The New York Public Library created a map of the best New York novels by neighborhood, but they gave short shrift to the Upper West Side.
So far, they’ve highlighted Ira Levin’s horror novel Rosemary’s Baby, set in The Dakota in the film version, and Teju Cole’s Open City, which takes place in various parts of the city but whose protagonist works at Columbia.
But obviously the Upper West Side is the setting for dozens more books, from Saul Bellow’s Seize the Day and Mr. Sammler’s Planet, to Herman Wouk’s Marjorie Morningstar, set at the El Dorado, to Thomas Pynchon’s latest novel Bleeding Edge. Let us know your favorites in the comments and check out the NYPL’s neighborhood-by-neighborhood list here and map below. If we get enough entries, maybe we’ll make our own neighborhood-centric map.
We’ll also post responses we get via Twitter or Facebook.
.@westsiderag We can use #UWSnovels as we go.
Mr. Sammler's Planet – 90th St near Riverside
Panic in Needle Park – Sherman Sq
— Above_96th (@Above96th) August 21, 2015
@westsiderag @Above96th
A Dog's Ransom, Patricia Highsmith.
— Maggie Balistreri (@nycmaggie) August 21, 2015
.@westsiderag #UWSnovels
Time and Again The Dakota
Seize the Day The Ansonia
Bleeding Edge Zabar's
— Above_96th (@Above96th) August 21, 2015
@Above96th @westsiderag When You Reach Me, @rebstead #UWSnovels
— Elise Howard (@ThatEliseHoward) August 21, 2015
@westsiderag
"The UWS isn't free you know
I asked her how she knew I lived on the Upper West Side"
– Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close
— Josh Rosenfeld (@shuaros) August 21, 2015
Image via wikipedia.
Speaking of SEIZE THE DAY, check out the little-known movie version starring Robin Williams, circa 1986.
Looking for Mr Goodbar Judith Rossner
Is there a publication date cutoff? I’d add The Emperor’s Children, by Claire Messud, and Eight White Nights, Andre Aciman.
Madeleine L’Engle’s classic young adult novel The Young Unicorns which is situated around the Cathedral of St. John the Divine (where Ms. L’Engle worked)/Morningside Heights.
Marjorie Morningstar – when the novel starts she lives in the El Dorado…then, when times get tough they move to West End Ave and 94th?
Already mentioned, but worth repeating- Time and Again
Any of Brian Morton’s novels, especially his most recent one, Florence Gordon.
Time and Again, by Jack Finney
Amalie’s Orbit by Gloria DeVidas Kirchheimer
The Young Unicorns — Madeleine L’Engle
The characters live in a large UWS apartment, they walk their dog in Riverside Park, and the suspenseful plot centers on events at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.
Seize the Day
A BILLION FOR BORIS, by Mary Rodgers, sequel to Freaky Friday has numerous scenes in the OTB parlor on West 72nd Street.
Paul Auster’s novel whose name I forget but it’s named after the Chinese restaurant Moon-something on Bway and 112 st.