Morningside Heights by Joshua Henkin

“Looking at him as he slept, she told herself she wouldn't forget him…She persuaded herself that when he was gone the end would fade and the man she'd first known would remain, accompanying her through the lonely days, through the years of solitude ahead of her.”

Finally, I am cured of my Paper Palace book hangover. Morningside Heights is everything I hoped it might be, and a lot more.

This book wrecked me in all the ways great writing can. There is nothing flashy about this novel, it is an honest look at a marriage and a family. But Henkin is one of those authors who is able to tap into the subtleties of relationships and pull at your heartstrings. I am not a cryer, but I was dissolved in tears at the end of this one.

Set in NYC, (favorite setting bonus points) Henkins puts a zoom lens on what happens to a marriage when illness strikes and steals one partner from the other. (This is no spoiler, it's inside cover info.) Spence Robin is a Shakespeare professor at Columbia and Pru Steiner his former student, now younger wife. We watch their marriage unfold over the years and although it is not perfect (is it ever?) their lives and experiences feel honest and relatable in a way that is rare for a book to achieve. I'm always amazed when a male author draws a female character so well - Henkins taps into some very heart wrenching (female) middle age emotions and he floored me -- the sympathy I had for Pru felt as if she were a friend I'd known for years and wanted to take out for a glass of wine.

Morningside Heights is not an escape read by any stretch, but one that makes you realize "this could so easily happen - to anyone." It is a quiet meditation of love, marriage, family, and the way we respect and care for one another when the worst happens. And boy can Henkins write. Like The Paper Palace, this book made me wish all authors had this type of literary talent.

This is a quiet, character driven book with all the bells and whistles I look for . If you want an action packed read it won’t be your thing, but I give it 5 absolutely tear covered stars.