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A review by gabsalott13
Halsey Street by Naima Coster
2.0
Naima Coster’s debut novel centers around a family in Bed-Stuy and the Dominican Republic, whose members know loss as well as their backyards, and have learned to hold nothing sacred because of it. The POV characters, Penelope Grand and her estranged mother Mirella, are especially skeptical—of marriage, of hometown nostalgia, and even of maternity.
I enjoyed reading Halsey Street right after [b:Another Brooklyn|31371705|Another Brooklyn|Jacqueline Woodson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1496061369s/31371705.jpg|47255158], since they're both reflections of changing life in the borough (this time, Bed-Stuy instead of Bushwick.) While I was excited by this book's premise, I never could find the emotional core of these characters. We learn about their past (and present) traumas, but don’t learn how they impact their current behaviors.
Despite Penelope’s (righteous!) indignation at the way gentrification has rendered her neighborhood nearly unrecognizable, it’s hard to find examples of what, exactly she misses. In some ways, her apathy and irreverence is so deep that we never uncover the beauty of the Bed-Stuy she once knew, only her anger for what it currently is. To me, she seemed unreasonably sulky for a woman going on thirty.
We understand that her grandmother’s passing (and mother’s refusal to attend the funeral) deeply hurts her, but we never receive a nuanced understanding of their connection, besides the fact that Ramona is nicer to Penny than Mirella is. We also never exactly come to learn why Mirella bears so much hatred for her mother, yet returns every year to visit (she feels compelled? She misses the DR? Your guess is as good as mine.)
Her affair with her landlord is predictable—one of their first interactions literally involves them holding hands before hearing the jangle of the wife’s keys downstairs! :( I never understood why this particular entanglement was happening—maybe because it could, or because Penelope doesn’t hold marriage in high esteem? Maybe if their relationship wasn’t immediately rushed to adulterous territory, there would've been more about Penelope to gather from it.
I think part of the beauty of writing about "difficult women" is the ability to surpass this label by highlighting their complex stories and hidden inner emotions. To her credit, Naima Coster definitely creates engaging, difficult women, but for all the time spent with them, I'm not sure I got to know them any better than the people they push away.
I enjoyed reading Halsey Street right after [b:Another Brooklyn|31371705|Another Brooklyn|Jacqueline Woodson|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1496061369s/31371705.jpg|47255158], since they're both reflections of changing life in the borough (this time, Bed-Stuy instead of Bushwick.) While I was excited by this book's premise, I never could find the emotional core of these characters. We learn about their past (and present) traumas, but don’t learn how they impact their current behaviors.
Despite Penelope’s (righteous!) indignation at the way gentrification has rendered her neighborhood nearly unrecognizable, it’s hard to find examples of what, exactly she misses. In some ways, her apathy and irreverence is so deep that we never uncover the beauty of the Bed-Stuy she once knew, only her anger for what it currently is. To me, she seemed unreasonably sulky for a woman going on thirty.
We understand that her grandmother’s passing (and mother’s refusal to attend the funeral) deeply hurts her, but we never receive a nuanced understanding of their connection, besides the fact that Ramona is nicer to Penny than Mirella is. We also never exactly come to learn why Mirella bears so much hatred for her mother, yet returns every year to visit (she feels compelled? She misses the DR? Your guess is as good as mine.)
Her affair with her landlord is predictable—one of their first interactions literally involves them holding hands before hearing the jangle of the wife’s keys downstairs! :( I never understood why this particular entanglement was happening—maybe because it could, or because Penelope doesn’t hold marriage in high esteem? Maybe if their relationship wasn’t immediately rushed to adulterous territory, there would've been more about Penelope to gather from it.
I think part of the beauty of writing about "difficult women" is the ability to surpass this label by highlighting their complex stories and hidden inner emotions. To her credit, Naima Coster definitely creates engaging, difficult women, but for all the time spent with them, I'm not sure I got to know them any better than the people they push away.