The New York Times bestselling author of Run Catch Kiss turns her satirical eye to the deeply twisted lives of urban mothers in upwardly mobile Park Slope, Brooklyn.

• Tales from the chic, new, urban frontier: Prospect Park West dishes on the “Brooklyn Bourgeois Breeder” phenomenon— the mass migration of yuppies from manhattan to Brooklyn—as well as on the gentrification of New York City and the truth about sex after parenthood.

• Desperate housewives: Four Brooklyn mothers’ life crises collide during a hot summer in Park Slope. Melora, an Oscar-winning actress, becomes a kleptomaniac. Sexually frustrated wife Rebecca begins an affair with a local celebrity. Neurotic Karen begins “real estate stalking,” spying on the homes of others, and the lonely stay-at-home mom and “hasbian” (former lesbian) Lizzie develops a dangerously intense friendship with another mother. As their lives threaten to spiral out of control, each woman must struggle to keep her sanity…and her play dates.

• Bestselling author of the New York City zeitgeist: Amy Sohn is a real-life Carrie Bradshaw who has written about sex, marriage, and motherhood for New York magazine in her columns “Naked City,” “mating,” and “Breeding.” She also wrote two hugely successful tie-in books for Sex and the City: The Movie.

2. Religion subtly influences how these women live their lives. For example, in the first chapter, Rebecca reveals that despite her misery, her Jewish upbringing has taught her to eschew divorce as something deeply shameful. Explain the ways in which religion and spirituality influence the worlds of Rebecca and Karen.
3. The author honestly and unabashedly explores the many facets of motherhood through her four protagonists and their husbands. Rebecca and Lizzie, for example, wonder if having a baby was the right decision, while Karen’s whole life revolves around her desire to have a second child. Melora’s ambivalence about childbirth led her to adopt. Describe how each couple seems to feel about having children and how they have or have not adjusted to this major life change. How do you feel about the ways in which they have, or haven’t, changed after becoming parents? If you have children, how did parenthood change you? If you don’t have children, did this book alter the way you see motherhood?
4. In Amy Sohn’s Park Slope, identity is an all-consuming concern for people, including some of her main characters. How do the characters of this novel define themselves and others? How do your perceptions of these characters match up with their perceptions of themselves?
5. To what extent does the author use aspiration as a theme in the novel, especially with regard to the title? Is it a good or bad thing to compare yourself to others? Why did she call the book Prospect Park West when only one of the characters lives on that street? Talk about the symbolism of the park throughout the novel, such as when Lizzie and Rebecca meet there and when Rebecca walks around it at the end.
6. Rebecca realizes that she kissed Lizzie because “it had been so long since she’d been touched by a grown-up. Touch was like water or food; you needed it or you’d shrivel into nothing” (page 72). What else does motherhood deprive these four women of? How does having a child affect the lives of their husbands?
7. Sohn uses many real-world references, such as celebrity characters, television shows, shops, events, even the presidential race of Barack Obama. What effect did this have on your reading experience?
8. Karen, who thinks of herself as progressive for her career in social work and for having married a Jewish man, actually displays a lot of racist characteristics, such as omitting her husband’s obviously Jewish last name when she thinks it will be a detriment, or resenting the black children who overrun the “white playgrounds” in the summer. And she’s not the only character concerned about ethnicity. Identify moments in the novel where race issues emerge. What do you think the author is trying to do with these moments?
9. Though we begin with four protagonists who are struggling with relatively common concerns and problems, these women slowly become enmeshed in soap opera–level disasters of their own making. Do these characters cross from sanity to insanity? Did their disasters affect how well you were able to identify with them? Did your sympathy for them change over the course of the novel? Why or why not?
10. When Rebecca and Stuart finally have sex, did you feel happy for Rebecca? Did you feel bad at all for Theo? How about Melora? Discuss how this moment influences your opinion of each of these characters.
11. In “Page Six,” (pages 189–198), we see Melora quite literally falling apart. How does the author use physical appearance in this and in other chapters to illustrate what’s going on with her characters emotionally? Why do you think it takes such extreme circumstances before these women can find solutions to their problems? Do you find this an authentic reflection of reality? Why or why not?
12. Lizzie observes of Rebecca that “this was why she would never make real friends. You couldn’t make friends if all you ever thought about was yourself” (page 357). And yet, Lizzie’s entire “friendship” with Rebecca has revolved around Lizzie’s desire for her and manipulations to force a sexual encounter between them. Do you think Lizzie has really learned her lesson? Do you think any of the women have? Discuss where they are at the end of the novel compared to where they began.
13. How do you feel about Melora’s epiphany, courtesy of Dr. Levine: “This was what happened when you learned to tolerate frustration. Everything fell into place” (page 364). What signs are there that things may not be as wonderful as Melora seems determined to believe they are? How does her new mantra apply to the lives of the other women in the novel?
14. The endings for each of the four couples are very different. Discuss the last four chapters. Does anyone get a truly happy ending? Why do you think the author chose to avoid a “neat” conclusion to the story?

This book is on these lists:

• January 2012 Indie Next List
• December 2011 Indie Next List
• November 2011 Indie Next List