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Hope: A Novel Hardcover – July 11, 2023
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A Boston Globe, Forward, and Times of Israel Best Book of the Year
“Riotous. . . . Hilarious . . . impeccably written . . . . Intelligent, bighearted, spew-your-gefilte-fish-funny.” —The New York Times Book Review
“A writer with this much talent can take his readers anywhere.” —The Washington Post
“Painfully funny. . . . This rivals Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s Fleishman is in Trouble in its pitch-perfect portrayal of Jewish American life.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“A comedy of (bad) manners. . . . Engaging.” —The Boston Globe
A hilarious and heartfelt novel about a seemingly perfect family in an era of waning American optimism, from the acclaimed author of The Altruists
The year is 2013 and the Greenspans are the envy of Brookline, Massachusetts, an idyllic (and idealistic) suburb west of Boston. Scott Greenspan is a successful physician with his own cardiology practice. His wife, Deb, is a pillar of the community who spends her free time helping resettle refugees. Their daughter, Maya, works at a distinguished New York publishing house and their son, Gideon, is preparing to follow in his father’s footsteps. They are an exceptional family from an exceptional place, living in exceptional times.
But when Scott is caught falsifying blood samples at work, he sets in motion a series of scandals that threatens to shatter his family. Deb leaves him for a female power broker; Maya rekindles a hazardous affair from her youth; and Gideon drops out of college to go on a dangerous journey that will put his principles to the test.
From Brookline to Berlin to the battlefields of Syria, Hope follows the Greenspans over the course of one tumultuous year as they question, and compromise, the values that have shaped their lives. But in the midst of their disillusionment, they’ll discover their own capacity for resilience, connection, and, ultimately, hope.
- Print length432 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherViking
- Publication dateJuly 11, 2023
- Dimensions6.34 x 1.34 x 9.28 inches
- ISBN-100593493338
- ISBN-13978-0593493335
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover comes a novel that explores life after tragedy and the enduring spirit of love. | Learn more
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From the Publisher
Editorial Reviews
Review
“Riotous. . . . Franzen-esque. . . . Hilarious . . . impeccably written. . . . His comic assurance . . . is reminiscent of Meg Wolitzer. . . . Ridker[’s] characters make mistakes, but they pay the price, recover and grow. . . . [T]hey soldier on and try not to lose hope. Just as we hold ours that this talented writer will keep gifting us with his intelligent, bighearted, spew-your-gefilte-fish-funny novels."
—Cathi Hanauer, The New York Times Book Review
“Absorbing . . . a vivid depiction of modern American life. . . . The novel is at once propulsive and immersive, powered by one tragicomic episode after another, right up until its final tension-filled paragraph. . . . A writer with this much talent can take his readers anywhere.”
—Malcolm Forbes, The Washington Post
“A comedy of (bad) manners—the tale of a secular Jewish family in Brookline who undermine their own prosperity and happiness with a slew of bad decisions. . . . Engaging reading. . . . As these characters struggle over money and love—what other plots are there? — they stumble, fall, and gradually, tentatively, begin to right themselves.”
—The Boston Globe
“This comic novel, about a year of crisis for an affluent Jewish family, opens with a dinner party at which each guest is served a meal representing a different socioeconomic background. According to the hostess, Deborah, the matriarch, the purpose of this exercise is ‘to replicate, in a controlled environment, the lottery of birth.’ Yet the control of the family’s own environment becomes a problem after Deborah’s husband, Scott, is caught falsifying data in a clinical trial. . . . Ridker’s tone remains light even as his characters struggle to correct course. Writing about psychiatry’s new interest in the ‘transgenerational transmission of trauma’ in his medical-school application, the son wonders, ‘Who knows what else our parents have unwittingly passed on?’”
—The New Yorker
“In this biting satire, the well-to-do Greenspan family squirms through one very bad year, from its 80-year-old grandmother siphoning her savings to a teen online paramour, to the patriarch’s alleged medical fraud.”
—Keziah Weir, Vanity Fair
“Andrew Ridker’s novel Hope had me laughing out loud. . . . A perfect read.”
—Zibby Owens, Cup of Jo
“As with his first novel, Ridker’s second book betrays an incredible sense of humor. . . . Characters believe they know best while simultaneously doubting their method and fearing being caught; and it is this tension that gives Hope a propulsion not always seen in the family-novel genre. . . . Hope is a novel that thoroughly explores the many contradictions of upper-middle class American life in the twenty-first century.”
—Benjamin Selesnick, Jewish Book Council
“If you are yearning for a sprawling satirical novel about a liberal Jewish family making spectacularly bad choices, then Hope by Andrew Ridker is the book for you. Set in Brookline, Massachusetts, Hope has good, smart fun with synagogue social justice committees, Birthright Israel trips, and Obama-era optimism.”
—The Times of Israel
“Andrew Ridker’s sophomore novel will make you feel like an archeologist of the Obama era. No cringe decor trend or performatively liberal dinner party game is spared in this send-up of a seemingly perfect Boston Jewish family as it unravels over the course of a year. But if Ridker is ruthless in his dissection of social convention, he’s generous with his characters, especially matriarch Deb Greenspan, who decides to experiment with an open marriage after her husband tanks the family finances.”
