Through The Children's Gate: A Home In New York (2006) - Plot & Excerpts
From my blog:When I was in graduate school, I took a course in travel writing and publishing. Throughout the semester, we had to read a number of books about travel, including Paris to the Moon by Adam Gopnik. In this book of essays, I loved the way Gopnik described the five years he and his wife and young son lived in Paris. He describes the minutiae of everyday life and then brings it around to a larger point on a humanity scale. I loved that book. I listed it as a favorite book back in 2004. So I was very excited when Through the Children's Gate came out. And although it wasn't as good as Paris to the Moon, I did enjoy many of the essays in the book. I wish I had the book here to reference, but of course I've decided to write this review at work sans the book. So I guess you'll have to trust me when I tell you that Gopnik is an amazing word chooser. I feel like he really though about each and every word in his book, making sure each one said exactly what he was trying to say. My favorite essays are those that describe everyday events in his life: the death of his betta fish and how it affected his kids; learning about IMing with his son, thinking LOL means "lots of love" and then subsequently signing all emails and IMs (including a few to grieving widows) that way; playing the game Mafia with his friends; and coaching his son's football team with a dying friend.I will say that there are times when I feel Gopnik is name-dropping. Perhaps if I lived in New York and was part of the literary and art scene I would have understood a few of the essays more, but I found myself skimming a couple essays, wishing he'd get back to his personal life. This also happened in Paris to the Moon — I'm just not all that current with French politics, for example. When he goes into name-dropping mode, I feel like he's trying to hard. It's like, "look at me! I'm Adam Gopnik. And I know all of these people and I'm not really going to tell you their histories because I assume you know them, too." It gets a little lofty and that's kind of annoying.Overall, though, I really enjoyed this book. I like Gopnik's style when he's not being supercilious, and I think that it would appeal even more to readers who live (or have lived) in New York.My Rating: 7 out of 10 because Damn. Gopnik knows how to write.
Journalist Adam Gopnik reflects over a period of a few years on his return to New York from Paris with his young children. The reflections cover his personal life, cultural trends, and the changes to the city.His children experience imaginary friends, chess, Yu-Gi-Oh!, baseball, heelies, fantasy games, goldfish, and IM. He tells of his good friend Kirk as he declines with cancer, and yet coaches a flag football team of young boys as well as giving a series of lectures on modern art.He touches on experiences with specific New York City places and experiences such as psychoanalysis, Central Park, Times Square, The Listening Post, switch hotels, noise, and the reaction to 9/11.He also brings in more general cultural trends like the decline of department stores and independent specialty stores in favour of chain boutiques like The Gap, Victoria's Secret, and Starbucks. He touches on the way parents get involved in their children's school activities like plays; on the exercise trends: running for men and yoga for women; and on the adult's social interaction through a game called Mafia.I enjoyed all aspects of this book, and even though I have only visited New York and never lived there, I appreciate both its uniqueness and its similarity to other places.Highly recommended.
What do You think about Through The Children's Gate: A Home In New York (2006)?
Well, I liked it, not as much as "Paris to the Moon" but I am having a hard time saying why. Maybe Paris seems exotic to me so a NYC writer's essays on life in Paris are fascinating whereas, since I lived in NYC, essays on life in NYC seem less interesting. Also, I had a really hard time with the essay on Gopnik's therapy - I lost a little respect for him, and that is not good when the reader is expected to credit the writer with insight sufficient to merit attention to his essays. If you don't have a lot of respect for the writer, can you care whar he has to say on a particular topic? Fortunately, Gopnik redeemed himself with the Purim story essay which I loved, so I was back in his corner, but the book zigged and zagged in a way that Paris to the Moon did not.I know this review is a bit fuzzy. I suppose the outcome is that I would definately read Gopnik's next book so that either means I did not dislike this book all that much, or I am a hopeless optimist!
—Lormac
I enjoyed this one well enough. Gopnik presents a compelling narrative of his family on the upper west side, but halts the progress of the narrative with essays that don't quite seem to fit the flow of the anticipated book. I just finished this one sitting in the Delta Sky Lounge at JFK. I wish I could get away to see the city. But its raining, and 32 degrees outside, and I have a flight to Dubai in three hours. --Cosmically fitting that I should begin this book on my plane ride home from Paris to Salt Lake City this morning. This book is about Gopnik's experiences in NYC after returning from Paris where he lived from 1995-2000. The first 100 pages are a delight.
—Christopher
When it's good, it's SO good. But when it's not, it's SO boring. Gopnik's writing can be breathtakingly beautiful when he hits the mark, but it can also be mindnumbingly dull when he misses. More hit than miss with this one, but still too many too long rambles. I really enjoyed Paris to the Moon, but haven't read it in years. I'm wondering now if I felt this way about that one then. I do love his use of words and the love he has for his family, especially his kids really comes through. And being able to read about the NYC places I visited was a treat. I just wish he didn't get lost on endless tangents so often.
—Louise
