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Fin & Lady
It’s 1964. Eleven-year-old Fin and his glamorous, worldly, older half sister, Lady, have just been orphaned, and Lady, whom Fin hasn’t seen in six years, is now his legal guardian and his only hope. That means Fin is uprooted from a small dairy farm in rural Connecticut to Greenwich Village, smack in the middle of the swinging ’60s. He soon learns that Lady—giddy, careless, urgent, and obsessed with being free—is as much his responsibility as he is hers.
Fin and Lady lead their lives against the background of the ’60s, the civil rights movement, and the Vietnam War—Lady pursued by ardent, dogged suitors, Fin determined to protect his impulsive sister from them and from herself.
Fin and Lady lead their lives against the background of the ’60s, the civil rights movement, and the Vietnam War—Lady pursued by ardent, dogged suitors, Fin determined to protect his impulsive sister from them and from herself.
277 pages, Hardcover
First published July 9, 2013
112 people are currently reading
6041 people want to read
About the author
Cathleen Schine
27 books595 followersCathleen Schine is the author of The New Yorkers, The Love Letter, and The Three Weissmanns of Westport among other novels. She has contributed to The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, The New York Times Magazine, and The New York Times Book Review.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,023 reviews
February 15, 2023
3.5 stars: I am a huge fan of Cathleen Schine. After reading this novel, my admiration continues. Schine’s talent for writing witty dialogue is exceptional. It’s a story of Fin, who is orphaned at age 11 in 1964. Fin’s half sister, Lady, assumes his care. She whisks him from a dairy farm in Connecticut to Greenwich Village in NYC. Lady is young, unmarried, unconventional, high spirited, and full of love and passion. This reader was reminded of Auntie Mame and the madcap adventures with the eccentric Aunt. In this novel, it’s an eccentric Sister. It’s told in a first person narration of whom the reader does not learn the identity until the end of the novel. Full of life and love, this novel is a fun and satisfying read.
August 23, 2021
In the early 1960s, beautiful twenty-four-year-old Lady Hadley swoops in to take over the care of her half-brother Fin Hadley when he's orphaned at eleven. Lady is a free spirit - able to travel, maintain a luxurious home, and indulge in favorite political causes - due to a generous trust fund.
Lady and Fin soon move to Greenwich Village where Fin is enrolled in an 'alternative' school that favors lots of freedom and little homework.
In the village, Fin is exposed to Lady's rather eccentric lifestyle, which includes several boyfriends, whimsical activities, and plenty of drinking and partying.
Fin also becomes an advocate of Lady's political views. This is the era of the Viet Nam War and of the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, and Martin Luther King. President Johnson is unpopular with anti-war activists and there's plenty to protest about. Thus, Fin accompanies Lady to rallies and marches, and even manages to get taken into police custody. Fin is devoted to Lady and considers all this great fun.
One thing Fin isn't please about is Lady's request that he help her find a husband since he doesn't like most of her beaus. Lady insists she needs to marry by twenty-five but is perfectly happy to give herself extensions as needed. Lacy's looking for someone to love but can't seem to find him.
The book doesn't really have a plot as such. Instead it's a character study of Lady, Fin, their black housekeeper Mabel, and their friends. Mabel is the loving motherly figure who takes care of Fin when his sister flakes out.
Lady has two former roommates who enjoy suggestive chit-chat and she has three boyfriends who are very different from each other: a lawyer, a jock, and a Hungarian refugee.
Fin makes friends with kids on the block and at school and roams the city with them. The closest relationship in the story, though, is between Lady and Fin - who have a tight, loving bond. Lady's whims eventually result in a lovely summer on the island of Capri in Italy, which sets up a big change in everyone's life.
I thought the book was slow and plodding in places, which lessened my enjoyment of the story. Overall it was an okay book with some interesting characters.
You can follow my reviews at https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot....
September 20, 2018
I listened to the audio version of this book, Fin & Ladyand it was written by Cathleen Schine and narrated by Anne Twomey.This wonderful story begins in 1964. Fin Hadley is an 11-year old- boy who has been living with his mother on her childhood dairy farm in rural Connecticut until she succumbs to cancer. Fin discovers that his older half-sister, Lady, is now his guardian and she tells him that they are going to live in New York City... in her home in Greenwich Village. Although Fin is sad and feels alone in the world, he is also in awe of Lady. He thinks she is absolutely beautiful and probably the most lively person he has ever known.
Once Fin, his loyal dog Gus and Lady are settled in at her home in Greenwich Village, Fin begins to realize that Lady is like no one he has ever known. At first, Fin is confused by Lady... she is a bundle of contradictions. Although she speaks constantly of wishing to be free and needing to get away so she can think and breathe, she also speaks of not wanting to be an 'old maid'... asking Fin to help her find a husband by her 25th birthday (she was 24 at the time).What was so interesting and confusing to Fin was that Lady already HAD a line of suitors vying for her attention and affection... and these suitors were a colorful cast of characters.There was Tyler.. a rising star in a law firm and trustee of Fin's inheritance (his farm in Connecticut). Tyler and Lady have a history.. a history which Fin wouldn't really come to understand until he was much older. There was Jack... a professional baseball player who Fin refers to as a 'jock'. And there was Biffy... a Hungarian immigrant who had survived World War II and was Fin's personal favorite (and my favorite too!). All three men were in love with Lady but she... well, although she was aware of their feelings and how could she NOT be?...... there was a coolness to her... a distance or aloofness that she kept.
Although Fin seemed so innocent, he appeared to have an uncanny ability to understand grown up motivations... especially those of his sister. At first, Fin's unusual perceptiveness seemed confusing to me; but the more I thought about Fin and his ability to get to the heart of the matter with all of the adults in his life, I realized that of course, Fin was not an ordinary boy. In his eleven short years of life, he had experienced profound loss... the loss of his father, his grandparents and finally, his mother. Naturally, his losses would enable him to be more attuned to others' feelings.... especially Lady.
The scenes between Lady and each of the suitors were at times very amusing; but eventually, I began to wonder just why these men would continue to pursue a woman who was so casual and yes, even callous with their hearts. These men pursued her for years. Finally, on her 28th birthday, Lady seemed to have had enough and she escaped to the island of Capri... sending for Fin to join her. What Fin realized on his arrival on the island was that the very thing that Lady had both been longing for and trying to avoid for all these years had finally happened... Lady had fallen in love. She had lost her heart to a man, Michelangelo.. a photographer; and all of a sudden, there was a calmness.. a quiet.. about Lady that hadn't ever been there before.
