Alternate Side

Parking Woes

At the centre of Anna Quindlen’s Alternate Side is an ordinary incident of a parking quarrel that could occur in any teeming city with more cars than space to park them. The unexpected burst of violence goes on to become a study of urban angst, fractured relationships, class and racial differences and the sheer cussedness that stress brings about in the most civilized of people.

Set in a posh Manhattan neighborhood, where people live in designer homes, throw catered parties, have their kids raised by Jamaican nannies and their toilets unclogged by Hispanic handymen, it is seen from the point of view of Nora Nolan, who has an enviable job as the director of a Museum of Jewellery in New York; she is so good at her work, that is constantly being pursued by others to head their non-profit initiatives. While her husband Charlie’s career as an investment banker, is on the decline, even his boss tries to woo Nora which causes some friction in their already fraying marriage.

The crisis that shatters the peace of the neighbourhood is caused by a Jack Fisk, an unpleasant lawyer hitting the colony’s handyman Ricky Ramos with a golf club and breaking his leg, because his van was blocking the entry to the precious, much-coveted parking lot. If the lawyer is not to be sued for all he’s got, he has to prove in court that it was an accident. Charlie and the men of the close-knit community decide to back the lawyer, and Nora is appalled. She has always been the type to do good, help the housekeeper and handyman with things her family no longer uses, or give money to the homeless man outside her workplace, but her smugness is dented by Ricky’s furious wife, Nita.

Alternate Side has focused on a very small and privileged section of New York, but the briskly-paced novel with a dash of dark humour, is an incisive look at emptiness of urban lives and tensions simmering under seemingly happy homes.

Alternate Side

By Anna Quindlen

Publisher: Random House

Pages: 304