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Halsey Street
A modern-day story of family, loss, and renewal, Halsey Street captures the deeply human need to belong—not only to a place but to one another.
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.
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.
An engrossing debut, Halsey Street shifts between the perspectives of these two captivating, troubled women. Mirella has one last chance to win back the heart of the daughter she’d lost long before leaving New York, and for Penelope, it’s time to break free of the hold of the past and start navigating her own life.
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.
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.
An engrossing debut, Halsey Street shifts between the perspectives of these two captivating, troubled women. Mirella has one last chance to win back the heart of the daughter she’d lost long before leaving New York, and for Penelope, it’s time to break free of the hold of the past and start navigating her own life.
332 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2018
About the author
Naima Coster
4 books837 followersNaima Coster is the author of WHAT'S MINE AND YOURS, an instant New York Times bestseller, as well as a Read with Jenna and Book of the Month Club pick. Her debut, HALSEY STREET, was a finalist for the 2018 Kirkus Prize for Fiction and longlisted for the VCU Cabell First Novelist Award. It was recommended as a must-read by People, Essence, BitchMedia, Well-Read Black Girl, The Skimm, and the Brooklyn Public Library among others.
Naima’s essays have appeared in the New York Times, Elle, Time, Kweli, The Paris Review Daily, The Cut, The Sunday Times, Catapult, and elsewhere. In 2020, she was named a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 Honoree.
Naima’s essays have appeared in the New York Times, Elle, Time, Kweli, The Paris Review Daily, The Cut, The Sunday Times, Catapult, and elsewhere. In 2020, she was named a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 Honoree.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 820 reviews
March 9, 2018
3.5 The oftentimes complicated relationship between mother and daughter is fully explored in this wonderful novel, that takes us from Brooklyn, New York to the Dominican Republic. This is not a quick read, the pace is rather slow in fact, but it covers the gentrification of a neighborhood, the disintegration of a marriage, and of a daughter who may wait too long to reconcile with her mother.
What made this a special read for me is that I could picture all this happening, it is so vividly written, seemed so realistic.
Mirella, the mother, and Penelope, the daughter are complex characters, sometimes likable, many times not. Their misunderstandings, years in the making are not easily resolved, especially as Penny seems only to understand and relate to her father. They narrate their stories in alternate chapters, and I have to admit loving those set in the Dominican Republic, the colors, the flavors of the Caribbean, so lush. We find out what happened between Mirella and Ralph, how they came to live in different countries. There is an iconic record story whose closing will start the downward spiral of marriage and neighborhood. We see how gentrification changes things, makes them unrecognizable, neighborhood and people.
Most of all this is a realistic portray of the dynamics, flaws and all, of family relationships. Was a slower read but a good one.
ARC from Netgalley.
What made this a special read for me is that I could picture all this happening, it is so vividly written, seemed so realistic.
Mirella, the mother, and Penelope, the daughter are complex characters, sometimes likable, many times not. Their misunderstandings, years in the making are not easily resolved, especially as Penny seems only to understand and relate to her father. They narrate their stories in alternate chapters, and I have to admit loving those set in the Dominican Republic, the colors, the flavors of the Caribbean, so lush. We find out what happened between Mirella and Ralph, how they came to live in different countries. There is an iconic record story whose closing will start the downward spiral of marriage and neighborhood. We see how gentrification changes things, makes them unrecognizable, neighborhood and people.
Most of all this is a realistic portray of the dynamics, flaws and all, of family relationships. Was a slower read but a good one.
ARC from Netgalley.
March 6, 2018
I wanted to love this book. I wanted to let everyone know how amazing this book was. I wanted to sing praises about this book but it just fell flat. I felt the book was slow, the character development was limited and I generally just lost interest 30% in.
Hasley Street is told from the perspective of Penelope, a failed artist who is currently living in Bed-stuy and seeing all the gentrification taking place. She is trying to find her footing in a world that seems to be changing all around her, added to that is taking care of her father, not to mentioned her ruined relationship with her Mom Mirella. We meet Mirella, Penelope's mother who resides in Dominica, she muses about her time in Brooklyn, her marriage and her relationship with her daughter.
Overall, this book fell flat. I did not like or felt anything for the main character Penelope. I felt she was sulky, angry, and a little immature especially for someone that is thirty. I understand that she is going through a lot, she is misunderstood but I felt I just do not know her. Her character development was limited and I think that was a major flaw of the book.
This was an ok debut novel, I might read something else by Naima Coster in the future but this book did not do it for me.
Hasley Street is told from the perspective of Penelope, a failed artist who is currently living in Bed-stuy and seeing all the gentrification taking place. She is trying to find her footing in a world that seems to be changing all around her, added to that is taking care of her father, not to mentioned her ruined relationship with her Mom Mirella. We meet Mirella, Penelope's mother who resides in Dominica, she muses about her time in Brooklyn, her marriage and her relationship with her daughter.
Overall, this book fell flat. I did not like or felt anything for the main character Penelope. I felt she was sulky, angry, and a little immature especially for someone that is thirty. I understand that she is going through a lot, she is misunderstood but I felt I just do not know her. Her character development was limited and I think that was a major flaw of the book.
This was an ok debut novel, I might read something else by Naima Coster in the future but this book did not do it for me.
February 25, 2018
In the end, I wanted to shake both Penelope and Mirella hard, and then pull them into a hug. Both beautifully flawed, complex, and dynamic characters. I'm still gathering my thoughts on this one, but I can't wait for everyone to read this come January.