I won't spoil how this very poignant coming of age story ultimately plays out. The ending of the story was both surprising... and perhaps NOT so surprising. Ultimately, it seemed that the story ended the only way it COULD end. Although this story started out a bit slowly for me, I soon was drawn into these characters' lives.. lives which played out against the backdrop of the 1960's... a time of political and social turmoil and upheaval and rapidly changing cultural norms. This story was about Fin. This story was about lady. And this story was about just how Fin and Lady became a family.... the very thing they both longed for and needed.
Once Fin, his loyal dog Gus and Lady are settled in at her home in Greenwich Village, Fin begins to realize that Lady is like no one he has ever known. At first, Fin is confused by Lady... she is a bundle of contradictions. Although she speaks constantly of wishing to be free and needing to get away so she can think and breathe, she also speaks of not wanting to be an 'old maid'... asking Fin to help her find a husband by her 25th birthday (she was 24 at the time).What was so interesting and confusing to Fin was that Lady already HAD a line of suitors vying for her attention and affection... and these suitors were a colorful cast of characters.There was Tyler.. a rising star in a law firm and trustee of Fin's inheritance (his farm in Connecticut). Tyler and Lady have a history.. a history which Fin wouldn't really come to understand until he was much older. There was Jack... a professional baseball player who Fin refers to as a 'jock'. And there was Biffy... a Hungarian immigrant who had survived World War II and was Fin's personal favorite (and my favorite too!). All three men were in love with Lady but she... well, although she was aware of their feelings and how could she NOT be?...... there was a coolness to her... a distance or aloofness that she kept.
Although Fin seemed so innocent, he appeared to have an uncanny ability to understand grown up motivations... especially those of his sister. At first, Fin's unusual perceptiveness seemed confusing to me; but the more I thought about Fin and his ability to get to the heart of the matter with all of the adults in his life, I realized that of course, Fin was not an ordinary boy. In his eleven short years of life, he had experienced profound loss... the loss of his father, his grandparents and finally, his mother. Naturally, his losses would enable him to be more attuned to others' feelings.... especially Lady.
The scenes between Lady and each of the suitors were at times very amusing; but eventually, I began to wonder just why these men would continue to pursue a woman who was so casual and yes, even callous with their hearts. These men pursued her for years. Finally, on her 28th birthday, Lady seemed to have had enough and she escaped to the island of Capri... sending for Fin to join her. What Fin realized on his arrival on the island was that the very thing that Lady had both been longing for and trying to avoid for all these years had finally happened... Lady had fallen in love. She had lost her heart to a man, Michelangelo.. a photographer; and all of a sudden, there was a calmness.. a quiet.. about Lady that hadn't ever been there before.
I won't spoil how this very poignant coming of age story ultimately plays out. The ending of the story was both surprising... and perhaps NOT so surprising. Ultimately, it seemed that the story ended the only way it COULD end. Although this story started out a bit slowly for me, I soon was drawn into these characters' lives.. lives which played out against the backdrop of the 1960's... a time of political and social turmoil and upheaval and rapidly changing cultural norms. This story was about Fin. This story was about lady. And this story was about just how Fin and Lady became a family.... the very thing they both longed for and needed.
August 22, 2013
I say this all the time, but I am sucker for a good coming-of-age tale. Give a kid a difficult time that forces him or her to deal with things too quickly, set it in the recent past, and I readily present my heartstrings for you to tug at will.
This book has all of those elements: By the time he's eleven, Fin has lost his father, mother, and grandparents. His legal guardianship falls to his twentysomething half-sister, Lady, who hasn't really been part of his life before, aside from a trip his family took nine years earlier to follow Lady to Italy after she ran out on her own wedding. Now Fin finds himself uprooted from the Connecticut farm he's always called home and transplanted into Greenwich Village.
The plot sounds tailor-made for the tugging of my heart's strings, right? So why only three stars? Well, the truth is that I liked this book for the most part. Fin was a great character, and the writing was very strong. However, there are a couple reasons that this book didn't connect with me more: the fact that I never really got a sense of the time and place, the fact that I didn't understand why any of the men continued to pursue Lady, and the awkward narration.
This book takes place in Greenwich Village in the mid-sixties, but I never really got a sense of the turbulence of the times aside from a few throw-away references. I often forgot that it wasn't a contemporary story, because so many of the cultural shifts that were happening didn't seem to have much effect of Fin. I think there was a lot of missed opportunity there.
Early on in their relationship, Lady tells Fin that he has to help her find a husband because it's pathetic that she's 25 and not yet married. She has three potential suitors who float through her orbit over the course of the novel, and she is very wishy-washy and noncommittal towards these men. she bounces back and forth between them, refuses marriage proposals, and often behaves cold and distant towards them. I know that this is meant to give us a peek into her characterization, but I didn't understand why any of the suitors kept coming around. They were too underdeveloped for to buy it. If there was a good reason for their continued longing, it just wasn't clear to me.
Really, though, the main reason I didn't love this book -- and, I suspect, part of the reason for my two more minor complaints -- is the fact that the book is narrated by a character that we don't meet until the last twenty or thirty pages of the story. Most of the story is told in a third-person narrative that occasionally drops in lines like, "Fin once told me..." I think a first-person narrative from Fin's perspective might have strengthened the story, but I tend to have a bit of a brain boner for first-person narratives done well. The fact that the story is filtered through our narrator whose own understanding is filtered through Fin's recitation of the story just meant that details and insights that would have developed the characters more fully and given a stronger sense of time and place were lacking. It just took me out of the story more than I would have liked.
Still, I think this is a good, well-written book that many readers will enjoy. I enjoyed reading it, I was just a little disappointed that I couldn't lose myself in it as much as I wanted. That's what kept this from truly becoming a four-star read.
This book has all of those elements: By the time he's eleven, Fin has lost his father, mother, and grandparents. His legal guardianship falls to his twentysomething half-sister, Lady, who hasn't really been part of his life before, aside from a trip his family took nine years earlier to follow Lady to Italy after she ran out on her own wedding. Now Fin finds himself uprooted from the Connecticut farm he's always called home and transplanted into Greenwich Village.
