Reviews

Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

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pomoevareads's review

adventurous challenging emotional slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

Beginning with the kidnapping of wealthy Jewish American factory owner Carl Fletcher and the suspenseful first chapter about the investigation and his return home, Long Island Compromise hooks the reader with beautiful writing and keen observations. At the point in the story where Carl returns home is where the book will likely divide many readers. If you enjoy character driven family sagas and you don’t need the characters to be likeable but want to know them in great depth, then you will likely, like me, be a great fan of this book. If the suspense of the first chapter had you hoping that the plot would move quickly and offer any really likeable characters then this may not be the book for you.

While I did find the book a tad long (comes in at 464 pages) and one character’s story a little underwhelming, the story as a whole and the delicious characters kept me interested in reading. Much like this author’s debut novel Fleishman is in Trouble, the writing always tuned me into the location, cultural characteristics, and individual particularities of each character. I would love to also see this one adapted to screen.

Thank you to @netgalley and @randomhouse for an ARC in exchange for my honest opinions. Long Island Compromise publishes July 9, 2024

Content Warnings

thecriticalreader's review

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dark tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

The Run-Down: Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner provides sharp commentary on wealth, generational trauma, and Jewish American identity through its three self-destructive protagonists but struggles to meaningfully tie these themes together in its conclusion.

Review:

Taffy Brodesser-Akner has a lot to say in her novel Long Island Compromise; she fully embraces excess in her breathless, almost stream-of-consciousness prose and the exaggerated dysfunctional nature of her main characters. Her wit and vision propel this cinematic dramedy forward as she follows the lives of three wealthy Jewish-American siblings who seemingly grew up with every privilege imaginable and who have ostensibly achieved commensurate professional success. The eldest, Nathan Fletcher, is a lawyer, the middle child, Beamer Fletcher, cowrote a successful action movie trilogy, and the youngest, Jenny Fletcher, spearheads the efforts of a university worker’s union. Behind their success, however, is a pit of dysfunction and self-loathing so deep that it derails every aspect of their professional and personal lives. Nathan lives in a state of all-encompassing fear and anxiety, which stunts his professional growth and self-satisfaction. Beamer falls headfirst into his sex and drug addictions, which threaten his marriage and shaky career. And Jenny, despite her academic and professional brilliance, feels so much shame at her privileged upbringing that she sabotages her relationships and professional development. The root of their self-destruction lies in their extremely privileged upbringing, which was stunted by their father’s brief but traumatic kidnapping that left their home devoid of love and support.

Brodesser-Akner serves up an insightful but harsh portrait of the Fletcher family to comment on the current state of Jewish American identity. She demonstrates how the survival mechanisms that allowed the Jewish immigrant community to weather the horrors of the Holocaust and violent anti-Semitism—such as insularity and financial success—have morphed into ugly, destructive hindrances in the wake of several generations of prosperity and safety. The close-knit nature of their communities has transformed into xenophobia, racism, and nepotism; the financial success into corporate exploitation, environmental degradation, and personal greed. These trends have their mirror in the Fletcher family, whose members have developed deeply unhealthy coping mechanisms in response to a kidnapping threat that appears both imminent and incredibly remote.

Despite the book’s insight, the narrative never really escapes its ambivalent position between empathy for the characters’ struggles and disgust at their privilege and self-centeredness. It is as if the book itself adopts the self-loathing that characterizes its main characters, and as a result struggles to find clarity amidst its melodrama and excess, a dilemma that becomes more pronounced as it reaches its rather convoluted conclusion.

You might like this book if . . .

· You enjoy literary fiction about (extremely) dysfunctional rich families

· You like extremely flawed main characters

· You are interested in themes of generational wealth, trauma, and Jewish American identity

You might not like this book if . . .

· You dislike a maximalist, discursive writing style

· You like to see positive character growth

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advanced reader copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Content Warnings

me_alley's review against another edition

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challenging emotional funny reflective slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

If there is a quintessential “inherited family trauma” novel, this is it.

They’re Jewish, because of course they are.

The Fletcher family is defined by an event in which the patriarch is kidnapped and held for ransom over five days. That event is a turning point which shaped his wife, his children, and his company. This isn’t a thriller or detective work, it is more of a character study in how we are affected by it. And that meaning all of us, really. As one character says, “if all of us are traumatized, then no one is traumatized.”

This novel is as Jewish as it gets, they have a rich history, have all the right neuroses and culture, and it manifests itself in many,many ways.

The last two pages are, frankly,brilliantly written.

Now, this is not your formulaic romance or mystery, and of course I love those. Who doesn’t? I didn’t love Beamer’s story, and his was the longest, and first. So 25-30% of the way through, was mediocre for me. He is unlikable and pathetic, and until the story blossoms it is a bit sad. Don’t give up on the Fletchers, though.

