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The Apartment
Bristling with compassion, desire, and a longing to connect, The Apartment is a portrait of the complex and at times troubled inhabitants of a single unit in a South Miami Beach building—an excavation of the literal and figurative ghosts that haunt our lives and a celebration of the communities that shine brightest in our darkest moment
An art-deco sentinel, The Helena apartment building has silently witnessed the changing face of South Miami Beach for seventy years, observing—without interfering—the countless lives housed within its walls. But a single unit has seen more life (and sometimes death) than others. Those who have called Apartment 2B home include: a Cuban concert pianist who now only plays in a nursing home; the widow of an intelligence officer raising their young daughter alone; a man waiting on a green card marriage to run its course so that he can divorce his wife and marry his lover, all of whom live together in 2B; a Tajik building manager with a secret identity; a Vietnam vet receiving packages from his ex-wife. Each tenant imbues 2B with energy that can either heal or overwhelm the latest resident, Lana.
A mysterious woman struggling with her own demons, Lana mourns her beloved while unaware of the apartment’s sometimes tragic history. Distraught and alone, she is watched over by a ghost, and together these two strangers brought into community by The Helena will find a measure of comfort and purpose, gaining a new insight into what we all owe one another.
An art-deco sentinel, The Helena apartment building has silently witnessed the changing face of South Miami Beach for seventy years, observing—without interfering—the countless lives housed within its walls. But a single unit has seen more life (and sometimes death) than others. Those who have called Apartment 2B home include: a Cuban concert pianist who now only plays in a nursing home; the widow of an intelligence officer raising their young daughter alone; a man waiting on a green card marriage to run its course so that he can divorce his wife and marry his lover, all of whom live together in 2B; a Tajik building manager with a secret identity; a Vietnam vet receiving packages from his ex-wife. Each tenant imbues 2B with energy that can either heal or overwhelm the latest resident, Lana.
A mysterious woman struggling with her own demons, Lana mourns her beloved while unaware of the apartment’s sometimes tragic history. Distraught and alone, she is watched over by a ghost, and together these two strangers brought into community by The Helena will find a measure of comfort and purpose, gaining a new insight into what we all owe one another.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published June 27, 2023
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 128 reviews
July 13, 2023
3.75⭐️
“Homes also dream; they shelter themselves.”
Touching upon themes, of family, relationships, grief, war and trauma, immigration and the American Dream, The Apartment by Ana Menendez is an exceptionally well-written novel that combines elements of historical and contemporary fiction, magical realism and a bit of mystery. This reads like a series of short stories each of which features a tenant of an apartment unit in South Beach, Miami, which is the common thread. Apartment 2B of The Helena, an art deco apartment building in Miami, has been home to several tenants over the course of seven decades. Built on land that was historically inhabited by indigenous tribes who were gradually displaced due to colonization, The Helena was built in 1942 and has been home to army officers, artists and painters, veterans, widows and immigrants each of whom is brought to its doors for in search of love, hope, shelter and a place to belong. We also meet members of the maintenance staff and leasing agents who take care of the property in between occupancy.
Ana Menendez’s writing is beautiful and each of the characters and the premise of their individual storylines are well-developed. The narrative flows at a fast pace but I should mention, however, we only get to know about these characters for the duration of their residence in apartment 2B and we get hints about what transpired in a few of their lives after they left The Helena. Not all of these stories are happy ones – in fact, there is a sense of loss and despair that pervades the apartment and the lives of its tenants, each of whom leaves a part of themselves and their stories within the walls of the apartment – a vibe, an emotion, an aura. This is not an easy read. The stories revolve around several sensitive topics including PTSD, suicide, spousal abuse and much more. The author captures the loneliness, hopes and broken dreams of these characters with much clarity and compassion. However, we don’t get to meet the residents of the other units until the final 20% of the novel when we meet Lana,resident of 2B in 2012, an artist who is mourning a loved one and is being watched over by the spirit of a former tenant. While I enjoyed the trajectory of the final story and appreciated how it echoes the overall spirit of the novel, I did think the ending was a tad convoluted.
I was drawn to this novel on account of the premise and overall, I was not disappointed. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this novel to those who enjoy character-driven fiction. This is my first Ana Menendez novel and I look forward to exploring more of her work.
“Apartment 2B settles into itself. The light inside dims— a passing cloud shadow. These rooms are rarely empty. Painters, models, artists, mothers, fathers, strangers. For decades now, always someone wearing down the pine floors, someone’s breath disturbing the air. No one thinks that homes also need pauses, pockets of silence. Homes also need time to gather themselves, time to simply rest. All that sheltering and holding, that gets exhausting.”
“Homes also dream; they shelter themselves.”
Touching upon themes, of family, relationships, grief, war and trauma, immigration and the American Dream, The Apartment by Ana Menendez is an exceptionally well-written novel that combines elements of historical and contemporary fiction, magical realism and a bit of mystery. This reads like a series of short stories each of which features a tenant of an apartment unit in South Beach, Miami, which is the common thread. Apartment 2B of The Helena, an art deco apartment building in Miami, has been home to several tenants over the course of seven decades. Built on land that was historically inhabited by indigenous tribes who were gradually displaced due to colonization, The Helena was built in 1942 and has been home to army officers, artists and painters, veterans, widows and immigrants each of whom is brought to its doors for in search of love, hope, shelter and a place to belong. We also meet members of the maintenance staff and leasing agents who take care of the property in between occupancy.
Ana Menendez’s writing is beautiful and each of the characters and the premise of their individual storylines are well-developed. The narrative flows at a fast pace but I should mention, however, we only get to know about these characters for the duration of their residence in apartment 2B and we get hints about what transpired in a few of their lives after they left The Helena. Not all of these stories are happy ones – in fact, there is a sense of loss and despair that pervades the apartment and the lives of its tenants, each of whom leaves a part of themselves and their stories within the walls of the apartment – a vibe, an emotion, an aura. This is not an easy read. The stories revolve around several sensitive topics including PTSD, suicide, spousal abuse and much more. The author captures the loneliness, hopes and broken dreams of these characters with much clarity and compassion. However, we don’t get to meet the residents of the other units until the final 20% of the novel when we meet Lana,resident of 2B in 2012, an artist who is mourning a loved one and is being watched over by the spirit of a former tenant. While I enjoyed the trajectory of the final story and appreciated how it echoes the overall spirit of the novel, I did think the ending was a tad convoluted.
I was drawn to this novel on account of the premise and overall, I was not disappointed. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this novel to those who enjoy character-driven fiction. This is my first Ana Menendez novel and I look forward to exploring more of her work.
“Apartment 2B settles into itself. The light inside dims— a passing cloud shadow. These rooms are rarely empty. Painters, models, artists, mothers, fathers, strangers. For decades now, always someone wearing down the pine floors, someone’s breath disturbing the air. No one thinks that homes also need pauses, pockets of silence. Homes also need time to gather themselves, time to simply rest. All that sheltering and holding, that gets exhausting.”
September 14, 2023
The dead, after all, do not walk backwards but they do walk behind us. They have no lungs and cannot call out but would love for us to turn around. They are victims of love, many of them. – Anne Carson - from the epigraph--------------------------------------
We are our own ghosts, dragging our mournful pasts behind us forever.An apartment in Miami Beach, from 1942 to 2012, seventy years of tenants, eleven of them, each with a story to be told. The conceit of the novel is that the apartment retains some form of consciousness. Nothing particularly overt, mind you. It is handled more like a repository for emotional flotsam, psychic impressions that accumulate and rattle around with the tide of each new resident, to no obvious major purpose, until the final third of the book, when the apartment acquires a spokesperson, a late resident, who is on a mission to save the current one, Lana.