The plot sounds tailor-made for the tugging of my heart's strings, right? So why only three stars? Well, the truth is that I liked this book for the most part. Fin was a great character, and the writing was very strong. However, there are a couple reasons that this book didn't connect with me more: the fact that I never really got a sense of the time and place, the fact that I didn't understand why any of the men continued to pursue Lady, and the awkward narration.
This book takes place in Greenwich Village in the mid-sixties, but I never really got a sense of the turbulence of the times aside from a few throw-away references. I often forgot that it wasn't a contemporary story, because so many of the cultural shifts that were happening didn't seem to have much effect of Fin. I think there was a lot of missed opportunity there.
Early on in their relationship, Lady tells Fin that he has to help her find a husband because it's pathetic that she's 25 and not yet married. She has three potential suitors who float through her orbit over the course of the novel, and she is very wishy-washy and noncommittal towards these men. she bounces back and forth between them, refuses marriage proposals, and often behaves cold and distant towards them. I know that this is meant to give us a peek into her characterization, but I didn't understand why any of the suitors kept coming around. They were too underdeveloped for to buy it. If there was a good reason for their continued longing, it just wasn't clear to me.
Really, though, the main reason I didn't love this book -- and, I suspect, part of the reason for my two more minor complaints -- is the fact that the book is narrated by a character that we don't meet until the last twenty or thirty pages of the story. Most of the story is told in a third-person narrative that occasionally drops in lines like, "Fin once told me..." I think a first-person narrative from Fin's perspective might have strengthened the story, but I tend to have a bit of a brain boner for first-person narratives done well. The fact that the story is filtered through our narrator whose own understanding is filtered through Fin's recitation of the story just meant that details and insights that would have developed the characters more fully and given a stronger sense of time and place were lacking. It just took me out of the story more than I would have liked.
Still, I think this is a good, well-written book that many readers will enjoy. I enjoyed reading it, I was just a little disappointed that I couldn't lose myself in it as much as I wanted. That's what kept this from truly becoming a four-star read.
September 10, 2013
This book was too meandering to capture and hold my attention. I read pages without remembering what specifically was going on, and didn't bother to go back and figure it out. Part of the problem was the character of Lady, who's unstable and detached and in charge of raising her young brother, which is scary. That she has people who love her is shocking. That they help her raise Fin is salvation.
The story is, until the end, told by Fin, who also loves Lady though again I'm not sure why. He follows in her wake, whether she's speeding along like a powerboat or wreaking havoc like a hurricane, but either way this is not the most exciting position from which to watch this story play out. Lots of the dialogue is the adults talking in code about things Fin is trying to figure out, and while Fin has remarkably adult outlook on life, he still misses a lot. We get stripes of paint across the canvas but never the whole picture. It gets annoying fast.
Scheine must have had these characters take form in her mind and let them spill a few years of their lives onto the page to get them to stop haunting her, but this doesn't make a satisfying story. If I said "not a lot happens," that wouldn't technically be true. There's affairs and moves and escapes to Italy and cultural upheaval in Greenwich Village, but since Fin is raised by Lady he's stunted and detached a lot of the time. Days, months, years go by and he's still just hanging out, watching his sister self-destruct along with all of her male suitors. The story is supposed to be about Lady being free of societal norms--she refuses to marry, and is punished for this eventually by the man she wants to marry refusing her--but really, she just refuses to grow up. Also annoying.
I read the whole book to see if, belatedly, she got it together. To see how Fin handled her once he wasn't so dependent. And I liked the ending. It was sad, and hopeful, and fitting. It bumped me up from one star to two :). But Fin only comes into his own in the last chapter, and if I had my druthers, what happened in that chapter would have happened by chapter three of this book, and everything explained thereafter would have been the book. Because Fin is lovable, and loving and despite Tolstoy's proclamation, his good-at-heart character is a lot more interesting than his miserable, novel-hogging sister.
The story is, until the end, told by Fin, who also loves Lady though again I'm not sure why. He follows in her wake, whether she's speeding along like a powerboat or wreaking havoc like a hurricane, but either way this is not the most exciting position from which to watch this story play out. Lots of the dialogue is the adults talking in code about things Fin is trying to figure out, and while Fin has remarkably adult outlook on life, he still misses a lot. We get stripes of paint across the canvas but never the whole picture. It gets annoying fast.
Scheine must have had these characters take form in her mind and let them spill a few years of their lives onto the page to get them to stop haunting her, but this doesn't make a satisfying story. If I said "not a lot happens," that wouldn't technically be true. There's affairs and moves and escapes to Italy and cultural upheaval in Greenwich Village, but since Fin is raised by Lady he's stunted and detached a lot of the time. Days, months, years go by and he's still just hanging out, watching his sister self-destruct along with all of her male suitors. The story is supposed to be about Lady being free of societal norms--she refuses to marry, and is punished for this eventually by the man she wants to marry refusing her--but really, she just refuses to grow up. Also annoying.
I read the whole book to see if, belatedly, she got it together. To see how Fin handled her once he wasn't so dependent. And I liked the ending. It was sad, and hopeful, and fitting. It bumped me up from one star to two :). But Fin only comes into his own in the last chapter, and if I had my druthers, what happened in that chapter would have happened by chapter three of this book, and everything explained thereafter would have been the book. Because Fin is lovable, and loving and despite Tolstoy's proclamation, his good-at-heart character is a lot more interesting than his miserable, novel-hogging sister.
June 12, 2023
Clever, fun, silly and smart - and sometimes downright ridiculous.
This is the story of Fin and his sister, Lady. Suddenly orphaned at age 11, Fin goes to live with his older half-sister (Lady) in NYC. The time frame is the mid 1960's. She herself is 23 years old, self-absorbed and ill-prepared to become a guardian. Lady does love Fin, but it's a real question of who is taking care of whom.
I first read this afew hundred years ten years ago, when it was published. It's reminiscent of Auntie Mame. At times, the story veered off into flakiness (especially, the subplot about Lady's three suitors). But the author's wit kept me reading.
3.5 tie-dyed stars
This is the story of Fin and his sister, Lady. Suddenly orphaned at age 11, Fin goes to live with his older half-sister (Lady) in NYC. The time frame is the mid 1960's. She herself is 23 years old, self-absorbed and ill-prepared to become a guardian. Lady does love Fin, but it's a real question of who is taking care of whom.
