Synopses & Reviews
980 Park, a fictional, pre-war co-op on the Northwest corner of Park Avenue and 83rd Street, houses the rich and famous-Sidney Sapphire, the blonde anchorwoman of ABC News, Angela Somoza, the gorgeous Nicaraguan jet-setter, Bob Horowitz, the former chairman of the United Jewish Appeals, and the usual collection of banking and industrial CEO's, Wall Street magnates, and white-haired philanthropists. The Brooklyn-born doorman, Vinnie Ferretti, joins the ranks when he becomes a major fashion designer.
The building's board, rich as clotted cream, sips gin in the afternoons and devises ways to keep out anyone deemed "inappropriate." Stifled resentments come to a head when the French baroness in the penthouse dies, and two Jewish families in the building suspect the co-op board of more discrimination with regard to prospective buyers than might be legal.
Better Homes and Husbands is a stylish, richly woven novel about class and caste feuds, played out with ferocity and etiquette in a posh New York apartment building during the tumultuous period of social change between 1970 and 2000.
Review
"A novel of manners written with skill and heart and powers of observation as sharp as a boning knife -- my idea of heaven."
- Beth Gutcheon, author of More Than You Know
About the Author
Valerie Ann Leff is co-director of the Great Smokies Writing Program at the University of North Carolina, Asheville. Portions of this novel have appeared in
The Antioch Review,
Chelsea, Lilith, and the
South Carolina Review.
Reading Group Guide
1. The protagonist of
Better Homes and Husbands is a New York City apartment building. What does this building represent? Are there places in your own world that play the same role as 980 Park Avenue does for the characters in this novel?
2. In the novel, there are many different characters, and several family stories are followed. Which characters did you find most sympathetic? Were there any who made you angry? Were there any that aroused your disapproval, but whom you liked anyway? Are there heroes and villains in this novel, or are those classifications dependent upon whose eyes we are looking through at any given point in the book?
3. How ethnic and economic class tensions play out in a setting like 980 Park Avenue is a major theme of the novel. Do you think your own ethnicity and economic status influenced which characters you preferred? Did the book make you think about other groups or types of people in a different way?
4. Many of the characters in Better Homes and Husbands are surprised or even thrown by events that happen over the course of the novel. Several of them have the experience that life does not turn out the way they expected. Which characters make projections about their futures that turn out to be mistaken? Which characters do you think are better off for having their lives take unexpected turns? Which ones might have fared better with no outside disturbance? Have there been external events in your own life that changed your expected course, and how do you feel about them? To what extent does the author seem to think we control our own destinies, and do you agree with her?
5. Since the focus of Better Homes and Husbands is the life of the building, not every characters own life story is wrapped up and not every individual issue is resolved. There are hints within the book, however, of what the future might bode for several characters:
- Vinnie has experienced outward success, but still has an internal struggle. Will this struggle block him in pursuing his dreams in life?
- What do you imagine will be the immediate consequence of Marleys discussion with his grandfather for his mother Sandra? What long-term trajectory is implied for the Payne family and the Payne apartment?
- Early in the chapter “Dick Sapphires Tsuris,” Dick describes his daughter Madeline as “floundering around single.” In your opinion, will Madeline continue in the same vein after the end of that chapter or has something occurred within her that implies a change?
- At the end of “Dick Sapphires Tsuris,” Dick imagines that he will serve the rest of his term on the co-op board, then be voted out as the board returns to “business as usual.” Given the trajectories of characters in other apartments in the building, do you think he is right or wrong?
- What has happened emotionally to Beverly Coddington by the end of the novel, and what choice do you think she will make in her life?
- As a reader, do you find it interesting or frustrating not to be told by the author what exactly will happen to each character at the end of the novel?
6. What larger-scale societal changes were taking place over the thirty-year time span of the novel? How did they influence the lives of the Better Homes and Husbands characters? Which of these have affected your life, your family and your community?
7. Was it enjoyable for you to read a novel written in several different voices? A little disorienting? A little bit like life itself? Why do you think the author chose this narrative strategy rather than a more traditional one?
1. The protagonist of
Better Homes and Husbands is a New York City apartment building. What does this building represent? Are there places in your own world that play the same role as 980 Park Avenue does for the characters in this novel?
2. In the novel, there are many different characters, and several family stories are followed. Which characters did you find most sympathetic? Were there any who made you angry? Were there any that aroused your disapproval, but whom you liked anyway? Are there heroes and villains in this novel, or are those classifications dependent upon whose eyes we are looking through at any given point in the book?
3. How ethnic and economic class tensions play out in a setting like 980 Park Avenue is a major theme of the novel. Do you think your own ethnicity and economic status influenced which characters you preferred? Did the book make you think about other groups or types of people in a different way?
4. Many of the characters in Better Homes and Husbands are surprised or even thrown by events that happen over the course of the novel. Several of them have the experience that life does not turn out the way they expected. Which characters make projections about their futures that turn out to be mistaken? Which characters do you think are better off for having their lives take unexpected turns? Which ones might have fared better with no outside disturbance? Have there been external events in your own life that changed your expected course, and how do you feel about them? To what extent does the author seem to think we control our own destinies, and do you agree with her?
5. Since the focus of Better Homes and Husbands is the life of the building, not every characters own life story is wrapped up and not every individual issue is resolved. There are hints within the book, however, of what the future might bode for several characters:
- Vinnie has experienced outward success, but still has an internal struggle. Will this struggle block him in pursuing his dreams in life?
- What do you imagine will be the immediate consequence of Marleys discussion with his grandfather for his mother Sandra? What long-term trajectory is implied for the Payne family and the Payne apartment?
- Early in the chapter “Dick Sapphires Tsuris,” Dick describes his daughter Madeline as “floundering around single.” In your opinion, will Madeline continue in the same vein after the end of that chapter or has something occurred within her that implies a change?
- At the end of “Dick Sapphires Tsuris,” Dick imagines that he will serve the rest of his term on the co-op board, then be voted out as the board returns to “business as usual.” Given the trajectories of characters in other apartments in the building, do you think he is right or wrong?
- What has happened emotionally to Beverly Coddington by the end of the novel, and what choice do you think she will make in her life?
- As a reader, do you find it interesting or frustrating not to be told by the author what exactly will happen to each character at the end of the novel?
6. What larger-scale societal changes were taking place over the thirty-year time span of the novel? How did they influence the lives of the Better Homes and Husbands characters? Which of these have affected your life, your family and your community?
7. Was it enjoyable for you to read a novel written in several different voices? A little disorienting? A little bit like life itself? Why do you think the author chose this narrative strategy rather than a more traditional one?