Book Review: The two-family house - L. Cohen Loigman

“Abe was a lucky man. He told himself that every morning while he dressed and every night before he went to sleep. Abe wasn't religious but every day he thanked God for his beautiful wife, his four healthy sons, his brother and his business. Sometimes he left out his brother, but only when Mort was being a pain in the ass.” 

I will truly miss the characters of this novel, I loved them so much. The altruistic Helen, the grumpy Mort, the bigger than life Abe, the bitter Rose, the smart Judith, the sweet Teddy, the pretty geek Natalie and all the others. I just loved this book, it is first of all a gripping story of the Jewish families of two brothers who live in a two-family house in Brooklyn and cover the late 40s, 50s and 60s, while the families grow, move, have quarrels, big tragedies, a lot of love and affection. And as underline there is the suspense created by  the mysterious circumstances of the birth of the cousins Natalie and Teddy, born on the same day, minutes apart, during one of NY worse storms. 
On top of a great plot, the characters, as I previously mentioned, are all great in their strength and weaknesses, they all have a very specific personality and they all have a particular voice, chapter after chapter, so you end up being so involved in their lives, at moment you think you are part of the families too! 
The novel is also written in such a smooth, linear way it is just a pleasure to read the words coming together.
I highly recommend this novel - one of the best reads for me this year so far!

Overall rating: 9      Plot: 9     Writing style: 10      Cover:  8

Title: The two-family house
Author: Lynda Cohen Loigman
Publisher: St Martin's Press
Pages: 304
Publication year: 2016

Plot:

Brooklyn, 1947: in the midst of a blizzard, in a two-family brownstone, two babies are born minutes apart to two women. They are sisters by marriage with an impenetrable bond forged before and during that dramatic night; but as the years progress, small cracks start to appear and their once deep friendship begins to unravel. No one knows why, and no one can stop it. One misguided choice; one moment of tragedy. Heartbreak wars with happiness and almost but not quite wins.

The Author:

Lynda Cohen Loigman grew up in Longmeadow, MA. She received a B.A. in English and American Literature from Harvard College and a J.D. from Columbia Law School. She is now a student of the Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College, and lives with her husband and two children in Chappaqua, New York.