I first read this a
3.5 tie-dyed stars
December 14, 2013
This is, plain and simple, a fairy tale for adults. It has all the right ingredients: Orphans both literal and figurative, innocence in many forms (and only a slight, very palatable loss thereof), beauty, youth, several quests in the name of love (including three-count-em-three suitors), Greenwich Village in the 1960s and turquoise grottoes off the Isle of Capri, and a good dog whose only purpose in the story is to be a good dog.
It's the tale of 11-year-old Fin, who goes to live with his beautiful and mercurial older half-sister Lady after his mother dies, relocating from the family farm in Connecticut to the Village with his collie Gus. Over the course of the book grows up into a teenager, negotiating both his own inner life and managing, as best a boy can, his larger-than-life free spirit of a sister. And that's about all you need to know. It's a sweet story—confectionary, as my friend Kat called it, though it's not cloying. Even the elements that would be inclined to annoy me in other hands—that it is, in fact, about a bunch of rich white people, and Fin is more mature and charming than any 11-year-old in history, and that there is a borderline Magical Negro character, the wise and kind maid, Mabel. But Schine has a nice light touch, and doesn't take herself too seriously, and it's hard to get too bent out of shape about a fairy tale. Light reading, enjoyable, and underneath it all a bit more serious than I'm making it out to be. Worth while, definitely.
It's the tale of 11-year-old Fin, who goes to live with his beautiful and mercurial older half-sister Lady after his mother dies, relocating from the family farm in Connecticut to the Village with his collie Gus. Over the course of the book grows up into a teenager, negotiating both his own inner life and managing, as best a boy can, his larger-than-life free spirit of a sister. And that's about all you need to know. It's a sweet story—confectionary, as my friend Kat called it, though it's not cloying. Even the elements that would be inclined to annoy me in other hands—that it is, in fact, about a bunch of rich white people, and Fin is more mature and charming than any 11-year-old in history, and that there is a borderline Magical Negro character, the wise and kind maid, Mabel. But Schine has a nice light touch, and doesn't take herself too seriously, and it's hard to get too bent out of shape about a fairy tale. Light reading, enjoyable, and underneath it all a bit more serious than I'm making it out to be. Worth while, definitely.
July 28, 2013
Oh my gosh, this is the last time I read a book that I don't have a really sure recommendation on. Well, probably not, but this one did not pan out. The writing is all telling, not showing, and enjoying the book really hinges on the reader liking Lady, who is an insufferably privileged drip. I liked Fin, but not enough to finish his story. I gave this book 150 pages before I decided to move on to better things! Life is too short for boring books about the 1960's in Greenwich Village - if you can make that time period boring, you can making anything read like cardboard.
May 11, 2013
This felt very slight as I was reading it but it has grown in weight in the week since I finished.
The novel is about a young boy Fin who is raised by his older half-sister Lady. She is charismatic, unpredictable and flighty and there is a bit of a question regarding who is really raising who.
The novel is really about love, though, and making your own family. It's comically romantic, or romantically comic, the way all of Schine's novels are.
There are also wonderful allusions to the Odyssey.
The novel is about a young boy Fin who is raised by his older half-sister Lady. She is charismatic, unpredictable and flighty and there is a bit of a question regarding who is really raising who.
The novel is really about love, though, and making your own family. It's comically romantic, or romantically comic, the way all of Schine's novels are.
There are also wonderful allusions to the Odyssey.
July 22, 2013
I loved Lady. I loved Fin. I loved this book. At the beginning of this book, we discover Fin is now an orphan. His father died when he was very young and his mother has died. The only family he has left is his eccentric, much-older sister Lady. Fin has only met her once before when he was five (he's now eleven), but he has fond memories of his time with her.
As I read, I slowly began to realize that someone close to Fin is telling the story, but it wasn't until the very end that I realized who it was. A wonderful story about family, love, and growing up in the 1960s.
If you're a fan of coming-of-age stories that give you a sense of both time and place (and memorable characters), like Cold Sassy Tree, then definitely read this book.
As I read, I slowly began to realize that someone close to Fin is telling the story, but it wasn't until the very end that I realized who it was. A wonderful story about family, love, and growing up in the 1960s.
If you're a fan of coming-of-age stories that give you a sense of both time and place (and memorable characters), like Cold Sassy Tree, then definitely read this book.
not-going-to-finish
September 23, 2015Didn't finish at pg 163
Coming of age...the 60s...a unique brother/sister story...I expected more. I wanted more. I read a good 100 pages longer than I wanted to, on the off chance it would get better. Unfortunately it gets worse. Fin, the only redeeming character, turns into an obnoxious adolescent and I'm finished. Too much language. The writing is jumbled, with a confusing narrator, and unlikable characters. Every one of them. Not even the occasional funny line makes it worth it.
Not worth the time.
Coming of age...the 60s...a unique brother/sister story...I expected more. I wanted more. I read a good 100 pages longer than I wanted to, on the off chance it would get better. Unfortunately it gets worse. Fin, the only redeeming character, turns into an obnoxious adolescent and I'm finished. Too much language. The writing is jumbled, with a confusing narrator, and unlikable characters. Every one of them. Not even the occasional funny line makes it worth it.
Not worth the time.
August 23, 2017
This is the second time I read this book and I think I enjoyed it even more than the first time. What can one say about an 11 year old orphan who goes to live with his 24 year old half sister who is half Holly Golightly and Auntie Mame. A wonderful coming of age story which by the end is filled with irony and unconditional love. Do not miss this funny and poignant book which will stay with you for a long time.
August 5, 2013
This book started out very strong and then moved into a predominantly character-driven study that just didn't do anything (both in plot and for me). Lady was extremely unlikeable and Fin wasn't a strong enough character to bear the weight of narrative that was placed on him. Two stars because at times, the writing was extremely well crafted.
June 14, 2023
Good, not great
July 15, 2013
I found this delightful, funny and wry and touching. Eleven year old Fin goes to live with his rather irresponsible older sister in Greenwich Village He had been living on a dairy farm in Connecticut. Fin has already suffered too much loss in his young life, and is fearful of Lady shipping him off to boarding school or some other horror. Lady (that is her first name) is torn between being a proper young lady of the early sixties, at 24 she considers herself an old maid, and the desire to remain free. She asks Fin's help in finding a suitable husband, to weed out the bad ones, but Fin's influence on "the suitors" as he calls them in practically nil, and Lady goes on to find her own way.
