Come from Nowhere

Greenfield%E2%80%99s novel opens with seven female characters sharing a subway platform on the morning of July 13, 1977%E2%80%94the day of a historic New York City blackout. Greenfield%E2%80%99s characters, each on her own mission, represent the city%E2%80%99s diversity and parallel story lines: there%E2%80%99s recent immigrant Althea and her daughter Celia; Judith, a Hasidic Jew bucking tradition by studying medicine at a secular college; Johanna, a homeless woman with schizophrenic delusions; recent college graduate Pia, hunting for a job that will allow her to %E2%80%9Cbecome the artist she was meant to be%E2%80%9D; Danielle, a chef suffering from the gradual loss of her vision; and a mother rat protecting her offspring in the dangerous tunnels of the subway. Despite their differences, each character is headstrong, independent, and looking for a piece of the city to call her own. The novel%E2%80%99s secondary characters are less fully realized and function primarily as devices through which the women express feelings or share information with readers: a classmate of Judith questions her %E2%80%9Cextremist%E2%80%9D religion and asks, %E2%80%9CWhat do you get out of living the way you do?%E2%80%9D While the dialogue and writing are heavy-handed at times, Greenfield%E2%80%99s novel is a richly imagined look at women from different walks of life and the possibilities, threats, and surprises offered up by life in New York City.