I'll admit it up front - I have a serious writer-crush on Adam Gopnik. This book was so lovely. I have never read another book that captures more touchingly, realistically, humorously, and honestly what it is like to be a parent and a person surrounded by a wonderful, strange, irritating world. The image of the Children's Gate in Central Park is beautifully woven throughout these essays. The book paints the scenery and life of New York City, before and after 9/11; the portrait of a family coming home; and the quirks of modern life. I'm really not doing it justice in this review! I love the way Gopnik manages to start in one place, naturally move from one subject to another - sometimes seemingly unrelated though there is never confusion - and in the end come to what turns out to be the perfect ending - not always resolved, but always exactly perfect.

I loved this book at first, but it drags under the weight of Gopnik's intellectualism and analysis. At times he sounds as if he simply trying to impress with the breadth of his knowledge and research, making his writing overly dense and ponderous. At his best he is funny and warm and wise; at worst he is annoying and pedantic. I too loved Olivia's imaginary friends and funny comments, and the sections about Gopnik's son Luke. The section on Gopnik's Purim talk was great. The football team coached by Gopnik's friend who was dying of cancer was powerfully presented and really connected emotionally. Through the Children's Gate is worth reading, and you will learn a lot about New York, but it isn't all a pleasure.

Very good author. Enjoy his books. Less good than Paris to the Moon.

Reflective and charming string of vignettes about life in the city of cities with a young family. Touched on many everyday NY themes - the madness of NYC apartment hunting (and its constancy through time); the unique experiences of Manhattan kids and the ways in which NYC families are different than in the heartland (the most liberal families are the most conservative in their parenting, given all the things to shield kids from); and the pattern of life on the island post 9/11 (for the kids, the Yankees as a vehicle of local patriotism and recovery). Interesting reflections on consciousness (does the kids’ fish know who and what he is?), mortality (the beautiful essay on the friend who is dying of cancer and coaching the boys in football during his last days), psychoanalysis (sometimes the takeaways are deceptively simple yet deeper than they first appear), secular modern religion, and the lives of the educated modern urban elite.

did not finish, too boreing

From the specific to the general, woven intricately and tight as boiled wool. Love and wonder and nostalgia for New York and childhood, that which is and that which exists in imagination. Loved this... Better than Paris to the Moon.

Could this have been better? No, hard to conceive it. Just bought
"NYC for Dummies" so perhaps this 75yr old Canadian can live some of my eleven year old experiences in NYC - vanished or not.
I definitely [heart] New York
GREAT BOOK

Some of the essays were terribly clever and insightful, about life in New York, but mostly just about life, young and old. However, few things are more tedious than listening to a New Yorker obsess about apartments in New York. Even Nora Ephron couldn't make that interesting.

I love Gopnik's writing. In some ways this book was more whimsical than From Paris to the Moon, because it deals so much with looking at New York from a child's perspective. It makes me want to raise children in the city. However, the period it covers includes 9/11 and the severe illness of dear friend - as such, Gopnik deals with some very serious subjects, in a serious way.

I enjoyed this one well enough. Gopnik presents a compelling narrative of his family on the upper west side, but halts the progress of the narrative with essays that don't quite seem to fit the flow of the anticipated book.

I just finished this one sitting in the Delta Sky Lounge at JFK. I wish I could get away to see the city. But its raining, and 32 degrees outside, and I have a flight to Dubai in three hours.

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Cosmically fitting that I should begin this book on my plane ride home from Paris to Salt Lake City this morning. This book is about Gopnik's experiences in NYC after returning from Paris where he lived from 1995-2000. The first 100 pages are a delight.

Some of the essays, especially the first one, are a little hard going, but overall, a very nice book about New York and raising children there. You will especially love the stories about Olivia and her imaginary friend.

I love books set in New York City. I also enjoy this writer's style--he's a frequent contributor to The New Yorker.