Lead Review (Pineapple Street)

• Book: Pineapple Street
• Location: Brooklyn, New York City (NYC)
• Author: Jenny Jackson

Review Author: Tina Hartas

You may wonder at a book cover titled Pineapple Street but which has an orange fruit “unravelling”. It alludes to streets, one of three actual ‘fruit’ streets, in fact, in Brooklyn Heights, namely Pineapple Street, Orange Street and Cranberry Street. Pineapple Street features – obviously – but Orange Street not so much. In the Brooklyn Heights area there was, until fairly recently, a strong presence Jehovah Witnesses, who sold up earlier this century, releasing terrific real estate in the area. There are rumoured to be tunnels, connecting their buildings below ground and it is against this backdrop of buildings that the novel is set.

This is the story of the Stockton family, with focus on the women. There are three direct descendants: Darley, Georgiana and Cord (the nominal male). Sasha marries Cord and therefore marries into the family. The family is old money, extremely wealthy and pretty set in their ways. Cord and Sasha, after their marriage, are offered the family home on Pineapple Street, much to the chagrin of Darley, who has 2 children with her husband and feels that the mansion would have been better suited to their needs. There is the usual family scrapping, and each members plays their role within the family hierarchy and there are life changing events that beset individuals.

Sasha herself comes from a relatively poor but middle class family and was once engaged to Mullin, who was a controlling partner. Her family took him under their wing, regardless of his behaviour towards her and years later he admits that he was so drawn to her because he could see that she was loved by her family (but presumably not sufficiently for the members to support her during the ending of the relationship). He is still a presence in the family. The story rattles along, following in the wake of the wealthy characters, as they dine together, play tennis, sail and socialise.

I really enjoyed the storytelling, nevertheless, as it charts the lives of the characters and their interactions with each other. It is wryly entertaining and well written. In the middle it sort of wanders around in neutral gear, it is readable, and then, as it embarks on the closing chapters, it moves up several gears and gets to the point of the story: family inclusion and exclusion, understanding and redemption. There is a softening of attitude, as some of the older members actually start to actually ‘hear’ the issues that plague the younger members, who start to question the atumotaically inherited wealth and the implications of having so much money and apparent status.

Funny and well told, this is a story that entertained me.

If you fancy exploring this area of New York further through fiction, then try Cobble Hill by Cecily von Ziegesar.

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