My Coney Island Baby
Summary (from the publisher): An exquisite, heart-breaking novel by an Irish discovery.
Radiant with beauty, longing, and desire, and deeply touching, this literary novel, reminiscent of the works of William Trevor and Colm Tóibín, evokes the long love affair between a man and a woman, each married to another, who meet every month in a decaying hotel in Coney Island, Brooklyn.
On a bitterly cold winter’s afternoon, Michael and Caitlin, two middle-aged lovers, escape their unhappy marriages to keep an illicit date. Once a month for the past quarter of a century, Coney Island has been their haven, the place in which they have abandoned themselves to their love.
These beautiful, carefully-rationed days have long sustained Michael and Caitlin’s love, and have helped help them survive the tedium of their lives separate from each other. But now, amid the howling winds whipping off the Atlantic, and a snow storm blackening the horizon, this nearly abandoned resort feels like the edge of the world. On this winter day, burrowed in their private cocoon, they will discover that their lives are on the brink of change.
Michael’s wife is battling cancer, and Caitlin’s husband is about to receive a major promotion, which will involve relocating to the Midwest. After half a lifetime together in their most intimate moments, certain long-denied facts must be faced, decisions made, consequences weighed and, maybe, just maybe, chances finally taken.
A quiet, intense depiction of love and intimacy, My Coney Island Baby reveals, within the course of a single day’s passing, the histories, landscapes, tragedies and occasional moments of wonder that constitute the lives of two people who, although living worlds apart, have been inexorably drawn together. But even in this most private of retreats, a place seemingly built for romance, the most heartbreaking of realities loom.
Radiant with beauty, longing, and desire, and deeply touching, this literary novel, reminiscent of the works of William Trevor and Colm Tóibín, evokes the long love affair between a man and a woman, each married to another, who meet every month in a decaying hotel in Coney Island, Brooklyn.
On a bitterly cold winter’s afternoon, Michael and Caitlin, two middle-aged lovers, escape their unhappy marriages to keep an illicit date. Once a month for the past quarter of a century, Coney Island has been their haven, the place in which they have abandoned themselves to their love.
These beautiful, carefully-rationed days have long sustained Michael and Caitlin’s love, and have helped help them survive the tedium of their lives separate from each other. But now, amid the howling winds whipping off the Atlantic, and a snow storm blackening the horizon, this nearly abandoned resort feels like the edge of the world. On this winter day, burrowed in their private cocoon, they will discover that their lives are on the brink of change.
Michael’s wife is battling cancer, and Caitlin’s husband is about to receive a major promotion, which will involve relocating to the Midwest. After half a lifetime together in their most intimate moments, certain long-denied facts must be faced, decisions made, consequences weighed and, maybe, just maybe, chances finally taken.
A quiet, intense depiction of love and intimacy, My Coney Island Baby reveals, within the course of a single day’s passing, the histories, landscapes, tragedies and occasional moments of wonder that constitute the lives of two people who, although living worlds apart, have been inexorably drawn together. But even in this most private of retreats, a place seemingly built for romance, the most heartbreaking of realities loom.
Review: I received an uncorrected proof copy of this novel from HarperCollins.
This novel follows lovers Michael and Caitlin through an illicit day spent together on Coney Island together. Both married to others, the pair have spent years sustaining their love for each other through one day spent together each month. Seeking escape from a biting wind inside a dingy hotel, the two lovers are forced to confront the reality that they both are aging, as well as impending changes: Michael's wife is seriously ill with cancer and Caitlin's husband is set to receive a promotion that will require a move to the Midwest. In alternating chapters, the separate lives and histories of the two lovers is slowly explored. This is a poignant look at a cherished love that is only ever able to half flourish.
O'Callaghan does an excellent job of presenting two couples engaging in what most would consider ethically immoral behavior as relatable and worthy of compassion and understanding. Both Caitlin and Michael seemed trapped in unhappy, unfulfilling marriages and met each other too late. For better or worse, they choose to continue in a decades' long affair rather than disrupt their private lives and abandon their spouses, even as they recognize that their marriages are largely unhappy.
This novel had a very melancholy, wistful tone. I felt true empathy for Michael and Caitlin as well as their spouses and the missed opportunities and disappointments they all faced throughout their lives. That being said, there is little action in this novel. Additionally, although sympathetic, it was a little maddening that the two lovers didn't just seize their chance to be with the one they loved. Neither had children or other ties holding them back, other than reluctance to break their marriages and hurt their spouses. What was so tragic about the story could have been made right had Michael and Caitlin chosen instead to be with one another. Yet that is of course the whole point; not every love or wish is meant to be. Finally, I found the writing style somewhat overwrought. To quote the author himself, the writing in this novel, "fell in gluts, like syrup from a spoon, slowly torrential, unwinding memories" (162). It was beautiful at times but also somewhat long winded.
Stars: 3
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