Visitation Street (2013) by Ivy Pochoda

 1,001 Novels: A Library of America

Visitation Street (2013)

by Ivy Pochoda

Broad Street Pier/141 Beard St/Red Hook/Brooklyn New York

Brooklyn/Queens/Long Island/Staten Island: 6/28

New York: 70/105

   Part of the reason the New York section of this 1,001 Novels list is dragging has to do with the nature of New York itself, specifically, New York City, which has its pro's and cons like any place, but the cons seemingly outweigh the pros for most of the working class/underclass population. Everyone struggles to survive in the concrete jungle, and the literature reflects that experience.  I think also the fact that I am just reading through one chapter after the next lessens the impact of each individual title. I'm considering starting two chapters at once after I finish New York/New Jersey to keep proceedings fresh.

   Which is all a preamble to say that Visitation Street was another miss for me, an ensemble cast novel about a group of neighbors in the still ungentrified neighborhood of Red Hook circa...the late 2000's I'm guessing from the publication date.  The New York Times reviewer called this book "powerfully beautiful" but also only gave it a capsule review in a a piece about books with "Watery Graves."  That does accurately describe the plot, about a white girl who goes missing in racially mixed Red Hook after she and her dumb friend take a kids raft out into the Harbor. 

  I picked up the Audiobook, which turned out to be a mistake, since I thought almost all the characters and subplots were dumb.  I'd never heard of author Ivy Pachoda before I read Visitation Street- I see that she grew up in Brooklyn, went to Harvard and was a Professional Squash Player(!) in her youth.  I do appreciate every ensemble cast/portrait-of-a-neighborhood type novel in the 1,001 Novels: A Library of America project since they give a break from the parade of YA fiction and POV bildungsroman's that otherwise dominate this project.