August 1, 2013
I would have enjoyed this book more had it been called Fin. I did not love the character of Lady as I was meant to. She wasn't developed at all - we're told how magical and special she was, but we're never shown that.
The ending is telegraphed almost from the title page.
But I did love Fin. Only finished the book because I enjoyed spending time with him.
The ending is telegraphed almost from the title page.
But I did love Fin. Only finished the book because I enjoyed spending time with him.
April 3, 2024
Oh, I loved this book! Tender and sweet, but also bold and brash. And parts of it are hilarious.
It's the spring of 1964. Fin Hadley is a happy 11-year-old boy who lives on a farm in Connecticut until his widowed mother dies, and he is suddenly an orphan. His only living relative is a 24-year-old half-sister named Lady Hadley, a rich woman living in a posh apartment in New York City with a full-time maid/cook named Mabel. Lady is stunningly beautiful, sometimes cruel, completely unpredictable, and often inattentive, but also kind, tender, and charming. She quickly drives to rural Connecticut in her turquoise-colored convertible Karmann Ghia to retrieve her new charge. Fin moves into Lady's posh high-rise apartment with his dog, Gus, and the two adapt amazingly well. Since there are only two months left in the school year, Lady declines to enroll him, spending their days instead exploring the city, eating ice cream for lunch, and having a wonderful time.
And then the honeymoon is over. Lady resents living in a gilded cage, so they move to the bohemian Greenwich Village, along with the wonderful Mabel, into a half-furnished townhouse and set up housekeeping there. Lady charges Fin with finding her a husband. Three suitors, only one of whom is acceptable to Fin, parade through Lady's life as this free spirit is determined to be married by the time she is 25. Lady may be Fin's legal guardian, but it is Fin who slowly begins to take care of Lady as much as she takes care of him. True to her capricious nature, Lady secretly runs away on her 28th birthday, April 1, 1968, and she takes with her the love and security of Fin's life.
This is also a salute to the turbulent 1960s—from the beatniks to the Vietnam draft. Try as she might, Lady is out of touch with the times, being more a debutante at heart than a hippie.
Written by Cathleen Schine, this heartwarming novel has its surprises, beginning with the mysterious narrator. (Don't waste time trying to figure out who it is…all will be revealed in due time, and when it is, well, it's perfect.) This is a smart, sassy, and delightful story about what it means to be a family even if it doesn't fit the traditional definition. As characters, Fin and Lady are each exquisitely described, so much so that they seem like real people with their little quirks and habits. Adding to the magic, the dialogue is pitch-perfect.
And, oh, the ending…it is the happiest saddest ending I have ever read.
Insightful and perceptive, this novel is not only a pleasure to read, but also brilliantly captures an unconventional meaning of family that filled my heart with love.
It's the spring of 1964. Fin Hadley is a happy 11-year-old boy who lives on a farm in Connecticut until his widowed mother dies, and he is suddenly an orphan. His only living relative is a 24-year-old half-sister named Lady Hadley, a rich woman living in a posh apartment in New York City with a full-time maid/cook named Mabel. Lady is stunningly beautiful, sometimes cruel, completely unpredictable, and often inattentive, but also kind, tender, and charming. She quickly drives to rural Connecticut in her turquoise-colored convertible Karmann Ghia to retrieve her new charge. Fin moves into Lady's posh high-rise apartment with his dog, Gus, and the two adapt amazingly well. Since there are only two months left in the school year, Lady declines to enroll him, spending their days instead exploring the city, eating ice cream for lunch, and having a wonderful time.
And then the honeymoon is over. Lady resents living in a gilded cage, so they move to the bohemian Greenwich Village, along with the wonderful Mabel, into a half-furnished townhouse and set up housekeeping there. Lady charges Fin with finding her a husband. Three suitors, only one of whom is acceptable to Fin, parade through Lady's life as this free spirit is determined to be married by the time she is 25. Lady may be Fin's legal guardian, but it is Fin who slowly begins to take care of Lady as much as she takes care of him. True to her capricious nature, Lady secretly runs away on her 28th birthday, April 1, 1968, and she takes with her the love and security of Fin's life.
This is also a salute to the turbulent 1960s—from the beatniks to the Vietnam draft. Try as she might, Lady is out of touch with the times, being more a debutante at heart than a hippie.
Written by Cathleen Schine, this heartwarming novel has its surprises, beginning with the mysterious narrator. (Don't waste time trying to figure out who it is…all will be revealed in due time, and when it is, well, it's perfect.) This is a smart, sassy, and delightful story about what it means to be a family even if it doesn't fit the traditional definition. As characters, Fin and Lady are each exquisitely described, so much so that they seem like real people with their little quirks and habits. Adding to the magic, the dialogue is pitch-perfect.
And, oh, the ending…it is the happiest saddest ending I have ever read.
Insightful and perceptive, this novel is not only a pleasure to read, but also brilliantly captures an unconventional meaning of family that filled my heart with love.
February 8, 2021
Америка, 1964 год. 11-летний Фин очень неожиданно осиротел и его забрала к себе Леди, старшая сестра по отцу (который, как мы видим, очень креативно подходил к выбору имен детям). Фин перебирается из Коннектикута в Гринвич-Виллидж, самый центр богемной жизни Нью-Йорка. Его жизнь с Леди полна свободы, взаимной любви и легкости, но в какой-то момент всё складывается так, что Фин должен защитить сестру от поклонников, импульсивного стремления к свободе и от нее самой.
Мне очень нравится, как писательница обращается с языком и что она не рассказывает, а показывает. Второе предложение книги, например, выглядит так: "Костюм для похорон был куплен Фину год назад, наде�� три раза и уже был ему мал". И о времени действия напрямую не говорится, но по происходящим событиям оно легко угадывается. Очень забавно показан внутренний мир Фина, особенно его детские рассуждения и вообще в книге много тонкого юмора. В определенный момент проявляется рассказчик, которого невозможно угадать до самого конца. И заканчивается книга трогательно, немного грустно, но всё равно хорошо.
В журнале People Кейтлин Шайн назвали "современной еврейской Джейн Остин", но для меня её стиль больше похож на Энн Пэтчетт.
Мне очень нравится, как писательница обращается с языком и что она не рассказывает, а показывает. Второе предложение книги, например, выглядит так: "Костюм для похорон был куплен Фину год назад, наде�� три раза и уже был ему мал". И о времени действия напрямую не говорится, но по происходящим событиям оно легко угадывается. Очень забавно показан внутренний мир Фина, особенно его детские рассуждения и вообще в книге много тонкого юмора. В определенный момент проявляется рассказчик, которого невозможно угадать до самого конца. И заканчивается книга трогательно, немного грустно, но всё равно хорошо.
В журнале People Кейтлин Шайн назвали "современной еврейской Джейн Остин", но для меня её стиль больше похож на Энн Пэтчетт.
August 29, 2013
It is such a delight to be reading Cathleen Schine again. I love character driven books, and this book had truly wonderful characters. After his mother's death, an eleven year old boy, Fin, is put under the guardianship of his half sister, Lady, whom he has only met once. She is a free spirit, kind of a Holly? Golightly(BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S) type but extremely wealthy. Men fall in love with her. Fin is jealous, but they always love each other.
Like the rest of Schine's work this book shines with bright humor and improbable, funny situations. Loved it but maybe not as much as her THE NEW YORKERS or THE THREE WEISMANNS OF WESTPORT.
Like the rest of Schine's work this book shines with bright humor and improbable, funny situations. Loved it but maybe not as much as her THE NEW YORKERS or THE THREE WEISMANNS OF WESTPORT.
July 4, 2016
A 2013 staff fiction favorite recommended by Andrea. Read her review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Check our catalog: http://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/...
Merged review:
--Recommended by staffer Andrea. Read her review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Check our catalog: http://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/...
Check our catalog: http://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/...
Merged review:
--Recommended by staffer Andrea. Read her review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
Check our catalog: http://encore.cooklib.org/iii/encore/...
April 11, 2014
I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. In some ways it was reminiscent of Auntie Mame. I do not mean the author was imitating another book but that Lady, Ms. Schine's character, had some of the same traits.
Most of the story is told from Fin's perspective when he is a young boy and I think the author captured a child's viewpoint very well. It seemed to ring true when he explained his thoughts.
The characters are vibrant and entertaining although not always wise or selfless.
If you like stories about people's relationships, I think you'd enjoy this novel.
Most of the story is told from Fin's perspective when he is a young boy and I think the author captured a child's viewpoint very well. It seemed to ring true when he explained his thoughts.
The characters are vibrant and entertaining although not always wise or selfless.
If you like stories about people's relationships, I think you'd enjoy this novel.
August 8, 2013
Although the story has a very promising premise, I had difficulty finishing this book. Rather than being delightfully eccentric or Bohemian, Lady is just sort of neurotic, self-absorbed and obnoxious.
November 13, 2015
A very annoying story about nothing. Everything could have been covered as a short story but it was stretched out way too far. I gave it one extra star for setting part of the plot (that's being kind) in Capri and for a nice Auden quote-apart from that, I can't recommend it.
October 21, 2013
The central character of this novel, Lady – seeking freedom, fiercely independent, somewhat unpredictable – could have been placed in any time period to see how she fared. Instead, Cathleen Schine placed her in the turbulent 1960’s. At the age of 24, she has become a guardian to her half-brother, age 11, whom she barely knows, upon the death of Fin’s mother. “Fin’s funeral suit was a year old, worn three times, already too small,” one of the opening sentences of the novel, reflects only some of the loss in Fin’s life. Within hours of his mother’s funeral, he moves with Lady from his grandparents’ farm in Connecticut to a stately apartment in Manhattan and then only weeks later, to an unfinished house in Greenwich Village
With little experience and a very different focus from parenting responsibly, Lady provides Fin with a family but without the structure in place that comforts and protects a child. Fin, in a sense, then becomes Lady’s guardian, anticipating her missteps and trouble. Seemingly impulsive, a free spirit, Lady moved from suitor to suitor: Tyler (whom Fin didn’t like,) Biffi (whom Tyler liked and consistently promoted,) to Jack (whom Fin really disliked) without warning. As much as he loved Lady, Fin was critical of what he perceived as hurtful behavior with her suitors, playing with their emotions. An elderly activist visiting their home once observed, “Lady is one of those people who likes a good enemy, needs one. The drama, I suppose…Yes, she really does like to bat them around a bit.” Later, he discovered her “cruelty” was fear and confusion.
Lady always said she was a “lousy guardian” to Fin, feeling she constantly disappointed and/or failed him in some way. Yet, Fin’s childhood was rich with experience. He was exposed to a range of books, many which would be considered too sophisticated for a child, carefully chosen by Lady, to offset what she thought was a non-education at the New Flower School he attended. She was capricious and yet, firm on issues such as a non-negotiable stance on no drugs for Fin.
Lady does indeed become involved in the social and political issues of that world seemingly coming apart but on her terms. New York City in the 60’s is a great match for her…liberation on many fronts, many levels…but she didn’t like losing her creature comforts and already had her own independence. Fin, on the other hand, embraced the times. Through Lady and her interests, he developed a social and political conscience and a commitment to activism. By 1967, however, Fin thought, “There was something menacing, too…not just the war…something more immediately foreboding like the kids on the street looking beleaguered and desperate and sad.”
Perhaps it was this sense of foreboding that caused Lady to flee to Capri, abandoning everyone at home (challenging me to suspend judgment about her responsibility to Fin…oh, Lady, don’t disappoint me now,) discovering a passion for photography, immersing herself in new relationships and experiences and discovering the great love of her life. Finally, Fin is summoned to come to Capri for the summer, learning about relationships and freedom despite harboring anger to Lady for the abandonment. Her lover’s consoling comment to Fin as Fin struggles with the move to Capri and what it means to their family, “It’s difficult to be in another country’s life.” This certainly summarizes Fin’s life with Lady. He discovers that her lover, Michelangelo, the great love of her life, provided Lady with shelter, what no one else realized she needed.
The sense of doom, which Fin had identified earlier, continues to play out. “Lady had waited all her life to fall in love. And now the god of love made her suffer for her sins.” Her lover, already married with a family living in Milan, can’t marry Lady and after much angst, she returns to New York City with 16 year old Fin, harnessing all the courage it took to raise a baby as a single woman (even in the 60’s) and discovering happiness and perhaps a sense of peace. “Maybe it took someone so completely dependent on her to give Lady real independence.”
