| Title | : | Twelve Rooms with a View |
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | |
| ISBN | : | 0307394166 |
| ISBN-10 | : | 9780307394163 |
| Language | : | English |
| Format Type | : | Hardcover |
| Number of Pages | : | 352 |
| Publication | : | First published January 1, 2010 |
This is what happens to housecleaner Tina Finn, who, with her sisters, Alison and Lucy, suddenly comes into possession of the Livingston Mansion Apartment at the Edgewood. The Finn sisters inherit the $11 million property from their estranged alcoholic mother, but they aren’t the only siblings vying for it. Their mother’s wealthy second husband, Bill—who died just three weeks before Tina’s mother—has two sons. And they are furious at the thought of losing the apartment that’s been in their family for generations.
Tina moves into the nearly vacant, palatial space to solidify her claim to it, but she soon discovers that Bill’s sons aren’t the only ones who want her out. The building’s other residents are none too pleased by her presence either. In fact, the co-op board has designs on wresting control of the apartment from both sets of children.
As Tina fends off all the people who want to evict her (or worse), she starts to get involved in her neighbors’ complex lives. There’s the mercurial, eccentric botanist who may be either a friend or an enemy; the self-absorbed, randy son of the co-op board president, whose friendship without benefits Tina tries to curry; the large, chaotic family whose depressed teenage daughter becomes Tina’s ally and spy; the ghost Tina hears crying at night in her apartment’s secret room . . .
In this entertaining yarn by acclaimed playwright, screenwriter, and author Theresa Rebeck, we follow Tina Finn—a woman both comical and compelling, well intentioned and a bit of a thief—as she begins to love her new home, discovers traits to admire in people she’s only just met, and realizes, finally, her place in her family and the world.
Twelve Rooms with a View Reviews
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After a few hours of debating how I felt about this book, I'm going to have to go with, 'I liked it'. Tina is the problem child of three sisters. She has questionable morals and a habit of finding the worst outcome in a given situation. She's also the most likable of the sisters by a fair bit. There are no really good guys. There's only one really bad guy.
For most of the book Tina is living in this fabulous location and trying to stay out of trouble. Some parts did seem to drag a bit. At times the book was really gripping as well. With the right ending, I think this could have been a four star read. Unfortunately, with the abrupt package that was left here we will never know what could have been with a good ending. Oh well, such is life. Still worth reading. -
I bought this for 50p new in a discount shop, so I suppose I shouldn't really have expected much. After all, if a discount chain have got hold of them then it means that no-one else wants them.
The cover makes it look quite chick-lit-like and there are a couple of quotes included that make it sound great. Unfortunately I didn't feel the same as the critics.
The novel is about Tina Finn who inherits a third of a New York apartment overlooking Central Park when her mother dies. However, the sons of her stepfather are disputing the inheritance and much unpleasantness ensues.
I really didn't like any of the characters who were all as money-grabbing as each other and I didn't find the book at all engaging - I ended up skim-reading the second half of it in the hope that it would get better - it didn't.
The end seemed very perfunctory, a bit like one of those captions you see at the end of biopics telling you what happened to the characters afterwards.
So all in all, not great, but then what can you expect for 50p these days? -
The thing I loved most about this book in the very beginning was the cover. New York in Autumn is probably my favorite place on earth and I envy Tina everytime I look at this book cover because as cruddy as her life was before she inherited this apartment she still had possibilities. Most of us these days can't say that.
Anyway I really enjoyed some of the story lines in the book and although many of the building residents were wearisome to think about knowing it presented a realistic picture of a world most of us only walk beneath our entire lifetime. Tina's brief stay above Central Park is an adventure that makes you feel as "if you can't just weather this storm" a few decent days or even months are just around the corner!
Joel -
New York, real estate, eccentric characters, botany, sibling relationships, parent/child relationships; I'm not sure if I can call the protagonist endearingly flawed...I wasn't quite endeared to her...more just frustrated that she continued to misread (seemingly) situations and say the one thing that exacerbated everything...but everything worked out, so is the idea she's smarter than she appeared? The cover implies a nice light coming-into-fortune chick read, but this was a little rougher going than that, a little odder than that. Recommendable, to those who are interested in a quirky read dealing with the above topics.
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I tried and tried to get into this book, but couldn’t. If I had been reading this book rather than listening to it on CD, I would have put it down early on, but letting it play during my commute didn’t seem as much of an investment. I wanted to find out how it ended, hoping there’d be a good twist in the plot, but the ending also ended up being a disappointment. The characters lacked depth and none of them had redeeming qualities and the plot left much to be desired. Skip this book..