Ana Menendez - Image from her site
So, was all the depositing of emotional residue by the prior nine tenants merely substructure on which this final pair could rest? I found that a jarring shift, a sort of unwelcome unreliable narrator, as we are no longer hearing apt 2B, but as if this person proclaimed, “Shove over, flat. I’ll take it from here.”
Menendez’s work is mostly in short form, so it makes sense that her novel is of the linked-story form, as each resident in turn gets anywhere from six to twenty-two pages for their tale. Even though there is a through-arc, it still feels like a short-story collection, which is fine with me. But this form does limit how much one can get invested in any one character. The final chapter, at a novella-length eighty-four pages, changes this dynamic and gives us a bit more to hold on to with its two primaries.
After a prologue, in which an indigenous woman sees the first European invaders on what is now Miami Beach, establishes the roots of the storytelling arc, we jump to the beginnings of World War II. An apartment building called The Helena is still moist with drying paint when it is requisitioned by the military. Major Jack Appleton has been moved from Texas to lead an officers’ school. His wife, Sophie, is not what you might call thrilled. Appleton is controlling and abusive. They are not long for this place.
During their stay a ship is set ablaze and sunk off the coast by a German U-boat, bringing the war home. In fact, while the violence may be almost entirely off-screen, there is plenty of it. It is a pervasive thread in The Apartment, from the genocidal infections brought by the first Europeans, to carnage wrought by German forces. A veteran suffers from PTSD after serving in Viet Nam. A Marielita flees her abusive father, but is being kept by an abusive lover. A woman dreams that her husband is coming to kill her. A couple fear for their lives, concerned that they are being pursued by agents from their home country. A soldier is killed in action. There is a suicide and another tenant who might follow suit. A man is set upon by thugs in the street and is beaten bloody.
Each chapter ends with an interstitial piece, as the apartment is vacant for a time. Cleaners come in to prepare for the next renter. Some offer some wonderful short character pieces. The apartment sees and feels.
The front door closes, and absence returns to apartment 2B. but there is still someone here to record the fact, this unseen eye that moves across the floor as it if were a page, sweeps the bedroom, the naked walls, lingers at the single living room window with its blinds at half-mast.We get a Cook’s Tour of many significant moments in American history, including foreign events that impact here through the residents of 2B, WWII, tensions between the USA and Cuba, Viet Nam, the Mariel boatlift, the demise of the junta in Argentina, USA involvement in Central American conflicts, 9/11, the demise of printed newspapers, Lebanon, Afghanistan. A lot.
I’ve been interested for a long time in how the trauma of war and displacement plays out across generations. So this was one of the main ideas I wanted to explore in the novel. Many of the conflicts in this novel have ties to the United States, which of course can sadly be said of many conflicts in the world today. We are all implicated. But simply on a craft level, as a writer, there were some conflicts that I wanted to include for personal reasons.Everyone at the Helena is a transplant from someplace else. Many of the characters are foreign-born, carrying with them a sense of mourning for their lost birthplaces. Some have to jump down to the bottom of the work ladder they had ascended back home and begin the climb again, or take on completely alternate work just to get by. Even those who have made successful new lives pine for what was lost.
The conflict in Lebanon is one of them, as my great-grandparents fled to Cuba following early conflict there at the turn of the last century. The violence in Cuba and its long aftermath is of course a special obsession as the daughter of Cuban immigrants. And the conflict in Afghanistan looms large for us as Americans and for me personally as I spent ten unforgettable days in the country in 1998. - from the Lithub interview
SHAPIRO: You introduce us very early on in the text to a Spanish word, morrina. What does the word mean? And how did you think about the concept in relation to the narrative you were writing?The vast majority of the stories, eight of eleven, center on women. Conflict abroad manifests as abuse or misery at home. Few move on from 2B to a better life. There are exceptions. Relationships are pretty universally strained. Abuse recurs. A marriage of convenience challenges a relationship of love. There are betrayals, problems with gambling, alcoholism, depression, desperation, racism, bigotry of various sorts, and shame. Some are tormented by decisions they have made in the past. Some seem more like lost wanderers, thrown up on shore after being tossed roughly about by an angry sea.
MENENDEZ: It's a concept that I think runs through maybe all of my books - this sense of saudade, as the Portuguese maybe would describe it. Most cultures have a word for this. It's this sort of bittersweet nostalgia - the sense that the past is sweet and wonderful to wallow in precisely because it cannot be recovered. And I think that that's an obsession that has run through most of what I write - not consciously but simply as a product of my upbringing and my own situation. My parents, of course, are immigrants. They call themselves exiles from Cuba. And so for me, it speaks to, you know, one doesn't need to be an exile or a migrant to have this sense that things were sweet in the past and to sort of take refuge in it. – from the NPR interview
The residents vary in their work lives, with creative arts well represented. There are multiple painters, their models, a journalist and a concert pianist. The most piercing spectral presence of all is a painting one of the residents is working on, as it manifests a particular bit of darkness.
Snakes pop up throughout. The book opens with A serpent coils through the underbrush of palmetto and coco plum…Harmless, this one, this time.. Later “Time, spooky and fickle. Not arrow, but snake.” There are more.
And now back to the apartment designation. Wait, 2B? Or not? Certainly calls up a soliloquy from Hamlet. And informs a fair piece of the book. The Danish Prince wonders if he should keep on keeping on after, learning that dear uncle murdered his father. Certainly many of the characters here have suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune. Some put up a good fight, taking up arms against a sea of troubles. And by opposing [attempting to] end them. Well, some efforts are made. The alternative, the not 2B part, is to end the Heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks that the flesh is heir to. One last “check, please.” And one of ours does indeed choose to find out what dreams may come, when we have shuffled off this mortal coil. Is it the fear of the undiscovered country, of unknowable death, that keeps most grinding through the day-after-day? Or some loftier feeling, hope, or value? May it is simply momentum.
While The Apartment is not a traditionally formatted novel, it is nonetheless a beautiful work of writing. While we may not have much time with many of the characters, Menendez does a lot in a short space, a talent no doubt honed by her history of short story writing. The stories are moving, at times to the point of tears.
Will Sophie get away from her abusive spouse? Will Eugenio find his way to California? Will Sandman find a way to survive his PTSD? Will Isabel make her own life and not remain a kept toy of an older man? Will Margot and her husband evade those who might be after them? How will Susan handle her loss? Will Marilyn stay with her damaged bf? How will Beatrice cope with the change in her circumstances? Will Pilar be able to find journalism work again? Will Lenin succeed in his mission? Will Lana let the many friendly neighbors help her out, or is her secret too much to reveal?
There is poetic beauty in here that deserves to be read, to be appreciated. You may or may not feel impelled to look for deteriorating flats in a soon-to-be submerged part of Florida, but it would be worth your while to check in with your real estate agent and arrange to give 2B a look. It might turn out to be just the right place for you.
