Any Place I Hang My Hat : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Ya know, like, this is really a good book.
Review: Anywhere I Hang my Hat by Susan Isaacs is a nice, rewarding read. Amy, her central character, is a thirtyish single New Yorker who works as a journalist for a ponderous news magazine. She has a checkered family situation with a mother who abandoned her as an infant, and a barely functioning mobster for a father who spent most of her childhood in stir. She was raised by her paternal grandmother, who supplemented her leg-waxing job by shoplifting. Amy has a good job, a degree from Harvard on a scholarship, has risen above her station in life by hard work and native smarts. She yearns to resolve her ongoing fear of abandonment, which is killing her relationship with her nice boyfriend, John, and threatening her career.

The story gets going when she is assigned to cover a Presidential candidate who turns out to have an illegitimate, son, now an adult, he never acknowledged. The revelation makes news and Amy follows up on the story, befriending the abandoned son. The situation stirs in her a desire to know about her own mother, and we're off on a quest to find Mom.

Amy's world is populated with great characters that are vividly drawn and well-used - a school chum from a super-rich family who bakes wedding cakes between husbands, lecherous New York guys, her clueless idiot boss at the magazine, her mobster father. Some of the minor characters are borderline cliche's, but not so much that it detracts from the story. We also learn some interesting things about journalism, research and cake decorating. No small thing.

The tone of voice in the novel is knowing and informal, confiding. It's the current Chick-lit voice aimed at the female, younger-generation reader. Isaacs just lets Amy tell her story, ya know, and the reader, like, gets ta listen in. I had a little trouble with the first several chapters sorting through the clutter of popular culture references. Maybe somebody knows all this stuff, and will get all the gags, but I didn't. Nevertheless, Isaacs' aim at wide swaths of modern American culture, and her ability to deflate the inflated and reduce the puffed up with efficient, single-noun irony is delightful in small doses. The problem is that she seems intent on making sure that she drops one or two of these in every paragraph. It clutters the prose and interferes with the reader's perception of the story. Also, if you're not into clothes, you'll be tempted to skim some passages. Every meeting with a new character has a detailed description of clothing along with observations about what it tells about the character, they're all what they wear.

Isaacs generally moves the story along well. Her protagonist is believable and behaves in a consistent manner to her background and personality. No authorial stretching or manipulating. Amy is sympathetic and interesting. There are two scenes in the book that I thought transcended the rest of the novel. Amy meets her maternal grandmother for the first time and the writing becomes moving and appropriately emotional, wonderfully understated. The second is when she meets her mother for the first time. The sense of angry tension and lifelong bitterness is palpable. There are several scenes that should have been cut. An all-female co-worker's meeting is a yawn of a character-list. I also could have done with less of her best friend. These scenes are chances for Isaacs to let go with the pop culture commentary.

The resolution is as touching as any gal - or publisher's marketing department - could wish. Dec. 22 2004

Rating:
Summary: It's hard to believe that over 25 years have passed....
Review: .....since author Susan Isaacs penned her "Compromising Positions" yarn about a middle-aged suburban housewife. In THAT book, which may seem ordinary today, Isaacs broke
a lot of rules. She wrote about the suburban mom vs. working woman in a manner that poked fun at both. She let her heroine have an adulterous fling, and, somehow, it seemed
all right in a day and age when the sexual revolution was just something hippies were involved in. Over the years, in nine novels (ten, now!) Isaacs has given me much pleasure and literally has me stop and say more than once throughout each book-"that's happened to me...". My personal favorite of Isaac's novels is "After All These Years", but, then, I never met an Isaacs novel I didn't love.

I credit Susan Isaacs with starting the "chick lit" era, and she is a master. Her novels don't just make light of women facing issues, they generally are themed for a woman who is just discovering a whole lot about herself that she never knew. "Any Place I Hang My Hat" is no exception, although the heroine, Amy Lincoln (a 30-something Jewish-Italian New Yorker from the slums, with a missing mother who walked off and left her and a father ("Chicky") who has lived a life incarcerated, on and off)doesn't realize right away that she's destined to try to find her true self.

Naturally, Amy's used her wits and her knack for hard work and fitting in to go first to an exclusive boarding school, all expenses paid, then on to Harvard and Columbia to study journalism. She's a political writer for "In Depth" - a quality magazine with an educated following, and she's been involved for more than two years with a documentary
filmmaker, John Orenstein. She's got a longer relationship, for a decade and a half, with rich, exotic Tatty, her best
friend. The two met in boarding school when Tatty insulted her and Amy retaliated by punching her in the mouth. Tatty naturally does not have to work for a living, but chose a career in gourmet occasion cake making, after her two marriages failed. Isaacs normally draws me in with a more middle-aged heroine, but in the brilliant little journey that Amy makes to find herself in the novel, we quickly learn that she has an old soul.

