The Understory (2014) by Pamela Erens

 1,001 Novels: A Library of America

The Understory (2014)

by Pamela Erens

The Ramble, Central Park, Manhattan

New York: 46/105

Manhattan: 5/34

   I'm moving north to south across the city of New York and within Manhattan I'm usually going east to west across whatever line of city blocks I happen to be reading at that point in time.  The divide between Harlem and Manhattan runs at the Jackie O Reservoir in Central Park with a gap of approximately 20 blocks, north to south, where there are no titles from the 1,001 Novels: A Library of America list.   The Understory is a quirky, little (200 pages), novel about Jack Gorse, an ex-lawyer with some kind of mental illness that prevents him from working, who gets evicted from his rent controlled New York City apartment because he illegally assumed the least from his deceased namesake, an Uncle. As a former lawyer, he drags out the process as long as possible, through not one but two suspicious fires.

   Gorse is that familiar figure of the New York City eccentric who has enough money (family trust where he only gets 500 a month in interest and can't touch the principle) to avoid abject destitution but not enough to say, survive getting evicted from his rent controlled New York City apartment.  Not to spoil the ending, such as it is, but it doesn't end well.  New York City is obsessed with rent. half-way through this chapter of the 1,001 Novels: A Library of America and at least half of these books from New York City have rent involved in the plot somehow.