In the English novels she studied in school, the characters all seemed masters of their own fates. When they stumbled, it was because of a flaw. The direction their lives took was the direction they determined through their choices. But this was not Margot’s experience of the world. The world so far acted on her without consultation or sympathy. Her life, dictated first by her family’s wealth and now by her husband’s work, lacked the agency she was taught to recognize in great works. Even this latest leaving had been out of her hands. Maybe the only true literature was the old ghost stories her grandmother used to whisper to her on those windy cold nights on the Pampas. Spirit and mortals alike, all subject to unseen forces that swelled beneath them, hidden and untamable.
Review posted - 9/8/23
Publication date – 6/27/23
I received hardcover of The Apartment from Counterpoint in return for a fair review and a one-year lease. Thanks, folks.
This review will soon be cross-posted on my site, Coot’s Reviews. Stop by and say Hi!
=============================EXTRA STUFF
Links to the Menendez’s personal, FB, Instagram, and Twitter, sorry, X pages
Profile – from her site
Ana Menéndez has published five books of fiction: The Apartment (2023), Adios, Happy Homeland! (2011), The Last War (2009), Loving Che (2004) and In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd (2001), whose title story won a Pushcart Prize. She has worked as a journalist in the United States and abroad, lastly as a prize-winning columnist for The Miami Herald.
As a reporter, she wrote about Cuba, Haiti, Kashmir, Afghanistan, and India. Her work has appeared in Vogue, Bomb Magazine, The New York Times and Tin House and has been included in several anthologies, including The Norton Anthology of Latino Literature. She has a BA in English from Florida International University and an MFA from New York University.
From 2008 to 2009, she lived in Cairo as a Fulbright Scholar in Egypt. She has also lived in India, Turkey, Slovakia and The Netherlands, where she designed a creative writing minor at Maastricht University in 2011. For the past 20 years, she has taught at various writing conferences and programs including, most recently, Bread Loaf and the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College. She lives in Miami and is currently an associate professor at FIU with joint appointments in English and the Wolfsonian Public Humanities Lab.
Interviews
-----NPR - Author Ana Menendez explores stories a single location could tell in 'The Apartment' by Linah Mohammad, Ashley Brown, Ari Shapiro
-----Lithub - Ana Menéndez on Crafting a Connected Cast of Characters by Jane Ciabattari
Items of Interest from the author
-----Links to other things she has written
Items of Interest
-----The Poetry Foundation - To Be or Not To Be - from Shakespeare’s Hamlet
-----Wiki - The Mariel Boatlift
-----Museum of Florida History - Florida on the Home Front: The German Submarine Threat off Florida's Coast - “The most dramatic sinking in Florida waters took place the night of April 10, 1942, when U-123 torpedoed the tanker Gulfamerica off Jacksonville Beach. The resulting fiery explosion was clearly seen onshore and curious crowds gathered to view the ship's destruction and looked on in shock as the German submarine surfaced and fired its deck gun at the tanker.”
May 29, 2023
Releasing in June, this book follows the history of the residents of the Helena in Miami. Fraught with idealism, isolation, and how we try to redeem past mistakes or disappointments by connecting with others are threads intricately woven in this beautiful narrative. If this is your first time to read Ana Menendez, you’ll want to pick up all of her works to see the evolution of an artist at work.
July 29, 2023
I liked the premise of this story: the lives of the different people who lived, over time, in a single apartment in a building in Miami; however, none of the characters seemed very interesting to me. Maybe if the author had spent more time on developing each character’s story, I would have felt I understood them better. As it was, having multiple characters and shortened life stories to fit into a time continuum of several occupants of the same apartment made me feel almost nothing for the characters - I couldn’t remember who was who and I felt very little connection between the characters and their stories.
June 27, 2023
Ana Menéndez's latest novel, THE APARTMENT, takes us to Miami's South Beach, Florida, to The Helena, the historic Art Deco apartment building rich in history, time, and character where we meet the many residents of Apartment 2B who have come and gone over seven decades.
Built in 1942, many people and families have come to Miami's South Beach to the Helena Apartment and called 2B home.
First, we meet a military couple from Texas: Sophie and Jack Appleton. The new bride is enamored with this glamorous town, but he's preoccupied with the war and abusive.
In 1963, an aging Cuban concert pianist Eugenio Francisco Montes Behar, grieved for a lost love and finds the man's spirit in music. He plays for a nursing home and at weddings, living here for 11 years. Eugenio contemplates his love of music after he hears about the death of a great Cuban composer.
In 1972, Sandman, a refugee in his own country, a divorced Vietnam vet with PTSD who's badly undone by an anti-war march, then saved by hatchling sea turtles. He deals with termite-eaten furniture left by previous tenants.
In 1982, Isabel, an 18 yr old Marielita disappointed in South Beach and its decay but dazzled by the older painter first as a muse, then as a lover.
In 2002, married couple Maribel Rodriguez and Ignacio Salas resided there with his girlfriend, Beatrice Dumonts—a complicated threesome created not by love or desire but by immigration law.
In 2010, a 40 yr. old Pilar, a Cuban American journalist, prepares to leave 2B apartment (now a condo) after she lost her job faced with the reality of moving back in with her parents.
Pilar rents her condo to a young man named Lenin García, another Cuban refugee, who soon dies. His fate impacts other tenants in surprising ways.
From the Cuban concert pianist, the widow of an intelligence officer raising their young daughter alone; a man waiting on a green card marriage to run its course so that he can divorce his wife and marry his lover. A Tajik building manager with a secret identity, a Vietnam vet receiving packages from his ex-wife. Each has a story, and the walls of Apartment 2B are a part of their lives.
Do the walls talk? Told in short chapters with stories of each tenant.
Each tenant has past losses, challenges, struggles, dreams, and hopes for the future. For over seventy years, it has stood tall and held the resident's secrets.
In the latter part, set in 2012, we learn of Lana, an immigrant, a mysterious woman struggling with her demons, who mourns her beloved while unaware of the apartment's tragic history.
Distraught and alone, she is watched over by a ghost, and together these two strangers brought into the community by The Helena will find a measure of comfort and purpose, gaining new insight into what we all owe one another.
Beautifully written and lyrical! I loved the South Beach Art Deco apartment and have lived in South Florida for 20-some years. I had an office in Miami for years and spent much time in South Beach as a consultant working with Art Deco historical properties and hotels as well as Palm Beach area. I was delighted to see this book.
The characters were well drawn, and the setting was a character among itself with thoughtful meditation—a mix of historical, literary fiction, magical realism, and a little mystery.
AUDIOBOOK While the author is, of course, very talented, and I listened to the audiobook narrated by Whitney Dykhouse delivering an outstanding performance—I did feel it started out very intriguing and strong. Still, mid-way to the end, it became slow and confusing. The last section was drawn out and strange and my least favorite. It may have been better to have a print or digital reading copy to follow in those areas.
Overall, I enjoyed reading about the residents and history and revisiting one of my favorite spots full of history and charm.
Thanks to HighBridge Audio for a gifted ALC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Blog review posted @
JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
Pub Date: June 27, 2023
My Rating: 4 Stars
June 2023 Must-Read Books
Built in 1942, many people and families have come to Miami's South Beach to the Helena Apartment and called 2B home.
First, we meet a military couple from Texas: Sophie and Jack Appleton. The new bride is enamored with this glamorous town, but he's preoccupied with the war and abusive.
