On Fire Island

March 27, 2023
In Rosen’s poignant and humorous latest (after A Shoe Story), the ghost of a recently deceased woman observes her loved ones as they try to move on. Editor Julia and writer Ben Morse had an idyllic marriage before Julia died from cancer. Ben, devastated, ditches the shiva service at their New York City apartment for a trip to Fire Island, where he and Julia shared many happy moments. Julia follows him and witnesses their friends react to her absence and continue their lives without her. As well, Ben finds companionship and a foil in Shep, who owned the Morses’ house for many years with her late wife and can’t seem to stay away. Meanwhile, Julia’s best friend Renee, whose dull husband recently ditched her for his assistant, finds comfort and affection in Gabe, a drummer 20 years her junior (“a plumber!” her teen son Matty exclaims when they meet, pretending he didn’t hear correctly). Rosen has a winning sense of humor, bringing levity not to awkward and painful moments, and she packs the narrative with vivid details of beach life and city life. This is a treat. Agent: Eve MacSweeney, Fletcher and Co.

April 1, 2023
After a 37-year-old woman dies, she spends one last summer watching those she left behind work through their grief. Julia Morse is at the height of her happiness--successful in her career as an editor, married for 10 years to the love of her life, pregnant with their first baby--when it all comes crashing down and she's fighting for her life after a cancer diagnosis that was, quite simply, discovered too late. Ben, her husband, a sportswriter-turned-novelist on deadline for his latest book, is shattered by her death. Rather than sitting shiva at their Manhattan apartment for seven days, as had been the plan, he leaves for their beach house on Fire Island. He spends the summer processing his grief with their group of close-knit neighbors and friends: Shep, the octogenarian who also lost his wife; Renee, Julia's best friend, who has barely survived an acrimonious divorce; Matty, Renee's 16-year-old son, who's grown up spending summers on the island; Pam and Andie, whose baby, Oliver, was conceived around the same time as Julia and Ben's never-to-be-born child; and many others. Julia watches the summer unfold, sharing her thoughts and opinions about it all. Author Rosen has created a neat and tidy story about grief in which everything is wrapped up by the end. Some readers will find the emotional aspects of the novel tough to process, and having Julia as narrator can prove confusing, as sometimes she seems to have knowledge of the interior thoughts and emotions of the people she's watching while at other times she's just an observer. Themes of heartbreak, death, divorce, infidelity, and family strife are all addressed, as are finding love after heartbreak and happiness after grief. A sometimes tough read that will appeal to readers wondering if those who die can stick around for just a little longer.

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April 1, 2023
Book editor Julia Morse dies of cancer at age 37, but she's somehow able to stick around to witness one last summer. Her novelist husband, Benjamin, skips out on sitting shiva in their Manhattan apartment and decamps to their Fire Island cottage with their dog, Sally, only to find neighbor Shep Silver living there because his own house feels too big after the death of his wife. Meanwhile, newly divorced Renee has taken up with a young drummer, much to the disgust of her 16-year-old son, Matthew. To avoid any PDA Matthew moves in with Benjamin and Shep, and the three cope with their own separate traumas together. Peppered with quirky characters, Rosen's latest (after A Shoe Story, 2022) is a warm-hearted tale of community and recovery, as various neighbors both help and hinder Benjamin's grieving process. She captures the sandy appeal of a beach town with deft characterization and plenty of details about food, intergenerational misunderstandings, and contentious softball rivalries. Give this to fans of Elin Hilderbrand's Golden Girl (2021).

COPYRIGHT(2023) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.