The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Apt. 3W

Starred review from July 29, 2002
The inhabitants of an apartment building on the Upper West Side of New York City are the actors in five deft reenactments of classic literary works in this debut collection; the other four stories explore the fringes of comfortable late–20th-century life in and around the city. On West 89th St. in the 1970s and '80s, young Davie Birnbaum ("I was a spooky kid in my cousin's hand-me-down corduroys.... My hair was cut in a puffy bell") takes stock of his neighbors' eccentricities. There is Solly Schlacter, unfortunate young son of a disbarred proctologist, who plummets to his death on Icarus wings from the roof of the building ("Musée des Beaux Arts," indebted to W.H. Auden's poem of the same title). There is Benjamin Button, of the title story, a shady-looking young man who is revealed to have been born as a withered ancient, like the protagonist of Fitzgerald's story, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button." There is the mysterious Wakefield, who fakes his death and spies on his wife and children across the street ("Wakefield, 7E"). And there is Kevin MacMichaelman, onetime ringleader of Davie's band of friends and, as an adult, the demented docent of an autobiographical museum he has created out of his parents' apartment ("A Penal Colony of His Own, 11E"). Set slightly farther afield, in Cold Spring Harbor, is "Bachelor Party," in which the narrator's devoutly Jewish older brother tells of his bizarre affair with the daughter of an ex-Nazi. Brownstein's distinctively skeptical, faintly elegiac voice and sense of place link all the stories, overriding the anxiety of influence to produce marvelously smooth hybrid tales that prompt readers to think twice about the intersection of life and fiction. (Sept.)Forecast:The publisher has dubbed Brownstein's stories "Salingeresque"—their wistfulness and acutely New York sensibility make that a useful tag for booksellers.

April 1, 2008
Set mostly on the Upper West Side of New York City in the 1970s, Brownstein's 2002 debut collection ranges from the unusual to the bizarre, with nine linked accounts of Davie Birnbaum's friends and neighbors. The title story, reworked from F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1922 version, tells of Benjamin Button, a young man living his life backwards, being born old and then gradually growing younger. Despite this odd premise, the characters' motivations and actions seem perfectly believable. With echoes of Icarus, there is the tale of the frightening proctologist who straps wings on his son and pushes him off the roof. Davie relates in "Wakefield, 7E," the story of Mr. Wakefield, who fakes his own death, then moves across the street and spends his time spying on his wife and children. Perhaps the most poignant tale is that of Davie's friend and childhood ringleader Kevin McMichaelman, who turned mad at 17. Several years later and feeling guilty over not having been more supportive toward Kevin, Davie visits him, now a docent in the family home he has converted into a weird museum. The strange blend of humor, place, and memory in these works is powerful and entertaining. Scott Brick's reading makes even the most eccentric character credible. Recommended for large public libraries. [Fitzgerald's story was rereleased in paper in 2007, and Brad Pitt and other biggies are slated for the film version, due out later this year. Also available as downloadable audio.Ed.]Nancy R. Ives, SUNY at Geneseo

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