The Dakota Winters (2018) by Tom Barbash

 1,001 Novels: A Library of America

The Dakota Winters (2018)

by Tom Barbash

1 W 72nd St, New York, NY 10023 

New York: 55/105

Manhattan: 11/34

 I wanted to dislike this well-observed book about life in The Dakota- famous residence of John Lennon and others- set in 1979/80- right before Lennon was murdered, but I just couldn't dislike it.   Whatever the merits of basing your work of fiction on the very real John Lennon, whose murder forms the end point of the plot, The Dakota Winters is an affecting portrait of NYC in the bad 70's.    Personally, I don't hold with the good/bad dichotomy that surrounds the narrative of US city life.  In my mind, the bad is part of what you should WANT in city living.  If you don't want the BAD go live in the suburbs where that stuff doesn't exist.  If you do live in a city with some negative energy, learn to embrace it, or at least come to terms with it, and shut the fuck up about it already.

   Not that Anton Winters, the narrator sees a huge amount of the bad beyond what is filtered through the screen of his father, Buddy Winters, a Charlie Rose-esque figure who recently had a mental breakdown on the live tv and walked off his highly succesful late night network talk show.  Son Anton was in Gabon at the time, in the Peace Corp and has returned home after fighting off a bad case of malaria in Africa.  Now Anton is back, and by back I mean he is living in his parent's place at famed building The Dakota.  His neighbors include, among others, John Lennon- Barbash/Anton pay lipservice to the others- Leonard Bernstein is mentioned at least a half dozen times but never shows up, but Lennon is front of center.  I would say I was surprised that there wasn't more controversy back in 2018, but I suppose his estate must have simply signed off on the portrayal.  The Lennon character refers to bad behavior in public in the past tense, but you never see him hitting women or doing drugs beyond marijuana in this book.

  The plot is a bildungsroman with influences of Stefan Zweig, Whit Stillman and Wes Anderson- though it is probably more accurate to say that Barbash and Anderson read the same books growing up.  Basically, it is the world of a privileged, eccentric extremely nuclear (no grandparents, aunts, uncles or cousins)  Upper West Side showbusiness family over this period of time.   Barbash does a great job, and especially if you are a John Lennon fan and a Wes Anderson fan- The Dakota Winters will hit a sweet spot.

  It makes for a good listen because it's basically just Anton Winter talking for the entire book or having conversations with other people- no challenging literary technique at work here, and it isn't too long- under ten hours. 

  While I was a considering this post, I also had the insight that the book review rating system that Lithub uses:  "Rave"/"Mixed"/"Pan" is really accurate- there only are those three categories since book reviewers rarely if ever assign numbers to their reviews a la music and film critics.  The vast majority of reviews- maybe 80 percent? Are in the mixed/respectful category where you might get a heavier description of the plot/characters but the less in the way or endorsement, or a cautious endorsement at the end.  Raves usually lead with the Rave and will indulge in hyperbole.  Raves also discuss the author and issues outside of the book itself far more frequently as a way to give context to the rave.   Pans are the rarest- considering the number of authors who review books it is easy to see why only the bravest/stupidest people out and out pan a new release of literary fiction- karma is a bitch.