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Alternate Side: A Novel

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NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “Captures the angst and anxiety of modern life with . . . astute observations about interactions between the haves and have- nots, and the realities of life among the long-married.”—USA Today A provocative novel that explores what it means to be a mother, a wife, and a woman at a moment of reckoning, from the 1 New York Times bestselling author of Miller’s Valley and Still Life with Bread Crumbs. Some days Nora Nolan thinks that she and her husband, Charlie, lead a charmed life—except when there’s a crisis at work, a leak in the roof at home, or a problem with their twins at college. And why not? New York City was once Nora’s dream destination, and her clannish dead-end block has become a safe harbor, a tranquil village amid the urban craziness. The owners watch one another’s children grow up. They use the same handyman. They trade gossip and gripes, and they maneuver for the ultimate status symbol: a spot in the block’s small parking lot. Then one morning, Nora returns from her run to discover that a terrible incident has shaken the neighborhood, and the enviable dead-end block turns into a potent symbol of a divided city. The fault lines begin to open: on the block, at Nora’s job, and especially in her marriage. Praise for Alternate Side “[Anna] Quindlen’s quietly precise evaluation of intertwined lives evinces a keen understanding of and appreciation for universal human frailties.”—Booklist (starred review) “Exquisitely rendered . . . [Quindlen] is one of our most astute chroniclers of modern life. . . . [Alternate Side] has an almost documentary feel, a verisimilitude that’s awfully hard to achieve.”—The New York Times Book Review “An exceptional depiction of complex characters—particularly their weaknesses and uncertainties—and the intricacies of close relationships . . . Quindlen’s provocative novel is a New York City drama of fractured marriages and uncomfortable class distinctions.”—Publishers Weekly Read more

