Fleishman is one of my favourite books so this one had a lot to live up to , sadly it didn’t quite hit the spot of a top read but it’s a good solid average book.
The writing is excellent , I love her style, wit and dry humour and the characters are the messed up typical wealthy lot you’d expect (!) but I just felt that while I was reading I was waiting for some big twist or just something and it never came . The chapters are very long which I think always makes a book harder to read .
And maybe the book itself is just a bit dragged out.
I’m still going to reach for whatever Taffy writes next as I like her style but is certainly say read Fleishman over this one

'Long Island Compromise' is a hugely entertaining follow-up to Taffy Brodesser-Akner's debut novel 'Fleishman Is in Trouble.' One again, Brodesser-Akner writes about dysfunctional relationships and families with great wit and great acuity.

This novel focuses on a wealthy American Jewish family. We first meet the Fletcher family in the 1980s during the novel's explosive opening chapter which deals with factory owner Carl Fletcher's kidnapping, leaving his mother Phyllis and his wife Ruth (who has two children and is pregnant with her third) reeling. The novel then fast-forwards four decades, allowing us to see the impact of this event on Carl and Ruth's now adult children: their eldest son Nathan is crippled by anxiety and becomes addicted to buying insurance for every possible eventuality, while relying on his mother Alyssa to continue mothering him; his brother Bernard (known to all as Beamer) uses his increasingly wild sexual and narcotic addictions to take refuge from his stalling career as a screenwriter after penning a series of films all of which feature a kidnapping of some sort; and Jenny, who was not even born when her father was kidnapped, has tried to distance herself as far as possible from her family's wealth by immersing herself in union politics. We also look back into the Fletcher family's past, particularly Carl's father Zelig's escape from the Holocaust in Poland. Through the story of the Fletcher family, Brodesser-Akner explores how trauma - both the trauma of Carl's kidnapping and more deeply-seated traumas at the heart of American Jewish life - are handed down through generations, as well as the corrupting effects of having "too much money and just enough time."

The novel is full of so many brilliant lines. For instance, when describing Beamer's WASPy wife Noelle, we are told that "her ancestors had left their ability to share their feelings on the Mayflower and had never called lost luggage to pick them up." And Ruth undergoes an infuriatingly patronising therapy session, the narrator reflects that "There has never been, in the history of all human interaction, a way for a woman to explain effectively that she's calm when a man has suggested she isn't." . But the novel also has profound and truthful observations to make about how one's experiences of money as a child colour one's whole adult existence: "if you grew up poor, [...] no matter how much money you acquired over your lifetime, you'd never not feel the wolf at the door. But once you're rich, you can lose all your money and still you won't have the fire of ingenuity beneath you."

Brodesser-Akner's narrative voice is arch and playful, and, rather like in Jesse Armstrong's TV series 'Succession', we often feel that we are not meant to like any of these people, At the same, there are moments where we can sympathise with all of them in spite of their frequently awful behaviour - they are people "who were bound by only one tether, which was what happened to them, which marked them forever as people who would only ever make sense to one another." This is a big, expansive, digressive and surprising read - many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for sending me an ARC to review.

The Fletcher family has done well for itself, from a background as penniless immigrants to now owning a manufacturing company and living in the Jewish heartland of Long Island. However with the death of the matriarch lots of questions have to be asked. What was the story behind the kidnapping of Carl in 1980? Why are the third generation all failing? Most importantly, where has the money gone?
This is a quite long book but is mainly really enjoyable. The Fletchers are a deeply unlikable bunch and the time taken to explore each of their stories just heightens this. However I loved the 'jewish' of the background, the description of the plastic surgery and aesthetics, the insistence on traditions at some times, even the insularity of the opinions. This is book written with love for a segment of society and is laugh out loud funny in places.

Long Island Compromise, Taffy Brodesser-Akner's tale of family, wealth and generational trauma is undeniably well-written and the premise is a unique and interesting one. The novel opens with the 1980 kidnapping of Carl Fletcher, a wealthy Long Island businessman, before jumping forty years into the future to unpack the legacy of the violent incident, and how it has shaped the lives of Carl and his family.

There is some thoughtful analysis of the different ways in which the Fletchers process the trauma of the kidnapping - or refuse to process it - and how they are a microcosm for how each generation of American Jews has dealt with the inherited trauma of their ancestors' (or their own) persecution. Brodesser-Akner adeptly describes how, in the first American suburb that was 50% Jewish, immigrants who had survived the Holocaust in Europe cloaked themselves in the trappings of wealth in order to blend in with their WASP neighbours: 'They fixed their noses into pointy things and dyed their hair blond and founded pool clubs and boat clubs so that the transformation was complete and no one would be able to pick them out from the general population and send them into slavery or off to concentration camps again.' Brodesser-Akner's gossipy first person plural narrator - which will never not call to mind The Virgin Suicides to me - sets the Fletchers up as the epitome of the Jewish American Dream, and delights in watching them suffer.

