Rick Gekoski

In this collection on essays, each featuring a lost, stolen or shredded (destroyed) artwork, Gekoski muses on the impermanence or art, the significance (or otherwise) of culture, and the different meanings works take on over time as they become detached from their original cultural moorings. There's a strong thread of the reappraisal of colonial attitudes and collecting, and an acknowledgement of the tension between repatriation and preservation, as well as the value of life over objects. I was highly amused to discover (what is not taught in art school) that Picasso himself had been suspected of the the 1911 theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre (he had actually pilfered several smaller objects), a theft which was mirrored by the 1986 theft (and return) of his own Weeping Woman from the NGV. A good and thought provoking read.… (más)

Narrated by the curmudgeonly Dr (of literature) James Darke, a man who represents himself as much older than his 60-something years, this is the story of a bereaved husband shutting himself away from the modern world. With only brief, snarky interactions with essential services, he ponders life, hates his neighbors and reminisces.
Warts and all...love and hatred...the difficult relationship with his daughter....the cancer that reduced the lithe and lovely Suzy to a wracked body craving death.
And a struggling, real-life-imperfect effort at resolution...
Darke is an entirely believable character (reminding me somewhat of my father). Literary writing, much to ponder, quite brilliant writing.… (más)

The Grossmans are "an archetypal leftist family." Ben Grossman's socialist politics becomes a liability in 1953 when Senator McCarthy is targeting 'communist sympathizers.' It was time for him to leave his job in the Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. Ben had dreamed of being a writer, but with a wife and children to support, his option is to pass the New York State bar and open a law practice. Long Island, NY is burgeoning with post-war housing in suburban communities, the perfect place to start his practice.

His wife, Addie, however, longs for the excitement of the city. She gave up enough for her marriage and hardly remembers who she was. She never bargained for the sterility and conformity of the suburban desert. Ben and Addie's marriage has been coming apart for a long time, and this decision is one more indication of the disintegration.

Ben and Addie and the kids move in with Ben's folks while they find housing
Ben's dad tells his grandkids stories of the Cossacks driving his family to find shelter in America. To make ends met, he built a business selling knock-off fashion apparel. Facing heart problems, he wants out, but it comes at a price.

A Long Island Story is a study of a family in crisis, caught in a time when people's "insatiable need for someone to blame" and have a craving for "something to fear and a leader to protect them from it." Addie thinks, "The next thing you knew one of them would be in the White House, as good old H. L. Mencken had predicted thirty years ago: a moron."

Ben must decide on what he really values. Addie must decide what she is willing to give up. And their children must learn to walk the narrow line between personal values and societal demands.

Author Rick Gekoski was inspired by his own family story, based on his childhood memories, liberally fictionalized.

I enjoyed the detailed description of the time, but this is not historical fiction as much as the story of a marriage. The novel is character-driven with psychological insight.

I received a free ebook from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for a fair and unbiased review.… (más)