The Good People of New York by Thisbe NissenKnopf, 2001

Thisbe Nissen writes well: there are moments in this book that are perfect: descriptions, sentences, thoughts. Her characters are quirky and smart, especially Miranda, but their stories are less compelling than they could be. Something in the tone of this book struck me as off, or off-putting: it’s narrated in a third-person omniscient style, and maybe that narrative voice is a little too good at stating the obvious, which turns this book into a novel about Life and Love and Lessons to be Learned, and as a result I kind of want to roll my eyes. Maybe it’s just my personal set of biases: I’d rather read a New York story that’s stranger, more fantastical, something like David Schickler’s Kissing in Manhattan, or a novel that’s more experimental, less straightforward.