Heroic Measures (Vintage Contemporaries)
by Jill Ciment
List Price:
Our Price: $3.82
You Save: $10.18 (73%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $1.68 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Jill CimentEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2010-06-01
ISBN: 0307386783
Number of pages: 208
Publisher: Vintage
Book Reviews of Heroic Measures (Vintage Contemporaries)
Book Review: This Become an Annoying Novel
Summary: 2 Stars
The more I read, the fewer stars I knew this was going to get from me. The central characters, not counting aging Dorothy the dachshund, Ruth and Alex, are just the most wonderful elderly Jewish couple who have lived for decades in a fifth-floor unit somewhere in the Village in NYC. Alex is both an artist and a compiler of FBI files regarding their early married life during the McCarthy era. Ruth is a retired English teacher. They are childless, but Dorothy, now 12, is the subsitute. And I just wish the novel had been more about them and their former lives instead of pages and pages and pages of their real estate adventures as they have Lily the realtor bring in bunches of people to their unit making bids but without contracts, something that may be unique to New York City, but certainly something that doesn't happen elsewhere. In other words, that part lacked credulity. And then there is the "terrorist" who is splattered all over the Fox News-type coverage, loose in the city, and as a result quite possibly a factor in whether their nearly million dollar unit (they originally paid five thousand) will sell or not. Totally unbelievable. There is even a scene with Alex on the toilet seat. This novel should cut way back and should focus some upon Dorothy who needs surgery. Like many of her breed, she has lost control of her back legs. There are pages of angst about what goes on in the vet hospital. I would so much have liked to have known about what Ruth and Alex did back in the fifties than to have waded through what apparently is the new appeal out there: terrorists! Just too much was trying to be accomplished. And as a result it really is not a good novel. Not at all. Anyone want a free copy?
Summary of Heroic Measures (Vintage Contemporaries)
New York City is on high alert?a gasoline truck is ?stuck? in the Midtown tunnel and the driver has fled. Through panic and gridlock, Alex and Ruth must transport their beloved old dachshund?whose back legs are suddenly paralyzed?to the animal hospital, using a cutting board as a stretcher. But this is also the weekend when Alex and Ruth must sell the apartment in which they have lived for most of their adult lives. Over the course of forty-eight hours, as the mystery of the missing truck driver terrorizes the city and the dachshund?s life hangs in the balance, the bidding war over their apartment becomes a barometer for collective hope and despair. Told in shifting points of view?Alex?s, Ruth?s, and the little dog?s?Heroic Measures is a moving, deft novel about urban anxiety and the love that deepens over years.Family Saga Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Family Saga Books
Elephant Manby Christine Sparks
Ballantine Books; Published: 1986-11-12; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.02
Price in other shops:
Assegaiby Wilbur Smith
Thomas Dunne Books; Published: 2009-05-12; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $2.00
Price in other shops:
Birds of Preyby Wilbur Smith
St. Martin's Griffin; Published: 2003-05-16; Paperback; Book
Best price: $48.99
An Act of Loveby Nancy Thayer
St Martins Pr; Published: 1997-09; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.85
Price in other shops:
Honoluluby Alan Brennert
St. Martin's Press; Published: 2009-03-03; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $10.00
Price in other shops:
Family Treeby Barbara Delinsky
Anchor; Published: 2009-10-27; Mass Market Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.99
Price in other shops:
Those Who Save Usby Jenna Blum
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt; Published: 2005-05-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $2.99
Price in other shops:
Vinegar Hillby A. Manette Ansay
Penguin USA (P); Published: 2000-05; Paperback; Book
Best price: $14.99
Billy Phelan's Greatest Gameby William Kennedy
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1983-01-27; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.74
Price in other shops:
Quicksilver (The Baroque Cycle, Vol. 1)by Neal Stephenson
William Morrow Paperbacks; Published: 2004-09-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.22
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
Super Sad True Love Story: A Novelby Gary Shteyngart
Random House Trade Paperbacks; Published: 2011-05-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.44
Price in other shops:
Yes, My Darling Daughter: A Novelby Margaret Leroy
Picador; Published: 2010-03-02; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.89
Price in other shops:
Reality Hunger: A Manifesto (Vintage)by David Shields
Vintage; Published: 2011-02-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.65
Price in other shops:
Cloud Atlas: A Novelby David Mitchell
Random House Trade Paperbacks; Published: 2004-08-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.00
Price in other shops:
Alias Grace: A Novelby Margaret Atwood
Anchor; Published: 1997-10-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.50
Price in other shops:
A Gesture Life: A Novelby Chang-rae Lee
Riverhead Trade; Published: 2000-10-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.15
Price in other shops:
Wasby Geoff Ryman
Penguin (Non-Classics); Published: 1993-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.95
Price in other shops:
The Tattoo Artist: A Novelby Jill Ciment
Vintage; Published: 2006-10-17; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.94
Price in other shops:
Pym: A Novelby Mat Johnson
Spiegel & Grau; Published: 2011-03-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $14.49
Price in other shops:
The Stone Diaries: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)by Carol Shields
Penguin Classics; Published: 2008-09-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.12
Price in other shops: