In
Boogaloo on 2nd Avenue, Nathan Seltzer, a son of Jewish immigrants, finds himself in the middle of a midlife crisis in his Lower East Side neighborhood in New York City. His neighborhood is going through a phase of gentrification, he's suffering bouts of claustrophobia, and he's considering an affair with the daughter of a German pastry maker. This becomes even more complicated when his uncle, a Holocaust survivor, suspects the German pastry maker is a Nazi war criminal. Nathan's father is trying to bring back the boogaloo dance craze, and a murderer is terrorizing them all. This is the first fiction offering from Mark Kurlansky (
Cod,
Salt,
1968) and his novel of food, sex, guilt, and murder has received mixed reviews. The Telegraph says, "
Boogaloo on 2nd Avenue is a marvellous debut by any standards: a comedy of New York manners steeped in affection for that most cosmopolitan of cities. The book is a model of deft characterisation and straight-down-the-middle storytelling."
