Pineapple Street, a review by Di

PINEAPPLE STREET
Jenny Jackson

Penguin Random House
March 7, 2023
304 pages

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When first chose to read this book, I thought the title was
a cutesy title for a book set in fiction land. I quickly learned that Pineapple Street is one of the three Fruit Streets in Brooklyn Heights. It is a historically protected area consisting of Pineapple Street, Orange Street and Cranberry Street. Interesting fact!

This is a book about rich people. Richer than I can ever dream of being! It’s about the old money family, the Stockton’s. It’s told from the viewpoints of their 2 daughters and 1 daughter-in-law. The voices of these women are totally different. And, they burst the bubble on the myth that if you have money, you have everything.

This is a bit of a slow burn and totally character driven. I had a bit of a problem with the lack of continuity as it jumped from one character to the other. But that quickly sorted itself out.

It felt like parts of the book were actually lampooning the wealthy, in a good natured way. The mother of the clan is totally out of touch with the reality of the “normal” world. But, it is more humorous than offensive.

But, I discovered that in some ways the rich don’t really live much differently from us “regular folk”. They have insecurities, suffer losses, love their families, are thrilled about a new grandchild. Pretty normal stuff. But I don’t throw an Oscars gala in an empty movie theatre building. And, I don’t have friends whose names are emblazoned on different wings of the New York Public Library. I also do not have a plethora of themed dinners. So, there were things that I could not relate to. But, it was interesting to be part of their world, even if it was only for a short time.

The book ended on an interesting note. Some people never change but others do, for the better.

And interesting read. The reason I chose this book was because of the unusual title. It was worth the time spent on it.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the Advance Readers Copy.

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