““Totally,” I say. “I totally get that.”
What I totally get is that my father loves James best and James loves my father best and Isabel loved Yuto and Ben best and everyone I know has someone they love best. I’m no one’s best.”
Super Brief Summary A luminous chronicle of betrayal, sacrifice and creative ambition, framed by New Yorks Aids crisis in the 1980s and some seriously complex family cs.
This book had it all. It was literary but it also had a propulsive mystery element to it making it very difficult to put down. Carlisle, the main character was a beautifully flawed woman and each chapter felt like another layer revealing more of her backstory. The last quarter of the book, things really took off and talk about emotions
The feelings about the ending of this one makes for a great discussion because of how divided people will be about it - as someone who has gone through a painful estrangement from their father, I could only side with Carlisle and I had some big feelings reading this beautiful, little book.
Big thanks to @aim - after reading her review I immediately put it on hold
Find The Swans of Fifth Avenue at the publisher →
Toni Rocchetti is a copy editor helping authors strengthen their narratives, deepen character arcs, and find the story that is already in the draft. She reads 80+ books a year across literary fiction, memoir, and nonfiction — and writes about what she is learning along the way. Work with Toni →