In 1963, an aging Cuban concert pianist Eugenio Francisco Montes Behar, grieved for a lost love and finds the man's spirit in music. He plays for a nursing home and at weddings, living here for 11 years. Eugenio contemplates his love of music after he hears about the death of a great Cuban composer.
In 1972, Sandman, a refugee in his own country, a divorced Vietnam vet with PTSD who's badly undone by an anti-war march, then saved by hatchling sea turtles. He deals with termite-eaten furniture left by previous tenants.
In 1982, Isabel, an 18 yr old Marielita disappointed in South Beach and its decay but dazzled by the older painter first as a muse, then as a lover.
In 2002, married couple Maribel Rodriguez and Ignacio Salas resided there with his girlfriend, Beatrice Dumonts—a complicated threesome created not by love or desire but by immigration law.
In 2010, a 40 yr. old Pilar, a Cuban American journalist, prepares to leave 2B apartment (now a condo) after she lost her job faced with the reality of moving back in with her parents.
Pilar rents her condo to a young man named Lenin García, another Cuban refugee, who soon dies. His fate impacts other tenants in surprising ways.
From the Cuban concert pianist, the widow of an intelligence officer raising their young daughter alone; a man waiting on a green card marriage to run its course so that he can divorce his wife and marry his lover. A Tajik building manager with a secret identity, a Vietnam vet receiving packages from his ex-wife. Each has a story, and the walls of Apartment 2B are a part of their lives.
Do the walls talk? Told in short chapters with stories of each tenant.
Each tenant has past losses, challenges, struggles, dreams, and hopes for the future. For over seventy years, it has stood tall and held the resident's secrets.
In the latter part, set in 2012, we learn of Lana, an immigrant, a mysterious woman struggling with her demons, who mourns her beloved while unaware of the apartment's tragic history.
Distraught and alone, she is watched over by a ghost, and together these two strangers brought into the community by The Helena will find a measure of comfort and purpose, gaining new insight into what we all owe one another.
Beautifully written and lyrical! I loved the South Beach Art Deco apartment and have lived in South Florida for 20-some years. I had an office in Miami for years and spent much time in South Beach as a consultant working with Art Deco historical properties and hotels as well as Palm Beach area. I was delighted to see this book.
The characters were well drawn, and the setting was a character among itself with thoughtful meditation—a mix of historical, literary fiction, magical realism, and a little mystery.
AUDIOBOOK While the author is, of course, very talented, and I listened to the audiobook narrated by Whitney Dykhouse delivering an outstanding performance—I did feel it started out very intriguing and strong. Still, mid-way to the end, it became slow and confusing. The last section was drawn out and strange and my least favorite. It may have been better to have a print or digital reading copy to follow in those areas.
Overall, I enjoyed reading about the residents and history and revisiting one of my favorite spots full of history and charm.
Thanks to HighBridge Audio for a gifted ALC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
Blog review posted @
JudithDCollins.com
@JudithDCollins | #JDCMustReadBooks
Pub Date: June 27, 2023
My Rating: 4 Stars
June 2023 Must-Read Books
July 12, 2023
TAMPA BAY FRIENDS! I'll be in conversation with Ana Menendez at Tombolo Books in downtown St. Pete on July 18th! You can RSVP here.
4.5 stars! I loved the way The Apartment was almost a sentient occupant of itself and how ALL it's occupants were such interesting characters building to the end.
Full review to come.
4.5 stars! I loved the way The Apartment was almost a sentient occupant of itself and how ALL it's occupants were such interesting characters building to the end.
Full review to come.
June 22, 2023
The Apartment is a compilation of related stories taking place in apartment 2B over the span of several decades.
2B’s inhabitants include a concert pianist, a widow and her daughter, a secretive building manager, and the latest resident - a mysterious woman.
While some of the stories can be tied to previous ones, each one is enjoyable on its own.
People who enjoy short stories, social commentary, and a Florida setting will certainly want to pick up this book!
ARC provided via NetGalley
2B’s inhabitants include a concert pianist, a widow and her daughter, a secretive building manager, and the latest resident - a mysterious woman.
While some of the stories can be tied to previous ones, each one is enjoyable on its own.
People who enjoy short stories, social commentary, and a Florida setting will certainly want to pick up this book!
ARC provided via NetGalley
October 13, 2023
I may be biased here because the first art deco festival I went to in Miami Beach was in 1985 or 86. Most of the hotels on Ocean Drive (I’m not even sure it was called that then) were boarded up and just starting to be renovated. I remember before then going down there to what is now South Beach, the same area and all the seniors sitting in front of the old hotels that had become apartments. I remember thinking if walls could talk what stories they could tell. That is what this book is all about. From the very beginning with a Native American looking for food before anything existed there up through time. It did leave me wondering what happened to some of the characters who had moved on. I read this because it sounded so interesting and the author will be at the Miami book fair next month!
May 30, 2023
2.5
"The Apartment" by Ana Menéndez follows a single apartment through time (from pre-colonization of Florida to now) and the occupants that inhabit it. I absolutely adore string of connection books in this style and "The Apartment" started off very strong. The first "story" was more of a prequel starting with a native woman on the natural ground and flits through colonization into a more modern era. The first story within the apartment (of a young couple during the war) was also very stirring. I loved that some of the later stories called back to this first occupant but I wanted the book to do it even more - there needed to be more prints left behind from the occupants and more of lingering influence beyond that for Lana (our final girl).
While a very quick read (with short chapters), "The Apartment" started to drag for me and felt repetitive. We skip pretty quickly from the '40's to ~80's and we spend most of our time from the '90's to now, and I felt like the more historic stories were more interesting. I probably would've DNF it if it weren't so quick but I wanted it to be over.
Ana Menéndez does interweave a delicate social commentary about south Florida which as a Floridian was fun to explore and I enjoyed this template that she chose to pursue it in. All in all, a decent story but not a fantastic one. It may hit the mark better with someone that hasn't experienced this string of connection type of narrative before (because it is really cool).
Thank you to my friends at Counterpoint for the gifted copy | Pub date: June 27, 2023
"The Apartment" by Ana Menéndez follows a single apartment through time (from pre-colonization of Florida to now) and the occupants that inhabit it. I absolutely adore string of connection books in this style and "The Apartment" started off very strong. The first "story" was more of a prequel starting with a native woman on the natural ground and flits through colonization into a more modern era. The first story within the apartment (of a young couple during the war) was also very stirring. I loved that some of the later stories called back to this first occupant but I wanted the book to do it even more - there needed to be more prints left behind from the occupants and more of lingering influence beyond that for Lana (our final girl).
While a very quick read (with short chapters), "The Apartment" started to drag for me and felt repetitive. We skip pretty quickly from the '40's to ~80's and we spend most of our time from the '90's to now, and I felt like the more historic stories were more interesting. I probably would've DNF it if it weren't so quick but I wanted it to be over.
Ana Menéndez does interweave a delicate social commentary about south Florida which as a Floridian was fun to explore and I enjoyed this template that she chose to pursue it in. All in all, a decent story but not a fantastic one. It may hit the mark better with someone that hasn't experienced this string of connection type of narrative before (because it is really cool).
Thank you to my friends at Counterpoint for the gifted copy | Pub date: June 27, 2023
January 24, 2024
I liked the concept, but I found the first half too rushed, which meant the second half didn't really land for me
July 30, 2023
Published: 06/27/23
Narrated by Whitney Dykhouse
Thank you NetGalley and HighBridge Audio for accepting my request to read and review The Apartment.
The Apartment was a miss for me. The synopsis of one apartment and tenants through the years and their stories is appealing. However, I had problems right away. The narrator did well with emotions. I had trouble with understanding her dialect: this is not new for me; however this was really difficult.
The first story contained so much profanity, I was going to stop, and turn the book back in. Just as I make this decision, the story ends. The remaining stories, like the first, build momentum and stop. The profanity waxes and wanes.
This was a convoluted struggle.
Narrated by Whitney Dykhouse
Thank you NetGalley and HighBridge Audio for accepting my request to read and review The Apartment.
The Apartment was a miss for me. The synopsis of one apartment and tenants through the years and their stories is appealing. However, I had problems right away. The narrator did well with emotions. I had trouble with understanding her dialect: this is not new for me; however this was really difficult.
The first story contained so much profanity, I was going to stop, and turn the book back in. Just as I make this decision, the story ends. The remaining stories, like the first, build momentum and stop. The profanity waxes and wanes.
This was a convoluted struggle.
June 25, 2023
thank you to NetGalley and RB Media for an advanced listening copy of this book. all opinions are my own.
favorite quote: “[she] does not believe in ghosts. we are our own ghosts, dragging our mournful pasts behind us forever.”
this book details the mournful pasts of the inhabitants of apartment 2B; through their stories, ana menéndez depicts the reality of surviving immigration, war, and loss. i really enjoy the “house as a character” motif because it allows the audience to see how the apartment reflects its tenants.
while it may not have been for me, i’d recommend this book to enjoyers of short story collections and historical fiction alike.
•a note on the listening experience: the narrator did a great job so if audiobooks are your thing, i recommend checking out the recording of this book
favorite quote: “[she] does not believe in ghosts. we are our own ghosts, dragging our mournful pasts behind us forever.”
this book details the mournful pasts of the inhabitants of apartment 2B; through their stories, ana menéndez depicts the reality of surviving immigration, war, and loss. i really enjoy the “house as a character” motif because it allows the audience to see how the apartment reflects its tenants.
while it may not have been for me, i’d recommend this book to enjoyers of short story collections and historical fiction alike.
•a note on the listening experience: the narrator did a great job so if audiobooks are your thing, i recommend checking out the recording of this book
Read
January 10, 2024I decided not to give this book a rating because it's not the type of book I usually read and I had a hard time identifying with the characters and the story. I chose it because I wanted to learn more about refugees and immigrants. This story's main character is the apartment building and it shares stories of people throughout the years who lived in the same apartment.
The book was well written and it did make me think a lot about what challenges people face who enter our country so it definitely met the goal I had for reading it.
The book was well written and it did make me think a lot about what challenges people face who enter our country so it definitely met the goal I had for reading it.
February 2, 2024
Set in a single apartment, 2B in the Helena, in Miami, we witness the various lives of those who live there over the decades. I was fascinated and intrigued throughout, until we settle on Lana, though through her we get the stories of the old women who have long lived in the building on either side of 2B. Historical and contemporary fiction well blended together. Not dissimilar in structure from North Woods by Daniel Mason, that also set a single locus as the place where all the stories are set.
November 1, 2023
These are loosely connected short stories about the inhabitants of an apartment in Miami over the course of several decades. Most of the characters are connected to Cuba in some way, and it was interesting to see life in Miami through the eyes of Cuban immigrants struggling to make lives for themselves, missing Cuba, but not missing the oppressive and corrupt government there. The exiles make lives for themselves in Miami by creating a community that knows and cares about each other. The stories were often confusing, and I finished the book uncertain about what actually happened to some of the main characters.
August 24, 2023
Bittersweet immigrants in Miami written beautifully throughout life in an apartment. Lovely book, worth reading.
June 18, 2023
*this is an arc review of the audiobook*
TW: suicide, attempted suicide, gang violence, death of a child, death of a parent, mentions of various wars, 9/11, prostitution
The concept of The Apartment was very good and it had me hooked for the first 60% of the book.
The story takes you through all the tenants of apartment 2B in the Helena building located on iconic Miami Beach. Being a Miami native I was SO EXCITED to read something that takes place in my city. I loved being able to accurately picture the places mentioned like Alton Road, The News Cafe, and the Delano Hotel. The history and descriptions were accurate and I truly felt like I was transported to the city while listening.
I loved being taken back through time to basically the beginning of The Beach itself and to the new construction of The Helena (which I wholeheartedly believed was a real place because the description was so believable). I was entranced by each tenant's story and struggle until we came to the stories of Lenin and Lana in 2012.
At this point the timelines start to overlap and the narrator isn't clear on who is speaking at what time. It quickly jumped between characters stories and it was easy to get lost. I had to stop and rewind a few times to figure out what was happening because it didn't make sense that Lana was in Cuba. Perhaps in the physical book there is a distinction but it wasn't made in the audiobook and that was unhelpful to maintain the integrity of the story. This is the point where I started to get lost and I became interested in finishing the book. The story wasn't progressing and Lana had no clear story until the last few minutes of the book. At that point the ending was confusing and although it connected with the first half of the story it still didn't make sense to me.
I gave it 3 stars because the overall story wasn't bad. I did enjoy it, the ending just dragged on too long and I became uninterested. Perhaps reading through a different platform might have a better experience.
TW: suicide, attempted suicide, gang violence, death of a child, death of a parent, mentions of various wars, 9/11, prostitution
The concept of The Apartment was very good and it had me hooked for the first 60% of the book.
The story takes you through all the tenants of apartment 2B in the Helena building located on iconic Miami Beach. Being a Miami native I was SO EXCITED to read something that takes place in my city. I loved being able to accurately picture the places mentioned like Alton Road, The News Cafe, and the Delano Hotel. The history and descriptions were accurate and I truly felt like I was transported to the city while listening.
I loved being taken back through time to basically the beginning of The Beach itself and to the new construction of The Helena (which I wholeheartedly believed was a real place because the description was so believable). I was entranced by each tenant's story and struggle until we came to the stories of Lenin and Lana in 2012.
At this point the timelines start to overlap and the narrator isn't clear on who is speaking at what time. It quickly jumped between characters stories and it was easy to get lost. I had to stop and rewind a few times to figure out what was happening because it didn't make sense that Lana was in Cuba. Perhaps in the physical book there is a distinction but it wasn't made in the audiobook and that was unhelpful to maintain the integrity of the story. This is the point where I started to get lost and I became interested in finishing the book. The story wasn't progressing and Lana had no clear story until the last few minutes of the book. At that point the ending was confusing and although it connected with the first half of the story it still didn't make sense to me.
I gave it 3 stars because the overall story wasn't bad. I did enjoy it, the ending just dragged on too long and I became uninterested. Perhaps reading through a different platform might have a better experience.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 25, 2023
Bristling with compassion, desire, and a longing to connect, The Apartment is a portrait of the complex and at times troubled inhabitants of a single unit in a South Miami Beach building—an excavation of the literal and figurative ghosts that haunt our lives and a celebration of the communities that shine brightest in our darkest moment
An art-deco sentinel, The Helena apartment building has silently witnessed the changing face of South Miami Beach for seventy years, observing—without interfering—the countless lives housed within its walls. But a single unit has seen more life (and sometimes death) than others. Those who have called Apartment 2B home include: a Cuban concert pianist who now only plays in a nursing home; the widow of an intelligence officer raising their young daughter alone; a man waiting on a green card marriage to run its course so that he can divorce his wife and marry his lover, all of whom live together in 2B; a Tajik building manager with a secret identity; a Vietnam vet receiving packages from his ex-wife. Each tenant imbues 2B with energy that can either heal or overwhelm the latest resident, Lana.