—The Forward
“Ridker’s slashing satire of upper-middle-class life (after The Altruists) turns on the foibles of a seemingly charmed Jewish family in Brookline, Mass. . . . Painfully funny. . . . This rivals Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s Fleishman is in Trouble in its pitch-perfect portrayal of Jewish American life.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Loving and hilarious. . . . Ridker may have written the novel of early-21st-century liberal idealism.”
—Shelf Awareness (starred review)
“A portrait of a tumultuous year in the life of a Jewish family in the suburbs of Boston in 2013. It takes us from Brookline to Berlin to Syria as a seemingly exceptional family undergoes a series of scandals — and ultimately, as the title suggests, finds hope.”
—Nylon, “July 2023’s Must-Read Book Releases”
“A funny, incisive, and keen novel of family, citizenship, and the fundamental American promise. . . . Sweeping yet intimate. Ridker’s distinctive talent is his eye for both realism and comedy.”
—Sanjena Sathian, author of Gold Diggers
“Hope shows us a family in freefall in the Obama-era suburbs and asks us to imagine the component parts of redemption. Leaping from nonmonogamy to research scammery, from Jewishness to Big Publishing, from filial love to filial hatred, Ridker has given us a delightful novel: capacious, mordant, bustling, and wise.”
—Sarah Thankam Mathews, author of National Book Award finalist All This Could Be Different
“Few writers working today can be called ‘laugh-out-loud hilarious’ without hyperbole. With Andrew Ridker, it’s no exaggeration. Ridker sees his characters with utter clarity, even as they make mistakes and grope for unreachable futures. This fidelity to life—to flawed humanity—is the source of the humor in his work, ultimately, and what makes his novels not just entertaining, but profound and moving. Hope is a wise, deeply funny book about the American dream and all its delusions and false summits.”
—Lee Cole, author of Groundskeeping
“A brilliantly perceptive portrait of an American Jewish family, aching for connection and meaning, while everything they hoped for themselves is falling apart. Andrew Ridker’s ability to capture the subtle and intimate, while simultaneously widening the lens to observe his characters in the greater historical moment, is astonishing. He’s also one of the funniest writers I’ve ever read.”
—Hanna Halperin, author of Something Wild and I Could Live Here Forever
“This is a novel full of hope and heartbreak, just like life. If a novel is meant to tell us what it means to be alive, then Hope tells what it means to live and love in the contemporary moment. Andrew Ridker is remarkably observant, equal parts ruthlessness and compassion. One of the triumphs of the book is that no one is denied their humanity. Amidst the downsizing of hope in evidence everywhere, this witty novel's main gift is its large-hearted humanism.”
—Amitava Kumar, author of A Time Outside This Time
“In Hope, Andrew Ridker reinvigorates the family novel with wit and grace. Roaming fluidly across a broad canvas, Ridker finds the humanity in each of his characters, even (especially!) at their most exasperating and self-destructive. It was such a pleasure to spend time with a book of such warmth and intelligence.”
—Andrew Martin, author of Early Work and Cool for America
“Andrew Ridker has once again proven himself an incredibly talented writer of our generation. His brilliant, funny, and heartfelt second novel, Hope, reminds us that while we all have to follow our own paths, family will almost always be there. I love this novel.”
—De’Shawn Charles Winslow, author of In West Millsand Decent People
“[A] wry second novel. . . . Ridker keeps these varied plots spinning nimbly, neatly balancing broad satire with a hint of compassion for characters whose lives are spinning wildly out of control. Readers who like their family drama with a sharp edge and a generous helping of moral dilemmas will be satisfied with this one."
—Margaret Quamme, Booklist
“Set in a Jewish community in 2013 Brookline, a wealthy suburb of Boston, Hope follows the Greenspans, a privileged family who seems to have everything going for them. . . . Over the course of one year, we get to watch as each family member goes off on radically different paths than expected in this witty, incisive dark comedy.”
—Zibby Owens, GoodMorningAmerica.com
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Viking (July 11, 2023)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 432 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0593493338
- ISBN-13 : 978-0593493335
- Item Weight : 1.4 pounds
- Dimensions : 6.34 x 1.34 x 9.28 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #739,262 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,166 in Jewish Literature & Fiction
- #10,572 in Family Life Fiction (Books)
- #36,529 in Literary Fiction (Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Andrew Ridker's first novel, The Altruists, was published in eighteen countries. The Altruists was a New York Times Editors’ Choice, a Paris Review staff pick, an Amazon Editors’ Pick, and the People Book of the Week. It won the Friends of American Writers Award and was longlisted for the Prix du Meilleur livre étranger and the Yasnaya Polyana Literary Prize. He is the editor of Privacy Policy: The Anthology of Surveillance Poetics and his writing has appeared in The New York Times, Le Monde, Bookforum, The Paris Review Daily, Guernica, Boston Review, and elsewhere He is a graduate of the Iowa Writers' Workshop.
Customer reviews
Customer Reviews, including Product Star Ratings help customers to learn more about the product and decide whether it is the right product for them.
