Stephen Birmingham (1932–2015)

The daughter of poor immigrant Russian-Jewish parents on the Lower East Side, Essie Litsky married Jack Auerbach, and together, they rose from poverty and amassed a fortune that dwarfed their wildest dreams. But money could never buy the affection of family or compensate for the true love Essie let slip away. And now, as she nears the end of her life, she must contend with blackmail and heartless legal assaults coming at her from all sides—the result of the ugly, persistent greed of her show more own children and grandchildren. But Essie is not dead yet, and those who underestimate the remarkable old woman are in for a shocking and powerful surprise. show less

The author traces the history of this unique apartment building from its conception until 1979. I found the history (almost a mini biography) of Isaac Merrit Singer to be some of the most interesting material contained within the book. The author describes the hotel's unusual location, large apartments, lofts made from 6 feet of extra ceiling space, and the triangular fortress-like towers of the 8th and 9th floors. He covers noted personalities to live there such Judy Garland, Lauren Bacall, show more Leonard Bernstein, and Boris Karloff. He does mention John Lennon and Yoko Ono, but they were reclusive and not much was known of them while at the Dakota. Lennon was assassinated at the front door of this hotel in 1980, a year after the book was published. The first chapter discusses the neighborhood of the Dakota and a map was needed of NYC 1880ish. Although very interesting, it felt a bit dated. 270 pages show less

It's my own fault for not checking the publish date on this book. But when I arrived at the chapter in which the author talks about John Lennon in the present tense, I knew I was in trouble.

This is well-written and its early history is fascinating. But some histories just can't be read after a certain point.

1967. A wealthy Westchester family experiences all the pitfalls of snooty society. They spend way beyond their means trying to keep up with the Joneses. Any unconventionality is seen as something to ridicule. Their neighbors become their enemies because they have to hide their real lives from them or face ostracization in the community, possible loss of jobs, the dreaded exclusion from the country club.

As a result of the culture of secrecy instilled in them, they fail to communicate even show more with each other. The wife's psychiatrist knows more about her than her family ever will. Bad decisions are made all around because there is no one to trust to ask for help. The lack of any intimacy (besides sex) between husband and wife inevitably leads to adultery, and an illegal abortion with rather dire consequences.

In the end when most of the truth about how they've been living comes out, they seem to decide to keep up the facade of their marriage. The ending is a bit vague, but they seem so unhappy that I was routing for a divorce. They seem, however, to somehow derive so much comfort just from the fact of their marriage and family, even as screwed up as it is, that they won't let it go.

There's the usual drinking and smoking of the time period. One character is a movie star. There's also an artist and a lot of home decorator/real estate kind of stuff. There's a lot of tennis and one extremely well-written dialogue where the ladies are playing bridge while gossiping. The whole book is very well-written actually.

The cover blurb cites homosexuality, but they basically just mock the few homosexual characters who remain almost entirely offstage.

The one African-American character is a maid constructed in such a stereotypically racist way that I had to conclude the author's only experience was taken straight from Hattie McDaniel's performance in "Gone With The Wind."

What you're basically getting here is deeply psychologically-impaired rich white folks having marital difficulties, problems with money and with their kids getting into trouble. show less