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I listened to this audiobook and found it light but silly and sometimes mean in different ways. The Finn family (3 women) inherit a swanky NY apartment from their mother. The story is the fight of he said/she said, legalities of blended families, wills and greed over the expensive property and who can have live in the building. It’s also about learning about your family and their behavior when money comes into play. Tina is the main sister who squats ownership of the flat and tried to befriend all in the building to let her stay.
The funniest part for me was a celebratory party in a hot tub with gay men gushing over the designer outfit and accessories she had just shed.
Ended up quickly and tied together neatly with a synopsis of how everyone fared. -
Tina Finn is has been living in an old trailer and cleaning houses to make ends meet. When her mother dies, she borrows the money to go to the funeral, and there, she sees her two sisters that she hasn't seen in ages.
They inform her that their mother had died intestate, no will, so they would be inheriting a fabulous eleven million dollar apartment. They figure possession is nine-tenths of the law, so her sisters, move Tina in right away!
Tina is entranced with the apartment, trying to understand her mother's life. After her mom married Bill, she never saw her kids. Bill thought the girls only wanted his money so he didn't want them around. The apartment was originally in Bill's first wife's family and he inherited when she died. Bill wanted the apartment to go to his second wife so she would always have a place, not to her white trash daughters.
But, Bill has two sons, who are contesting the will. They find Tina camped out in the apartment and try to have her arrested. The building tenants want Tina out. They'll put a cloud on the title if they have to; the apartment can only be sold if the board of the building says so. Tina is torn asunder, and to make matters worse, she has no money, no job and no friends. Her sisters treat her like an idiot and Tina just wants to do what is right.
Twelve Rooms with a View is fantastic! I read it in one sitting, I couldn't put it down. Ms. Rebeck writes in such a way that I was captivated with the apartment and with all the eccentric characters. I loved it! -
On audiobook. I probably liked this more than it deserved to be liked. I read it after reading Homegoing and Underground Railroad pretty much back to back, both of them Big Serious (and seriously good) Books about Oppression and Racism and Slavery, and I needed something kind of light. My friend Jane suggested this one, and it was perfect. Maybe because I'm a little obsessed with real estate and estate sales? Or maybe because I liked the main character in spite of herself. Okay, sometimes her choices were not the best, but I liked how open she was, how she was curious about the people she met and listened with real interest and enjoyment to what they had to say.
Three sisters at their somewhat estranged mother's funeral realize that they might have inherited their mother's apartment right across from Central Park. And then they realize that it's a huge apartment worth millions of dollars. But-- there are rivals to their claim, the sons of their mother's ex-husband. And- there's a nefarious co-op board!
Tina, our narrator, moves into the apartment right away to solidify their claim, and she meets the people who live there and discovers some secrets in the building. For me, it was all a lot of fun. I think the author handled the characters and the conversations they had beautifully, and it was a pleasure to imagine living in an enormous mansion apartment in NYC. -
I was really looking forward to reading the second adult novel by the Alex Award winning author of Three Girls and their Brother. And I wasn't disappointed! Tina is thrust into a huge outdated apartment overlooking Central Park in New York City when her mother suddenly dies. Tina has always been the outcast of the family--she's beautiful but chooses horrible men to date. She doesn't get along very well with her siblings either. One sister is too bossy and commanding while the other sister is a pushover. But mom is dead and the sisters must try to take over the millions-worth apartment and put it on the market. Tina, who didn't have a place to stay anyway, agrees to live in the apartment while her mother's estate is being contested. The problem is that her mother died three weeks after her step-father died. He had a will leaving everything to her mother. Her mother didn't have a will. But the two deceased people were such social recluses that no one really knows what was going on, but EVERYONE wants the awesome apartment!
Things wrapped up a little too nicely in the end, but I didn't care. I liked the voice of Tina and the interesting characters who lived in the apartment building. -
Wow! I really enjoyed this book. The first couple chapters were able to really hook me in. There are some spoilers that follow, so stop reading now if you haven't read the book yet.
I quite enjoyed Tina and I felt like she deserved better than her sisters being complete b***hes to her all the time. The whole book I kept thinking that I would be beyond furious if my mother died and my sisters kept things about her life and passing from me. Honestly I felt like 'The Building' and all that it could do was a little far fetched, but otherwise the who plot to kick both families out was exciting. I loved the little quirks that the building has and LOVED the workmans stairwell in the building. Very cool. From the very first time we meet Pete I like him. I didn't see them getting together at all but I think it really works. I'm kinda upset about the ending. I feel like it was too rushed. Although the book was more about the apartment, not the families.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book and I am planning on reading Theresa Rebeck's other works. -
I really had high hopes for this book, the plot just grabbed me straight away (3 sisters hoping to inherit a fabulous mega million huge apartment in NYC after their mother dies, and they stick one sister in the apartment basically to squat there while fighting with their mother's deceased husband's sons for the apt.) This book started slow and choppy for me, developed into a page turner partway through, then a rather plain vanilla ending. Often I found myself wanting to reach through the book and give Tina (heroine) a good shake as she was a little too meek for my tastes, especially to her evil and semi-evil sisters. And when she would get rolling, she'd stop short. Exasperating really. I wanted to be able to recommend this one, has a pretty good cast of characters, but I'm afraid the book as a whole fell short for me.
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Eh!! I wanted to like this book and because I did want to like it, I finished it. And at the end I had to walk away with it was okay because I didn't abandon it, which I have started to do with much more frequency now. The characters were unbelievable, I mean really no one really acts like this or thinks like this or is that unable to comprehend. And the unlikeliness of the events and plot just totally takes you there. I'm still shaking my head.
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Totally entertaining , ridiculous plot, hilarious characters. If building and Co-ops in NYC are like this that would be incredibly crazy and sad. Total fluff - was absolutely in the right mood for this .
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A very fun read with lots of twists and turns. I felt it all of a sudden just ended, which after all the build up, I wish the ending could've been a little more drawn out. But, overall, a good book.
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An okay easy read. Getting further and further through - at halfway felt "Oh, nothing has really happened" - then 70% through "Still, nothing has really happened", then one session away from the end "Eeek nothings really going to happen, is it?"
One sister was an absolute troll, and throughout kept thinking "Why not just leave and sort your own shit out" which is kind of where it went in the end.
The last 5 pages were informative and wrapped up what there was of the story.
Recommended for a nice easy read, not for its twisty, intricate story! -
If you judge a book by its cover pass on this one. The cover has nothing to do with the story. This book was audio and while the first third of the book was somewhat interesting the rest was merely background noise. It’s a Disappointment ......
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Good story plot but way, way too much use of the 'f' word. That's why I didn't give a higher rating.
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This was an OK book. Light summer reading with a bit of a mystery and a bit of romance. Lots of family drama. Not probably something I would pick up and reread.
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The ending kind of went off the rails, but the dialogue in this was so true to life. I'm not surprised the author is a playwright. I could have read several hundred more pages of Tina interacting with randos. A memorable character.
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I had trouble getting into this book and I almost put it down but I decided to read on and give it a chance. It did take some time for me to get interested and for a bit in the middle and near the end I felt it getting better but the the ending was just a disappointment for me. I felt that the ending was a bit rushed and my first thought after closing the book was 'I stayed up reading for that?'.
Also I was quite put off by the foul language in the book. To me it seemed like it came out of nowhere and Rebeck put it in just because she could, like people who cuss just because they think it makes the look cool (when it really doesn't). I understood it in some parts but for me there was just too many places where it didn't seem to fit.
Overall I give two maybe two and a half. I guess I was more drawn to this book by the title and book cover and the story just didn't hold up. -
Tina Finn is a screw up. Her mother dies suddenly and leaves no will. Tina and her two sisters - Lucy & Alison - find themselves inheriting an Upper West Side apartment with a view of Central Park. In order to stake their claim on the apartment, Tina is forced to move in. Her mother's step sons wan the apartment for themselves and cannot understand why their father left the apartment to his second wife - who was his housekeeper. The co-op board for the building wants to split up the apartment themselves and tries to evict Tina almost immediately.
As Lucy & Alison try to figure out the red tape surrounding the apartment, Tina tries to make friends with the co-op board. Tina also explores the apartment more and finds a whole closet full of items from her mother's husband's first marriage. From rare plants to false arrests to secret passages this historical apartment has much more in store than it first looks. -
I tend to agree with some of the other reviews –the front cover is a huge draw (you think it will be a fun chick flick similar to Jennifer Weiner or Sarah Pekkanen’s work). However, it was not in my opinion- disappointing. The basis of the novel was good—poor quirky girl (Tina) an outcast, goes from living in a trailer park (housekeeper) to a 12-room apartment overlooking Central Park in NY.
Lots of drama from her evil sisters, Bill’s sons (her mother’s second husband) who died only a few weeks earlier, crazy neighbors, lawyer, finds her mom kept hidden, rare plants, secret passages----- however, the main character development did not have a lot of depth, and plot planning was just not there for me. If you like this sort of quirky book – may be for you. -
This book built very slowly for me, as I struggled to sympathsize with the very lost main character. The dialogue was all too authentic, which was often painful to read, because it revealed Tina's lack of depth, loss, and the total dysfunction of her life and in her family. In the end, I just realized that I didn't identify with the crazy Manhattan scene, thinking it was neither heavy enough or light enough. I did find the denouement honest, revealing, and open-ended enough to set it down with satisfaction.
**I received this book through the 'Read It Forward' giveaways & plan to pass this along soon.
