Book Review: ‘Carnegie Hill’ Is A Good Debut Novel From Jonathan Vatner

Penelope ‘Pepper’ Bradford is 33 and has found the man of her dreams Rick Hunter, who works in finance and makes a good living. They decide to move in together and get married (and as typical her parents don’t approve). They decide on the Chelmsford Arms, which is a co-op buidling on the Upper East side in New York. They soon discover that they are the youngest couple in the building (it is like a retirement home here) and that there are no black people living in the building.

Pepper decides to join the board of the building in order to meet the people and see if she can help make changes and maybe connections to find a good job (she has had a string of non fun jobs). The President of the board is an older lady named Patricia Cooper, has a tyrant. Everything has to go her way and no one ever really wants to question her. We also follow the lives of some of her neighbors, who have been married a long time, have health issues and marriage issues.

As Pepper plans her wedding she is suspicious of messages Rick keeps getting from a ‘client’ who he almost slept with. She starts to question everything about her relationship with Rick as she sees everything going on around her. She has big decisions to make about her personal life and if she wants to take on Patricia and run for board president.

This is a delightful first novel from Jonathan Vatner. It has a lot of interesting characters and stories going on all at once (including two of the porters in a secret gay romance). The reader gets the feel for life might actually be like in these uppity co-op buildings that a lot of us will never be able to afford. We follow Pepper’s life and root for her to find what it is she is looking for. An excellent end of summer read.

You can pick up Carnegie Hill in stores on Tuesday, August 20th from St. Martin’s Press.