The Heights

This book reminded me a lot of Candace Bushnell's One Fifth Avenue. I had a hard time putting it down. The story, told mainly from the perspective of a husband and wife, wasn't particularly novel, but the beauty of the writing and the thoughtfulness of the characterizations more than made up for whatever was lacking in the plot. I'd recommend this book to any of my girlfriends.

This book is funny, compelling, full of real and interesting characters, the dialogue witty, the observations spot-on. A true comedy of manners. It was a pleasure from page one and brilliantly constructed. I especially loved it in contrast to Prospect Park, another recent novel about Brooklyn concerning itself with the same types of people. The difference between that book and Peter Hedges' The Heights is NIGHT AND DAY, I tell you. The Heights is a serious novel of ideas, top-notch through and through, which somehow feels like a guilty pleasure it's so readable. From about page twenty I was regretting that it had to end-- it's one of those. I highly recommend it for those who love literature and also love a compelling page-turner about marriage, status and fancy neighborhoods.

"Nine years and two boys later, I still had the ring. And what did Kate and I have? A great, ordinary love we both fought for and guarded. Somehow in these bumpy, broken early years of the twenty-first century, we had navigated our way to something good and simple." -- From The Heights When I realized that the author of The Heights was Peter Hedges of What's Eating Gilbert Grape? and Pieces of April fame, I just had to snag this book. Pieces of April (starring Katie Holmes) is one of my favorite movies--a simple, moving peek through the window at a family navigating dashed expectations and exasperating attempts at familial connection. In The Heights, history teacher Tim Welch (who slid into his position thanks to a last-minute death) is admired by his students. And he gets a rush out of bringing history to life. His wife, Kate, is brilliant and well-educated in her own right, and has decided to raise their two small boys at home. That is, until a former associate, Bruno Schwine, invites her to work with him for an obscene amount money while they give away a gazillionire's money to various charities. What a great solution to their money troubles! (Tim's quip to Verizon over a past-due bill didn't go over as well as he'd like; in short, the Welch's are over-their-heads in debt). Of course, when beautiful, mysterious, super-wealthy Anna Brody buys up several apartments, reverting it back to a huge house in Brooklyn's Heights--not to mention takes a special interest in Kate and then Tim--the Welch's already tenuous "good thing" begins a rapid fray... Well, I've finished The Heights and let me tell you, it's a SUPERB book. As a writer, I'm super-conscious of when a writer is "writing" (and I tend to dissect it for my own benefit) but with The Heights, I honestly wasn't aware I was reading a "book". It went down so smooth, like a milkshake--which is a testament to Peter Hedges amazing writing prowess. But make no mistake: smooth and breezy doesn't mean "lightweight"; it takes a genius, in my opinion, to write so well that the reader isn't aware of the author. In The Heights, Hedges addresses universal themes (e.g. idealizing others, especially "successful" or "rich" ones, by thinking the grass is greener on their side), but what he gets oh-so-delectably right is the details. I love how each chapter is from a different point of view; for example, one minor character calls Kate Welch and one short chapter is her side of the "conversation". So believable! So palatable a technique! (In fact, it's making me re-think the style of my own novel that I'm working on.) Keeping the reader slightly off-kilter, hinting at one thing when something altogether different is going on (and just as bad)--The Heights has the finely-strung tension of a literary mystery. But we end up discovering throughout the book and at its end is that the greatest mystery of all is truly ourselves. -- Janet Boyer, author of Back in Time Tarot

I would put this novel under the "Good Escapist Reading" category: a simple, frequently funny, almost always sweet and tender story told with heart. Tim and Kate married when he was 23, and she 25. Despite having so many attractive and bound-to-be-financially-successful suitors, Kate - in Tim's mind -- chose to "marry down" when she chose to marry him. Kate, for her part, found Tim's kindness, soul-baring vulnerability, and honesty touching. Nine years into their marriage and raising two small boys with Tim's modest private-school history teacher's salary in a tony Brooklyn Heights neighborhood, Tim and Kate find themselves constantly under financial pressure, and for Kate at least, longing for an alternate future, one where they could afford the finer things in life. In come three people into the picture: Anna Brody, wife of the newest richest guy in town; Bruno Schwine, Kate's former gay boss who has a new gig running a charitable foundation for a highly successful former classmate, and Jeff Slade, one of Kate's former suitors who is now a rich and famous actor. Through their encounters with these people, Tim and Kate got a taste of the potential good that fame and fortune can bring to bear on people's lives. But alas, not all of their experiences would turn out to be positive. How would their lives change as a result? Would their marriage survive? The story is told mostly from Tim's and Kate's first person accounts of events and their reactions to them as those events unfold, with the narration occasionally switching also to first person accounts of other characters, most notably Bea Myerly, whose intense student crush on Tim rivals that of Rachel's on Mr. Schuster in Glee's Endless Love episode (smile). Mr. Hedges used this narration technique to good effects, especially when dramatizing a character's inner conflicts, when the words spoken by a character belie the real thoughts or emotions rushing through the character's mind or heart. The story contains many funny or amusing moments, such as: Kate's shrieking with pride over the phone to inform Tim of little Sam's singular achievement of the day walking over to a potty and pooping unassisted, Tim's method of determining whether sex would follow depending on how a person hugs you, and Tim's imaginary conversation with Neil Armstrong to help him decide whether to have sex with Anna or not. And as for what Bea Myerly's role is, well, all I can tell you is this: Almost always, whenever she appears on a scene, something dramatic or a plot twist is about to happen. (smile) The novel was a quick read, and I did smile or chuckle many times while reading it. The ending was satisfying to me, but overall, I didn't really find the novel especially stirring, moving, or enlightening; thus, the four- rather than five-star rating.