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Full review 12/23: Looking back, it is fitting that I binge-read Halsey Street the same weekend that I binge-watched She's Gotta Have It, the Spike Lee-directed television series based on his film from the 1980s. Both feature black Millennial women stumbling as they try to figure out the direction of their professional and personal lives, against the backdrop of gentrifying Brooklyn. Nola Darling and Penelope Grand are both complex characters—at times incredibly frustrating, often very relatable, and ultimately deeply flawed (i.e., human).
I don't want to compare the book and the show too much, because I loved them both in different ways. But what they share, and what spoke to me most about this novel, is a deep sense of place: Brooklyn is vibrant and dynamic, a character in its own right that means different things to each person who encounters it. Like Jacqueline Woodson's Another Brooklyn, this book was transportive in the way all good stories are.
In addition, I thought the development of the family dynamics at the center of this story, especially the painful, complicated mother-daughter relationship between Penelope and Mirella, was skillfully done. I've read few books that focus on the internal life of a mother, particularly a mother like Mirella who chooses her own freedom and (sort of?) happiness over her husband and daughter. Generally, I don't like when novels switch character perspectives, but here it felt right and necessary. I needed Mirella's point of view and voice in order to empathize with her and understand her.
I really enjoyed Halsey Street. It is introspective and empathetic, in addition to being beautifully and assuredly written. I look forward to reading whatever Coster comes up with next.
Thanks to Little A and the author for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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Full review 12/23: Looking back, it is fitting that I binge-read Halsey Street the same weekend that I binge-watched She's Gotta Have It, the Spike Lee-directed television series based on his film from the 1980s. Both feature black Millennial women stumbling as they try to figure out the direction of their professional and personal lives, against the backdrop of gentrifying Brooklyn. Nola Darling and Penelope Grand are both complex characters—at times incredibly frustrating, often very relatable, and ultimately deeply flawed (i.e., human).
I don't want to compare the book and the show too much, because I loved them both in different ways. But what they share, and what spoke to me most about this novel, is a deep sense of place: Brooklyn is vibrant and dynamic, a character in its own right that means different things to each person who encounters it. Like Jacqueline Woodson's Another Brooklyn, this book was transportive in the way all good stories are.
In addition, I thought the development of the family dynamics at the center of this story, especially the painful, complicated mother-daughter relationship between Penelope and Mirella, was skillfully done. I've read few books that focus on the internal life of a mother, particularly a mother like Mirella who chooses her own freedom and (sort of?) happiness over her husband and daughter. Generally, I don't like when novels switch character perspectives, but here it felt right and necessary. I needed Mirella's point of view and voice in order to empathize with her and understand her.
I really enjoyed Halsey Street. It is introspective and empathetic, in addition to being beautifully and assuredly written. I look forward to reading whatever Coster comes up with next.
Thanks to Little A and the author for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.
December 11, 2017
From my editor's letter:
If you are bilingual like I am, you know that your brain can work on two parallel paths simultaneously. Both paths tell the same story but in a different way. It’s no coincidence that I was thinking about this experience while devouring Naima Coster’s debut novel, Halsey Street. The main character, Penelope Grand, flits between parallel worlds—her mother’s in the Dominican Republic and her father’s of jazz and record shops and bars where everyone knows your name in Bed-Stuy.
Penelope moves back to her once-familiar but now rapidly gentrifying neighborhood in Brooklyn to care for her ailing father, but her life is turned upside down when her estranged mother, Mirella, sends a postcard asking to reconnect. Naima expertly drew me in to Penelope and Mirella’s worlds and inspired deep reflection. What happens when you move back home and don’t recognize your past? Is change—in a neighborhood, in your situation, in life—necessarily bad if it benefits everyone? How do you mend two halves when they’ve been fractured for so long?
The two cultures are never at odds—like two languages, they complement each other. I can’t think of a changing Bed-Stuy without also thinking about the lushness of the DR nor can I think of Penelope without thinking of Mirella. I was struck by the emotions I felt for these complicated and passionate women, both of whom I was rooting for despite realizing they are also both at fault. The contradictions, struggles, and connections we make in life are not easy but Halsey Street walks these parallel paths confidently.
If you are bilingual like I am, you know that your brain can work on two parallel paths simultaneously. Both paths tell the same story but in a different way. It’s no coincidence that I was thinking about this experience while devouring Naima Coster’s debut novel, Halsey Street. The main character, Penelope Grand, flits between parallel worlds—her mother’s in the Dominican Republic and her father’s of jazz and record shops and bars where everyone knows your name in Bed-Stuy.
Penelope moves back to her once-familiar but now rapidly gentrifying neighborhood in Brooklyn to care for her ailing father, but her life is turned upside down when her estranged mother, Mirella, sends a postcard asking to reconnect. Naima expertly drew me in to Penelope and Mirella’s worlds and inspired deep reflection. What happens when you move back home and don’t recognize your past? Is change—in a neighborhood, in your situation, in life—necessarily bad if it benefits everyone? How do you mend two halves when they’ve been fractured for so long?
The two cultures are never at odds—like two languages, they complement each other. I can’t think of a changing Bed-Stuy without also thinking about the lushness of the DR nor can I think of Penelope without thinking of Mirella. I was struck by the emotions I felt for these complicated and passionate women, both of whom I was rooting for despite realizing they are also both at fault. The contradictions, struggles, and connections we make in life are not easy but Halsey Street walks these parallel paths confidently.
June 4, 2018
In this lovely novel, Naima Coster captures, with depth and nuance, the yearnings, ambivalence, and insecurities of a woman on the brink of adulthood. In the process of healing old wounds, Penelope Grand must mend complex fractures in relationships with her estranged mother in the Dominican Republic and her father in Brooklyn. An exceptional debut that limns the perils and hard-won pleasures of connection.
April 25, 2019
Well-written story of a complicated mother-daughter relationship, and the changes wrought by gentrification on the main character's neighbourhood.
