Ellington Boulevard: A Novel

• Publisher:   Spiegel & Grau
• Number Of Pages:   352
• Publication Date:   2009-05-26
• ISBN-10 / ASIN:   0385522061
• ISBN-13 / EAN:   9780385522069

Clarinetist Ike Morphy, his dog Herbie Mann, and a pair of pigeons who roost on his air conditioner are about to be evicted from their apartment on West 106th Street, also known as Duke Ellington Boulevard. Ike has never had a lease, just a handshake agreement with the recently deceased landlord; and now that landlord’s son stands to make a killing on apartment 2B. Centering on the fate of one apartment before, during, and after the height of New York’s real estate boom, Ellington Boulevard’s characters include the Tenant and His Dog; the Landlord, a recovered alcoholic and womanizer who has newly found Judaism and a wife half his age; the Broker, an out-of-work actor whose new profession finally allows him to afford theater tickets he has no time to use; the Broker’s New Boyfriend, a second-rate actor who composes a musical about the sale of 2B (“Is there no one I can lien on if this boom goes bust?”). There’s also the Buyer, a trusting young editor at a dying cultural magazine, who falls in love with the Tenant; the Buyer’s Husband, a disaffected graduate student taken to writing bawdy faux-academic papers; and the Buyer’s Husband’s Girlfriend, a children’s book writer with a tragic past. With the humor and poignancy that made Langer’s first novel, Crossing California, a favorite book of the year among critics across the country, Ellington Boulevard is an ode to New York. It’s the story of why people come to a city they can’t afford, take jobs they despise, sacrifice love, find love, and eventually become the people they never thought they’d be—for better and for worse.

I originally got into Adam Langer from his novel "Crossing California" which I fell in love with. I loved Langer's writing style and his realistic and humorous descriptions. However, I was a bit disappointed with 'Ellington Boulevard." I was super excited to read it but I quit about 3/4 of the way through, which is such a shame because I'm so close to finishing, which I will do someday soon but what is preventing me is the fact that he has a tendency to include many characters, almost too much in fact, which is a characteristic of postmodern literature but these characters are rather mundane and fail to draw the reader in to connect with them. Furthermore, towards the end, I felt like Langer was in a race against the clock to finish it. Towards the beginning he did a fine job developing character and introducing plot but towards the end he races through various events that jump from one to the next one, which would be fine if it was the consistency of the novel. I understand that this jumping from one event to the next is a means of conveying the climax, it is done so in a rushed manner. If you live in New York City and can relate to the geography that Langer offers then maybe you will find the novel just a touch more endearing, but in my opinion he has better work to offer.

When "Crossing California" was published, I thought that Langer might be one of the seminal voices of his generation. The characters were trenchant. The story--touching. The ending--sublime. Then came "The Washington Story". And what a mess that was. The characters introduced in the first story had absoltely nothing to do in the second. One almost wishes that he could take a "literary mulligan". That is, return to the wonderful set of characters when he had something important to say. It worked with the film version of "Hulk"--why not here. Alas, now comes "Ellington Boulevard". Again, Langer is able to introduce a set of nice, interesting characters. And they move along nicely throughout the first half of the book. But, alas, just like "The Washington Story", there comes a time that there is nothing for them to do. Instead, Langer pulls out all stops to create a world where coincidence rules and the unbelievable becomes common place. This book has more in common with the film "Enchanted" than it does with "Crossing California"--except that "Enchanted was more believable. Bottom line: Langer hit a home run his first time at the plate. The second time he struck out badly. This time he has grounded out to third. He's a talented guy. Like to see what he writes the next time around. I only wish that he would remain true to his characters than make up a convoluted mess.

A 40 year old ex clarinet player gets threatened with eviction from his Manhattan Valley apartment along with his dog. The rest of book follows along with his trials and travails along with those of all the participants in this "real-estate" play. The technique of using acts of a play is a little kitschy but the writing is smart and the characters are well drawn. The novel is well-paced but the characters, though "smartly" developed, could have been even more fleshed out. The only reason I didn't give this book 5 stars is because it annoyed me that by the end of the book my favorite character hands down was the dog, Herbie Mann, and not either of the main characters, Ike and Rebecca.

If reading were only about the pleasure of it, this book would be close to five stars. I've recommended it to several friends as a guaranteed entertainment. The story gets you turning pages. You like the characters, as does the author, and every few pages or so, he achieves a depth of understanding that puts the book squarely in the category of literary fiction. More pretentious writers could learn from him. He's an honest writer, Adam Langer, and the people are recognizably real and often quite funny. His style is that of a thoughtful craftsman and never gets in the way of the story, and, here and there, it elevates some. That said, many, many chapters follow a similar pattern: they start in the flow of the narrative, but then loop back to give backstory, often a rather extended backstory. Most of these are interesting and well done, some even crucial to the narrative, but that they are done again and again becomes an irritant, at least to me, and made me think that maybe he could have started his story at an earlier point. And that gave me the thought that if Mr. Langer forced himself to stay in the narrative chronology, he might find himself writing some truly remarkable books. It's a good read anyway, an enjoyable experience, and his depictions of people in the wrong relationships are painfully funny.

I had recently read an article in the New York Times about about a young playwright who lived in 30 apartments in 20 years in Manhattan. I know this playwright and found the article exotic and gave me a bird's eye view of how much money New Yorkers spend on a few hundred square feet of living space.
When I started reading this book, Ike Morphy, a musician returns to his rented New York apartment only to learn that his inexpensive rental apartment has gone condo and selling for $650,000. It's a small apartment in a renovated area.
Adam Langer weaves a superb tale of New York with fascinating characters: the mortgage broker, the buyer, the seller and auxillary characters who add to the exciting mix. Combining academia, magazine politics, musicians, and most important, real estate razzle dazzle and then the bubble. The book reminded me of the movies Babel and Crash; the characters' lives eventually intertwine and serve up a big impact to the plot.
There are likeable and non-likeable characters: Darrell Schiff who is blatantly self-serving and obnoxious, Mark Masler, a womanizer, ex-alcoholic and observant Jew, who inherited his father's real estate but not his benevolence, and Herbie Mann, a dog, aka Lucky, who belogned to Chloe, who typifies the worst of magazine industry. Herbie Mann belongs to Ike the musician who is in love with Rebecca, Darrell's wife. Oh, and there are a pair of pigeons who roost outside the apartment/condo.
The novel is humorous and smart; the characters turn out to be the people they never thought they could become.

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