Involved in the early part of the Democratic run for a presidential candidate, with a clever mix of real and imagined candidates, Amy's struck by the parallel between a young Hispanic man who crashes a fund-raiser, claiming the blueblooded Senator who is running for office is his father. Amy's own life has been lived trying not to speculate on why and how her mother, Phyllis, left her in the care of crazy Grandma Lil and jailbird Chicky. Phyllis never once looked back, and Amy has to decide - does she want to find Phyllis and find the answers to all those questions or is it just safer to leave the genie in the bottle?

Interspersed with the quest for her identity are the often humorous anecdotes of Amy's struggle with editorial control at the magazine, and her on and off again romance
with John. Warning: there is a broken heart that really leaves you feeling bereft in this novel.

In the concluding chapters, I will admit to tears, because Isaacs truly engaged me in her character, and never went over-the-top for her laughs. Indeed, Isaacs practices wit more than humor, romance more than sexual heat, and contemporary writing more than groundbreaking plotting. Reviewing the above, you may yawn and think it's just another plot that's been done before, but you haven't counted on Isaacs' style and way with a phrase or a concept. Here she has Amy assess her life:

"I could fit in anywhere: With all the kids on the bus going upstate to visit their fathers in prison. With all the Ivey girls and the guys they hung with. In a government seminar at Harvard. Drinking with the Democratic powers-that-be in Chicago. Except when you could theoretically live a thousand different lives, how do you pick the one where you belong?"

Join Isaacs and Amy for a journey of discovery, and enjoy the wit, charm, warmth, and ultimately and unfortunately, the end of a smart new novel. Isaacs only averages
one novel every 2.5 years. That's way too few with too much space between them, for my taste. Thus, I pay full price whenever I see she's got a new one on the shelves....believe me, "Any Place I Hang My Hat", was worth every penny!

Enjoy it!


Rating:
Summary: Intelligent Entertainment
Review: Few writers have the ability to deliver novels that are intelligent and literary--with gorgeous prose and well-drawn characters--while offering enough plot and humor to keep the pages turning. Richard Russo comes to mind. John Irving, too. Then, of course, there's Susan Isaacs. In this novel, she follows smart, funny Amy Lincoln through the travails of a romantic break-up, professional angst and uncovering the truth about her mysterious background. As always, Isaacs takes us on a journey of discovery that's more fun than a rollercoaster. I highly recommend this book to readers eager for intelligent entertainment.


Rating:
Summary: Heart whelming story
Review: I got this book as a package deal with a book club. The beginning was kind of dry but I stuck with it.

I really enjoyed this book, it is well written and the story is original. I wish the ending was a little bit more developed.

Amy, a journalist is on a path to find her mother, reconcile with her boyfriend, help a man who never knew his father, and still write her political article on time.

Although I felt the ending was a little rushed I still found this to be an enjoyable book to read and I recommend it to all those that do not get bored easily with dry beginnings.

Rating:
Summary: Ms. Isaacs latest novel - the only one I have not liked
Review: I have read all of Susan Isaacs' books and loved them all. This one was a great disappointment. I could not figure out why I should care about her or her unfortunate family.

Rating:
Summary: Better and better and better . . .
Review: Issacs's novels aren't mere replays of one another. The protagonist of each is a woman, but they're not "women's novels" -- or not merely that, anyway. This one isn't a mystery, as some of her best have been, but it's certainly suspenseful. Thirty-year-old Amy Lincoln ("no relation") is a more-than-competent New York political analyst and journalist at IN DEPTH, a magazine so serious it doesn't run pictures at all. Despite her degrees from Harvard and Columbia School of Journalism, she grew up in the projects, the daughter of a mostly likeable but only semi-successful small-time criminal and a mother who disappeared when she was a few months old, dumping her in the reluctant lap of her Grandma Lil, a part-time leg-waxer. Her background left her with a rather confrontational style and very chary of commitment in relationships, even though for two years she's been with the pretty much terrific John Orenstein, a documentary film maker who pushes all her passion buttons but with whom she is convinced she ought to break up. But all that is just the background to this multilayered story. While covering a private money-raiser by a presidential candidate, she witnesses a young, personable gate-crasher's claim to be the senator's illegitimate son. As she gets involved, against her better ethical judgment, with his quest for acceptance, she comes to the realization that she must also uncover the truth about her own mother and the theft of a diamond ring that sent her father to jail for the first time. She's an expert researcher and (speaking as someone in a similar line of work) I found the process fascinating. But Amy's search is only the means to discovering who she is, whether she's really her mother's daughter in terms of bent psychology, and what to do about John. The story is set, rather pointedly, against the backdrop of the Bush administration's invasion of Iraq, but I'm not sure I see the relevance. And there are also frequent flashback references to the events of September 11, as is probably inevitable for any future novel set in present-day New York City, but at least they play some part in the characters' personal lives. This certainly isn't a "funny" book, but Isaacs's dry wit and droll capsule descriptions add a leavening of humor that keeps things on an even keel. And her spot-on depictions of the supporting characters are marvelous. Every novel this author writes is better than the one before.