It's not easy reading a book where it's hard at times to empathize with the main character's words and actions. However, Naima Coster had me reading and constantly wanting to know more about the central relationship of Penelope and her mother Mirella, and what might have contributed to the animosity Penelope felt. Oddly, though Penelope kept telling us how awful her mother was, when Coster began showing us Mirella's life as a young wife and mother, and much later in the Dominican Republic, I found myself caring about Mirella and her difficulties being married to a man who didn't seem to understand her, be very involved in his marriage or in being a father. Even while I grimaced every time Penelope did everything she could to sabotage every relationship or situation she was in, I did find myself caring about her, even when I wanted to occasionally tell her off for something she had done.
I listened to this, and Bahni Turpin did her usual stand-out job voicing the characters.
Naima Coster showed us beautifully how three people could hurt each other repeatedly; I found her characters and writing compelling. And though gentrification was the backdrop against which this story took place, I was constantly focusing on the family dynamics, and I'm interested in what Naima Coster writes next.
It's not easy reading a book where it's hard at times to empathize with the main character's words and actions. However, Naima Coster had me reading and constantly wanting to know more about the central relationship of Penelope and her mother Mirella, and what might have contributed to the animosity Penelope felt. Oddly, though Penelope kept telling us how awful her mother was, when Coster began showing us Mirella's life as a young wife and mother, and much later in the Dominican Republic, I found myself caring about Mirella and her difficulties being married to a man who didn't seem to understand her, be very involved in his marriage or in being a father. Even while I grimaced every time Penelope did everything she could to sabotage every relationship or situation she was in, I did find myself caring about her, even when I wanted to occasionally tell her off for something she had done.
I listened to this, and Bahni Turpin did her usual stand-out job voicing the characters.
Naima Coster showed us beautifully how three people could hurt each other repeatedly; I found her characters and writing compelling. And though gentrification was the backdrop against which this story took place, I was constantly focusing on the family dynamics, and I'm interested in what Naima Coster writes next.
December 13, 2017
I tried, and then I tried some more to slog thru this book's main characters' unhappiness and selfishness because I was sure there would be growth and reconciliation ..eventually. 68% through I gave up, and I never give up on a book. I love reading immensely. I couldn't relate to the characters. I couldn't understand how they were supposed to be strong, good women when they were so petty, immature and selfish and antisocial, yet so stupidly dependent on someone else to tell them they are worthy when they.
I tried, I really tried to be patient with these stupid vapid, selfish women in the hopes that their pending and hoped for happy reunion would redeem them for me. 68% of the way into this poorly paced novel there was only more whining about how no one loves them, when they won't ever be happy and that it was someone else's fault. I find them immature, petty, selfish and antisocial. I never write reviews, ever. This is my first because I was so disappointed in this novel. The author writes well, tells good antidotes, creates good imagery, but I am done with her whiny, gloomy characters, I won't have them wasting anymore of my time.
I tried, I really tried to be patient with these stupid vapid, selfish women in the hopes that their pending and hoped for happy reunion would redeem them for me. 68% of the way into this poorly paced novel there was only more whining about how no one loves them, when they won't ever be happy and that it was someone else's fault. I find them immature, petty, selfish and antisocial. I never write reviews, ever. This is my first because I was so disappointed in this novel. The author writes well, tells good antidotes, creates good imagery, but I am done with her whiny, gloomy characters, I won't have them wasting anymore of my time.
Read
March 1, 2018Naima Coster’s Halsey Street is an ode to all art forms. The author’s voice is fresh and powerful, and their literary craft is truly exquisite, one that is descriptive without being verbose. Coster’s skills allows the carefully conjured images to shine, whether in the dimming light of a New York sunset or the midday sun of a Caribbean isle.
Set against the backdrop of a changing Brooklyn, this contemporary novel is a no-holds barred critique of gentrification, as well as a passionate, nuanced analysis of family and self-discovery. Told in alternating points of view, Halsey Street gives readers a main character whose story is fresh and extremely timely. The characters and their experiences are extremely relatable and fully drawn. Our protagonist is flawed, vulnerable and realistic. She is the twenty something of this millennium, the same as we are, the ones who have been vastly underrepresented in literature. In a similar vein, her father Ralph is idealistic, proud and true-to life. Readers will find that they easily connect to Penelope’s love for art, to Ralph Grand’s passion for vinyl, or Mirella's love for her garden and her intense desire to be untethered.
More broadly, Halsey Street engages its audience. This analysis and character studies are expertly delivered without feeling heavy handed or distracting. This debut is a standout among its literary peers, and we look forward to reading more of Coster’s work. Rebel Women Lit highly recommends adding Halsey Street to your Christmas 2017 book wishlist.
Thank you to Little A Books for sending Rebel Women Lit a copy of Halsey Street in exchange for an honest review.
- Kaymara Barrett
Set against the backdrop of a changing Brooklyn, this contemporary novel is a no-holds barred critique of gentrification, as well as a passionate, nuanced analysis of family and self-discovery. Told in alternating points of view, Halsey Street gives readers a main character whose story is fresh and extremely timely. The characters and their experiences are extremely relatable and fully drawn. Our protagonist is flawed, vulnerable and realistic. She is the twenty something of this millennium, the same as we are, the ones who have been vastly underrepresented in literature. In a similar vein, her father Ralph is idealistic, proud and true-to life. Readers will find that they easily connect to Penelope’s love for art, to Ralph Grand’s passion for vinyl, or Mirella's love for her garden and her intense desire to be untethered.
More broadly, Halsey Street engages its audience. This analysis and character studies are expertly delivered without feeling heavy handed or distracting. This debut is a standout among its literary peers, and we look forward to reading more of Coster’s work. Rebel Women Lit highly recommends adding Halsey Street to your Christmas 2017 book wishlist.
Thank you to Little A Books for sending Rebel Women Lit a copy of Halsey Street in exchange for an honest review.
- Kaymara Barrett
January 8, 2018
Naima Coster’s debut novel centers around a family in Bed-Stuy and the Dominican Republic, whose members know loss as well as their backyards, and have learned to hold nothing sacred because of it. The POV characters, Penelope Grand and her estranged mother Mirella, are especially skeptical—of marriage, of hometown nostalgia, and even of maternity.
I enjoyed reading Halsey Street right after Another Brooklyn, since they're both reflections of changing life in the borough (this time, Bed-Stuy instead of Bushwick.) While I was excited by this book's premise, I never could find the emotional core of these characters. We learn about their past (and present) traumas, but don’t learn how they impact their current behaviors.
Despite Penelope’s (righteous!) indignation at the way gentrification has rendered her neighborhood nearly unrecognizable, it’s hard to find examples of what, exactly she misses. In some ways, her apathy and irreverence is so deep that we never uncover the beauty of the Bed-Stuy she once knew, only her anger for what it currently is. To me, she seemed unreasonably sulky for a woman going on thirty.
We understand that her grandmother’s passing (and mother’s refusal to attend the funeral) deeply hurts her, but we never receive a nuanced understanding of their connection, besides the fact that Ramona is nicer to Penny than Mirella is. We also never exactly come to learn why Mirella bears so much hatred for her mother, yet returns every year to visit (she feels compelled? She misses the DR? Your guess is as good as mine.)
Her affair with her landlord is predictable—one of their first interactions literally involves them holding hands before hearing the jangle of the wife’s keys downstairs! :( I never understood why this particular entanglement was happening—maybe because it could, or because Penelope doesn’t hold marriage in high esteem? Maybe if their relationship wasn’t immediately rushed to adulterous territory, there would've been more about Penelope to gather from it.
I think part of the beauty of writing about "difficult women" is the ability to surpass this label by highlighting their complex stories and hidden inner emotions. To her credit, Naima Coster definitely creates engaging, difficult women, but for all the time spent with them, I'm not sure I got to know them any better than the people they push away.
I enjoyed reading Halsey Street right after Another Brooklyn, since they're both reflections of changing life in the borough (this time, Bed-Stuy instead of Bushwick.) While I was excited by this book's premise, I never could find the emotional core of these characters. We learn about their past (and present) traumas, but don’t learn how they impact their current behaviors.
Despite Penelope’s (righteous!) indignation at the way gentrification has rendered her neighborhood nearly unrecognizable, it’s hard to find examples of what, exactly she misses. In some ways, her apathy and irreverence is so deep that we never uncover the beauty of the Bed-Stuy she once knew, only her anger for what it currently is. To me, she seemed unreasonably sulky for a woman going on thirty.
We understand that her grandmother’s passing (and mother’s refusal to attend the funeral) deeply hurts her, but we never receive a nuanced understanding of their connection, besides the fact that Ramona is nicer to Penny than Mirella is. We also never exactly come to learn why Mirella bears so much hatred for her mother, yet returns every year to visit (she feels compelled? She misses the DR? Your guess is as good as mine.)
Her affair with her landlord is predictable—one of their first interactions literally involves them holding hands before hearing the jangle of the wife’s keys downstairs! :( I never understood why this particular entanglement was happening—maybe because it could, or because Penelope doesn’t hold marriage in high esteem? Maybe if their relationship wasn’t immediately rushed to adulterous territory, there would've been more about Penelope to gather from it.
I think part of the beauty of writing about "difficult women" is the ability to surpass this label by highlighting their complex stories and hidden inner emotions. To her credit, Naima Coster definitely creates engaging, difficult women, but for all the time spent with them, I'm not sure I got to know them any better than the people they push away.
January 9, 2019
This book is so hard for me to review, because it was NOT an easy book for me to listen to. I was simultaneously appreciating the importance of the storylines about gentrification in Brooklyn and the intricacies of parent-adult child relationships while wanting to scream at the main character about all of her life choices. Honestly, I almost DNF'd a few times because Penelope's struggles were depressing me because they all seemed so self-induced.
However, and this is a big one, I recently heard Glory Edim (founder of @wellreadblackgirl ) talk on a New York Public Library podcast about many authors not writing books for us to like, but simply to tell that particular story. And that is 100% the case here, I believe. I don't think Coster wrote this for me/us to "like" at all - we're not supposed to find Penelope adorable and the story sweet. Penelope is the prickliest character with the lowest sense of self-worth that I have read in a long long time and I decided to embrace the idea of continuing with the book as a tool for learning about and developing empathy for the very real people in my world who also have these characteristics. And I think that worked. I tried hard to figure out why she felt the way she did and what societal and familial factors led to her current state. It was a literary workout!
Ultimately, this is a book I'm glad I read/listened to, and I'm happy I finally knocked it off of my TBR shelf. It was a more in-depth look at gentrification than I just read in "Pride" by Ibi Zoboi and it was a natural follow-up to that YA novel. Both are set in Brooklyn, albeit different neighborhoods within, and both have main characters of Dominican descent. It's a story that will stay with me for a long time, and it's one I will definitely recommend to readers looking for a gritty and realistic novel about race and family. The hint at character growth at the end of the book was satisfying enough to leave me with a sense of hope for Penelope and her future.
However, and this is a big one, I recently heard Glory Edim (founder of @wellreadblackgirl ) talk on a New York Public Library podcast about many authors not writing books for us to like, but simply to tell that particular story. And that is 100% the case here, I believe. I don't think Coster wrote this for me/us to "like" at all - we're not supposed to find Penelope adorable and the story sweet. Penelope is the prickliest character with the lowest sense of self-worth that I have read in a long long time and I decided to embrace the idea of continuing with the book as a tool for learning about and developing empathy for the very real people in my world who also have these characteristics. And I think that worked. I tried hard to figure out why she felt the way she did and what societal and familial factors led to her current state. It was a literary workout!
Ultimately, this is a book I'm glad I read/listened to, and I'm happy I finally knocked it off of my TBR shelf. It was a more in-depth look at gentrification than I just read in "Pride" by Ibi Zoboi and it was a natural follow-up to that YA novel. Both are set in Brooklyn, albeit different neighborhoods within, and both have main characters of Dominican descent. It's a story that will stay with me for a long time, and it's one I will definitely recommend to readers looking for a gritty and realistic novel about race and family. The hint at character growth at the end of the book was satisfying enough to leave me with a sense of hope for Penelope and her future.
December 16, 2017
3.75 stars. Halsey Street had all of the elements that I love in a good novel: a woman of color navigating the world, complicated family dynamics (especially mother/daughter relationships), and multiple character perspectives, but still something was missing. Each of the main characters were deeply flawed which is not a bad thing, but they each remained selfish and unchanged throughout the story. The structure of the book was a bit disorienting to me - I believe I would have connected more to the book had some of the flash backs come earlier - I found myself being really invested in the story and then it would switch from past to present day. I wonder if Coster was intentional in having none of the characters grow - almost as a cautionary tale. Though the writing was good, perhaps Halsey's greatest accomplishment was forcing the reader to question or challenge their thoughts on motherhood, marriage, friendship, love, and happiness. I look forward to discussing this book with others - maybe they can help me read the characters more deeply. This is a worthy attempt for a debut novel and I would recommend it to a friend.
January 9, 2018
4.5
First published at The Shrinkette.
Thanks so much to Netgalley and Little A Books for providing me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Plot: Penelope Grand is a young black failing artist who moves back home from Pittsburg to take care of her ailing father, Ralph. Her old neighborhood has been gentrified and taken over by affluent white people, and her mother Mirella left them to return to the Dominican Republic. So when Penny moves into the attic of the wealthy Harpers, she hopes for some semblance of family again. But a postcard arrives from Mirella, who is seeking reconciliation, and Penny’s world is once again turned upside down as old wounds are reopened, secrets are spilled, and she sets on a path of self-discovery.
It is the mark of a good book that has you still thinking about it days after you’ve finished reading it, and Halsey Street certainly fits the bill. For what comes across as a simple plot, Coster has by no means presented us with a simple novel. Layers upon layers upon layers are available for the reader’s contemplation.
The novel’s told from the perspective of both the Grand women- Penny and Mirella. Penny is a millennial who is flawed, vulnerable, and pragmatic. From her perspective, we are witness to a changed Brooklyn, the very real effects of gentrification- in the houses, the murals, the schools, the walls, her disdain for the mother that abandoned her, while Ralph Grand keeps his home as a shrine, unchanged from when she’d left it, while he drinks his days away hoping for Mirella to return. Her vulnerability is seen in her yearning and interactions when she stays with the Harpers, seeking connection and love. Through Mirella’s eyes we see how she and Ralph met, the changes in their relationship as Ralph focused on his record store, her gradually deteriorating relationship with Penny, how she felt in Brooklyn and the events that led to her departure, and her life in DR and how she makes it her own without being an extension of somebody else’s life. When Mirella writes to Penny seeking reconciliation, Penny is not immediately forgiving, a lot of stuff comes up for the both of them (together and separately), and we get to see where both women choose to go from there.
Coster has portrayed gentrification as a metaphor for broken families, and her execution of this is what makes this novel so phenomenal. You see it in Penny’s observations of the neighborhood, the school she teaches at, the rich white Harpers who are her landlord, and Ralph, who is a relic of old Brooklyn. She brings nuance into the conversation by inserting conversations of race, gender, and class- in Mirella’s chapters we see how she felt that Ralph and his friends never saw her as equal, and how her opinions on art and music and such were never taken seriously. Coster;s narrative power comes through also in her demonstrations of gentrification and its effects rather than statements of it. For instance, there’s a particular scene where Penny meets a classic white-pro-gentrifier Marty, who makes a statement about the neighborhood being a “blank canvas” with a plethora of possibilities, to which Penny rails back with a poignant speech on the literal erasure of the neighborhood and its systematic removal of working-class black people.
Halsey Street is an evocative and thought-provoking novel, one that will keep you thinking for days, and Coster is a fresh and talented voice. The writing complexity with a seemingly simple plot make this novel an absolute standout piece of literary fiction, and I’m looking forward to read more of her work in the future. Do not miss out on this one.
First published at The Shrinkette.
Thanks so much to Netgalley and Little A Books for providing me this ARC in exchange for an honest review.
Plot: Penelope Grand is a young black failing artist who moves back home from Pittsburg to take care of her ailing father, Ralph. Her old neighborhood has been gentrified and taken over by affluent white people, and her mother Mirella left them to return to the Dominican Republic. So when Penny moves into the attic of the wealthy Harpers, she hopes for some semblance of family again. But a postcard arrives from Mirella, who is seeking reconciliation, and Penny’s world is once again turned upside down as old wounds are reopened, secrets are spilled, and she sets on a path of self-discovery.
It is the mark of a good book that has you still thinking about it days after you’ve finished reading it, and Halsey Street certainly fits the bill. For what comes across as a simple plot, Coster has by no means presented us with a simple novel. Layers upon layers upon layers are available for the reader’s contemplation.
