Heroic Measures

Starred review from April 13, 2009
Ciment's spare and surprisingly gripping novel details one long weekend in the life of Ruth and Alex Cohen, an elderly New York couple hoping to sell their East Village apartment of 45 years. Ruth is a retired teacher and Chekhov devotee, and Alex is an artist, currently adding colorful illuminations to the couples' old FBI files. As they ready for an open house, a gas tanker truck gets stuck in the Midtown tunnel, seizing the city with gridlock and fear of a terrorist attack. (In scenes that border on parody, the local news adopts a “Danger in the Tunnel” graphic and runs viewer polls about whether “terrorists take drugs.”) Meanwhile, the Cohens' beloved dachshund, Dorothy, falls ill and has to be taken to an uptown animal hospital. As the real estate market swings in response to the news about the tanker, the Cohens wait for news about their dog and confront the reality of leaving their home. Ciment plays the veterinary, real estate and domestic details like elements of a thriller plot, while the couple's love of their dog provides heartrending texture—literature with commercial crossover.

May 1, 2009
Three disparate narrative elements—a possible terrorist attack, the real-estate market in New York City, a sick dachshund—somehow cohere into a blackly comic yet tenderly touching novel.

Alex and Ruth Cohen have been living in the same co-op apartment for 45 years. Alex is an artist; his current project is turning his wife's FBI file into a manuscript. Ruth, who has put her political past to rest, is a retired teacher with a fondness for Anton Chekhov. Right now, the elderly couple has plenty to worry about. Highest on the list is their beloved dog Dorothy, whose back legs seem to be paralyzed after a seizure. Also, they can no longer handle the five flights of steps to their apartment, so they're looking to sell it and find something more convenient. Perhaps, with the million dollars they've been led to believe the place is worth, they could even move to the Jersey shore or to that island off the coast of North Carolina that Ruth has read about. There are, however, numerous flies in this particular ointment, for something odd is happening in the Midtown Tunnel. A gas truck has jackknifed, and police are quickly evacuating everyone; rumor spreads that it could be a terrorist attack. Alex and Ruth try to follow the news reports that come in fast and furious. Abdul Pamir, the truck driver, carjacks a taxi, then abandons it and takes hostages in a Bed Bath& Beyond. If terrorists are that close, Alex and Ruth's real-estate agent tells them, the apartment could be worth far less than they had hoped. Then there's the state of Dorothy's health…

Could have been loopy in less deft hands, but Ciment (The Tattoo Artist, 2005, etc.) keeps things lively and edgy throughout.

(COPYRIGHT (2009) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

May 1, 2009
Three days of personal and public disasters form the scene of this latest from Ciment ("The Tattoo Artist"). Aging couple Ruth and Alex find their elderly dachshund Dorothy half-paralyzed on their kitchen floor and rush her to the animal hospital, only to find Manhattan's Midtown Tunnel blocked by a gasoline tanker abandoned by a suspected terrorist. After going through the ordeal of leaving Dorothy at the hospital for care, they must wake early for their open house, where bargain hunters are in full force, playing the tunnel situation to their advantage. Yet Ruth and Alex are playing the game, too, as they look at a replacement apartment. Ruth, Alex, and Dorothy take turns with the narrative, trying to reconcile their histories and personal tragedies with the media circus surrounding the tanker. The story is touching, with more than a little wry humor aimed at the easily agitated media and the vagaries of real estate in New York. By the end of the first chapter, the reader feels at home with Ruth, Alex, and their little dog.Amy Ford, St. Mary's Cty. Lib., Lexington Park, MD

Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2009
Ciment is a writer of bracing intensity, but she also possesses a pirouetting wit, and her humorous side dominates in this delectable fable of Manhattan survival strategies. Painter Alex and retired public-school English teacher Ruth love their East Village fifth-floor walk-up, but the stairs have become too taxing, so theyve reluctantly put their modest home on the market. Even their dachshund Dorothy is feeling her age. When she is suddenly in distress, Alex and Ruth try to rush her to the animal hospital, but everything is at a standstill. A gasoline tanker is blocking the Midtown Tunnel; the driver has disappeared, and post-9/11 New York convulses in fear of a terrorist attack. Ciment deftly entwines tough little Dorothys medical ordeal, teeth-bared Manhattan real-estate finagling, the absurdity of breaking news television coverage, and the suspected terrorists surreal odyssey. Add to all this the bulky FBI file documenting Alex and Ruthsactivism, which inspiresAlexs new paintings, which in turn offer a tender homage to the real-life painter Arnold Mesches. Ciments charming comedy of concerns has remarkable resonance.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)