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The denizens of a posh Manhattan apartment building get tripped up by a tangle of social dividing lines in this perceptive comedy of manners.
A black man and an ex-con (he did time in Sing-Sing for kiting checks), Albert Lawrence knows hes lucky to have a job as a head doorman and concierge at an exclusive Fifth Avenue co-op apartment complex. Hes painfully courteous and deferential to the White millionaires who live there, especially to John Smith, the head of the co-op board and an insufferable prig whose eviction of a nesting pair of peregrine falcons draws public protest. But Albert and John have a complicated relationship. They practically grew up together their mothers live together on terms of cozy equality in the buildings vast penthouse and Albert is guiltily carrying on an affair with Johns wife. The building is rife with similar transgressions, like the neglected housewife who seduces Latino deliverymen and the teenage girl whos afraid to tell her father shes dating a Black boy, all of which embroil Albert. Things come to a head when Baron Romanovsky, a shady Russian with an entourage of thugs and floozies, moves in and launches a plot to take over the building. Alberts delicate position requires him to register and ponder, moment by moment, the subtle nuances of race, class and sexual attraction as he negotiates a series of awkward imbroglios. His employers wealth and sense of entitlement makes them by turns haughty, chummy or simply oblivious to the burdens they impose on others, and Albert must carefully calculate how much leeway their capricious moods allow him. At times, the author allows his platitudinous reflections We are all human beings, subject to the vicissitudes of life that failure and opportunity force us all to face to slow the narrative down. But Ephraim draws a rich portrait of this yeasty milieu, stocked with amusing intrigues and sharply observed characters.
www.bookmasters.comwww.fredephraim.com
An entertaining plunge into one of New Yorks fuzzier melting pots.
–Kirkus Discoveries
Birds of a Feather
A savvy novel of class, race, redemption, and family
A new novel, Birds of a Feather, by Fred Ephraim, sheds light on the secretive life of the residents in a Manhattan co-op but all is not typical in the goings on at this Manhattan enclave. Albert Lawrence narrates the story from his own unique vantage point. He is the buildings concierge/doorman but the catch is that he was raised in its penthouse. But his early-career white collar crime altered the course of his life and left him in his precarious position. He shares a story of redemption, scandal, race, family, class, and forgiveness. Along the way he shows us how were all pieced together like a patchwork quilt.
The author says: Birds of a Feather is uniquely told story that resonates from an abiding truth and reality that is, in its own right, compelling. The story centers around a place what goes on behind the walls of one of the elite co-ops in New York Cityshedding light to outsiders who wouldnt otherwise have access to the lifestyle afforded the buildings residents.
Birds of a Feather is about the following:
How family loyalty can extend beyond normal boundaries.
Why life is not so black and white when it comes to racial relations.
How residents of privilege may think they differ from the masses but really dont.
Whether the Russian Mob can buy or threaten its way into circles of the elite.
How one can turn a second chance into redemption, forgiveness, and change.
How love still overcomes differences of race or class.
The burden of seeking to protect a lifetime of secrets.
Freds tale engages us to think about how weve gotten away from tearing down barriers to instead, taking steps to keeping up false facades that should no longer be left standing. When it comes to how we relate and communicate with those of a different status, whether it be of race, class, or culture, we need to get past bias and ignorance.
His novel is also about family and the mangled relationships that often afflict us. Fred says: The story is about adults, but not all are fully grown up. When secrets are revealed and the truth comes out about who is related to whom, who is sleeping with whom, and what extreme actions certain individuals took to protect their family, the story unfolds with a vibrant energy that infuses the reader.
The book has an affinity for fine, rich detail that enhances its reading. Forming mental images and pictures of what is like a play unfolding before us is done with great ease as a result of the dialogue-rich text.
Fred, raised as one of five by a single mother in Brooklyn, draws from his impoverished roots when writing about race and class. In Birds of a Feather, says the author, I attempt to demystify race as inherently obstinate, and the story postulates through myriad examples, that we are in fact, each one of us not so different from the other.
Birds of a Feather entertains and enlightens, revealing a story with the style and privilege of an insider. The author intertwines and juggles numerous sub-plots. He whispers to us with sidebars, as if we each were in a one-on-one conversation with him. He measures the weight of his words, providing detail, context, and place while passing along social commentaries and seemingly pausing as if to show us, frame-by-frame, a breakdown of who we think we are and contrasting it with who we really are.
One of the books strongest traits is that, as the story unfolds through Alberts words, he pulls you into the action and activates your sensibilities and attitudes about how things should be, as opposed to how they really are.
In a bit of art imitates life, Fred can comment on a recent real-life headline story about how a rich white woman, a resident of an exclusive Manhattan co-op, ended up bedding her non-white doorman. The young man was fired for falling in love with her but came back to live with her in the building once they were married. The residents reportedly gave them the cold shoulder and they received little service from the new doorman and maintenance staff. A $10 million lawsuit has been filed by the couple as a result.
Cant we all just get a long?
