Book Review - Little Disasters by Randall Klein

 

Michael and Paul are on the cusp of being new fathers. They meet at the hospital where their wives, Rebecca and Jenny, give birth. For Paul, tragedy follows when his son prematurely perishes. He hopes to speed up his and Jenny's recovery and ease her dark moods by giving her something to look forward too. He turns to Michael and asks for a favor while unwittingly kindling an affair that would tear the two couples apart.

One year later,  their personal lives come to turning point when a mysterious incident occurs in Midtown Manhattan and shuts down the entire city. Both Michael and Paul are stranded and are desperate to find their way home. Michael is near the Cloisters while, Paul is in a dark subway tunnel under the East River. They both try to make the trek home in record breaking heat while nervously eyeing the thin plume of smoke painting the skyline. As they begin the journey home, we learn of their private and public turmoils that trouble them. 

I thought the novel was going to be an interesting read but, I couldn't quite get into it. Majority of the main characters were despicable people and I didn't really care for them. I found the woman who they had an affair with to be unlikable and downright annoying at times.She was cheating on her spouse multiple times and seemed to be quite proud on inflicting pain on him but, she wasn't sympathetic to his needs or indiscretion. She also kept withholding her feelings and parts of herself but, wanted everyone to be upfront and sharing with her. 

I didn't understand how two of the characters started their affair when one of the characters seemed to hate the other and wanted to avoid them at all cost. I didn't like that the author kept jumping between characters and time periods. At first it was hard to keep track of who was married to who. The story was also filled with a lot of useless details such as the break down of the each celebration meal. I didn't really understand why the author felt the need to tell the readers what the couple eat during each meal course and what they paired it with. At times, I did feel that the book was a bit of a love letter to NYC and it's wonderful perks and flaws. I did enjoy reading the different places they went but, I am a native NYCer and not everyone would love these details. Personally, I didn't like that most of the plot was spoiled early on and that the only mystery was what caused them to be stuck in the city.