Super in the City

November 17, 2008
Uviller’s debut is as gleefully unpretentious as the rhinestones on narrator Zephyr Zuckerman’s thrift-shop dress. “This is not a Jesus-saving kind of story,” Zephyr warns, and, indeed, sex, bodily functions, white lies and general irreverence keep this tale of love, friendship and New York City popping along. Zephyr and her best friends are flawed and lovable: divorcée party-crasher Tag is a globe-trotting scientist; Lucy, a social worker, writes notes on $10 bills and hopes that the right man will answer her call; Mercedes, a violinist, snags a celebrity boyfriend; and Abigail, a professor, falls into Internet-dating catastrophe. Zephyr, meanwhile, has dropped out of school, and her major concern, other than getting over an ex, is figuring out what she wants to be. So when her super is arrested, Zephyr inherits his post and discovers that there is far more happening under her roof than she can handle. The novel gallops at full speed from the very first line, and though there are times when it would serve Uviller well to rein it in a bit, this is undoubtedly smarter and funnier than most other girls-in-the-city novels.

January 1, 2009
Indecisive, overeducated, 27-year-old Zephyr Zuckerman is contemplating career options and living in an apartment in her parents Greenwich Village brownstone when their building superintendent is arrested without warning. At her parents behest, Zephyr fills in as super and starts digging into the buildings secrets amid scheduling service calls. With the help of handsome, mysterious exterminator Gregory Samson, she discovers a hidden staircase from the supers apartment and the unsavory business her neighbor Roxana is running from her home. As she puts the pieces together, Zephyr develops a thing for both sleuthing and Gregory. Debut novelist Uviller borrows from her own lifewith some admittedlybizarre twistsfor this lively, smart chick-lit mystery. The characters are likableespecially Zephyrs overachieving, yet unassuming coterie of prep-school friends. Readers will also appreciate the many literary references and Uvillers insiders view of New York City.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)