Lorna Graham

I thought this was a lovely read. It's light, moves along smoothly. It's not your usual girl-finds-herself-through-misadventure novel that seems to be so overwhelming in the book market.

I liked the search Eve goes on to find out as much as she can about her mother's history and reading her up and down feelings of a New York she's only ever heard about.

It's a wonderful book. I read it in three days but that was mostly because I had to work and finish assignments for school. It is a sweet and charming read perfect for a weekend or a time when you're feeling nostalgic.… (plus d'informations)

While The Ghost of Greenwich Village by Lorna Graham kept my attention (it's short and mostly fast-paced), it was awfully cheesy and silly.

The main character, Eve Weldon, is supposed to be in her late thirties (she says she was born in 1974), but she seems more like a teenager with her inexperience and naivete. Eve has lived all her life in Ohio. After she graduated from college, she immediately went to work as a paralegal for her father's law firm, where she apparently stayed for over ten years.

Eve's mother died when she was eight (though from some of the mature memories Eve shares about her mother, one would think she was at least twelve) and always told Eve about the time she lived in Greenwich Village in the sixties. So at the urging of a college friend, Eve finally decides to make the move to New York City herself. She finds an apartment in Greenwich Village for a cheap price because the owners can't get anyone to stay in the place for very long. Though it takes her a while, Eve finds a steady job writing for a morning news show. And, oh yeah, her most frequent companion is the ghost of a beat writer who haunts her apartment and wants to dictate his unfinished stories to Eve.

Eve is determined to find all her mother's old haunts and experience the same Village magic she did in the sixties. Eve is surprised when she discovers that many of the bars her mother frequented are now out of business. (Told you she's naive). When she finally finds one that is still open, she acts incredibly lame:

"She ordered a sidecar, tossed her hair and straightened her back. The group on her left was talking about the stock market; the one on the right, the Mets. Neither was her favorite topic, but she did her best to catch the eyes of those on the edges. Their eyes proved uncatchable. She cleared her throat. Nothing. She joined in when the stock marketers laughed loudly, but no one noticed. Finally, she 'accidentally' bumped the elbow of the young man next to her" (pg. 95).

Oh my gosh, this woman is supposed to be in her thirties? She seems more like a high school nerd trying to catch the attention of the girls at the popular table.

Another ridiculous detail (which the author obviously builds up to use in a gimmicky plot twist later) is Eve's absolute revulsion at cleaning up her dog's poop:

"Before long, the moment that Eve had been dreading came: the dog's sudden pull out to the curb and ominous squat. Sure enough, contractions began, and suddenly, there it was in all its reeking banality. Eve had thought raw fish was bad. But there was absolutely no doubt about what she had to do: dog owners who didn't clean up after their charges were considered the lowest of the low around here.
"'You've done your job. Now I must do mine,' Eve said to the dog as she fished out one of the crinkled plastic bags Mrs. Swan had provided. She squatted down next to the blight, holding her breath. She looked up at the sky and began to tap the ground with a bag-enclosed hand, hoping to find her target without having to actually look at it.... After several attempts, Eve's fingers went from the unforgiving hardness of concrete to the sickening yield she sought. With a clawing motion, she picked up the mound and, still holding her breath, sprinted like an Olympian to the nearest trashcan" (pg. 45).

Come on, really? Dreading? Ominous? Sickening yield? A thirty-something year old woman who can't even look at dog poop?

It seems as if Graham had the story all written out, imagined her character, etc. and then realized that oops, to have a mother who was young during the sixties, this character would have to be much older. So a little adjusting of Eve's birth date, make her a smidgen younger when her mother passed away, figure out a sheltered back story, and voila! Or not, because the result is a ridiculous adult woman who acts and thinks like a teenager. If Eve were a teenager in this book, or even in her early twenties, the story would be much more believable (though still pretty silly). Why not set the story in 1995 instead of the present? Then Eve would be about twenty and most of the rest of the details would still shake out. Or have it be her grandmother whose New York legacy Eve is trying to fulfill.

The Ghost of Greenwich Village is not a book I would recommend. If you want a meaningful (and better written) novel about a thirty-something Mid-Westerner trying to make it in New York City, read Lightning People by Christopher Bollen instead.… (plus d'informations)