Ellington Boulevard

October 8, 2007
An apartment on West 106th Street (aka Ellington Boulevard) links a disparate group of New Yorkers in this intricate tale of life, love and real estate. Ike Morphy, a rent-controlled tenant at 84 West 106th Street, learns his apartment is being sold by hard-luck magnet Mark Masler, who, after inheriting the building from his deceased real estate developer father, learns Ike never signed a legal lease. Ike isn't happy about giving up the cheap digs so close to Central Park, where he walks his adopted pooch, Herbie Mann. (Herbie has his own history with the ensemble that swirls around the apartment.) Columbia “veteran teaching assistant” Darrell Schiff and his ambitious magazine editor wife, Rebecca Sugarman, meanwhile, are looking to move out of their cramped student housing apartment and into somewhere with enough space for “an as-yet-unconceived child.” Their broker, part-time actor Josh Dybnick, is hot to make a commission that'll put him closer to his dream of opening his own theater. Langer (Crossing California
; The Washington Story
) takes his time in developing the characters and the depths of their interconnectedness, rendering the twists, doubts and heartbreaks that afflict the milieu highly affecting. For readers who turn first on Sunday morning to the real estate section, it doesn't get much better.

December 15, 2007
Ike and his dog, Herbie, have just returned to New York City after six months in Chicago. They find changes everywhere: on the streets, in the park, even in the pervading attitudes they encounter. Awaiting them at their apartment on Duke Ellington Boulevard are two strangers. It seems the building's new owner wants to "go condo," despite the handshake agreement that's served as Ike's lease for 20 years. This couple hopes to buy the apartment, but Ike is not giving up without a fight. This novel is about the lives of the tenant, the buyers, the building's owner, the real-estate agent, and all these characters' associated partners, employers, neighbors, and friends. The connections among the group's members radiate outward and loop back, creating weird and sometimes hilarious coincidences. Langer ("Crossing California") nails his characters, from the real-estate mogul to the wannabe actor; their stories are compelling and colorful. The reader is treated to a glimpse of life in a small corner of a giant American city, which turns out to be much like life anywhere else. Highly recommended for all fiction collections. [See Prepub Alert, "LJ" 9/15/07.]Joanna M. Burkhardt, Univ. of Rhode Island Coll. of Continuing Education Lib., Providence

Copyright 2007 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2007
Langer's Crossing California (2004) and The Washington Story (2005) depicted Chicago with a native's affection. He's living in New York now, and Ellington Boulevard attempts to capture Manhattan's quintessence as well. (A wag might wonder when we can anticipate Motoring Mulholland.) It's about real estate, a social force everywhere but especially so, of course, in his adopted city. The large cast of characters?a musician, a book-review editor, her grad-student husband, a writer, a real-estate broker, a mortgage broker, a dog, two pigeons, and many more people?orbits elliptically around a small apartment on the titular street, all of them connected in surprising ways but most meaningfully by the activity surrounding the apartment's sale. Readers fearing a social drama can relax: this is a thoughtful comedy that makes good use of Langer's remarkable ability to think himself into his characters? histories. Indeed, it's subtitled A Novel in A-Flat, and the jaunty pace suits the musical-theater themes running throughout. The large ensemble keeps us from developing close relationships with the characters, but those who like layered stories with a sense of place will find themselves humming along.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2007, American Library Association.)