Ellington Boulevard by Adam Langer
Release Date: 2008 / 333 pages
First Line: On the evening when he will learn that his apartment is being sold out from under him, Ike Ambrose Morphy finds a good parking space on Central Park West, then walks north toward home beside his dog, Herbie, through the early-December snow.
Synopsis: Clarinetist Ike Morphy, his dog Herbie Mann, and a pair of pigeons who roost on his air conditioner are about to be evicted from their apartment on West 106th Street, also known as Duke Ellington Boulevard. Ike has never had a lease, just a handshake agreement with the recently deceased landlord; and now that landlord’s son stands to make a killing on apartment 2B. Centering on the fate of one apartment before, during, and after the height of New York’s real estate boom, Ellington Boulevard’s characters include the Tenant and His Dog; the Landlord, a recovered alcoholic and womanizer who has newly found Judaism and a wife half his age; the Broker, an out-of-work actor whose new profession finally allows him to afford theater tickets he has not time to use; the Broker’s New Boyfriend, and a second-rate actor who composes a musical about the sale of 2B…
Review: Last week I stated that my first impressions were very positive regarding this novel (after the first 20-30 pages), and that impression held true throughout the novel. The characterization is wonderful — the synopsis doesn’t even include Rebecca, my favorite character, or her husband, my least favorite. One reviewer, Jennifer Belle, stated: “Adam Langer, who is either a genius or a schizophrenic, inhabits his characters – from a pregnant woman to a pigeon — with brilliant stealth and lovable insouciance.” Even when I didn’t particularly like a character, his/her chapter still flew by and I was as fully engaged as I was by my favorite characters.
And, if you, like me, weary of myopic New York novels — have no fear. Although New York certainly has a presence in the novel, it is really interesting and complex as opposed to the 2-dimensional “NYC as center of the universe” that becomes trite and, well, boring…
So, give it a try! Two thumbs up 
My journey through The Brother Karamazov continues to go well… Dostoevsky continues to digress into philosophical tirades that slow down the narrative pace of the novel, but they really are thought-provoking, and he eventually returns to the engrossing characters. Interestingly, I am now halfway through the novel and would be hard pressed to summarize the plot! He is all about characterization and philosophy…
Happy Reading!
