Review by JodiBrozio -- Cooperative Lives

[JodiBrozio]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Cooperative Lives" by Patrick Finegan.]

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2 out of 4 stars

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I rate Cooperative Lives by Patrick Finegan 2 out of 4 stars. It does not seem to be professionally edited. The characters are interesting, but it seems there are too many of them. I had to search through previous chapters to remember the relationship of each one. I encourage Patrick Finegan to keep writing because practice makes perfect. This book will appeal to people who can keep up with soap operas.

Cooperative housing is a group of residents who are a corporation that owns the entire apartment building that they live in. As shareholders, they are entitled to reside in a unit. They choose to live in this location because it is distinguished and makes them appear high-class. Many of these residents do not become friends with their neighbors, or with each other, until their lives intersect unintentionally. This book tells the story of how all of these independent people became a part of each other’s lives.

Wally and Hanni had a daughter named Alya. Jack and Susan’s daughter, Melissa, figure-skated with Alya. They became friends through their daughters. Susan had an accident while out skiing with Hanni that left her in a wheelchair. While in the hospital, Dr. Weinstein placed a blood filter in the wrong place during Susan’s surgery because Dr. Martinez was breaking up with her. Sheldon then saves Susan from getting hit by a bus while she is crossing the street in her wheelchair. To ease his pain, he tried soaking in the bathtub. He fell asleep and flooded the bathroom. The apartment manager finds him and Sheldon gets sent to hospital. This brings back memories of his wife, Marian, who also died after being in the hospital. Dr. Martinez is Sheldon’s surgeon, and does not want to insert a filter into him because he feels guilty about Susan’s first hospitalization. While Sheldon is in the hospital, one of his clients steals his dead wife’s jewelry and tries to sell it at the pawn shop. The owner of the shop recognizes the jewelry and goes to see Sheldon in the hospital. He discloses his own relationship with Marian. The flooded bathroom ruins other apartments, including that of a famous author, Mildred. Mildred then interviews everyone in the cooperative and cashes in on all the drama to become a best-seller.

My favorite part of the book is when Alya is in the hospital getting treatment for cancer. She is a little girl and does not understand what the adults and medical professionals are talking about. She thinks that radiation is like being on the radio. She wants to know if her feedings through a tube can be colored to look like strawberry milk. Alya knows that Ensure is not a real milkshake. She thinks the hospital staff is saying “Die, Flooken!” to make her better, but it is actually a medication called Diflucan.

What I did not really like about the book was that I don’t understand a lot of the corporate talk about investments . The references to information technology and money management did not really make sense to me. Perhaps people who are not in the financial world should not read the book. It can also be difficult to follow.

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Cooperative Lives
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