the steady evolution of the book from the point of view of Edwin Anderson, Nebraska lawyer in the big city to his first wife, Roz Rosenzweig, New York Jew, and finally to their daughter Miranda, seems to have confused some reviewers, but it captivated this one. The book is meant to make you supply the gaps between the stories and the points of view with your own thoughts and conjectures. Roz and Edwin meet cute, marry cute, become fish out of water in each's milieu, conceive Miranda and try to raise her in the big city. Edwin's disappointment with his own career choices eventually break up the marriage, around the time Miranda is first starting at a ritzy summer camp, and Miranda becomes a precocious latchkey kid. We follow her first three romances, one with a boy at camp, one with the son of her orthodontist, who breaks Roz's heart a second time, and finally with her English teacher in her senior year. And finally we end with her in college in Brown, her mother happy with a man she met at the library and her friend Darrin living in New York watching over them. I don't see Nissen as having some great literary point here, but rather exploring issues about love and marriage and growing up, both by children and adults, in an indirect and wonderfully written way. The book in may ways gives you what you bring to it, requiring the reader to supply his or her own thoughts and experiences to understand its themes. It is an easy book to read and a difficult book to understand. I enjoyed it immensely.

That could have been the ad that resulted in the pairing of New Yorker Roz Rosenzweig and Edwin Anderson - and the result is this marvel of a book by Thisbe Nissen. From the first page, I was smitten with the couple and the writing, which is as smart, sassy, funny and quick-paced as New York itself. A sample bit, as Roz and Edwin are driving home to meet his family, including mother Esther, very early one morning: Edwin said....."Esther's up and at 'em by five. She'll probably have breakfast made already."... "Oh, good lord" Roz moaned. Edwin:"Probably not best to take the Lord's name in vain around her either, especially at this hour of the day." Roz: "Jesus, I forgot.".... "Jesus, we're in trouble" Edwin said to the sky. One more thing about this delightful novel: if you've ever read and enjoyed the late writer Laurie Colwin's books you'll definitely find similarities here, as this is somewhat a comedy of manners, a thinking person's guide to the intricacies of the human heart, full of style and wit.

I thought this book was a very enjoyable read; the characters were all likeable, but not simple or merely comic. There's a warmth to this book that seems to be missing in a lot of comtemporary fiction. It reminded me a little of Nora Ephron's work. Funny, with a real heart at the center.

Thisbe's prose, as seen in Out of the Girls' Room and Into the Night, and now here in The Good People, is so infectiously high-spirited that the first time through you'll love it for the humor and the fun. The second time through (or the first, if you're able to restrain yourself and not go full speed ahead), you'll appreciate her insights into why people act as they do, her exquisite eye for detail, her seemingly inexhaustible interest in relationships, & c. Thisbe creates a wonderful mix of wit and wistfulness. These characters and their story are haunting.

Hello! Hopefully everyone will read this book sometime in their lives. How could you not love this book?! Miranda and Roz have such a special relationship and you just feel their pain and happiness. When Miranda gets involved in the drama club, the story really begins. I will not go into anymore detail, for you have to read the book to find out what happens. I highly recommend this book.