Themes- inherited family trauma, anxiety and depression, is being morn into money an asset or a liability? Do you ever really get over trauma or does it shape you,

There are also these anecdotal stories woven in (looks at the Finklestein scandal) that as a stand alone story are completely engaging, yet relevant to the overall story.

I’ve read 240 books so far this year, and I can tell you now, this is in my top ten.

Thanks to NetGalley and Random House for the ARC.

lonestarwords's review against another edition

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dark medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Loveable characters? No

4.0

Long Island Compromise has been on my radar ever since it was announced that the author of Fleishman is in Trouble had another book coming out. A huge thank you to @randomhouse for this early copy!
•
Fleishman fans will instantly recognize the vibe - Brodesser-Akner’s tone is unmistakable, and she begins this almost 500 page family drama with one of the best opening lines I’ve ever come across.
•
Set in 1980s Long Island, The Fletcher Family (Carl, his wife Ruth and their 3 children) live a wealthy lifestyle when Carl is randomly kidnapped. He is eventually released but not before intense emotional damage has taken root. The story unfolds as we go back into the lives of his family to assess that damage and how it manifested itself for each of them. The way this unfolded reminded me of The Bee Sting, in that we know there are wounds that run deep but the layers peel back slowly.
•
This is not only a family drama but a story of privilege that exposes how the financial comfort and security of the Fletcher family is left afloat and drifting after their bubble of perfection bursts. Brodesser-Akner explores the random nature of life and fortune in a very off-beat way - this was a page turner, but it will require the specific reader who enjoys a deep analysis of generational trauma. It also illuminates Jewish-American traditions and history.
•
There are some laugh out loud sections - family interactions that are so dialed in I wish I could have quoted them, and there are some very cringe worthy ones as well. One of the sons ends up addicted to drugs and sex and it’s just uncomfortable reading - we are spared nothing. My only real issue was at the end of this long novel, the author chose to drive her point home by hitting us a bit over the head with her thesis - that money is the root of all evil. I prefer it when a writer trusts me to intuit what she’s trying to get across.
•
The ARC comes with an author’s note where she shares the fact that this is based on a true story from a LI kidnapping, which is fascinating because it seemed so far-fetched as I was reading.
•
I do think this is going to be a big summer book (out July 9) and a GREAT beach read.

checkplease's review against another edition

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challenging dark funny medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

I was intrigued by Brodesser-Akner’s debut novel, ‘Fleishman is in Trouble,’ and while I really enjoyed aspects of it, the book never fully clicked for me. I was intrigued to check out her second novel to see if I could more readily embrace it.

Much of what grabbed me about ‘Fleishman’ is operative here as well. The writing is sharp and often funny. In its set-up of a family coming back together in the context of a shiva, it reminded me of Jonathan Tropper’s ‘This is Where I Leave You.’ However, this novel is focused on what the kidnapping of the father in childhood did to his three children. I was drawn in by the intent to look at intergenerational trauma, but I think the concept worked against the narrative, as we end up with three stock trust-fund-sibling characters: the milquetoast older brother Nathan, who is unable to assert himself to any degree; the substance-abusing middle sibling Beamer, who keeps trying to re-enact his father’s kidnapping and numbing himself into oblivion; and the brilliant younger sister Jenny, whose life is organized by a reaction formation of noncommital living and labor organizing.

Your mileage with this book will vary based on how you respond to each of these characters. I found the section focused on Nathan to be interminable as it involves watching him make a compounding series of bad decisions out of a paralyzing fear of speaking up for himself. Whereas Nathan’s life is hampered by constriction, Beamer’s is marked by taking risk after nihilistic risk. This probably makes him the most engaging character, but his story is engaging in a gawking-at-a-car-crash way. The opacity of the father until the very end is both the point of the thing and also irksome.

Brodesser-Akner is a maximalist, and her writing has an unrestrained quality that results in some inventive playfulness (especially in the way she writes dialogue) and laugh-out-loud turns of phrase. However, the prose is also dense, and the book is at least 100 pages too long, with a lot of “we get it already” overwriting and a few head-scratching detours. (There is one sojourn into the familial legacy of a friend of Jenny’s that stuck out as particularly unnecessary.) There is once again a question of the identity of the narrator, which seems like the kind of device you should use sparingly.

As with ‘Fleishman,’ I appreciated the cultural specificity and sense of place. Jewishness is a big feature of this book, and I imagine that will resonate strongly for readers in this year of war and protest. The concerns of the ultra-wealthy that dominated her debut novel are still present, but with a wider lens and greater scrutiny of the damages wrought, both to children who grow up without want and to those who are in their orbit.

But also, as with ‘Fleishman,’ I can see what she was going for without it entirely coming together for me. I suspect others will connect deeply with this book, as is common for sagas of the Great American Family. But after 450 pages, I closed the cover still waiting for something more.