Prospect Park West: A Novel

by Amy Sohn

Book Overview

In Amy Sohn's smart, sexy, satirical peek into the bedrooms and hearts of Prospect Park West, the lives of four women come together during one long, hot Brooklyn summer. The lives of these four... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1416577653
• Release Date: May 2010
• Publisher: Gallery Books
• Length: 400 Pages
• Weight: 0.65 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.5" x 1.0" x 5.5"

Customer Reviews

Prospect Park tell it like it is book

Book bought as a gift to a Brooklynite who lived in Park Slope. It was thoroughly enjoyed.

Brilliantly witty

I absolutely loved the book and thought it was the quintessential New York chick lit, definitely in the carefree style of Sex and the City. As a satire of yuppie life in Park Slope, it touched on all the areas of obsession that I know for a fact exist in that neighborhood - race relations, dealing with postpartum depression and isolation, anxieties and fears of new mothers, getting your kid into Garfield Temple preschool, getting into PS 321, landing a 2-3 bedroom coop in the 321 zoned area, envy of others real estate and lifestyle, competing with other parents for toddler milestones, outdoing the neighbors, landing a great work slot at the coop, staying young, beautiful, sexy and vibrant. I can easily see why Sarah Jessica Parker grabbed it up as a possible TV pilot, as the book will seamlessly work itself into a successful TV series with a large NY audience. In short, Amy Sohn has written a brilliantly witty piece that is sure to be a hit!

Great reading...

Last April, 2008, I reviewed Meg Wolitzer's then-new novel, The Ten Year Nap. I gave it two stars, saying it was filled with whiny, wealthy Upper East Side and Upper West Side 30-something married women, all of whom should be stood in line, slapped-upside-the-head in order, and told, "stop whining already and go back to work!". I received a few comments on the review, saying, basically, "thanks for writing what I was thinking!" The characters in Amy Sohn's new novel are sort of the same whiny women, living in Brooklyn's trendy Park Slope area in her book, but somehow Sohn gives her characters - most of whom are as unlikable as the ones in Wolitzer's novel - more nuanced, real-life depictions. I may not have "liked" most of the characters, but I certainly cared enough to keep reading to find out what happens to them. And that, I suppose, is one sign of a well-written story. "Prospect Park West" is not conventional "chick-lit". It's much, much better. I didn't read it thinking about what actor I supposed the author had in mind to play what character when/if the book was turned into a screenplay. That, too, is another sign of a well-written book.

Trashy, intelligent fun

This is definitely Sohn's best book. She takes a sweeping view of the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn, its mothers, race problems and beauty, and has lots of trashy fun along the way. But the book is also smart and insightful. The characters are real and relatable, and Sohn has perfected the one-liner.