Unfortunately, I found the characters unrelentingly insufferable, which made it hard to be invested in what happened to them. Although they are undoubtedly miserable, I struggled to summon much sympathy for their travails, nor did I find them as amusing as I was clearly supposed to. Middle child Beamer Fletcher, for example, is a Hollywood screenwriter whose career has been built on riding the coattails of his more talented friend, and he now finds himself out of work because he cannot recognise that his brand of unimaginative, offensive action film has had its day.

I really wish I had enjoyed this book more. The author's prose and plotting is exemplary, and I normally love this kind of winding family saga - especially when it elucidates about a specific culture - but I just couldn't get past the unlikeable characters enough to fully immerse myself in the story. And yes, I know that they're deliberately written that way, but it didn't make them any more enjoyable.

Thank you to NetGalley and Headline for the opportunity to read and review an ARC of this book.

I'll read anything Taffy rights, forever and ever, in perpetuity - I adored FLEISCHMAN but thought LIC was in a league of its own. Amazing sophomore effort!!

Very much loved this complicated family story. I appreciated how the book was told through the perspectives of the three children while also touching on historical background of the family.

It is very much a complicated family story and story about rich people behaving badly in some ways, but I believe it was so much more than that. I loved how she brought it all together in the end.

I absolutely loved Fleishman is in Trouble so was ecstatic to receive an ARC of Brodesser-Akner’s latest ‘Long Island Compromise’ - so much so I saved it to read on my holiday. The writing is as razor-sharp, astute, witty and sardonic as expected. Brodesser-Akner is a truly gifted writer. But for me this was not a sun-lounger novel. It centres around the kidnapping of Carl and the effect this has on him and generations of his wealthy Jewish family. The reader is introduced to each of Carl’s children in the present day; the first of these is Beamer - and I think everyone reading this has alluded to the fact you just need to survive and get through Beamer’s section. But then you meet Nathan - whose life is equally hopeless in a different way and so it continues. This is not a light read - it is stressful, uncomfortable, scathing and provides a very astute social commentary on wealth and privilege. Did I enjoy it? I still do not know. But do I still think Brodesser-Akner is an incredible writer - hell yes!

Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser -Akner.

This was on of my most anticipated reads of 2024. I really enjoy TBA's writing in The New York Times, her tweets and long reads and I thought Fleishman Is In Trouble was a super read so I was excited to get my hands on this, her second novel.

I am quite conflicted now that I have read it. There were elements of this book I really enjoyed but then there were large swathes that I really didn't. The strength of the writing, her turn of phrase, detail and with kept me reading when the actual plot failed to engage me.

Long Island Compromise is the story of the Fletcher's, a wealthy American Jewish family living in a secluded town with sea views in the " nicest part of Long Island. I love a family saga and I was hooked from the beginning of this book, it starts strongly. The book opens in 1980, Carl Fletcher factory owner is kidnapped from the driveway of his luxurious home . He is returned home to his pregnant wife, his sons and his mother days later after a ransom is paid. The plan, to move on with their lives buffeted by their substantial family wealth. Forty years later, Carl's mother dies and the family return home, as it turns out none of them ever really got on with things and they have been living under the shadow of the kidnapping since. Even worse , the money they have always had seems to gone.

As I said, this started strongly and after the kidnapping the book follows the lives of the three Fletcher children and in lesser detail their parents, grandmother and how their family wealth originated.
The three Fletcher children are not nice people, one less so than the other two. The book switches to the perspective of Beamer the middle child at about 10% in and my interest in this book plummeted. When it moves to the other children's perspective I was somewhat pulled back to the story but I never cared for these characters. I have no problem with unlikeable characters but maybe I need some element of redemption in a character and there was none. Yet every time I was getting to the point of irritation , the writing would entertain me again or a flash of the family back story would draw me back in. After 400 pages, I was still wavering on my feelings and then the book swept to a deeply enjoyable conclusion. So in summation, strong beginning and end , a very murky middle but with just enough there to keep me, mostly entertained.

Well written, throws up some interesting thoughts on generational wealth ,generational trauma and the detail on Jewish customs and traditions interested me. There were other elements that I didn't like including to the point of boredom detail on kinks and S&M, the kidnapping culprits and lack of detail there and how I really didn't care what happened these people.

A solid three star, when it was good it sparkled but there's lots to wade through to find the sparkle.

Long Island Compromise
By Taffy Brodesser-Akner

When Carl returns, battered, bruised and disorientated a week after he is kidnapped from his driveway, causing unbelievable stress to his pregnant wife and two young sons, his mother Phyllis grabs him by the shoulders, looks into his eyes and says: " Listen to me Boychick. This happened to your body. This did not happen to you. Don't let it in."

This is the story of what became of Carl's family following his ordeal in 1980's Long Island, how Phyllis' uncompromising personality and her Jewish stoicism came to bear on how the Fletcher family went about their business. The business of maintaining the wealthy and privileged life that Phyllis' ruthless and ambitious immigrant husband carved out, and the business of raising kids so as not to allow their father's trauma to identity them.

