Alternate Side

American author Anna Quindlen’s novel Alternate Side, published by Random House in 2018, chronicles the reverberating effects of an act of violence on a New York City neighborhood; specifically, the unexpected impact of the event on neighborhood residents Nora Nolan and her husband, Charlie. Alternate Side examines themes of aging, identity, and midlife change as Nora attempts to make sense of her life and the choices she has made.

As the novel begins, Charlie—with great excitement—shows Nora a coveted parking space he has nabbed in the parking lot of their elite Upper West Side building. Given the space limitations of the area, parking places are hard to come by, and Charlie feels proud of securing such a prime piece of vehicle-sized real estate.

In response, Nora fakes enthusiasm. She feels she's in a rut. Their neighborhood puts her in contact with the same people every day—other wealthy white folks, like the Nolans—and she fears she is no longer useful to their children, who are ready to graduate college and strike out on their own. Her job is also unfulfilling; she manages a jewelry museum, a place she considers pretentious and stifling.



George Smythe, a neighbor of the Nolans, gripes that a local Latino handyman, Ricky, parks his van in the lot reserved for residents. Nora again fakes an interest, this time in response to George's outrage. Nora likes Ricky. Once, when his son was sick, she took a humidifier to Ricky's home in the South Bronx. There, Ricky looked and behaved differently: more relaxed and approachable, and less of the appeasing yes-man his work demands.

One morning, Nora hears a commotion in the parking lot. When she gets outside, Charlie and another of the Nolans' neighbors, Jack Fisk, stand over Ricky, who rolls around on the ground in pain. Jack wields a golf club over his head. Charlie and Jack say that Ricky's van blocked the entrance to the parking lot, prompting Jack to hit the van with the golf club. When Ricky implored him to stop, Jack inadvertently hit him. But Nora doesn't believe it. By the blood gushing from the serious wound on Ricky's leg, she suspects Jack attacked him.

The media gets word of what transpired in the parking lot and broadcasts it as a story indicative of the City's racial and class divides. The neighborhood erupts into chaos, with residents choosing sides in the fight. Though Charlie claims he saw what happened and supports Jack's story, Nora doesn't believe him, and this creates discord between the two. The parking lot incident goes on to illuminate the fine cracks in the Nolans' marriage.



Meanwhile, Charlie is unhappy at his own job, working for Bob Harris. Charlie wants to leave the City, but he knows Nora would never agree to move. He is also envious of Nora's success when she agrees to spearhead a nonprofit organization at Bob's request.

Nora goes to the hospital to visit Ricky. He had to have pins put into his knee, as well as a long series of stitches. When Charlie learns Nora visited Ricky, he explodes in anger, believing that Nora's visit will give the impression that Jack is guilty. Ricky has filed a lawsuit, and Nora's visit, Charlie says, will only make things worse for Jack. Nora replies that Jack is guilty, and she has no plans to cut off her friendship with Ricky.

With the parking lot incident still making headlines, and the neighborhood overrun with rats now that Ricky isn't around to control the pests, Nora's old college boyfriend, James Mortimer, calls her to see if she will speak to his friend, a journalist, about what happened that day. This call prompts Nora to remember her two-year relationship with James. He broke her heart when he told her he was gay, and she married Charlie not long after—primarily because Charlie seemed like someone who would not inflict the same pain on her.



Shortly thereafter, Nora quits her job at the museum after discovering that her boss, Bebe Pearl, "borrowed" a piece in the museum's collection and replaced it with a fake. Then, Jack Fisk suddenly dies of a heart attack. After the funeral, Nora and Charlie discuss how unhappy they are and decide it is best if they end the marriage and go their separate ways.

Still on good terms, they sell the Upper West Side apartment and move to opposite ends of the City. Nora accepts a full-time position at Bob Harris's nonprofit, a role much more rewarding than the one at the jewelry museum.

While in the South Bronx for work, Nora asks around about Ricky. He accepted a settlement of hundreds of thousands of dollars and moved with his family to Central America, where he opened a restaurant.



As the novel ends, Nora looks back on her time in the City and expresses her gratitude for all the diversity and breadth of experiences that give New York its heart and soul. She looks to the future with hope, while acknowledging that the changes of the recent past have been difficult—but necessary.