What do readers think of Morningside Heights by Joshua Henkin? Write your own review.

I absolutely loved this book, even though the topic is the effect of early onset Alzheimers on a marriage. The characters are well written and easy to identify with. This is one of those hard to put down books that kept me up past my bedtime!

Morningside Heights is very true to life as it happens - in a way that just pulled me in and held me.

Joshua Henkin has written a book that feels so true with characters who are so real with all their majesty and flaws. The story revolves around the great Shakespeare scholar and popular professor, Spence Robin. The three other main characters are his wife, Pru, who has given up her career opportunities to support him, their daughter Sarah, and his son from an earlier marriage, Arlo, as well as his caretaker Ginny.
Each of the characters are somewhat isolated from others for various reasons. Sarah has departed New York City for medical school on the west coast. Arlo, who only lived with the family for a brief time, has left to find his own way. He returns for one visit with Sarah at college and then as a benefactor after Spence is ill. Pru is alone except for her college friend, Camille. Then the wonderful caretaker, Ginny comes into their life. Henkin uses this opportunity to point out the subtle differences in class and opportunity and the slight racism that exists.
The depiction of Alzheimer's is very true to life. My mother and a close friend experienced early onset, so I know how the disease affects the main caretaker and the family. I understand the denial, and the constant effort it takes to try to stem the tide of the inevitability of the disease's progress.
Henkin writes so movingly about the marital and familial love in this family. And while it seems like another depressing book, it turns out to be hopeful and uplifting. I enjoyed reading it and highly recommend it

I haven't enjoyed a book like this one in awhile. Characters who are real and funny and honest, a plot that flows and a difficult subject matter depicted with respect and sensitivity. It's so much more than the book jacket describes. Read it!

Forgo vs. forego; sleight vs. slight; principle vs. principal; flout vs. flaunt; grizzly vs. grisly; mantel vs. mantle; anaticlimactic not anticlimactic - why do these word pairs matter? Do they matter at all? Professor Spence Robin's son Arlo knows that they do not matter, yet to his father, they are a concrete measurement of Arlo's education and ability.

Morningside Heights is divided into 8 sections each one with its own emphasis on a character from the book and his or her relationships. The book revolves around the life of Professor Spencer Robin who is a professor of Shakespeare at Columbia University. He is an academic star and one of the youngest professors at the university.

The story begins when Pru Steiner enrolls in the Professor's class. Their relationship is pivotal in the book. The Intellectual Professor gradually crumbles under the diseases of Alzheimer's and dementia sometime after Pru and the Professor are married.

The novel expertly weaves in and out of the four characters' lives. It examines the joys and devastating consequences that life in a loving but dysfunctional family bring.

Often a soft touch of humor enters into the novel. In chapter 33 a scene of lovemaking turns from romantic to awkward mirroring the life of the relationship itself.

This novel would be an excellent choice for a book club as it challenges our perceptions of love, Alzheimer's disease, and awkward familial relationships in blended family and other family issues.

This novel is insightful and timely- a tribute to the frailty of familial love.

I was so moved by MORNINGSIDE HEIGHTS that I had to let it sit for a couple of days before I could write about it. It is the story of a family that will experience hard things. It took me almost no time at all to become invested in Joshua Henkin's characters. They are alive and their experiences ring true, from the sweetness to the excruciating pain. Through it all, it is love and compassion that keeps them putting one foot in front of the other. This is one of the best books I have read in a long time.

This is a sweet and sad story. Pru, a young Jewish woman from the Midwest, starts graduate school at Columbia and falls for her professor. She finds all the lovely things about him are counterbalanced by problems (his previous marriage, his overshadowing fame) and, later, his declining health. Not a long book, but a very deliberate and well-thought-out story of perhaps an ordinary person who really is inspirational (without trying to be anything remotely like that). Hard to put down!

Seldom does a story about a family attain the realism that the author did in this book. Perhaps I am at an age when the storyline depicts situations similar to my own, but I identified with each of the characters completely. The author's use of parallel timelines captured my attention and made me want to read on and learn "what happens next". The life situations were believable and enduring-- I highly recommend this book as a quick, enjoyable read!