Cooperative Lives
Patrick Finegan peels back the fa ade of a storied Manhattan residential complex in his award-winning novel, Cooperative Lives.
- Grand Prize Finalist, 2019 Shelf Unbound Best Indie Book Competition
- Category Winner in Literary Fiction and Grand Prize Short List, 2019 Millennium Book Award
- First Place in Literary and Contemporary Fiction, 2019 Somerset Book Awards (Chanticleer)
- Winner in General Fiction, 2019-20 Reader Views Literary Awards
- Winner in Fiction, 2020 Book Excellence Awards
- Seal of Approval and Gold Medal in Contemporary Fiction, 2019 Literary Classics International Book Awards
- Winner, 2019-20 Jack Eadon Memorial Award for Best Book in Contemporary Drama
- Winner, 2019-20 Author Marketing Network Award for Best Fiction D but
- Winner in Literary Fiction, 2020 Independent Press Award
- Winner in General Fiction, 2020 NYC Big Book Award
- Reviewer's Choice Award, 2019 Feathered Quill Book Awards
- Silver Medal in Adult Fiction, 2019 Wishing Shelf Book Awards
- Silver Medal, 2020 Independent Publisher Book Awards, for Best First Book in Fiction
- Finalist in General Fiction, 2019 American Fiction Awards (American BookFest)
- Finalist in General Fiction, 2020 International Book Awards
- Bronze Medal in Fiction Drama, 2019 Readers Favorite Awards
- Bronze Medal in General Fiction and D but Author Finalist, 2019 Feathered Quill Book Awards
- B.R.A.G. Medallion in Literary Fiction, Book Readers Appreciation Group
- Best Books in Literary Fiction, Fall 2019 NABE Pinnacle Book Achievement Awards
- Long List, 2019 Cinnamon Literature Prize
A landmarked midtown Manhattan address. Carnegie Hall and Central Park at your feet. Three hundred units. Thirty-two full-time employees. Five hundred neighbors. You've hit the big time. Joined the elite. But what do you know about them, the neighbors? Have you ever met them? Really engaged with them? Or do you gaze down in the elevator, the same way you do on the subway and the street?
Oh sure, you've heard a famous writer lives on the fourteenth floor, a retired US senator on the eighteenth. You've witnessed so many Broadway impresarios glide through the lobby you've lost count. But what about your real neighbors - the couple in 7H, for instance, or the family in 8B? Did you know they once harbored the most wanted fugitive in America?
No? It was in the papers for weeks; nearly tore the co-op apart. Even that famous writer on fourteen got involved. And all because an M7 bus side-swiped a resident-shareholder while turning down Seventh Avenue.
You're busy? Oh, I'm sorry. Just thought you should know something about the co-op's history. And buy more insurance, lots more; I've got a friend named Stanley.
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Become an affiliatePatrick Finegan's luscious novel Cooperative Lives follows characters whose lives change when they are brought into close proximity with each other through a series of coincidences, accidents, and international espionage... The story moves forward and backward in time with ease, teasing forth details and offering clues about a deeper underlying story and tangled interconnections. The addition of an international conspiracy makes it tempting to turn pages at a rapid speed, but masterful prose, marked by evocative phrasing and apt metaphors, encourages savoring each exquisite sentence and its imagery... There's much to relish and ponder in this tragicomedy. Ambitious and sophisticated, Cooperative Lives is a diverse and gorgeous tapestry of character studies and is a pure delight to read. - Wendy Hinman, Foreword Clarion Reviews (★★★★★)
Happenstance, serendipity and luck dominate as the lives of characters crash against one another like pinballs in Patrick Finegan's Cooperative Lives. A novel that perfectly captures the unscripted events and coincidence of real life, where you can do your utmost best, and it's never quite good enough... A powerful, chic and evocative read, Cooperative Lives proves a superb début for Finegan and a must-read for discerning readers of top-notch literary fiction. It is recommended without reservation. - BookViral Reviews (Recommended Without Reservation)
Cooperative Lives is the most thrilling work of literature I've read all year. perhaps for many years. Through a collection of extraordinarily perceptive character depictions, Patrick Finegan evokes a complex plot of espionage, fiscal and medical malfeasance, lust and hapless coincidence that captures the essence of our times. This is not an easy book to read; it is best grasped through several readings-- as are the best of books. Not only are the characters drawn with sharp perception, each of the diverse settings and situations is presented with a deep knowledge of place and detail. This is a staggering work of research enlivened with great style and increasingly black humor. This is the US in the 21st century as formed by Caliban's god -- harrowing in its accurate vision. I hope Mr. Finegan is busy writing a sequel, I can hardly wait to see what he would do with the Trump era. - indieBRAG Judges' Commentary
The changes in point of view are often abrupt, but the reader who follows from person to person, lie to lie, and secret to secret will find themselves at the heart of a dark web that stretches well beyond the building to a case that almost seems ripped from the headlines of the late 2000s and early 2010s when this story takes place. While the author describes this work as extremely recent historical fiction, this character-driven story is most definitely a work of exquisite literary fiction that uses the exploration of its characters to drive the narrative. - Marlene Harris, Chanticleer Book Reviews (★★★★★)