The best-selling author of The Love Letter enchants readers again with a sweet and funny comedy of manners—complete with dogs.
As anyone who has walked a dog in any city knows,dogs bring people together who would otherwise never meet. On one humble, rent-controlled block of Upper East Side Manhattan, neighbors become neighborly because of their dogs, and the canines are cupids for
their sometimes lonely, often eccentric, and hopelessly romantic humans.
Like Polly and Everett, who briefly distract each other from heartache—until Everett realizes he is more in love with Howdy, Polly's dog, than with Polly. And Jody, who ponders a marriage proposal from Simon while walking her dog, Beatrice. Simon doesn't have a dog, but he courts Jody by waiting along Beatrice's walking path and dining at the corner Korean restaurant that allows dogs. George (Polly's sister) is looking for life direction, not love, and Howdy (Polly's dog)leads him right to it. Doris hates dogs—until she gets one of her own.
In The New Yorkers, as in life, dogs compel their masters to take part in the community, make friends,fall in love—and learn more about themselves and human nature.
There's been no shortage of novels about the New York singles scene, but this charming novel approaches the topic from the unusual angle of neighborhood dogs--and the people who love them. The story focuses on an ensemble of characters who all live on an Upper West Side street and eventually become connected. Jody meets Everett while dog-walking. When brother and sister Polly and George move into Everett's building, they find the former tenant's puppy still living there. (The former tenant hanged himself.) Nicole Roberts's narration is suitably upbeat. She adds a light, fast-paced tone that makes this the perfect book for summer listening. R.R. (c) AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine
Schine writes with the speed and punch of a seasonedcomic, conveying character in a single line of dialogue.
CATHLEEN SCHINE is the author of six previous novels including The Love Letter, an international bestseller made into a movie starring Kate Capshaw. Schine writes for The New Yorker, The NewYork Review of Books, The New York Times Magazine, and The NewYork Times Book Review.
