Alternate Side

A Novel

By: Anna Quindlen

Narrated by: Ellen Archer

The tensions in a tight-knit neighborhood - and a seemingly happy marriage - are exposed by an unexpected act of violence in this provocative new novel from the number-one New York Times best-selling author of Miller’s Valley and Still Life with Bread Crumbs.

Some days Nora Nolan thinks that she and her husband, Charlie, lead a charmed life - except when there’s a crisis at work, a leak in the roof at home, or a problem with their twins at college. And why not? New York City was once Nora’s dream destination, and her clannish dead-end block has become a safe harbor, a tranquil village amid the urban craziness. Then one morning she returns from her run to discover that a terrible incident has shaken the neighborhood, and the fault lines begin to open: on the block, at her job, especially in her marriage. With humor, understanding, an acute eye, and a warm heart, Anna Quindlen explores what it means to be a mother, a wife, and a woman at a moment of reckoning.

©2018 Anna Quindlen (P)2018 Brilliance Publishing, Inc., all rights reserved.

Best narrator!

What a voice talent! I was able to easily keep track of all of the colorful characters because of the distinctive voices they were given.

Besides not knowing what year 9-11 happened, and a very slow beginning, this was an poignant look at evolution of “normal” lives

Maybe I’m sensitive, and I’m definitely detail-oriented—that a proofreader or anyone didn’t fix the part where she refers to 9-11 then 2002 appalled me...but as for a review:
I’d purchased this a while before listening, didn’t remember the premise, and didn’t look it up. Without knowing at all what the book was leading to, and the narrator going on and on about completely mundane realities, I wanted to just delete it. There is way too much unnecessary detail in the first few chapters; after finishing the book, I still feel that way. My only other issue is that the daughter and son are so unrealistically stereotypical- “boys act like this, and girls act like that,” I wanted to show my own kids to make them laugh. I’ve spent time around my own and many other kids; NONE are this stereotypical, and using that style seems like a cheap shortcut on developing a character to me).
As the book finally began to get into the event that the rest of the book evolves from, the details, and the characters, were more focused and relevant. The author skillfully made the event as shocking as it should be, but presented it, realistically, as we’d see it in our own paper, to a city and society that has developed powerful shock absorbers. The event didn’t overtake the novel, and didn’t create the turns that followed; characters just seemed to unknowingly get it into their systems and allow it to force to light what had been going on all along. No shocking murder, no deep, dark secrets -just normal people who’s lives were provided a shake-up that, in many cases, led them to realize they needed change. Some of them, including the main character, might not have followed through with those changes, even if staying the same never proved fulfilling or “right,” if the event hadn’t forced them to think differently.
So-get through the first chapters-you don’t need 80% of that info to understand the characters. Forgive the lack of editing that I found somewhat offensive and ignorant (and if anyone hears it differently—that she isn’t referring to cancellation of a party in 2002 due to 9-11—message me and set me straight!). It’s a good listen-just a well-written, honest insight into a person’s life that might make you take a closer look at your own reality.

Quindlen’s best yet?!

Anna Quindlen knows relationships and human behavior and weaves these observations into compelling plot lines throughout a stunning work reflecting life and relevant issues in modern day New York City. Highly recommend for those trudging through mid life or for people of any age looking for a very relatable, wickedly smart but easy to read work of fiction.

If you’ve ever lived in NYC...

I loved this, but maybe in part because the plot line mirrors my experience. It brought back my block on the Upper West Side, the births of my kids, the aging of my marriage etc. As always the author draws many vivid images, and captures real relationships. The narrator is great too!

Really wise and well written and brilliantly narrated

This is a complex very contemporary story of New York City, a small street of upper middle class residents and their families as only Anna Quindlen can tell it. In other hands, less sure the story would fall apart. In other voices it might not be so compelling. But you have both here. Don’t miss it