Rating:
Summary: Fine "Chick Lit" Novel from Susan Isaacs
Review: Since I haven't read any of Ms. Isaacs's prior novels, it is hard for me to make any valid comparisons between her latest novel, "Any Place I Hang My Hat", and her other works. Without question, Ms. Isaacs is a master of "Chick Lit", creating intriguing female characters of which her latest protagonist, journalist Amy Lincoln, is no exception. Here she covers an interesting twist in family dynamics, comparing and contrasting the fortunes of Ms. Lincoln with that of an illegitimate son of a prominent U. S. senator and presidential candidate, as they seek to be reunited with long-time missing parents.

Abandoned by her mother and her father - a small-time petty crook who has been in prison for much of Amy's life - soon after birth, Amy is raised by her paternal grandmother in a low-income New York City housing project, and leaves her impoverished surroundings courtesy of scholarships to a tony girls' private school in Connecticut and Harvard University. Now a political journalist for the weekly magazine "In Depth", Amy stumbles upon the senator's illegitimate son, and is inspired by his search to seek out her missing mother. Somehow, in a rather haphazard fashion, Amy succeeds finally in her quest, though the reunion itself is disappointing for dramatic reasons.

I did enjoy Ms. Isaacs's breezy, slow-paced style of storytelling. And I am pleased too that her references to the 9/11/01 World Trade Center terrorist attack were rather restrained. However, she may not be the most riveting literary stylist with respect to "Chick Lit"; a younger generation led by the likes of Amy Sohn, for example, is writing fascinating, perhaps high-brow, examples of "Chick Lit" graced with both a keen eye for storytelling and splendid prose. And yet, I have no doubt that long-time fans of Ms. Isaacs's work won't be disappointed with her latest novel.

Rating:
Summary: More than a "women's" book
Review: Since she burst onto the mystery scene with Compromising Positions, Susan Isaacs has created plots featuring strong heroines who find page-turning conflict in the most mundane worlds.

Here she steps away from the suburbs into slightly edgier territory. Amy Lincoln, a mature 29-year-old political writer, has risen from a beyond-dysfunctional home in the projects. Following a scholarship to a select prep school, she fought her way into Harvard and then Columbia Journalism School.

And now she's feeling stranded. Her too-good-to-be-true boyfriend doesn't seem to be moving to marriage. Her best friend is between marriages. Her father, released from prison for the third time, won't introduce her to his new girlfriend; after all, he's been passing for 36.

It's not clear what pushes Amy to start asking questions about her past after all this time. Maybe she is inspired by a young man who crashes a senator's reception, claiming to be a long lost son. For some reason, she gets her father to talk about her long-lost mother, then uses her reportorial skills to track down the missing family.

As Amy explores her roots, we're treated to a detailed description of just about everyone she meets -- even people who just walk onstage for a few pages. These detours add color to the novel and I for one didn't mind slowing down.

The climactic scene pulls the book together, striking just the right note. We realize how cruelly Amy's mother set events in motion that harmed everyone she knew: her own parents, Amy's father and ultimately Amy herself. True, Amy went to good schools, but there's a hint of scar tissue when she deals with past and present relationships.

Sometimes Amy seems extremely mature for a 29-year-old; after all, the author's quite a bit older. She's been through a lot, though, so her character is plausible. Her romantic life is a little more far-fetched, and the ending seems to doom the book to the "women/romance" category.

Overall, though, I enjoyed this book. I get tired of whiny, helpless heroines who can't seem to take charge of their lives, so I found myself liking Amy's strength and her willingness to accept the consequences of her own actions.


