Bed-Stuy Is Burning

Product Description [Read by Donald Corren] Do the Right Thing meets The Bonfire of the Vanities in this thrilling novel set over the course of one cataclysmic day when riots erupt in a rapidly gentrifying Brooklyn neighborhood. Aaron, a disgraced rabbi turned Wall Street banker, and Amelia, his journalist girlfriend, live with their newborn in Bedford-Stuyvesant, one of the most dynamic and historically volatile neighborhoods in New York City. The infusion of upwardly mobile professionals into Bed-Stuy's historic brownstones belies the tension simmering on the streets below. But after a cop shoots a boy in a nearby park, conflict escalates to rioting -- with Aaron and his family at its center. Pulled into the riot's vortex are Antoinette, devout nanny to Aaron and Amelia's son; Jupiter, the single father who lives on their block with his son Derek; Daniel, Aaron's unhinged basement-unit tenant; and Sara, a smart local girl, broiling with confusion and rage. As the day unfolds, these diverse characters are forced to reckon with who they are and what truly matters to them. With mordant wit and compassion, Platzer conjures a sharp-eyed, fast-paced, and empathetically rendered narrative about a changing neighborhood and its residents, as they struggle to raise children, establish careers, and find love, fulfillment, and meaning. Bed-Stuy Is Burning offers a window into an array of complex lives and deftly wrestles with the most pressing issues of our time with unflinching focus, wisdom, and hope. Review ''Platzer's take on race, religion, class, and politics -- all the subjects you're not supposed to discuss -- is sure to get people talking.''  (Vanity Fair)''The city is burning indeed in New Yorker contributor Platzer's debut novel, sometimes with fire and sometimes with much-compounded shame… Expertly paced, eminently readable, and a promising start.'' (Kirkus)''Heart pounding and relentless…Bed-Stuy is Burning offers a suspenseful, well written, and empathetic story filled with wit, wisdom, and hard truths….An engaging, timely, and provocative read.''  (Jewish Book Council)''Brian Platzer's first novel captures a violent day in the uneasy life of a gentrifying Brooklyn neighborhood where the fragility of love, parenthood, class and race is put to the test. A bad day in Bed-Stuy is a vivid microcosm of the United States, but the hope Platzer suggests with his characters' healthy unmasking offers optimism for the whole country's days ahead.'' (Shelf Awareness)''Platzer, a writer and educator who lives in Bed-Stuy, is aiming high here, addressing race-related violence, the Black Lives Matter movement, gentrification, and other volatile topics. He succeeds in presenting multiple perspectives of dramatic yet familiar situations.'' (Booklist)''[A] dramatic first novel… the prose is energetic, and Platzer is obviously committed to exploring these contemporary urban issues.'' (Library Journal)''Brian Platzer's first novel is a savvy, heartfelt and utterly engaging examination of gentrification, love, race, ambition, money, parenthood and even faith. A Bonfire of the Vanities for millennials, it is a marvelous, and daring, debut.'' (Alice McDermott, National Book Award winning author of Charming Billy)''Platzer writes insightfully about political isues while providing a panoramic take on New York that embraces the city's enormous complexity. This deeply moral book avoids easy conclusions and courts that ambiguity that is the hallmark of all great fiction.'' (Matthew Thomas New York Times bestselling author of We Are Not Ourselves)''Brian Platzer has written a thrilling debut novel about marriage, gentrification, parenthood, race, and the dangerous bargains we make with ourselves.  At once a heart-stopping portrayal of a day of violence and a deeply realized portrait of the five people at its center, Bed-Stuy is Burning marks the arrival of a tremendously accomplished young writer.  I can't wait to see what he does next.'