Name: Halsey Street
ISBN: 9781683248439

Naima Coster

Penelope Grand has scrapped her failed career as an artist in Pittsburgh and moved back to Brooklyn to keep an eye on her ailing father. She's accepted that her future won't be what she'd dreamed, but now, as gentrification has completely reshaped her old neighborhood, even her past is unrecognizable. Old haunts have been razed, and wealthy white strangers have replaced every familiar face in Bed-Stuy. Even her mother, Mirella, has abandoned the family to reclaim her roots in the Dominican Republic. That took courage. It's also unforgivable.

Halsey Street

"Penelope Grand has scrapped her failed career as an artist in Pittsburgh and moved back to Brooklyn to keep an eye on her ailing father. She's accepted that her future won't be what she'd dreamed, but now, as gentrification has completely reshaped her old neighborhood, even her past is unrecognizable. Old haunts have been razed, and wealthy white strangers have replaced every familiar face in Bed-Stuy. Even her mother, Mirella, has abandoned the family to reclaim her roots in the Dominican Republic. When Penelope moves into the attic apartment of the affluent Harpers, she thinks she's found a semblance of family--and maybe even love. But her world is upended again when she receives a postcard from Mirella asking for reconciliation. As old wounds are reopened, and secrets revealed, a journey across an ocean of sacrifice and self-discovery begins."--Jacket flap.

Alisha 

I kept waiting for the gentrification theme to play out and it never really happened, instead we were left with a toxic and almost cruel relationship between mother and daughter. There was very little character development, which was frustrating and contributed to the slow place of the book. I don’t need to like characters, but I couldn’t find anything to hold onto with either character, nothing redeeming. The author missed an opportunity to tell a multi-generational story about gentrification, loss and love.

Gordon McLean

Live for today

An unlikeable main character that inevitably grows in you, a broken family, and plenty of lessons and ruminations of consequences and familial love, this was enjoyable if a little shallow at times.