Genre Fiction
![Ana Menéndez - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_B001JS2IOI.jpg)
The Apartment
From the critically acclaimed author of In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd comes a new novel about the search for freedom and the power of community that spans decades of residents in one Florida apartmentThe Helena is an art deco apartment building that has witnessed the changing face of South Miami Beach for seventy years, observing the lives housed within. Among those who have called apartment 2B home are a Cuban concert pianist who performs in a nursing home; the widow of an intelligence officer raising her young daughter alone; a man waiting on a green card marriage to run its course so that he can divorce his wife and marry his lover, all of whom live together; a Tajik building manager with a secret identity; and a troubled young refugee named Lenin. Each tenant imbues 2B with energy that will either heal or overwhelm its latest resident, Lana, a mysterious woman struggling with her own past.
Examining exile, homesickness, and displacement, The Apartment asks what--in our violent and lonely century--do we owe one another? If alone we are powerless before sorrow and isolation, it is through community and the sharing of our stories that we may survive and persevere.
Examining exile, homesickness, and displacement, The Apartment asks what--in our violent and lonely century--do we owe one another? If alone we are powerless before sorrow and isolation, it is through community and the sharing of our stories that we may survive and persevere.
Editorial Reviews
Elle, A Best New Book of the Summer
"Intense and emotional . . . [T]he author allows us to understand that she's been writing about the universal longing for home and the ways in which we identify it, occupy it and lose it . . . Life will continue in the apartment, its door forever open to restless souls, holding out hope of home through human communion. Menéndez has given life to a place both indistinct and emblematic, mining private pain but spreading positive energy in a building-in a city and a country-that could use a lot more of it." -Bethanne Patick, Los Angeles Times
"Throughout the story of a single Miami apartment, readers learn that the places in which we dwell are as much a part of us as those we love. The Apartment's self-contained vignettes-with key overlaps in time-narrate the lives of veterans, housewives, immigrants, ghosts, and precious children." -The Boston Globe
"This sweeping novel explores grief, exile, and the power of community, all within one South Miami Beach art deco building." -People
"With themes of exile, displacement, and homesickness, this novel shows the power of community and sharing stories to get through the toughest times." -Zibby Owens, Katie Couric Media
"Spanning decades, this fresh novel tells the stories of the different residents of one apartment in The Helena building in South Miami Beach. Full of stories, longing, isolation and connection, it starkly mirrors a broader reality." -Karla Strand, Ms.
"Themes ripple through time in the author's thoughtful consideration on the illusory nature of home." -Mitch Kaplan, Boca Raton Magazine
"Menedez finds a perfect setting for her ambitious crossroads-of-humanity story: an apartment building in South Miami Beach, an old deco structure from a seemingly bygone era, hanging on and packed full of human striving, conflict, and desperation . . . [T]he novel really finds itself in the rich, textured, sometimes intersecting stories of all those people who have put themselves into close quarters and found, not exactly a community, but a shared ground for longing and remembrance." -Dwyer Murphy, Literary Hub
"One apartment on Miami Beach becomes a microcosm of seven decades of ordinary, extraordinary lives . . . Vividly drawn characters and finely crafted prose enhance these interwoven tales. In Apartm...
"Intense and emotional . . . [T]he author allows us to understand that she's been writing about the universal longing for home and the ways in which we identify it, occupy it and lose it . . . Life will continue in the apartment, its door forever open to restless souls, holding out hope of home through human communion. Menéndez has given life to a place both indistinct and emblematic, mining private pain but spreading positive energy in a building-in a city and a country-that could use a lot more of it." -Bethanne Patick, Los Angeles Times
"Throughout the story of a single Miami apartment, readers learn that the places in which we dwell are as much a part of us as those we love. The Apartment's self-contained vignettes-with key overlaps in time-narrate the lives of veterans, housewives, immigrants, ghosts, and precious children." -The Boston Globe
"This sweeping novel explores grief, exile, and the power of community, all within one South Miami Beach art deco building." -People
"With themes of exile, displacement, and homesickness, this novel shows the power of community and sharing stories to get through the toughest times." -Zibby Owens, Katie Couric Media
"Spanning decades, this fresh novel tells the stories of the different residents of one apartment in The Helena building in South Miami Beach. Full of stories, longing, isolation and connection, it starkly mirrors a broader reality." -Karla Strand, Ms.
"Themes ripple through time in the author's thoughtful consideration on the illusory nature of home." -Mitch Kaplan, Boca Raton Magazine
"Menedez finds a perfect setting for her ambitious crossroads-of-humanity story: an apartment building in South Miami Beach, an old deco structure from a seemingly bygone era, hanging on and packed full of human striving, conflict, and desperation . . . [T]he novel really finds itself in the rich, textured, sometimes intersecting stories of all those people who have put themselves into close quarters and found, not exactly a community, but a shared ground for longing and remembrance." -Dwyer Murphy, Literary Hub
"One apartment on Miami Beach becomes a microcosm of seven decades of ordinary, extraordinary lives . . . Vividly drawn characters and finely crafted prose enhance these interwoven tales. In Apartm...
Readers Top Reviews
Sally C.
“The Apartment” by Ana Menéndez focuses on the inhabitants of Apartment 2B and their experiences, while providing different perspectives from neighbors and the building’s employees. Apartment 2B has had a variety of inhabitants from the early 1940s to the 2000s. Each inhabitant has a different perspective on life, through their personal experiences and relationships with their families or neighbors. We, the readers, who “exist outside of time,” watch the story of Apartment 2B unfold over a series of short stories on the inhabitants lives that sometimes are interconnected. It is clear that throughout the decades individuals within Apartment 2B experience hope, loneliness, unhappiness, and the desire for more as they reside within it. One thing is clear, Apartment 2B is home to many, and keeps their stories and secrets even when those inhabitants move on. The Narrator, Whitney Dykhouse, does a good job of providing authenticity with the tone of the novel, Hispanic accent and the use of the Spanish and Czech languages. The story would have had more impact of multiple narrators were used. Thank you to NetGalley and HighBridge Audio for this audiobook ARC of The Apartment.