An accident two years later claims Lady’s life. With the help and support of Biffi, the suitor Fin loved the most, and Mabel, their wonderful housekeeper/cook/friend, eighteen year old Fin becomes Lydia’s guardian. Trying to explain their life, their family, Fin offers to the very young Lydia, “A guardian means I shelter you…I had a guardian, too, ” and Lydia’s response, “You were lucky, too.”
With 18 pages remaining in the novel, the narrator of the novel is revealed as Lydia. By then, I was fully enchanted by Fin, Lady and now, Lydia and trying not to sob audibly. In Lydia’s words, in the epilogue to the now almost 60 year old Fin, “Fun, freedom and books…isn’t everyone’s life an adventure?” This little family had made it work and carried out the best of Lady’s legacy.
So, then, why were Lady and Fin placed in the midst of the 60’s? I think that time period was a great stage for all the players to develop and perform with the world reeling just a little bit behind their own shifting sands. Lady had a vision for life and the people she loved, knowing that might not meet with approval, and in the end, this was also a great love story exploring what it means to be a family
With little experience and a very different focus from parenting responsibly, Lady provides Fin with a family but without the structure in place that comforts and protects a child. Fin, in a sense, then becomes Lady’s guardian, anticipating her missteps and trouble. Seemingly impulsive, a free spirit, Lady moved from suitor to suitor: Tyler (whom Fin didn’t like,) Biffi (whom Tyler liked and consistently promoted,) to Jack (whom Fin really disliked) without warning. As much as he loved Lady, Fin was critical of what he perceived as hurtful behavior with her suitors, playing with their emotions. An elderly activist visiting their home once observed, “Lady is one of those people who likes a good enemy, needs one. The drama, I suppose…Yes, she really does like to bat them around a bit.” Later, he discovered her “cruelty” was fear and confusion.
Lady always said she was a “lousy guardian” to Fin, feeling she constantly disappointed and/or failed him in some way. Yet, Fin’s childhood was rich with experience. He was exposed to a range of books, many which would be considered too sophisticated for a child, carefully chosen by Lady, to offset what she thought was a non-education at the New Flower School he attended. She was capricious and yet, firm on issues such as a non-negotiable stance on no drugs for Fin.
Lady does indeed become involved in the social and political issues of that world seemingly coming apart but on her terms. New York City in the 60’s is a great match for her…liberation on many fronts, many levels…but she didn’t like losing her creature comforts and already had her own independence. Fin, on the other hand, embraced the times. Through Lady and her interests, he developed a social and political conscience and a commitment to activism. By 1967, however, Fin thought, “There was something menacing, too…not just the war…something more immediately foreboding like the kids on the street looking beleaguered and desperate and sad.”
Perhaps it was this sense of foreboding that caused Lady to flee to Capri, abandoning everyone at home (challenging me to suspend judgment about her responsibility to Fin…oh, Lady, don’t disappoint me now,) discovering a passion for photography, immersing herself in new relationships and experiences and discovering the great love of her life. Finally, Fin is summoned to come to Capri for the summer, learning about relationships and freedom despite harboring anger to Lady for the abandonment. Her lover’s consoling comment to Fin as Fin struggles with the move to Capri and what it means to their family, “It’s difficult to be in another country’s life.” This certainly summarizes Fin’s life with Lady. He discovers that her lover, Michelangelo, the great love of her life, provided Lady with shelter, what no one else realized she needed.
The sense of doom, which Fin had identified earlier, continues to play out. “Lady had waited all her life to fall in love. And now the god of love made her suffer for her sins.” Her lover, already married with a family living in Milan, can’t marry Lady and after much angst, she returns to New York City with 16 year old Fin, harnessing all the courage it took to raise a baby as a single woman (even in the 60’s) and discovering happiness and perhaps a sense of peace. “Maybe it took someone so completely dependent on her to give Lady real independence.”
An accident two years later claims Lady’s life. With the help and support of Biffi, the suitor Fin loved the most, and Mabel, their wonderful housekeeper/cook/friend, eighteen year old Fin becomes Lydia’s guardian. Trying to explain their life, their family, Fin offers to the very young Lydia, “A guardian means I shelter you…I had a guardian, too, ” and Lydia’s response, “You were lucky, too.”
With 18 pages remaining in the novel, the narrator of the novel is revealed as Lydia. By then, I was fully enchanted by Fin, Lady and now, Lydia and trying not to sob audibly. In Lydia’s words, in the epilogue to the now almost 60 year old Fin, “Fun, freedom and books…isn’t everyone’s life an adventure?” This little family had made it work and carried out the best of Lady’s legacy.
So, then, why were Lady and Fin placed in the midst of the 60’s? I think that time period was a great stage for all the players to develop and perform with the world reeling just a little bit behind their own shifting sands. Lady had a vision for life and the people she loved, knowing that might not meet with approval, and in the end, this was also a great love story exploring what it means to be a family
August 9, 2013
FIN & LADY by Cathleen Schine is an interesting Coming of Age/Family. This review is for the audio CD version. It is the tale of Fin's Coming of Age during the 1960's in Greenwich Village, New York,Italy,and Capri. Orphaned at eight years old, it takes you as he matures. An emotional story of Fin,his half-sister and guardian Lady Hadley,their maid,Mabel and many more characters. You will laugh,you will cry and you will say "what the heck". It is a story of a family,the love of a brother and sister left orphaned at young ages,on their own and finding out what matters the most in life. As both Fin and Lady matures,through trials,disappointments,and laughter,they grow closer as well. Lady is a wealthy,glamorous,itinerant and is only in her twenties,when she becomes Fin's guardian. Fin's grows up in a rather unconventional setting,for Lady is careless, care-free and irresponsible. The story takes place during the 1960's, the swinging sixties period,the civil-rights movement, the Vietnam War and so much more. While the audio version is interesting, the voice doesn't really change during the telling,no specific emotion noted. With that said if you are a fan of Cathleen Schine, I would recommend getting the audio version,there is a bonus interview at the end. Received for an honest review from the publisher.