A mysterious woman struggling with her own demons, Lana mourns her beloved while unaware of the apartment’s sometimes tragic history. Distraught and alone, she is watched over by a ghost, and together these two strangers brought into community by The Helena will find a measure of comfort and purpose, gaining a new insight into what we all owe one another.
I’m afraid for me this was a case of loved the idea, but not so much the execution. I tried and tried and failed to connect with these loosely interrelated stories. There were some more interesting moments, but collectively I just wasn’t feeling the spark.
Narrator Whitney Dykhouse did a nice job, though.
Thank you Ana Menéndez, HighBridge Audio, and NetGalley for providing this ALC for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own.
An art-deco sentinel, The Helena apartment building has silently witnessed the changing face of South Miami Beach for seventy years, observing—without interfering—the countless lives housed within its walls. But a single unit has seen more life (and sometimes death) than others. Those who have called Apartment 2B home include: a Cuban concert pianist who now only plays in a nursing home; the widow of an intelligence officer raising their young daughter alone; a man waiting on a green card marriage to run its course so that he can divorce his wife and marry his lover, all of whom live together in 2B; a Tajik building manager with a secret identity; a Vietnam vet receiving packages from his ex-wife. Each tenant imbues 2B with energy that can either heal or overwhelm the latest resident, Lana.
A mysterious woman struggling with her own demons, Lana mourns her beloved while unaware of the apartment’s sometimes tragic history. Distraught and alone, she is watched over by a ghost, and together these two strangers brought into community by The Helena will find a measure of comfort and purpose, gaining a new insight into what we all owe one another.
I’m afraid for me this was a case of loved the idea, but not so much the execution. I tried and tried and failed to connect with these loosely interrelated stories. There were some more interesting moments, but collectively I just wasn’t feeling the spark.
Narrator Whitney Dykhouse did a nice job, though.
Thank you Ana Menéndez, HighBridge Audio, and NetGalley for providing this ALC for review consideration. All opinions expressed are my own.
July 9, 2023
This was interesting.
I was debating between two and three stars.
Let's start with the reasons I went with three. It is very good writing. Ana Menendez's uses words and dialog expertly, intelligently and evocatively. Her stories are interesting. Her writing makes you think and is empathetic. Although the book's jacket calls this a novel, it felt so much more like a collection of short stories, so if you like short stories you will likely enjoy this novel(?).
My reasons for leaning towards two stars; I don't particularly care for collections of short stories. I can see why authors and readers enjoy them, I just don't enjoy them. The Apartment tells stories of the different tenants in apartment 2B of the Helena in Miami, over the years 1942-2012. Early in the novel, the stories felt cut-off and I felt a bit cheated. But I continued reading, because as I said, Ana Menendez is a good writer. And I noticed that some of the threads from earlier stories were picked up in the newer stories. So I was hopeful. But there never came to be much more than that. The last and longest tenant story, Lana's, had the ghost or spirit of the previous tenant still in the apartment watching and watching out for Lana. Which I don't disbelieve can happen.
But such short acquaintances with the characters on top of Menendez's being way too overly cryptic with them (another BIG reason for two stars) meant that I came away not really knowing any of them well enough to feel too much for them. I don't mind having to wait or think or dig for my novels and characters to reveal their secrets but I also don't like being unnecessarily teased. Like when people make provocative but obscure statements online in a public forum but then ask that you respect their privacy.
Sorry, sorry. Off on a tangent. So three stars. For a book I shouldn't have liked much at all, that's pretty good. Well done, Ana Menendez.
I was debating between two and three stars.
Let's start with the reasons I went with three. It is very good writing. Ana Menendez's uses words and dialog expertly, intelligently and evocatively. Her stories are interesting. Her writing makes you think and is empathetic. Although the book's jacket calls this a novel, it felt so much more like a collection of short stories, so if you like short stories you will likely enjoy this novel(?).
My reasons for leaning towards two stars; I don't particularly care for collections of short stories. I can see why authors and readers enjoy them, I just don't enjoy them. The Apartment tells stories of the different tenants in apartment 2B of the Helena in Miami, over the years 1942-2012. Early in the novel, the stories felt cut-off and I felt a bit cheated. But I continued reading, because as I said, Ana Menendez is a good writer. And I noticed that some of the threads from earlier stories were picked up in the newer stories. So I was hopeful. But there never came to be much more than that. The last and longest tenant story, Lana's, had the ghost or spirit of the previous tenant still in the apartment watching and watching out for Lana. Which I don't disbelieve can happen.
But such short acquaintances with the characters on top of Menendez's being way too overly cryptic with them (another BIG reason for two stars) meant that I came away not really knowing any of them well enough to feel too much for them. I don't mind having to wait or think or dig for my novels and characters to reveal their secrets but I also don't like being unnecessarily teased. Like when people make provocative but obscure statements online in a public forum but then ask that you respect their privacy.
Sorry, sorry. Off on a tangent. So three stars. For a book I shouldn't have liked much at all, that's pretty good. Well done, Ana Menendez.
June 12, 2023
The Apartment proves what I, as a reader, and a human, believe - location is a character. I adore books where the place is as important as the people and Ana Menendez has chosen a unique way to present multiple stories, all interconnected by a single apartment in a building that has existed for a long time.
The premise alone, "The Helena is an art deco apartment building that has witnessed the changing face of South Miami Beach for seventy years, observing the lives housed within. Among those who have called apartment 2B home are a Cuban concert pianist who performs in a nursing home; the widow of an intelligence officer raising her young daughter alone; a man waiting on a green card marriage to run its course so that he can divorce his wife and marry his lover, all of whom live together; a Tajik building manager with a secret identity; and a troubled young refugee named Lenin. Each tenant imbues 2B with energy that will either heal or overwhelm its latest resident, Lana, a mysterious woman struggling with her own past" was enough to cause me to request this one as an audio arc.
Different. Not cookie cutter. Not a formulaic novel where "if a then b" and the reader knows what to expect. This one requires some retrospection as each story is a reboot and the brain has to shift - and, frankly, in a world where tropes are predictable, I found The Apartment to be a palate cleanser and a reminder that there can be new stories.
The Apartment becomes available on June 27, 2023.
The premise alone, "The Helena is an art deco apartment building that has witnessed the changing face of South Miami Beach for seventy years, observing the lives housed within. Among those who have called apartment 2B home are a Cuban concert pianist who performs in a nursing home; the widow of an intelligence officer raising her young daughter alone; a man waiting on a green card marriage to run its course so that he can divorce his wife and marry his lover, all of whom live together; a Tajik building manager with a secret identity; and a troubled young refugee named Lenin. Each tenant imbues 2B with energy that will either heal or overwhelm its latest resident, Lana, a mysterious woman struggling with her own past" was enough to cause me to request this one as an audio arc.
Different. Not cookie cutter. Not a formulaic novel where "if a then b" and the reader knows what to expect. This one requires some retrospection as each story is a reboot and the brain has to shift - and, frankly, in a world where tropes are predictable, I found The Apartment to be a palate cleanser and a reminder that there can be new stories.