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Random House


Accessibility ‏ : ‎ Learn more


Publication date ‏ : ‎ March 20, 2018


Edition ‏ : ‎ Reprint


Language ‏ : ‎ English


File size ‏ : ‎ 2.8 MB


Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported


Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled


X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled


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Top Amazon Reviews

    • A look at a real slice of the City…
Format: Kindle
If you are at least comfortably well off and ever lived in NYC, this will feel like you know these people. The author has been in the city for decades and draws it clearly - not all good, sometimes dirty, off-putting, and messy, but you will recognize it and recall why you loved it - if you are lucky enough that you did. It made me happy and sad that I moved away from it. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2026 by Jo the traveler
    • I have a complicated love/hate relationship with the city and could so easily relate to many of the trials of New York ...
Format: Hardcover
This was my first time reading Anna Quindlen and I am SOLD. Although I'm not a New Yorker, I have a complicated love/hate relationship with the city and could so easily relate to many of the trials of New York life & more simply, a woman's life at a crossroads. I loved how, despite the clear focus of First World Problems here, Quindlen touches upon women's issues, class/poverty, infidelity, and mental illness. Each affect us everyday and I was glad to see the pontificating on them all in this novel. Nora Nolan's fraternal twins Rachel & Oliver are entering their final year of college, she is successfully running a relatively new jewelry museum, her husband, Charlie, is excited to have finally gotten an assigned space in the lot on their block for a car they (certainly she) rarely use. All of the small-town life drama translated to a single dead-end block in Manhattan, Nora loves to hate a select few of her neighbors (GEORGE!!!) for their busybody behaviors or their classist attitudes. Their little slice of the city makes big news when one such snob (Jack) is so incensed when their handyman's (Enrique's) van is blocking the lot, that he proceeds to take a golf club to the side of the vehicle, and then to the other man's leg when he tries to intervene. It would have been big news anywhere but it breaks the neighbors into subtly warring factions and Nora & Charlie find themselves on opposite sides. Beautiful writing focuses on Nora's POV as she wonders about whether or not she should prioritize her marriage by leaving the city for good (Charlie often responds to her city-specific complaints by reminding her that they can sell the house, make a nice profit, and go live anywhere else), if she should consider the job offer coming from Charlie's boss, and if just like alternate side parking messes up a couple mornings per week, if there's an alternate life/lives which she messed up by making any number of missteps in her current life. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on June 29, 2018 by Amazon Customer
    • very well written but the story line is dull
Format: Kindle
I would have liked to give it 3-1/2 but it wasn’t available. I liked some of the characters who will probably stay on my mind for several years to come.
Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2026 by dnovak
    • Is it love, is it obligation, or is it just the way things are?
Format: Hardcover
Ms. Quindlen does another wonderful job of providing insights into what her characters are thinking in this truly interesting book about life, love, accommodation, and an ultimate conclusion about the future. When is a neighborhood a community, and when is it just where you live? How deep are the relationships created there? When is a marriage a source of partnership and happiness, and when is it a set of motions to be repeated as much by obligation as anything else? And, when questions like this are answered, what are next steps? All of these questions are presented. In the sense that Ms. Quindlen has always taken readers beyond the description of a character and into their mind and soul, there is a familiarity with other works. Yet, as her settings are different, and as her challenges are different, each work has its own unique perspective to provide, to compliment, and to extend the understanding she has provided before. This work can be read a few pages at a time, in one sitting, or over a short period of time. Even so, at the end the reader knows that the ending of the story is also the ending of a wonderfully unique conversation that really lays out for another all a person has to offer. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on May 10, 2018 by Thomas M. Carpenter
    • Marital Strife and Neighborhood Politics Observed
Format: Hardcover
Wealthy, insular New York neighborhood with big and small problems. The book looks at how the conflicts and skirmishes of daily life can gradually and irrevocably erode relationships. Nora and Charlie are a long-married couple who live on an affluent block with other similarly wealthy neighbors. They decorate, socialize, walk dogs, work and have lunch. Days go by in this placid, familiar routine, then an incident occurs that reveals the fault lines in fragile marriages and cordial friendships. Issues of class and discontent emerge from the shadows, as stress and irritation begin to churn beneath the surface of the seemingly perfect facades. Quindlen writes well, and I always enjoy her books for the quality of the writing, but this one was tinged with so much wistful sadness. It is a valentine to New York, but the depiction of long-term marriage was as a slow disintegration or a mutual toleration. The observations were often accurate, just dismal. The message of the book seems to be that inevitable change can occur incrementally or suddenly, and the life we thought we had or once-wanted, may not be the life that we end up with. A good read, just somewhat depressing. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on April 13, 2018 by Susan M. Baumann
    • Another hit from Ms.Quindlen
Format: Kindle
I have always been a fan of Anna Quindlen’s books (and there are plenty of them, so many more to read). Her newest novel ALTERNATE SIDE is great fun to read. This is such a life in New York City story. A married couple, devoted to their house, and who wouldn’t be if you lived in a multi-level brownstone on a dead-end street, knew all your neighbors, your kids grew up there, and well, it was everything you dreamed of. Well, one of you did. Yes, that is where the conflict begins. But it doesn’t stop there. It starts with a parking space that has become available and if you know parking prices in New York, you will get this straight away. For that matter, any major city. People go nuts when it comes to their cars. Am I right? Yes, I am. The cast of characters on the block are all up in each other’s business. They are a mighty crew. While there is a sunny side of the street, there also is a grey cloud looming. It will descend and when it does, make way. I loved every page of this book. Every character. One, I so enjoyed who proved to be the least expected. Which is of course the best kind. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on March 30, 2018 by carilynp
    • A Moment Of Reckoning
Format: Kindle
Nora Nolan and her husband Charlie live the good life. Two children in college, they live in a prestigious section of New York City, a sort of cult, proclaimed by a renter. All families who bought their brownstones when the going was good, and they are now worth so much more. Nora is a director of a museum, Charlie has reached the top of his game at work. They have it all, the elites, no worries. The only difficulty is parking, and the lot at the end of the street that is used for cars to park, is a metaphor for their lives. Everyone wants a spot, some have a chance, most don’t, and it is often a waiting game. When Charlie wins a spot, life is good. And, then, a trauma occurs, and Nora and Charlie start looking at what has befallen. In fact the entire block is considering and arguing about the trauma. Questions are asked, and like our times, sides are taken. Who is right who is wrong, is not the question, it is how did we get here, and what are we going to do about it. And, these questions and some of the answers are part of a puzzle that change Nora and Charlie’s lives. The author, Anna Quindlen, has been a part of my reading life since her articles in the New York Times. Her writing all have lessons to be learned, a primer on the issues of the day. What we have with Anna Quindlen is a slice of real life, that does not come along every day. Recommended. prisrob 03-20-18 ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on March 20, 2018 by prisrob
    • Didn't Care for It
Format: Kindle
I usually enjoy Quindlen's writing, but this book was tedious. I understand that the main character, Nora, was cynical, but the cynicism was endless; at times, it seemed the book was a catalog of negative observations by a jaded and inert crank. BTW, the daughter was a witch; what was the point of that? At the 80% mark, I was still wondering what was going to happen. The pivot scene occurred in the first third of the book, but then faded into the background as the residents of the street pottered along. The story - and I use the term loosely - can be viewed as a snapshot of life on a certain street in a certain social class, but it wasn't enlightening, just annoying. I thought Alma's surprise at the end was clever, and the truth underlying it was profound. I sensed a theme that people can go along with a life or try to shape it, with varying degrees of success. Perhaps the writing was too subtle for me, but I found the book almost frustratingly slow. There were a few interesting passages about the human condition, but the placid oblivion of these privileged characters was not meaty enough subject matter from which to produce a story. I think the book can be summarized by a jokey comment Nora and her sister, Christine, shared from young adulthood: No whining on the yacht. Update: it's the next morning, and I see more clearly that the main character completed a developmental arc toward authenticity, which is satisfying to contemplate, but the journey getting there was too slow, imo. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on July 23, 2018 by Lynne M. Spreen

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