Author: Cecily von Ziegesar
Publisher: Atria Books
Publication Date: November 2020
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Buy The Book: Amazon | BN | Audible
Description: From the number-one New York Times best-selling author of the Gossip Girl series, a deliciously irresistible novel chronicling a year in the life of four families in an upscale Brooklyn neighborhood as they seek purpose, community, and meaningful relationships—until one unforgettable night at a raucous neighborhood party knocks them to their senses.
Welcome to Cobble Hill.
In this eclectic Brooklyn neighborhood, private storms brew amongst four married couples and their children. There’s ex-groupie Mandy, so underwhelmed by motherhood and her current physical state that she fakes a debilitating disease to get the attention of her skateboarding, ex-boyband member husband Stuart. There’s the unconventional new school nurse, Peaches, on whom Stuart has an unrequited crush, and her disappointing husband Greg, who wears noise-cancelling headphones—everywhere.
A few blocks away, Roy, a well-known, newly transplanted British novelist, has lost the thread of his next novel and his marriage to capable, indefatigable Wendy. Around the corner, Tupper, the nervous, introverted industrial designer with a warehouse full of prosthetic limbs struggles to pin down his elusive artist wife Elizabeth. She remains...elusive. Throw in two hormonal teenagers, a 10-year-old pyromaniac, a drug dealer pretending to be a doctor, and a lot of hidden cameras, and you’ve got a combustible mix of egos, desires, and secrets bubbling in brownstone Brooklyn.
Smart, sophisticated, yet surprisingly tender, Cobble Hill is a highly entertaining portrait of contemporary family life and the colorful characters who call Brooklyn home.
My Thoughts: She felt a little left out. Stuart knew all these people, and she knew no one. But that’s what you got for pretending to have MS and hiding in your house with boxes of other people’s food and a whole lot of weed.
With Cobble Hill by new to me author Cecily von Ziegesar, we are introduced to a plethora of people living in the Brooklyn, New York neighborhood of Cobble Hill. Writer types, musician types, artist types and even people who lie about being afflicted with a debilitating disease and stealing their neighbor’s gourmet food deliveries from their front stoops. I want to live in this neighborhood. Prior to authoring this book, Cecily von Ziegesar had already made a name for herself with her Gossip Girl series, which I haven’t tackled. This book, however, is full of snarky wit, humor, sarcasm and the most eclectic group of people I have ever met.
Roy Clarke, his wife Wendy and their daughter, Shy are new to the neighborhood, having moved over from across the pond. Roy is a best-selling author struggling with his next book while his wife struggles to remain relevant in the highly competitive fast-paced world of magazine publishing. Their daughter is struggling with all of her classes, except Latin and her crush on her tattooed Latin teacher.
Stuart Little, (not the mouse), former lead singer of popular boy band, the Blind Mice, his wife Mandy, his high-school sweetheart who now struggles with her weight and self-esteem issues and takes it one step further by lying to her husband about her health and stealing. They have a young son, Ted, who is developing some behavioral concerns.
Peaches Park, the nurse at Ted’s school, an avid drummer who has a major crush on Stuart, her husband Greg, who teaches music and wears noise cancelling headphones everywhere and their teenage son, Liam, who has a crush on Shy Clarke and practically jumps at the chance to tutor her.
Rounding out the group are Tupper, an inventor of sorts and his wife, Elizabeth, an artist who is as mysterious and strange as the works of art she creates using prosthetic limbs.
I enjoyed how all of the lives of these characters intersect in the most unusual but entertaining way. It felt like those movies that have a bunch of people with different storylines, but then at the end, you see how connected they are to one another.
My Final Verdict: Overall, I found this story to be enjoyable with equal parts drama and humor. My takeaway from this story is that we all have the opportunity to meet some pretty amazing people living right in our neighborhood if we just open the front door and step outside. Readers who enjoy women’s fiction and stories about families and relationships will enjoy this book.
Disclaimer: I received a complimentary copy of Cobble Hill from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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