The novel’s told from the perspective of both the Grand women- Penny and Mirella. Penny is a millennial who is flawed, vulnerable, and pragmatic. From her perspective, we are witness to a changed Brooklyn, the very real effects of gentrification- in the houses, the murals, the schools, the walls, her disdain for the mother that abandoned her, while Ralph Grand keeps his home as a shrine, unchanged from when she’d left it, while he drinks his days away hoping for Mirella to return. Her vulnerability is seen in her yearning and interactions when she stays with the Harpers, seeking connection and love. Through Mirella’s eyes we see how she and Ralph met, the changes in their relationship as Ralph focused on his record store, her gradually deteriorating relationship with Penny, how she felt in Brooklyn and the events that led to her departure, and her life in DR and how she makes it her own without being an extension of somebody else’s life. When Mirella writes to Penny seeking reconciliation, Penny is not immediately forgiving, a lot of stuff comes up for the both of them (together and separately), and we get to see where both women choose to go from there.
Coster has portrayed gentrification as a metaphor for broken families, and her execution of this is what makes this novel so phenomenal. You see it in Penny’s observations of the neighborhood, the school she teaches at, the rich white Harpers who are her landlord, and Ralph, who is a relic of old Brooklyn. She brings nuance into the conversation by inserting conversations of race, gender, and class- in Mirella’s chapters we see how she felt that Ralph and his friends never saw her as equal, and how her opinions on art and music and such were never taken seriously. Coster;s narrative power comes through also in her demonstrations of gentrification and its effects rather than statements of it. For instance, there’s a particular scene where Penny meets a classic white-pro-gentrifier Marty, who makes a statement about the neighborhood being a “blank canvas” with a plethora of possibilities, to which Penny rails back with a poignant speech on the literal erasure of the neighborhood and its systematic removal of working-class black people.
Halsey Street is an evocative and thought-provoking novel, one that will keep you thinking for days, and Coster is a fresh and talented voice. The writing complexity with a seemingly simple plot make this novel an absolute standout piece of literary fiction, and I’m looking forward to read more of her work in the future. Do not miss out on this one.
January 2, 2018
Halsey Street wasn't a book I loved from the beginning, but rather, a story that caught my attention about 1/3 of the way through. It's about so many things which may have been the source of my initial feelings about it. However, what finally pulled me in is Naima Coster's masterful decision to mix past and present perspectives as the story progressed.
As mentioned earlier, Halsey Street attempts to address several different subjects within this book. Gentrification and family dynamics are the most obvious, but on top of that are colorism and classism, feelings of "rootlessness," depression , and so much more. I think the desire to address so much may make the story difficult to engage with in its entirety, but it makes it clear that Coster is an author with a lot to say. I often say this for debut authors... but, most especially in the case of Naima Coster, I look forward to reading her grapple with these and a wide array of other subjects again with whatever she writes next.
As mentioned earlier, Halsey Street attempts to address several different subjects within this book. Gentrification and family dynamics are the most obvious, but on top of that are colorism and classism, feelings of "rootlessness," depression , and so much more. I think the desire to address so much may make the story difficult to engage with in its entirety, but it makes it clear that Coster is an author with a lot to say. I often say this for debut authors... but, most especially in the case of Naima Coster, I look forward to reading her grapple with these and a wide array of other subjects again with whatever she writes next.
December 11, 2017
As I closed the last pages to Halsey Street i find myself in tears, looking around at my own stark room
filled with boxes I'm not sure I'll unpack as I don't know my next move. Halsey Street is a reminder that however close to thirty I am, I don't have to be done. I can be a work of art, I can be imperfect,
the art will come, even after we’ve given up on it.
That line stuck out to me:
“She didn’t know how long he would remain patient with her, or how long she had before he realized her bad moods were her.”
It hit me hard when i read it, it felt so familiar, the self-doubt, the things we tell ourselves and then come to believe until its too hard to untell ourselves or think away. Things about our worth, about who we really are.
This book is a love story, to Brooklyn, to DR, to being a mix of many worlds, to navigating that mezcla, a word I always preferred in spanish to english. Naima is from Brooklyn and her voice is an important one in the conversation about the complicated dynamics of a changing neighborhood, of gentrification, of what it looks like and feels like for the different people who make up a neighborhood trying to move forward but saddled with trauma and tension.
filled with boxes I'm not sure I'll unpack as I don't know my next move. Halsey Street is a reminder that however close to thirty I am, I don't have to be done. I can be a work of art, I can be imperfect,
the art will come, even after we’ve given up on it.
That line stuck out to me:
“She didn’t know how long he would remain patient with her, or how long she had before he realized her bad moods were her.”
It hit me hard when i read it, it felt so familiar, the self-doubt, the things we tell ourselves and then come to believe until its too hard to untell ourselves or think away. Things about our worth, about who we really are.
This book is a love story, to Brooklyn, to DR, to being a mix of many worlds, to navigating that mezcla, a word I always preferred in spanish to english. Naima is from Brooklyn and her voice is an important one in the conversation about the complicated dynamics of a changing neighborhood, of gentrification, of what it looks like and feels like for the different people who make up a neighborhood trying to move forward but saddled with trauma and tension.
January 4, 2018
Bloated writing and the story is filled with too many stereotypical female (and male) characters. Pity.
December 4, 2017
Wow... 12 hours..couldnt put it down.
A book has never done this to me.. I'm from Williamsburg.. Born in Park Slope and moved here when i was 3.. This book had a heartbeat. The cover and title drew me in.. In tears.. Superb.
A book has never done this to me.. I'm from Williamsburg.. Born in Park Slope and moved here when i was 3.. This book had a heartbeat. The cover and title drew me in.. In tears.. Superb.