Rating:
Summary: Home is Where the Heart Is
Review: There is an underlying sadness and profound pathos at the core of Susan Isaacs'
"Any Place I Hang My Hat" despite the steely resolve and goal-oriented determinism of its heroine, Amy Lincoln. For Amy is basically an orphan, abandoned by her Mother and her father, Chicky who spends most of his life in prison.
But Amy perseveres and makes a good life for herself but is haunted by the specter of her Mother: why did she leave me, where is she now?
Besides an innate talent at writing, the aforementioned determinism and a coterie of good friends and relations, Amy has one hell of a sense of humor. Her best friend Tatty has decided to move back home after another failed marriage and has invited Amy over for dinner: "Tatty avoided looking at me, as she usually did at times like these, after (Tatty's parents) M and D had set sail on their nightly voyage from conviviality to stupor."
Or when Amy accompanies Tatty to what is in reality a "Meat Market": "Blue J's was something out of a horror movie in which aliens sucked out your essence and turned you into them. Tatty, meanwhile, patted the under curled ends of her sprayed-stiff, dark blond hairdo. Being old money allowed her to use visible hair spray. Nouveau riche blond hair had to flutter-if not fly-in a breeze."
Isaacs has cast Amy as Modern Every Woman: never able to commit to a man, wary of Men who do want to commit, scared of Men who are better looking than she: "But I'd never been able to stand guys, handsome or froggy, who pose questions...Where did you go to school?...in a smarmy tone, as if the real question was...Do you like to f**k standing up while eating egg salad?"
But family or the lack thereof is what most ails Amy and as usual her take on it is hilarious, though bittersweet: "Even when it was a dysfunctional family-like Tatty's, with her father so drunk he took a nap at the table with his cheek on the roast goose-I was jealous and resentful that I wasn't part of it."
Susan Isaacs has written a hilarious book about families, relationships and the search for a Bond. And, despite all the self-help books, despite the self- help television programs, despite the abundance and variety of food, jobs available, leisure time, this Bond continually eludes most of us. What it all boils down to then, is giving and getting Love and more to the point finding someone with which to share it: nothing earth-shaking, nothing otherworldly.
But Isaacs has filled the pages of "Any place..." with wit, candor and gorgeous plump prose. And that is not run-of-the-mill, by any means.




Rating:
Summary: An impressive and intelligent heroine
Review: This was a very compelling and intelligent read that I would recommend to anyone who would enjoy an intelligent tale of a woman's personal growth. (I received this book as a Christmas present, and I am so grateful that someone finally understood my tastes in reading material!)

Amy's story is memorable -- she was abandoned by her mother as an infant, and raised by her delusioned, neglectful paternal grandmother, and by her father, when he was not in jail. She sees school and education as an escape, and when she has the chance, she accepts a scholarship at an elite boarding school. From there, she attends Harvard and Columbia school of journalism, and gets a job as a writer for a serious news magazine. Her travels through the different social levels of urban New York, from the projects to prisons to political circles to elite boarding schools, result in really striking and thought provoking commentary. (I didn't agree with every thing that Amy or the other characters said, and, happily, it didn't appear that Issacs was offering a lecture.) At the same time, the story is accessibly comtemporary, making frequent reference to recent world events and popular culture in a way that grounds the story in a particular time and place and gives the impression that Amy is not so devoted to politics and CSPAN that she has never watched reality TV.

Susan Issac creates a intelligent, self-sufficient, yet vulnerable character and neither Issacs not her character seems inclined to understimate the intelligence of the reader. Amy is charming, smart (reading four or five newspapers a day with a keen interest in politics and current events) and interested in what is going on in the world around her. In order to grasp and appreciate some of Amy's wit and social criticism, the reader is expected to be a smart, well-aware person as well. Amy Lincoln is a truly memorable literary character, incredibly thoughtful, observant, honest, witty, and vulnerable.

One of my favorite scenes is one where Amy falls in her apartment (she later learns that she had broken three ribs) and she is unable to get up off the floor. She is in pain, and worried that she had really hurt herself. She wants to call someone and ask for help, but is afraid that no one would be interested enough to come and help her. She does call an aquaintance, lying on her back on the floor, but she is unable to bring herself to tell him what has happened to her. When she can't keep him on the phone any longer, she makes her way to her bedroom, and in the morning takes herself to an emergency room. The quiet, resigned way in which she deals with her aloneness is heartbreaking and impressive at the same time. Though scared, Amy never seems depressed. I hope that this book gets the attention it deserves.