Audio Book Description:
Autumn 2000: After five years in Paris, Adam Gopnik moves his family back to a New York thatseems, at first, safer and shinier than ever. Here in thewondrously strange "neighborhood" of Manhattan we observe the triumphs and travails of father, mother, son and daughter; and of the teachers, coaches,therapists, adversaries, and friends whoround out the extended urban family. From Bluie, a goldfish fated to meet a Hitchcockian end, to Charlie Ravioli,an imaginary playmate who, being a New Yorker, is too busyto play, the Gopnik`s new home is under the spell of the sort of characters only thecity`s unique civilization of childhood could produce. Not longafter their return, the fabric of living will be rent bythe events of 9/11, but likea magic garment will reweave itself, reviving normalcy in a world where Jewish jokes mingle with debates about the problem of consciousness, the priceof real estate, and the meaningof modern art. Along the way, the impermanence and transcendence of life will be embodied in the personof a beloved teacher and coach who, even facing death, radiates a distinctively local light.
