Long Island Compromise: A Novel
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • An exhilarating novel about one American family and the dark moment that shatters their suburban paradise, from the New York Times bestselling author of Fleishman Is in Trouble
New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice • New York Magazine’s Beach Read Book Club Pick • Belletrist Book Club Pick
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, Oprah Daily, The New Yorker, Time, The Washington Post, NPR, Vogue, Town & Country, New York Post, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, Parade, Kirkus Reviews
“Joins the pantheon of great American novels.”—Los Angeles Times
“Exuberant and absorbing . . . a big old-fashioned social novel.”—The Atlantic
“Were we gangsters? No. But did we know how to start a fire?”
In 1980, a wealthy businessman named Carl Fletcher is kidnapped from his driveway, brutalized, and held for ransom. He is returned to his wife and kids less than a week later, only slightly the worse, and the family moves on with their lives, resuming their prized places in the saga of the American dream, comforted in the realization that though their money may have been what endangered them, it is also what assured them their safety.
But now, nearly forty years later, it’s clear that perhaps nobody ever got over anything, after all. Carl has spent the ensuing years secretly seeking closure to the matter of his kidnapping, while his wife, Ruth, has spent her potential protecting her husband’s emotional health. Their three grown children aren’t doing much better: Nathan’s chronic fear won’t allow him to advance at his law firm; Beamer, a Hollywood screenwriter, will consume anything—substance, foodstuff, women—in order to numb his own perpetual terror; and Jenny has spent her life so bent on proving that she’s not a product of her family’s pathology that she has come to define it. As they hover at the delicate precipice of a different kind of survival, they learn that the family fortune has dwindled to just about nothing, and they must face desperate questions about how much their wealth has played a part in both their lives’ successes and failures.
Long Island Compromise spans the entirety of one family’s history, winding through decades and generations, all the way to the outrageous present, and confronting the mainstays of American Jewish life: tradition, the pursuit of success, the terror of history, fear of the future, old wives’ tales, evil eyes, ambition, achievement, boredom, dybbuks, inheritance, pyramid schemes, right-wing capitalists, beta-blockers, psychics, and the mostly unspoken love and shared experience that unite a family forever.
New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice • New York Magazine’s Beach Read Book Club Pick • Belletrist Book Club Pick
A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR: The New York Times Book Review, Oprah Daily, The New Yorker, Time, The Washington Post, NPR, Vogue, Town & Country, New York Post, Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, Parade, Kirkus Reviews
“Joins the pantheon of great American novels.”—Los Angeles Times
“Exuberant and absorbing . . . a big old-fashioned social novel.”—The Atlantic
“Were we gangsters? No. But did we know how to start a fire?”
In 1980, a wealthy businessman named Carl Fletcher is kidnapped from his driveway, brutalized, and held for ransom. He is returned to his wife and kids less than a week later, only slightly the worse, and the family moves on with their lives, resuming their prized places in the saga of the American dream, comforted in the realization that though their money may have been what endangered them, it is also what assured them their safety.
But now, nearly forty years later, it’s clear that perhaps nobody ever got over anything, after all. Carl has spent the ensuing years secretly seeking closure to the matter of his kidnapping, while his wife, Ruth, has spent her potential protecting her husband’s emotional health. Their three grown children aren’t doing much better: Nathan’s chronic fear won’t allow him to advance at his law firm; Beamer, a Hollywood screenwriter, will consume anything—substance, foodstuff, women—in order to numb his own perpetual terror; and Jenny has spent her life so bent on proving that she’s not a product of her family’s pathology that she has come to define it. As they hover at the delicate precipice of a different kind of survival, they learn that the family fortune has dwindled to just about nothing, and they must face desperate questions about how much their wealth has played a part in both their lives’ successes and failures.
Long Island Compromise spans the entirety of one family’s history, winding through decades and generations, all the way to the outrageous present, and confronting the mainstays of American Jewish life: tradition, the pursuit of success, the terror of history, fear of the future, old wives’ tales, evil eyes, ambition, achievement, boredom, dybbuks, inheritance, pyramid schemes, right-wing capitalists, beta-blockers, psychics, and the mostly unspoken love and shared experience that unite a family forever.
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What’s it about?
This novel takes place on Long Island in the wealthy Jewish enclave of Middle Rock. In 1980, Carl Fletcher is kidnapped and held for ransom for five days. A ransom is paid, and he is released. Forty years later it is clear that the family never recovered from this trauma.
What did it make me think about?