December 13, 2017
“Halsey Street” is the first book I’ve read about Black families since “The Turner House,” and it was worth it.
January 3, 2018
Review coming soon.
August 31, 2018
3.5 stars. This wasn't a book I fell in love with straight away, but it grew on me and the ending was so beautiful that I had to knock it up a star (or a half, if we could). A frustrating read at times. This is due, firstly, to the pure stubbornness of many of the characters, which leads to predictable, inevitable scenarios that the reader can see coming from a mile off. It also, I felt, made the plot feel fairly repetitive. The other reason I found this book frustrating is that it seemed Coster was trying to cover so many issues at once (gentrification, dysfunctional family relationships, classism, loss, the importance of "home", generational shifts....), which while all very interesting and worthy of exploration made it difficult for the reader become swept away in the overarching story. Perhaps, this debut novel was overly long and needed some trimming, because having said all that what is here was fantastic. Coster has crafted characters with a multitude of flaws that are still possible to understand and feel sympathy towards. Not a perfect book by any means, and I wasn't on board the whole way through, but there was a lot I loved and I've certainly taken a lot from it. Really intrigued to see how Coster develops as an author and what she writes next!
December 26, 2017
I'd rate this 2.5 stars. The book isn't terrible, but the combined effects of the writing's very slow pace and the awfulness of the characters' actions to one another made the story feel like a chore. This was Kindle First read.
The author accurately captures the sometimes tedium of everyday life and family obligations. And I enjoyed reading about the Dominican Republic, Brooklyn, and the controversies of gentrification. Some readers are gushing about the book's emotional subject of mother-daughter relationships. But the detached manner of the narrative was difficult for me to warm to. It had almost no emotion, and felt flat to me.
The author accurately captures the sometimes tedium of everyday life and family obligations. And I enjoyed reading about the Dominican Republic, Brooklyn, and the controversies of gentrification. Some readers are gushing about the book's emotional subject of mother-daughter relationships. But the detached manner of the narrative was difficult for me to warm to. It had almost no emotion, and felt flat to me.
December 14, 2018
Mirella & Penelope relationship is complicated AF! This novel definitely gave me a few "Oh damn!" and " yikes! " moments. I also felt that some aspects of the story didn't mesh well with the story line. For example: gentrification, Penelope and her art and the shift from Pittsburgh, to Brooklyn and Dominican Republic (this didn't work for me). Love, family, loneliness and relationships, this is what I felt the book is about, that would have made this a solid 5star. As much as I was annoyed with Penelope my annoyance with her mother was no different….lol.. Overall I enjoyed this read. I rarely give half stars but this was was almost a 4. My rate officially is a 3.5
December 4, 2017
I don't like these people
The writing is excellent. The references to gentrification, art school, Dominicans in NYC, etc. are all well explored. However, except for a child and a bartender, this is a cast of the most (both quantity and quality) self-centered people I have ever encountered in a novel, and they don't make much progress toward redemption.
The writing is excellent. The references to gentrification, art school, Dominicans in NYC, etc. are all well explored. However, except for a child and a bartender, this is a cast of the most (both quantity and quality) self-centered people I have ever encountered in a novel, and they don't make much progress toward redemption.
February 12, 2019
This is an involving, and well written story about a woman dealing with family pressures, gentrification, and a desire to find a plan for her life. A fine first novel from a promising young writer, currently priced at less than a dollar; free for Prime members.
August 7, 2018
Mad I wasted my time going to get this book I want to support black authors but its so hard when the shit doesn't make sense, or keep your attention,
June 15, 2018
Though named for a street in Brooklyn’s famous Bed-Stuy section, Halsey Street, Naima Coster’s debut novel isn’t really about that burgeoning community. The books shifts from Pittsburgh, to Brooklyn to the Caribbean island of the Dominican Republic and back again. Brooklyn, and more specifically Bed-Stuy, these days is synonymous with gentrification. In fact, many have hailed this book being about gentrification, including myself before I read it. Though that’s a theme that runs through it, this book isn’t really about that either.
For me, this book is about family and belonging; longing and loneliness. Penelope Grand, an art school dropout suddenly returns to her hometown in Brooklyn from her self imposed exile in Pittsburgh after her father, Ralph experiences an accident and needs to be looked after. Adrift and lonely, instead of moving back into her family’s brownstone she decides to rent an attic apartment from a nearby family, The Harpers. We soon learn that Penelope’s mother, Mirella, is absent - she too, fleeing Brooklyn, back to her home in the Dominican Republic.
Coster tells this story from both the perspectives of Penelope and her mother - which honestly is a device I find hit or miss - but here, it feels as if Coster took care to really hone the voices of this mother and daughter and both characters emerge as equally strong voices.
Penelope is messy, angry, and harboring unforgiveness and reeling from abandonment issues.
Mirella is headstrong, yet cold and aloof - closed off with frustration at the marriage that unfulfilled her and the daughter she struggled to relate to.
When Mirella wants to reconnect, all hell breaks loose it seems and it is not really until the end where it’s really revealed what secrets and regrets really tore this family apart in the first place.
I really enjoyed wrestling with these two complicated women as I read; trust you won’t like either one of them! Penelope grapples with her feelings of aloneness in moody gin-soaked episodes, and makes mistakes we can see coming a mile away and Mirella is just so damn out of with her feelings in my opinion that when she does try to reach out to connect to her daughter its tentative and clumsy, but she tries.
My only real qualm was the ending’s plot twist which caught me by surprise and even though it was quite dramatic it still did not produce the emotional shift or growth in one of the characters that you’d expect. I still think about that part a lot. It’s life, right? Some people are just kinda messed up and get stuck trying to navigate life as best as they can.