RATING: 4
HEAT RATING:MILD
REVIEWED BY: AprilR,Review courtesy of My Book Addiction and More
RATING: 4
HEAT RATING:MILD
REVIEWED BY: AprilR,Review courtesy of My Book Addiction and More
October 26, 2013
I took one last sweep of the New shelf to see if there was a book I'd want for the airplane AND be willing to mail back to Martha's Vineyard. There was Fin and Lady; a book that even now is still 47 holds away from me in Seattle. The book was a lovely cross-country companion. Just charming enough to engage me during the flight hours. Reading the first half was thoroughly enjoyable. The second half was taken up after unpacking and it's one of those instances when I can't tell if my reading had changed, or if it was the pacing. Perhaps, like with the progression of time in McDermott's After This (which coincidentally covered a similar time period in the U.S.) I just don't like reading about the 60's. I missed young Fin. I missed Greenwich Village in its heyday. The mystery of the narrator started to distract me and I was so filled with a sense of foreboding that it made me want to peek at the ending. Perhaps this was the book's overall success but one that I resented because it was not a fairy tale at all. So I get to puzzle over whether I am putty in Schine's hands or whether my unease is due to something missing for me in Lady's transition. It doesn't really matter because the book was an ideal companion when needed, and now one that may stay with me more as 4 star rather than a five. I'll tell you who I miss though. It's Mabel.
September 11, 2013
I cried at the end, partially because I felt all the feels but more so because this beautiful coming-of-age story was over and I wasn't quite ready to leave.
The year is 1964 and eleven year old Fin has just lost his widowed mother to cancer. Enter Lady, his eccentric older sister, now legal guardian, whom he has fond memories from a trip to Italy when he was five. Lady whisks Fin away from his small-town life on a dairy farm in rural Connecticut to her glamorous digs in New York City's Greenwich Village. Free-spirited Lady doesn't know the first thing about raising a child and grieving Fin is soon immersed in her chaotic life, where the parties just don't ever seem to end.
Schine takes a plot that could easily be reduced to who's raising whom and instead crafts a tender love story between a younger brother and his adult sister. Set against the backdrop of the tumultuous 1960s, Fin and Lady is a Bildungsroman that explores the landscape of the odd, sometimes frustrating relationship that ensues when family members who are otherwise strangers find themselves thrust together in times of tragedy. Equally heartwarming and heartbreaking, you'll be hard pressed to put down this wonderful, quirky coming of age tale.
The year is 1964 and eleven year old Fin has just lost his widowed mother to cancer. Enter Lady, his eccentric older sister, now legal guardian, whom he has fond memories from a trip to Italy when he was five. Lady whisks Fin away from his small-town life on a dairy farm in rural Connecticut to her glamorous digs in New York City's Greenwich Village. Free-spirited Lady doesn't know the first thing about raising a child and grieving Fin is soon immersed in her chaotic life, where the parties just don't ever seem to end.
Schine takes a plot that could easily be reduced to who's raising whom and instead crafts a tender love story between a younger brother and his adult sister. Set against the backdrop of the tumultuous 1960s, Fin and Lady is a Bildungsroman that explores the landscape of the odd, sometimes frustrating relationship that ensues when family members who are otherwise strangers find themselves thrust together in times of tragedy. Equally heartwarming and heartbreaking, you'll be hard pressed to put down this wonderful, quirky coming of age tale.
September 5, 2013
I thought this was a charming, touching book. 11-year-old Fin (he's named for the ending of a movie) is orphaned when his mother dies, and he's whisked from his bucolic Connecticut home to New York City with his mercurial half-sister, Lady. It's the sixties, and while Lady loves Fin, she's more concerned with parties, freedom and rotating suitors than she is with raising Fin. Yet Fin is devoted to Lady and loves her with a ferocity that she really doesn't deserve.
Schine's writing is lovely, with a wry humor and a gentle sensibility. I especially liked her chapter titles when they were interesting lines pulled from the chapter, like "Bad wine and grass," or "Sextillions of infidels." There's also a neat twist at the end when she reveals who the narrator is -- it's a mystery throughout the book.
This is a lovely story about a brother-sister relationship, poignant and ultimately sad -- but it's the kind of sad that leaves you with a smile on your face when you finish the book.
Schine's writing is lovely, with a wry humor and a gentle sensibility. I especially liked her chapter titles when they were interesting lines pulled from the chapter, like "Bad wine and grass," or "Sextillions of infidels." There's also a neat twist at the end when she reveals who the narrator is -- it's a mystery throughout the book.
This is a lovely story about a brother-sister relationship, poignant and ultimately sad -- but it's the kind of sad that leaves you with a smile on your face when you finish the book.
March 23, 2016
Maybe its because I was on vacation and visiting my daughter and meeting my new grandson, but I love this book about the importance of family. Fin is orphaned and goes to live with a half- sister he barely knows--a woman unbridled by convention. Lady loves and lives without caution. Well, she loves Fin anyway. She has three suitors who vie for her attention and there are times that she lives so recklessly, that Fin feels he is parenting her. Nonetheless, the love between the siblings is geuine and generous and so not sappy that you want to be a part of their broken little family.
The book is mysteriously narrated by an unnamed witness ....and I enjoyed trying to figure out the narrator's identity.
Fin & Lady made me believe again that love is possible....but only in its messiness...try to make it conform to someone else's standard and it will soon disappear.
The book is mysteriously narrated by an unnamed witness ....and I enjoyed trying to figure out the narrator's identity.
Fin & Lady made me believe again that love is possible....but only in its messiness...try to make it conform to someone else's standard and it will soon disappear.
August 3, 2013
I was born two weeks before the fictional Fin, and grew up in Manhattan, where Fin's coming-of-age story takes place. No, I wasn't an orphan (and I went to public school, not his progressive private school, though I recognize it), but all the details of time and place as I experienced it as a young teen are spot on (along with the growing political consciousness of the 1960s.) What freedom we had to explore the city!
I can't claim to have read this book critically; I was too busy nodding in recognition of so many shared memories - reading E. Nesbit and Richard Farina in the same year; paper flowers from a store on 8th St; the concerts at the Fillmore East; hot chocolate at Rumpelmayr's; the Op Art show at MOMA: anti-war marches down Broadway; the Dave Van Ronk album...
I can't claim to have read this book critically; I was too busy nodding in recognition of so many shared memories - reading E. Nesbit and Richard Farina in the same year; paper flowers from a store on 8th St; the concerts at the Fillmore East; hot chocolate at Rumpelmayr's; the Op Art show at MOMA: anti-war marches down Broadway; the Dave Van Ronk album...
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