BOOK REVIEW - CHRISTODORA by TIM MURPHY

I give this book a 2-1/2 stars rating. There were times while reading Christodora that I was thinking it to be a 3 star read, while at other times it definitely was 2 stars. Unfortunately one is made to either round up or round down your number of stars. Overall, I chose to round up. 

As my first paragraph suggests, I would relate my experience of reading Christodora by Tim Murphy akin to a roller coaster ride. The ups and downs regarding my appreciation of what I was reading were sometimes dizzying. That it was a book firmly based in New York City pulled me in initially and that aspect remained consistent. I tend to really enjoy books that center in on what we who live here, or at least near here, call "The City". In this I was not disappointed. 

Meanwhile in 1928, the Christodora House, from which the book takes its title as well as a major role in the novel, "was erected, its handsomely simple new sixteen-story brick tower on the corner of Avenue B and Ninth Street —an edifice that loomed over Tompkins Square Park and the surrounding blocks of humble tenements". I suppose, if truth be told, the fact that the New Yorkers we were introduced to were Jewish New Yorkers, didn't detract from the pleasure I was taking initially from the book. The familiarity was pleasant and reassuring.

"Felix Traum, who had long left the Lower East Side for the tonier Upper East Side and was already playing a leading role in the building of the new Temple Emanu-El on Fifth Avenue in midtown, a limestone Romanesque pile that would become the most prestigious synagogue in America", was the grandfather of Jared, a main character in the story. Jared's father, "Steven would would find himself taking his wife, Deanna, also an academic, and their two small children, Stephanie and Jared, down from the Upper East Side to the old neighborhood where his family had first landed in America, inside the humble, semi-derelict synagogues and then to Katz’s Deli for pastrami on rye."Oh, this was promising to be a great read. 

The great read continued throughout Part 1: Urban Dwellers (1981-2010) and into Part Two. As the main characters were introduced into the story: Jared, Milly, Ava, Mateo, Hector, then later Drew, Sam, Issy and some of the more minor characters, I remained interested in getting their backgrounds and learning about their early days. But at some point, as the book jumped around in time and place, my interest began to dwindle. I thought the development of the characters, Hector and Ava, Issy and even Drew, were especially strong. That of Milly, Jared and even Mateo were less so. As the book moved along these characters, for me, became cloying, annoying and not all that believable. One of the minor characters who especially annoyed me was Mateo's (later to be Milly and Jared's and finally, Milly's) psychotherapist, Richard Gallegos. His interactions with his clients did not at all ring true to this longstanding participant in psychotherapy, as a client. With the exception of the few enticing characters, I did not perceive great skill in character development. 

What mostly kept my attention was being reminded of and learning about the beginning and ongoing history of the AIDS Epidemic, particularly in NYC in the 1980's and 90's. The mixing of real people, places and events with fictional ones added to the story's interest. From the AIDS perspective, Christodora is a strong and important book. However, I did not feel as engaged with many of its characters and their relationships. The author, Tim Murphy is first and foremost a journalist. I think perhaps, his skills as such were evident but did not translate as well into good fiction writing.