The Apartment becomes available on June 27, 2023.
July 18, 2023
The Apartment covers many years in the life of one apartment in South Miami Beach (2B, and the pun gives a hint of the beauty of the book's embodiment of resilience under loss and pressure). This extraordinarily beautiful novel-in-stories moves through and around the lives of multiple characters inhabiting the same apartment over time, each character leaving physical or emotional imprints, and we both inhabit them very deeply and also know them as if we were a long-time neighbor in the building. So many beautiful voices and complicated relationships, and a reinvention of what the arc of the story might look like.
We don't always find out where everyone will end up, but each story gives us enough information that we can imagine our way through it, and as the book goes on they begin to intersect. I loved these characters., felt for everything they suffered, was exhilarated at their moments of connection and understanding, and wound up dazzled at the mixture of virtuoso storytelling and deep, human meaning. I really loved this book. I have been running around telling everyone to read it, and have gotten my own and potentially a friend's book club to adopt it. A great novel to read, a great novel to discuss, and just a beautiful mixture of the dreamlike and deeply realistic.
We don't always find out where everyone will end up, but each story gives us enough information that we can imagine our way through it, and as the book goes on they begin to intersect. I loved these characters., felt for everything they suffered, was exhilarated at their moments of connection and understanding, and wound up dazzled at the mixture of virtuoso storytelling and deep, human meaning. I really loved this book. I have been running around telling everyone to read it, and have gotten my own and potentially a friend's book club to adopt it. A great novel to read, a great novel to discuss, and just a beautiful mixture of the dreamlike and deeply realistic.
June 20, 2023
✨ Review ✨ The Apartment by Ana Menéndez; Narrated by Whitney Dykhouse
This book lives within Apartment 2B of the Helena, an art deco building in South Miami Beach, and through its eyes, we see 70 years of residents moving through its pages. From its first residents in the early moments of WWII in Miami for military mobilization, to its final resident, Lana, the inhabitants of this apartment parade by our eyes.
Often unfulfilling, these characters pass by without resolution to their stories, just as people's lives do not always neatly fit into their residency within a building. We see glimpses, incomplete pictures of the struggles and successes of these people, and for this lack of completion, this book may frustrate some. Sometimes, we only see pieces of their stories through the eyes of later residents, finding a cast iron pan or an indent in the floor, bringing clues to previous residents' pasts. I loved this complex layering of stuff left behind, furniture, photos, or other layers to the apartment throughout its life. It's a story deeply about space & place.
The final character, Lana, is lonely and alone, but finally succumbs to her neighbors' efforts to fold her into their circle. The book ends with a beautiful testament to community and neighbors and found family.
I enjoyed the audio narration, though in the later parts of the book when it shifts perspectives regularly, I found it hard to follow whose POV we were in. Switching to the ebook copy here helped as the section breaks at least signaled when POV shifted.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (4.5)
Genre: literary fiction, historical fiction
Setting: the Helena, South Miami Beach
Pub Date: June 27, 2023
Read this if you like:
⭕️ books grounded in a particular space (in this case, Apt 2B)
⭕️ multiple POVs, almost short stories, knitted together
⭕️ finding the intersections between people over time
Thanks to Counterpoint, HighBridge Audio, and #netgalley for advanced e-copies of this book!
This book lives within Apartment 2B of the Helena, an art deco building in South Miami Beach, and through its eyes, we see 70 years of residents moving through its pages. From its first residents in the early moments of WWII in Miami for military mobilization, to its final resident, Lana, the inhabitants of this apartment parade by our eyes.
Often unfulfilling, these characters pass by without resolution to their stories, just as people's lives do not always neatly fit into their residency within a building. We see glimpses, incomplete pictures of the struggles and successes of these people, and for this lack of completion, this book may frustrate some. Sometimes, we only see pieces of their stories through the eyes of later residents, finding a cast iron pan or an indent in the floor, bringing clues to previous residents' pasts. I loved this complex layering of stuff left behind, furniture, photos, or other layers to the apartment throughout its life. It's a story deeply about space & place.
The final character, Lana, is lonely and alone, but finally succumbs to her neighbors' efforts to fold her into their circle. The book ends with a beautiful testament to community and neighbors and found family.
I enjoyed the audio narration, though in the later parts of the book when it shifts perspectives regularly, I found it hard to follow whose POV we were in. Switching to the ebook copy here helped as the section breaks at least signaled when POV shifted.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️💫 (4.5)
Genre: literary fiction, historical fiction
Setting: the Helena, South Miami Beach
Pub Date: June 27, 2023
Read this if you like:
⭕️ books grounded in a particular space (in this case, Apt 2B)
⭕️ multiple POVs, almost short stories, knitted together
⭕️ finding the intersections between people over time
Thanks to Counterpoint, HighBridge Audio, and #netgalley for advanced e-copies of this book!
June 25, 2023
“The Apartment” by Ana Menéndez focuses on the inhabitants of Apartment 2B and their experiences, while providing different perspectives from neighbors and the building’s employees. Apartment 2B has had a variety of inhabitants from the early 1940s to the 2000s. Each inhabitant has a different perspective on life, through their personal experiences and relationships with their families or neighbors. We, the readers, who “exist outside of time,” watch the story of Apartment 2B unfold over a series of short stories on the inhabitants lives that sometimes are interconnected. It is clear that throughout the decades individuals within Apartment 2B experience hope, loneliness, unhappiness, and the desire for more as they reside within it. One thing is clear, Apartment 2B is home to many, and keeps their stories and secrets even when those inhabitants move on.
The Narrator, Whitney Dykhouse, does a good job of providing authenticity with the tone of the novel, Hispanic accent and the use of the Spanish and Czech languages. The story would have had more impact if multiple narrators were used.
Thank you to NetGalley and HighBridge Audio for this audiobook ARC of The Apartment.
The Narrator, Whitney Dykhouse, does a good job of providing authenticity with the tone of the novel, Hispanic accent and the use of the Spanish and Czech languages. The story would have had more impact if multiple narrators were used.
Thank you to NetGalley and HighBridge Audio for this audiobook ARC of The Apartment.
April 4, 2024
I liked the premise, as others did. The audiobook narrator, Whitney Dykhouse, was just abysmal. The right, or wrong narrator can make or break your book.
Dykhouse’s narration reminded me of that SNL skit about the activists who overpronounce “LATINA” every time they say it. Except Dykhouse read the ENTIRE book that way, with this odd Latin/Russian/Arab accent regardless of a character’s origins. “Mee-ah-mee,” “Coo-bah,” and “Ay-ooh-hay-nee-oh” were particularly irritating. It was like listening to a non-native speaker who aspires to be a theater actress interpret a telenovela in English.
I’m not sure how much I would’ve enjoyed the book written versus read, though. Characters were a sometimes featured so briefly that I didn’t have time to care about them. Others were interesting, but but huge gaps in their stories were left, so you end up just feeling like, huh? Who WAS that story about?
If I were the author, I would rewrite the book with a devoted chapter to each character, and more evenly-allotted attention to the whole of each individual story. And the goofy dramatics at the end omitted.
