Overview

Presents the world in one neighbourhood: a stunning debut from a powerful new voice. Andrew Winston's debut novel links the lives of a horde of disparate characters living in Chicago's Rogers Park at the dawn of the new millennium. It is the year 2000, false dawn of the new millennium. College dropout Ellen Kovacs wanders through Chicago's Rogers Park neighbourhood, following a single face with her 8mm camera. The face belongs to Alice O'Leary, a struggling musician with a job in a flower shop. At the shop, Alice meets Nathan and his lover, Robin, who are trying to keep up a relationship despite heavy baggage on both sides. Across the street from the flower shop is a diner frequented by Ng Pran-Markowitz, a teenage artist and loner. The diner, in turn, is owned by Elias Kanakes, who is losing his connection to his family and worries that his restaurant's day has passed. His mail is delivered by Alphonse Duchossois, an African-American who befriends Florence Finkel, an elderly Jewish widow who sees visions of her late husband. Winston spins his wheel of characters round and round over the course of a single year, capturing the way relationships bloom and break apart and raising unspoken questions: what constitutes community? What do people really have in common? The place, in Winston's world, is as important as the people and through the intermingled lives of his cast Chicago itself flowers in all its multifaceted glory.

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9780972456296

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"College dropout Ellen Kovacs wanders through the Chicago neighborhood of Rogers Park, using an 8mm camera to follow a single face. It's a fine metaphor for this clear-sighted debut novel, which evokes all the variety of the massive city of Chicago by focusing on the workings of one neighborhood . Winston spins his wheel of characters round and round over the course of a single year, capturing the way relationships bloom and break apart and raising unspoken questions: What constitutes community? What do people really have in common? Winston gives Chicago the complex treatment it deserves, both as a dynamic city and a collection of individuals. He demonstrates that people who share space also share responsibility for one another. As Ellen says to Alice, ""Some day... you have to promise something to someone."" --Publishers Weekly"" Winston's debut is slow to start but pulls you in, the interlocking stories connecting to each other with a light hand. Centering on a handful of very different Chicago residents and their lives in the year 2000 .The places in Winston s Chicago subtly become characters in themselves, as much a part of the story as the people .It is in the way that the people pass in and out of these spaces that the reader gets a feel for the many personalities of the city. This solid first novel picks up momentum as it goes along, and will engage readers from many angles. --Booklist"" Winston's first novel follows a year in the lives of several Chicagoans, told in short, day-by-day scenes that give full flavor to the living, modern city (although the focus is on the people). Every demographic group is here a realistic representation of the Windy City rather than tokenism . As each month passes, characters get together, break up, and get together again. As in real life, tragedy could occur at any point, and the tension is thick at times. Thankfully, the author avoids melodrama. While this engrossing novel is somewhat reminiscent of Stephen Amidon's New City in its portrait of an urban environment, it is much more hopeful, with more likable characters. --Library Journal"" Lovingly detailed...as a love-letter to rough and tumble Chicago, Winston's debut novel succeeds...charming.--Kirkus Reviews"

College dropout Ellen Kovacs wanders through the Chicago neighborhood of Rogers Park, using an 8mm camera to follow a single face. It's a fine metaphor for this clear-sighted debut novel, which evokes all the variety of the massive city of Chicago by focusing on the workings of one neighborhood . Winston spins his wheel of characters round and round over the course of a single year, capturing the way relationships bloom and break apart and raising unspoken questions: What constitutes community? What do people really have in common? Winston gives Chicago the complex treatment it deserves, both as a dynamic city and a collection of individuals. He demonstrates that people who share space also share responsibility for one another. As Ellen says to Alice, Some day... you have to promise something to someone. --Publishers Weekly Winston's debut is slow to start but pulls you in, the interlocking stories connecting to each other with a light hand. Centering on a handful of very different Chicago residents and their lives in the year 2000 .The places in Winston s Chicago subtly become characters in themselves, as much a part of the story as the people .It is in the way that the people pass in and out of these spaces that the reader gets a feel for the many personalities of the city. This solid first novel picks up momentum as it goes along, and will engage readers from many angles. --Booklist Winston's first novel follows a year in the lives of several Chicagoans, told in short, day-by-day scenes that give full flavor to the living, modern city (although the focus is on the people). Every demographic group is here a realistic representation of the Windy City rather than tokenism . As each month passes, characters get together, break up, and get together again. As in real life, tragedy could occur at any point, and the tension is thick at times. Thankfully, the author avoids melodrama. While this engrossing novel is somewhat reminiscent of Stephen Amidon's New City in its portrait of an urban environment, it is much more hopeful, with more likable characters. --Library Journal Lovingly detailed...as a love-letter to rough and tumble Chicago, Winston's debut novel succeeds...charming.--Kirkus Reviews

Lovingly detailed...as a love-letter to rough and tumble Chicago, Winston's debut novel succeeds...charming.--Kirkus Reviews

Author Information

Anderw Winston is former editor-in-chief of the Chicago Review literary magazine. He lives in Duluth, Illinois.

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