THE GOOD PEOPLE OF NEW YORK

Roz Rosenzweig, her daughter Miranda, and the equally kooky urbanites who surround them undergo their share of comedic episodes. And Nissen, who wrote the story collection Out of the Girls’ Room and Into the Night, has great affection for her characters. Unfortunately, her tender feelings aren’t contagious. Her novel is stuffed with clunky writing and lame philosophizing: ”Miranda feels that her thinking has widened…like the road. There are so many lanes, and once you leave one, that doesn’t mean it disappears, it just goes on without you.” Any city dweller true to her neuroses would never think of life in such simple terms. The good people of New York deserve a better book.