The New Yorkers

By: Cathleen Schine

Narrated by: Nicole Roberts

Length: 8 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's Summary

Cathleen Schine's brilliantly funny new novel revolves around one city block in Manhattan, a quiet little block near Central Park kept humble by rent control. Living on a street like this in New York with a dog is like living in a tiny village, one that has a rhythm all its own. Dogs bring people together unexpectedly, people who would otherwise never meet. And the dogs act as cupids for the people who live on the block (quiet, struggling, sometimes lonely, eccentric, old and young, male and female) who are, in their ways, romantics, as all New Yorkers secretly tend to be.

Walking her dog, Beatrice, Jody falls under the spell of Everett's bewitching smile. Everett begins to appreciate his post-divorce life only when he falls in love with Howdy, Polly's puppy. Polly lives with her brother, George, and wants him to fall in love. George isn't so much looking for a love life as for life direction, and Howdy leads him right to it. Doris hates the trash on her block, she hates the pee on her SUV's tires, and, above all, she hates dogs. That is, until she gets one of her own.

In The New Yorkers, as in life, canine companions compel their masters to go outside of themselves, to take part in the community they live in, to make friends, and, sometimes, to fall in love.

©2007 Cathleen Schine (P)2007 HighBridge Company

Critic Reviews

"The New Yorkers is so entrancing and droll and downright funny that it made me forget I do not like dogs. How vexatious!" (Patricia Marx, author of Him Her Him Again The End of Him)

The New Yorkers

I found this book to be a wonderfully diverting, amusing listen. It turned out to be quite touching, too, and as a dog lover, I enjoyed the dog angle. But dogs don't hog the spotlight. Instead, the author shines a warm, compassionate light on the foibles of her characters. I particularly enjoyed the reader. I am sorry not to remember who it was.

Nothing Special

Is there anything you would change about this book?

This author (and therefore the characters) knew nothing about dogs. Even though the dogs were supporting characters, there is no reason to neglect the research needed to put out a credible book.

I had a hard time developing any interest in the characters and really did not care what happened to them next.

Would you recommend The New Yorkers to your friends? Why or why not?

No

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

No

A Southern Liberal Grandma who LOVES DOGS

I have to give you some history here. I grew up on a very large Northeast Georgia Farm. We always had family dogs who were inside- outside dogs. I have owned my own farm for 48 years, always with beloved dogs. My last two dogs who wandered onto my my farm were starving but champions.Sir Lancelot a beautiful Collie looking dog in 2011, and Sam, a red tick fox hound in 2015. He must have been in training and got lost with NO CHIP! He had wandered my rural community for a month when he showed up at my farm. Both my precious dogs are chipped with collars with their name on the collar and my phone number. My farm is large enough that they stay on the farm as inside and outside dogs. I’m their Grandma servant! I love dog stories. I could write a book about every dog I’ve had. I especially loved this book because of the beautiful white pit bull, Beatrice. I had a pit bull who showed up at my farm in 2002 with chain marks on his neck. I adopted him and named him BUSTER BROWN. My vet said he was 2 or 3 years old at the time. He died in 2016 of old age. Buster was the best dog ever. Never a sweeter or more loyal dog. This book made me laugh and cry.