To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. Instead, our system considers things like how recent a review is and if the reviewer bought the item on Amazon. It also analyzed reviews to verify trustworthiness.
Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book humorous and heartwarming. They appreciate the sharply observed characters and the writing quality. The book is satirical and written by a friend's grandson.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers enjoy the humor in the book. They find it heartwarming and satirical, depicting society in a particular time and place.
"...The title, the cover, the family, the drama, the satire. The Greenspans have it all...." Read more
"...is of the same genre as The Nanny Diaries in that it is a satirical story of society in a particular time and place...." Read more
"This book starts with biting wit along with laugh out loud observations and what follows is the story of a family...." Read more
"...feel so realistic and yet the situations they put themselves in are so hilarious - is this real life ?..." Read more
Customers enjoy the sharply observed characters and humor in the book.
"...Along with the sharply observed characters and brilliant humor." Read more
"...Great writing and astute characterizations." Read more
"I loved this book! Curb your enthusiasm meets family drama. Very well-developed characters. One of my favorite endings." Read more
"The character feel so realistic and yet the situations they put themselves in are so hilarious - is this real life ?..." Read more
Customers praise the writing quality and astute characterizations. They mention it's written by a friend's grandson.
"...Great writing and astute characterizations." Read more
"This book is a must read for me because it was written by a pal's grandson. Came immediately." Read more
"Well written, engaging book by my favorite author...." Read more
Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on August 6, 2023I loved everything about this novel. The title, the cover, the family, the drama, the satire. The Greenspans have it all. Until a fracture turns into a bigger crack, which tears through the structure that was once their well-functioning family.
Set ten years ago, when Obama was president, this is a story told from each of the four members’ perspectives, about an upper-middle class Jewish family from Brookline, Massachusetts, who are in the in-between. Harvard educated cardiologist Scott needs extra money to pay for his elderly mother Marjorie’s care. She’s given hers away. But that’s another story. In a moment of weakness, he foolishly decides to falsify tests in a drug trial for some bank. So begins his fall from grace. His wife Deb, who helps resettle refugees through her synagogue, suggests they open their marriage, and she starts seeing a woman. Maya, their just out of college daughter, started her first job at a publishing house in Manhattan where she’s run into a former college professor, a man with whom she had an affair. Following in his father’s footsteps is their son Gideon who’s pre-med at Columbia.
Marjorie, “who lived to shock,” stole the show for me. Along with the sharply observed characters and brilliant humor.
- Reviewed in the United States on August 25, 2024A lot of the reviews for this book mention how funny it is, I have no idea what plan these people are on. The book is not funny. All of the characters make poor decisions, Which is what makes it interesting. But their poor decisions aren’t funny, and there’s no resolution to any of the challenges they face. However, the very good writing makes it readable.
- Reviewed in the United States on August 1, 2023Hope: A Novel is of the same genre as The Nanny Diaries in that it is a satirical story of society in a particular time and place. In this case, the heart of the novel is based in Brookline, Massachusetts. Unlike The Nanny Diaries, Hope: A Novel does not have a true hero or heroine; all of the main characters are subject to the author's critique, and all will suffer for their own and each others' poor decisions, even as there is some glimmer of hope for absolution on account of their good decisions.
One criticism: Although much of the novel resonates, it seems that the author's understanding of charter schools (genuinely a hot topic in Massachusetts) is rooted in charter school operations outside of Massachusetts where for-profit charter schools are not permitted.
- Reviewed in the United States on July 22, 2023This book starts with biting wit along with laugh out loud observations and what follows is the story of a family. A mother, father, daughter and son, dealing with different traumas and each finding their own way to heal and survive. Great writing and astute characterizations.
- Reviewed in the United States on July 11, 2023It is 2013 and the Greenspans live comfortably in Brookline Massachusetts. Scott is a physician, Deb, a former dancer, is now active in her synagogue resettling refugees, son Gideon is on the path to medical school, and daughter Maya works for a publishing company. But then Scott, needing extra money, is found to have falsified blood samples in a research study. Deb leaves him for her female lover, Gideon drops out of school and ends up in the Middle East, and Maya gets involved with a former teacher with whom she had a crush and loses her job.
This is well written, told from various POVs. There is humor and the author does capture the times and the lifestyles of people of a certain socioeconomic strata. While the book held my attention, I just didn’t engage with any of the characters.
- Reviewed in the United States on July 29, 2023This book is a must read for me because it was written by a pal's grandson. Came immediately.
- Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2023Loved the first half of the book. Lost me towards the end, as it became to convoluted with Gideon traveling to Israel.
- Reviewed in the United States on September 23, 2024I loved this book until Gideon’s foray to the middle east, at which point the author completely lost his direction, similar to Gideon, and just ended it. What??!! Up until that moment I was happy to give it 4 stars! What a waste of time. I won’t be reading any more from this author.
Top reviews from other countries
- MaxReviewed in Canada on January 25, 2024
1.0 out of 5 stars Uninteresting book, simply.
Author has not much to say. I stopped reading after 150 pages, I rarely do that..