The dangers of generational wealth vs the dangers of no wealth at all… “In her own house, the money sat with them at the dinner table, then watched TV with them in the living room, and part of what made the Fletchers boring and dumb, in her opinion, was that they never talked about it. They never talked about what all this money did to them, how it made them look to others, or how it felt for them to have it, how they behaved because of it. The Fletchers may not have been the only wealthy family in town, but the majority of the people they dealt with were not as wealthy as they were, and wasn’t it true that it seemed like people were always thinking about it when they looked at them, like the Fletchers were a Christmas ham with all the fixings in a Bugs Bunny cartoon?”
Should I read it?
Taffy Brodesser-Akner writes a sprawling, funny, sad story about a Jewish-American family and their struggles with generational wealth. Make no mistake, this story is all about money and safety (and does money really make you safe…). This novel is not for the faint of heart- after all, the title refers to anal sex, and one of the main characters is caught up in sadomasochism, so read this with a warning. I’m unsure what it says about me, but I liked this book. I enjoyed this novel in the same way I enjoy a Jonathan Franzen novel- I just sit back and see where these kooky characters will lead me. The Fletchers were at times tiresome, but usually pretty interesting, and what a topic to explore. Don’t most people assume they would be happy if they just had more?
Quote-
” ‘I think that every family is its own bible story. Every family is its own mythology. The people that were written about in the Torah- that’s just a document from a period of time. If the Torah had gone on, perhaps we’d all be included in it. Perhaps there would be a book of the Fletcher’s.’ “
What’s it about?
This novel takes place on Long Island in the wealthy Jewish enclave of Middle Rock. In 1980, Carl Fletcher is kidnapped and held for ransom for five days. A ransom is paid, and he is released. Forty years later it is clear that the family never recovered from this trauma.
What did it make me think about?
The dangers of generational wealth vs the dangers of no wealth at all… “In her own house, the money sat with them at the dinner table, then watched TV with them in the living room, and part of what made the Fletchers boring and dumb, in her opinion, was that they never talked about it. They never talked about what all this money did to them, how it made them look to others, or how it felt for them to have it, how they behaved because of it. The Fletchers may not have been the only wealthy family in town, but the majority of the people they dealt with were not as wealthy as they were, and wasn’t it true that it seemed like people were always thinking about it when they looked at them, like the Fletchers were a Christmas ham with all the fixings in a Bugs Bunny cartoon?”
Should I read it?
Taffy Brodesser-Akner writes a sprawling, funny, sad story about a Jewish-American family and their struggles with generational wealth. Make no mistake, this story is all about money and safety (and does money really make you safe…). This novel is not for the faint of heart- after all, the title refers to anal sex, and one of the main characters is caught up in sadomasochism, so read this with a warning. I’m unsure what it says about me, but I liked this book. I enjoyed this novel in the same way I enjoy a Jonathan Franzen novel- I just sit back and see where these kooky characters will lead me. The Fletchers were at times tiresome, but usually pretty interesting, and what a topic to explore. Don’t most people assume they would be happy if they just had more?
Quote-
” ‘I think that every family is its own bible story. Every family is its own mythology. The people that were written about in the Torah- that’s just a document from a period of time. If the Torah had gone on, perhaps we’d all be included in it. Perhaps there would be a book of the Fletcher’s.’ “
Mordantly funny. If fictional schadenfreude is your jam, this wicked little story is for you. If generational trauma is your bag, here there be oats. If rags to riches is your kind of fairytale, meet your new Red Riding Hood … and my what big teeth Grandma has!
Interesting insight into third generation kids in a wealthy family who don’t know what it is to work for a living, and suffer from the effects of over-indulgence and inherited trauma. Overall, these were difficult characters and this was a tough and long read with no joy.
Interesting story about a family who can’t seem to get past trauma only the father really had the very physical pain of experiencing. The story is told in an interesting voice, but it’s very inconsistent in the beginning. It was wrapped up very neatly with one of the final pages saying, “that’s just how it goes.” The rich just stay rich and never have to face too much pain because, well, they’re rich. Also, Ike was part of the kidnapping, right?
I mainly enjoyed the unpacking of Carl and Ruth’s stories. I felt like Jenny’s part was too compact and contradictory of her values from her family’s. I hated Beamer at first but by the end, I felt like his storyline was the only one that was fully actualized. Nathan’s storyline had great potential but his was also quickly dimmed by Beamer’s in my opinion. I also read the commentary from the Vulture’s summer book club and they had some great insights into the book. It’s being made into an Apple TV+ series so I’d be curious to see the adaptation when it comes out. The Vulture’s reporting team recommended Jonathan Franzen’s “The Corrections”, which has a very similar concept to Long Island Compromise. I plan to read that later to compare between the two books.
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