Book Discussion: Long Island Compromise (2024) by Taffy Brodesser-Akner

The second novel from the bestselling author of Fleishman Is in Trouble fictionalizes the incredible true story of Jack Teich, whose memoir was also recently published. In 1980, the fictional Carl Fletcher, a wealthy suburban Jewish businessman, is ambushed in his own driveway, kidnapped, ransomed, and returned to his family less than a week later, resuming what appears to be the American dream. Told from the third-person perspectives decades later of his Fletcher's three children, the story uncovers in satirical fashion the latent generational trauma resulting from their father’s repression of this incident, and the affluence that made him a target, then saved his life, and now has dwindled down to just about nothing.