Crossing Brooklyn Ferry

April 28, 1997
Though the title invokes Walt Whitman's great poem of wonder at humanity, this novel's scope and quality of execution is much narrower, tracing a predictable love affair between next-door neighbors. But more than anything, the novel is an extended love letter to Park Slope, Brooklyn, an old immigrant community whose spacious brownstones and quiet streets have recently been gentrified into an enclave of literary ex-Manhattanites--including Fields (Lily Beach). Editor Zoe Finney, her wealthy husband and their young daughter move to Park Slope from Manhattan, hoping that Jamie will recover from his depression over the accidental death of their elder daughter. Working-class Jim O'Connor and his wife, Patty, who live next door, resent the well-heeled influx represented by the Finneys. Relentlessly uncouth, unkempt and unattractive, Patty O'Connor overlooks her husband's philanderings; she is in love with her brother-in-law, high-school teacher Keevan, who shares their brownstone. Keevan and Zoe are immediately attracted to each other and start spending time together, despite Zoe's pangs of guilt. Patty's wrath when she discovers their affair puts many events in motion, including the lovers' need to make a decision about their future. Unfortunately, Fields settles for a pat solution. Even more disappointing is Fields's lack of empathy for her characters. In pitting brittle, professional Zoe against tacky, mean-spirited Patty, she renders both women equally unsympathetic. Park Slope's easygoing local color is more attractive than the people who live there.