These Days Are Ours

Starred review from December 19, 2011
Haimoff’s engrossing debut, which unfolds in Manhattan soon after 9/11, chronicles rich kid Hailey’s attempts to make a life and come to an understanding with her parents. What differentiates the book from similar fables with young protagonists able to afford endless rounds of drinks in hipster bars is Hailey’s sense of self and her thoughtful inner life; the shopping and club crawls of her privileged life are just a backdrop, not the story. As the daughter of publishing heavyweights, Hailey knows she’ll never trump their accomplishments. Though she’s highly connected, she’s determined to find a job on her own—and land golden boy Michael Brenner, whose close family and cozy apartment fill a void. Hailey tries to stay on Michael’s radar despite his propensity for bed hopping. Unlike Michael, the Pennsylvania-born Adrian, an interloper in Hailey’s social circle, works for his rent, and Hailey isn’t sure how she feels about him, even though they share a similar thoughtfulness and sense of humor. Haimoff’s writing resonates with an authenticity and gravitas that books about girls trying to find themselves in the big city often lack. Her details about elite schools and childhood haunts in Manhattan pepper Hailey’s memories in often touching ways. A thoughtful novel for our time. Agent: Kate Lee, ICM.

Starred review from January 1, 2012
Six months after 9/11, native New Yorker and recent college graduate Hailey has still not landed a job. Uncertainty has become a constant as she goes on random job interviews, parties with her privileged friends, and continues to live with her mother and stepfather in their gigantic Fifth Avenue penthouse. She has become romantically obsessed with Princeton graduate Michael Brenner, whose solid life planfellowship, Harvard Law Schoolmasks his self-absorption. And she is still haunted by her parents' divorce, because having two parents who don't love each other is like having your blood and your skin not get along. Her own nebulous goals come under increasing scrutiny by her parents' tony friends at various soirees, but, at one of them, she meets Adrian, and their instant connection centers her, allowing her to see that the world is, once again, full of possibility. Debut novelist Haimoff clearly captures the strange, sad time in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, and yet she also nails the energetic, funny banter of twentysomethings, the expectations placed on the sons and daughters of the supersuccessful, and the heartache of being young and lost.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)