“Pineapple Street” by Jenny Jackson
Review by Yvonne Selander, collection development librarian
The Stocktons of Pineapple Street don’t worry about money. Until they realize that money is something that they should occasionally worry about. The three siblings – the eldest a married SAHM refuses her trust because her husband is highly successful; the son who accepts the trust yet his wife is nicknamed “GD for Gold Digger” by his sisters since she’s middle-class; and the baby of the family who hasn’t come of age for her trust yet and is working at a nonprofit but her lifestyle is financed by her parents – all have a crisis of one sort or another and need to figure out how to go on from here.
Life for them vacationing on the Vineyard (that would be Martha’s) and bidding thousands of dollars at the local pre-school fundraiser for a slingback chair signed by the entire school seems normal. That’s what people do after all. But when the lives of the other 99% start edging into their orbits in one way and another it’s fascinating to see how each character reacts.
I was strangely enamored with the characters. Strange because I often have difficulties empathizing with the super rich over their crises, some crises which I only wish I could experience like “oh no, what do I do with all this money?” At the core these are likable characters who are all naive in certain ways to the ups and downs of life where money can’t buy everything.