Dykhouse’s narration reminded me of that SNL skit about the activists who overpronounce “LATINA” every time they say it. Except Dykhouse read the ENTIRE book that way, with this odd Latin/Russian/Arab accent regardless of a character’s origins. “Mee-ah-mee,” “Coo-bah,” and “Ay-ooh-hay-nee-oh” were particularly irritating. It was like listening to a non-native speaker who aspires to be a theater actress interpret a telenovela in English.
I’m not sure how much I would’ve enjoyed the book written versus read, though. Characters were a sometimes featured so briefly that I didn’t have time to care about them. Others were interesting, but but huge gaps in their stories were left, so you end up just feeling like, huh? Who WAS that story about?
If I were the author, I would rewrite the book with a devoted chapter to each character, and more evenly-allotted attention to the whole of each individual story. And the goofy dramatics at the end omitted.
June 23, 2023
Name of Book: The Apartment
Author: Ava Menendez
Narrator: Whitney Dykhouse
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Publisher: High Bridge Audio-RB Media
Pub Date: June 27, 2023
My Rating: 2.5 rounded up
Pages: 240
This is a story about the occupants of Apartment 2B of ‘The Helena’ in Miami.
Each chapter is a different occupant as well as a time period over many ages.
Some of the stories were good/interesting others not so much.
The narrator Whitney Gykhouse did a wonderful job performing the different characters.
When I first heard the narration, I thought Hmm this seem like it might be a bit boring however when she got into the characters she was GREAT!
This is not my typical read but I like to go outside my normal routine every once in a while.
However, I really didn’t love this; which, of course, there are many other readers who will love it. We readers are so lucky to have so many options.
Want to thank NetGalley and High Bridge Audio/ RB Media for this audiobook.
Publishing Release Day scheduled for: June 27, 2023.
Author: Ava Menendez
Narrator: Whitney Dykhouse
Genre: Women’s Fiction
Publisher: High Bridge Audio-RB Media
Pub Date: June 27, 2023
My Rating: 2.5 rounded up
Pages: 240
This is a story about the occupants of Apartment 2B of ‘The Helena’ in Miami.
Each chapter is a different occupant as well as a time period over many ages.
Some of the stories were good/interesting others not so much.
The narrator Whitney Gykhouse did a wonderful job performing the different characters.
When I first heard the narration, I thought Hmm this seem like it might be a bit boring however when she got into the characters she was GREAT!
This is not my typical read but I like to go outside my normal routine every once in a while.
However, I really didn’t love this; which, of course, there are many other readers who will love it. We readers are so lucky to have so many options.
Want to thank NetGalley and High Bridge Audio/ RB Media for this audiobook.
Publishing Release Day scheduled for: June 27, 2023.
June 17, 2023
“Tis a fearful thing to love what death can touch. What a strange and hopeful animal man was. To love as if loss existed for others and never for us. To yearn as if time were forever.”
It all begins and ends in apartment 2B in Miami, Florida. This story is almost movie like as we follow several of the tenants throughout the years. 40’s, 60’s, 80’s, 90’s and present day. I really enjoyed it at first. The lives of the inhabitants were interesting, but I feel like we didn’t get enough - I wanted MORE.
As we reached Lana and the story starts to really intertwine with others, I felt bored.
Also, I wasn’t too keen on some of the dialogue. A lot of, “she says” “Lana says” “says says says.” I feel like a few more, “she replied” or “he/she asks” could have helped the repetitiveness.
Thank you to NetGalley who provided me with an audiobook copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All of these thoughts and opinions are my own.
It all begins and ends in apartment 2B in Miami, Florida. This story is almost movie like as we follow several of the tenants throughout the years. 40’s, 60’s, 80’s, 90’s and present day. I really enjoyed it at first. The lives of the inhabitants were interesting, but I feel like we didn’t get enough - I wanted MORE.
As we reached Lana and the story starts to really intertwine with others, I felt bored.
Also, I wasn’t too keen on some of the dialogue. A lot of, “she says” “Lana says” “says says says.” I feel like a few more, “she replied” or “he/she asks” could have helped the repetitiveness.
Thank you to NetGalley who provided me with an audiobook copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All of these thoughts and opinions are my own.
December 19, 2023
A beautiful work, truly. Finished it in two days, captivated by what unfolded among lifetimes, among generations, within (and without) the confines of Apartment 2B. Caused me to wonder of my own places I once called home, whether any of that life experienced while I was there remains, palpable, however diminished over the decades. Such touching glimpses into lives here, and so well done, so finely crafted. There were moments within a passage I felt as if I could be reading a short from Hemingway, or 'Nine Stories'-era Salinger. Particularly the chapter entitled 'Margot'. She wants to put mirrors up in the apartment, stating, to paraphrase, that it would be good to see a familiar face once in a while. Immediately felt as if that passage could be from Hemingway's 'Cat In the Rain.' Why go there? I don't know. But the writing is so wonderful, I didn't want it to end. That's how I feel with Hemingway, with Salinger. And now, with Menéndez. Again...a beautiful work. Highly recommended.
June 9, 2023
It all started with Apartment 2B...
I am so thankful to have gotten a physical ARC of The Apartment from Counterpoint Books and an audiobook version from Highbridge Audio via NetGalley. The Apartment hits shelves on June 27, 2023, and it's a blast into the past with a contemporary, heartfelt twist.
Apartment 2B of The Helena in Miami, Florida has stood the test of time, surviving its many tenants who've all battled the horrors of war on the homefront, protests and riots, and losses of life. With each passing decade, we, the reader, get a glimpse into the narratives told and experienced by the confines of this homely apartment. Characters come to live and stick around for the following generations to keep an eye out and a helping hand when needed.
This is a feel-good tale that will keep you interested from page one.
I am so thankful to have gotten a physical ARC of The Apartment from Counterpoint Books and an audiobook version from Highbridge Audio via NetGalley. The Apartment hits shelves on June 27, 2023, and it's a blast into the past with a contemporary, heartfelt twist.
Apartment 2B of The Helena in Miami, Florida has stood the test of time, surviving its many tenants who've all battled the horrors of war on the homefront, protests and riots, and losses of life. With each passing decade, we, the reader, get a glimpse into the narratives told and experienced by the confines of this homely apartment. Characters come to live and stick around for the following generations to keep an eye out and a helping hand when needed.
This is a feel-good tale that will keep you interested from page one.
June 12, 2023
I just finished listening to The Apartment by Ana Menéndez. As first I wasn’t a huge fan of the narrator for this audiobook, but the more we went in to the story the better.
As far as the actual story goes, I wish the characters, or residents of apartment 2B, had more time in the story. I appreciate a good quick story, but I feel those residents deserved more of a story and I would not have minded the chapters to be a little king with those stories.
Overall, The Apartment was a different type of story. It had a very movie type feel watching the residents live a part of their lives in 2B. It also gives us more of a glimpse of the struggles of immigrants coming from a place they wanted to call home and having to call 2B their new home in Miami Florida.
This was my first Ana Menéndez novel, and I don’t think it’s my last.
As far as the actual story goes, I wish the characters, or residents of apartment 2B, had more time in the story. I appreciate a good quick story, but I feel those residents deserved more of a story and I would not have minded the chapters to be a little king with those stories.
Overall, The Apartment was a different type of story. It had a very movie type feel watching the residents live a part of their lives in 2B. It also gives us more of a glimpse of the struggles of immigrants coming from a place they wanted to call home and having to call 2B their new home in Miami Florida.
This was my first Ana Menéndez novel, and I don’t think it’s my last.
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