February 23, 2018
Naima Coster wrote a story that is sure to stick with you long after the last page. I was in my feelings for a full 48 hours after finishing, and I still get sad flashbacks sometimes.
Penelope packed up her life in Pittsburg where she had been living for 5 years as a bartender and struggling artist and moved back to a gentrifying Brooklyn to help take care of her ill, stubborn father, Ralph. But instead of living with him on Halsey Street, she moves into the attic of the Harpers, a gentrificating (yes, I did that on purpose) white family. She makes questionable decisions about men, which makes her messy and the story even more entertaining.
The strength of this novel is in the characters. There's Ralph, an orphan who chose his own last name (Grand) and made a life to suit. He founded a record shop in Brooklyn and dedicated his life to serving the musical needs of his family.
Mirella, Penelope's estranged mother, grew up in DR and seems to always be seeking means of escape. It is easy to hate her at first, but Coster does such a good job of painting this picture that readers can see the good side as much as the bad. By the end of the book, you empathize with Mirella, and wonder if things could have been different.
This book is greater than the sum of its parts. And these characters will have you dreaming about them long after you close the book. It paints a vivid image of a changing neighborhood and emotional landscape, and the imperfect people who populate each. I highly recommend this jawn.
Penelope packed up her life in Pittsburg where she had been living for 5 years as a bartender and struggling artist and moved back to a gentrifying Brooklyn to help take care of her ill, stubborn father, Ralph. But instead of living with him on Halsey Street, she moves into the attic of the Harpers, a gentrificating (yes, I did that on purpose) white family. She makes questionable decisions about men, which makes her messy and the story even more entertaining.
The strength of this novel is in the characters. There's Ralph, an orphan who chose his own last name (Grand) and made a life to suit. He founded a record shop in Brooklyn and dedicated his life to serving the musical needs of his family.
Mirella, Penelope's estranged mother, grew up in DR and seems to always be seeking means of escape. It is easy to hate her at first, but Coster does such a good job of painting this picture that readers can see the good side as much as the bad. By the end of the book, you empathize with Mirella, and wonder if things could have been different.
This book is greater than the sum of its parts. And these characters will have you dreaming about them long after you close the book. It paints a vivid image of a changing neighborhood and emotional landscape, and the imperfect people who populate each. I highly recommend this jawn.
January 16, 2018
Some books simply speak to you. That was the case for me with Halsey Street by Naima Coster.
Penelope's story of leaving Pittsburgh and returning home to Brooklyn to keep an eye on her father, whose health has deteriorated almost as much as their family home on Halsey Street. The Brooklyn Penelope returns to is undergoing gentrification. All the old businesses, including the record shop her father owned, have disappeared, as have many of the neighbours she knew, replaced now by hipsters and upwardly mobile white urban professionals with the cash to pay higher rents and property prices. Penelope tries to find her way--in her personal life, with her father and the past--as her old neighborhood transforms around her--for good and bad.
Coster does a fantastic job of pulling the reader into this story of family, loss and change. She captures perfectly Penelope's frustration at her situation and her father's, at the attraction she feels for her landlord's husband, and her uncertainty of what the rest of life has in store for her. The characterisation and story arc are detailed without being overwrought. Quite simply, this is prose that sparkles.
Highly recommended!
Penelope's story of leaving Pittsburgh and returning home to Brooklyn to keep an eye on her father, whose health has deteriorated almost as much as their family home on Halsey Street. The Brooklyn Penelope returns to is undergoing gentrification. All the old businesses, including the record shop her father owned, have disappeared, as have many of the neighbours she knew, replaced now by hipsters and upwardly mobile white urban professionals with the cash to pay higher rents and property prices. Penelope tries to find her way--in her personal life, with her father and the past--as her old neighborhood transforms around her--for good and bad.
Coster does a fantastic job of pulling the reader into this story of family, loss and change. She captures perfectly Penelope's frustration at her situation and her father's, at the attraction she feels for her landlord's husband, and her uncertainty of what the rest of life has in store for her. The characterisation and story arc are detailed without being overwrought. Quite simply, this is prose that sparkles.
Highly recommended!
August 21, 2020
Halsey Street is a strong debut novel that will cause you to ponder about family, motherhood and what community really means. Although it might ruffle feathers especially on the topic of gentrification, Halsey Street is compelling, necessary and thought provoking.
September 30, 2018
impressive debut about a young woman, penelope grand, who returns to her neighborhood - bed-stuy, brooklyn, after one year in art school and some shattered dreams, to be closer to her ailing father. the neighborhood is changing, gentrification is taking place, people have to leave, stores close - as has the record store of ralph grand, penelope's father, making place for white people and fancier stores who can afford the higher rents. both penelope and her father, as well as the harpers, a white family with whom penelope initially lives, are trying to find their place in these changing surroundings. and then there is mirella, penelope's mother, who has left her father and returned to the dominican republic.
the story unfolds slowly, is in no hurry to take you there - and, after i got used to its pace, i began to enjoy it very much, because it gives each event, big or small, time and space to make its impact on both the characters and the reader. the prose, by not trying to be super-efficient, allows for good visualization of the scenes, giving enough details and generating subtle moods which take over the reader.
the story unfolds slowly, is in no hurry to take you there - and, after i got used to its pace, i began to enjoy it very much, because it gives each event, big or small, time and space to make its impact on both the characters and the reader. the prose, by not trying to be super-efficient, allows for good visualization of the scenes, giving enough details and generating subtle moods which take over the reader.
July 13, 2018
Promising debut dealing with a young woman and her fraught relationship with her mother. Great settings in the Dominican Republic and a gentrifying Brooklyn, but I found the character of Penelope really problematic.
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