The story is told is from different perspectives. First from Beamer, who was only a toddler when his mother Ruth brought him along on the ransom drop to secure the release of his father. Now a scriptwriter in LA, his sexual proclivities and drug abuse are the only way he can function. Honestly, I found this section so uncomfortable to read. I could have DNFed, but I suspected the perspective would change, and thankfully it did, to Nathan, the eldest son, the pride of the family because he does everything the family expect of him, but he's a kowtower, spineless and easily manipulated. His life is also a car crash, it just hasn't impacted yet. Then there's Jenny, she wasn't even born yet when Carl's ordeal was playing out, but she is also struggling with the fallout of their family situation through a combination of rejection of family ideals, shame of her inherited privilege and the skewed dynamics of a family whose trauma is stringently unacknowledged and deeply unresolved.

Once I got through Beamer's section of this novel it was unputdownable. Don't skip that bit, it's important to the overall story. If you read "Fleishman is in Trouble" you will recognise Brodesser-Akner's searing and witty style immediately. Her use of perspective is unflinching and she brings you into the mindset of people who you will struggle to like or empathise with until finally, finally their humanity and their vulnerability is revealed and their jigsaw piece in the family puzzle falls into place.

Coming from a recent disappointment by another long anticipated sophomore family saga, this was an unexpected hit for me. I read it surprisingly quickly despite the long chapters and initial ambivalence. I would really be interested to see if this gets picked up for TV seeing as Fleishman was so successful. Always fun to imagine who would play who.

Publication date: 9th July 2024
Thanks to #NetGalley and #headlinebooks for the eGalley

Thank you for the ARC this is a well written book but it's too long it drags the point out to the stage where you actually give up wanting to know the secret. I appreciate the writer is giving us a deep insight to the main characters and the culture they live in but I feel more focus could have been on the actual kidnapping. It's a good insight into the Jewish American Dream and is written with a sense of nuance but I did feel there was too much negative stereotypes of non Jewish people within it. There is sense sarcastic humour throughout which made it enjoyable to read I liked how it felt you were told the story by a third party looking in. I always enjoy a family sage where nothing much really takes place and this book is like that but for me the pace and length meant I couldn't fully get into it. It is very well written and sure it will be a bit much low authors last work, but for me there was something lacking. I will keep the ARC on my TBR list and hope that I might reread it and get what was lacking as am sure this book will be on a bestseller list and a TV/Film adaptation will follow.

The Fletchers are a Jewish-American success story, enjoying great wealth from the polystyrene packaging factory established by the patriarch, Zelig, who had fled from the Holocaust to make a new life in Middle Rock, Long Island. On his death, his son Carl is called to replace him at the factory, but everything changes when Carl is kidnapped and held hostage. After being brutalised and threatened for a few days, a large ransom is paid and Carl is released to continue his life with his family. They never recover from this ordeal in their individual ways, as they realise money is not enough to guarantee security, but rather threatens it, and safety is not fully attainable. The effects on the family are told individually, particularly through the eyes of Carl’s three children as they move into adulthood- nervy, pessimistic Nathan, charismatic seeker of perverse pleasures Beamer, and Jenny, the baby Carl’s wife Ruth is expecting atthe time of the kidnap, who never seems to find her place in the world. Eventually (after 500 pages!) we find out the truth about the Fletcher dynasty and the most interesting part of the story, the kidnapping. This is that difficult second novel after the runaway success of the amazing “Fleishman is in Trouble” and it will divide readers. It goes into long, occasionally turgid detail about the lives of the three Fletcher children, but you do feel like you really get to know them and at least partly understand them. It is often excruciatingly funny, and most of the writing is unflinching, sharp and incisive. The author rips apart pretensions, delusions and personality flaw with merciless skill and an eye for detail, resulting in a pitch-black satire that somehow manages to also be moving and poignant, especially in Carl’s story at the end of the book. I ended up feeling compassion for these largely unlikeable characters and I kind of miss them now I have finished. If the narrative had been a little tighter, possibly more readers might be prepared to persevere, and the Jewish cultural aspects of the story are so central that I felt some of the meaning was going over my head, but that is just me. Overall, mostly enjoyable and insightful, even if I did feel like I needed a shower after reading some of the passages about Beamer’s proclivities!

Long Island Compromise by Taffy Brodesser-Akner is an ambitious novel which explores dysfunctional family relationships, trauma, wealth and inheritances, privilege, the immigrant experience, self-sabotage.

Cleverly written with touches of wit, the story gets mired down at times with almost a stream of consciousness accounting of their lives and in particular their self loathing. Both historical and contemporary, it is a long novel (almost 500 pages) that touches on American Jewishness, the privilege of wealth, inherited trauma, self sabotaging , family dysfunction, women’s roles

I tried this between 07/06/24 to 08/06/24. DNF at 37%. I really didn’t want to dnf this as I’ve DNf’d a lot of books this week but I cannot take any more of this insufferable novel. It reads like one long stream of consciousness and it is way too long. It just never ends. I really don’t like Beamer as a chapter and I’m not interested in the drug taking or domanatrix situation. I really don’t want to read about Beamer getting a false nail up his ass. It’s not fun for me. I also thought the kidnapping thing with reference to Palestinian terrorists was a bit awkward with the current timing of what’s going on in the world right now.