The role of judgment in Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s sophomore novel
Most reviews of Long Island Compromise blame the characters’ misery on their family’s wealth. But the reality of their predicament is far more serious.
Long Island Compromise
A Novel
Why read the book of the summer when the season is long over?
Well, one reason might be that the book in question has an eschatological hole in the middle of it, big enough to drive a truck through, that other reviewers seem to have ignored—despite all the attention the book has received. Last July, there was a stretch when you couldn’t dip into an online lit mag or open a lifestyle section without seeing the praise (and the hype) for Taffy Brodesser-Akner’s second novel, Long Island Compromise.
The new novel came on the heels of the multi-platform phenomenon that her first novel, Fleishman Is in Trouble, became. Brodesser-Akner was already well known as a journalist for The New York Times, particularly for celebrity interviews, so the 2019 release of Fleishman was an event. Then, in 2022, came the limited Hulu miniseries of Fleishman (with Jesse Eisenberg and Claire Danes!), with a teleplay that we learned was coauthored by Brodesser-Akner herself.
