Thank you to NetGalley, New York University Press and Donna Florio for an opportunity to read this delightful book in exchange for an honest review.

The description of Growing Up Bank Street immediately appealed to me as I worked for NYU for years and often would wander through the streets of Florio's Greenwich Village during my lunch hour. I loved the author's chatty style and reading this was reminiscent of a series of visits with a friend. It is a study of a microcosm of a unique neighborhood and its inhabitants, in a city where most people only nod to their neighbors or ignore them completely. Florio give us a charming memoir of a neighborhood in constant transition, full of compelling characters that come to life with Florio's descriptions.

Thank you to Donna Florio for the labor of love that she has give to us. I couldn't put this book down and am eager to recommend this book to many others when it is published.

I was drawn to this book with hopes of a wonderful trip back in time, and I wasn't disappointed. The book started quite slowly and initially I found it a little flat and lacking in energy. But then,as I became entwined with the family and neighbours of Donna Florio, it was a whirlwind of colourful characters and fabulous tales.
Donna Florio has certainly had a fascinating life so far and it was great to be able to share it within these pages. I liked her approach of dealing with one character at a time,rather than a chronological story. This way I felt I was really able to get to know these people, rather than them popping in and out of the story.

I loved this glimpse into the life of one New York neighborhood through the decades. Donna Florio paints a lively and vivid picture of Bank Street, a microcosm of the unique Village life but reflecting the larger social and cultural shifts happening around her. If you have lived in New York City for any amount of time, it's hard not to get swept up into the nostalgia. Each time I sat down to read a chapter, I felt like I was having a regular coffee date with the neighborhood storyteller.

This book has alot of history in it. Who knew all these events had taken place.
This book is told how it is without the airs and graces that some people but on. Donna childhood is something that a didn't expect and parts of it deeply sadden me. Donna knows so many people I was actually shocked. I adored the insights into Bank Street and it characters.
Thank you to Netgalley for the Arc and New York University Press.

This book was written well and interesting, it just was not the type of book I enjoy diving into. It wound you through the history of bank street and all the characters that came and went along the way. Donna has lived such a full life so far, she has really seen it all. Her stories are insightful and entertaining. I would love to have experienced bank street back in its day.

Loved it - as a NYC native I can attest to the richness of this story, absolutely loved the narrative style.

Having lived a stone’s throw away from Bank Street during my time at NYU, this was a must read. Florio does an amazing job at providing depictions of the street and number 63 throughout the years. It read as though you are sitting in the living room of the building listening to its old tenants. Read if you love NY history.

My critiques – it can be a bit wordy with the descriptions and there are many, many characters to keep track of. Some of the stories with the neighbors I found hard to believe (I lived in NY for 5 years and never once met one of my neighbors!) and even a little fantastical. I do think it would make for great TV / Docu Series.

Thank you to NetGalley and NYU Press for this advanced copy.

I love anything related to New York City. This was an interesting story regarding growing up in nyc. Enjoyed it very much.

I'm not American and I don't really know much about New York except what's presented in TV and Film. I visited The Village once on a trip to NYC and Washington St park is all I remember so I think the book fills in the gaps for me well.

I imagine a vibrant and electric neighbourhood. The namedropping didn't mean anything to me (I recognised Sid Vicious and John Lennon) but I liked the themes of neighbourhood, community and gentrification that are universal. The book is well written and researched, I like history and the sense of time passing among the pages of this book.

The characters (though probably real) are all unknown to me but well described. At times I got confused between the names but overall, I enjoyed the book while laid up at home with an injured leg. Thanks for the escapism!

I absolutely loved this book. I love the stories of all the people who lived on Bank Street in New York City. I loved the caring and flamboyant world and it made me happy that for the author she had all these wonderful people to share her life with. I'm not going to go into detail about all the friendships Florio talks about, because I don't want to ruin the book, but the ones that touch me most was her friendship Al (her neighbor across from her, John who lived upstair and wrote wonderful poetry or "Auntie Mame," who Roz Russell portrayed in a movie, and there are many more that will make you smile and feel happy inside. One more thing if you loved Greenwich Village when there were a lot of Mom and Pop stores this is the book for you.

I want to Thank NYU Press and NetGalley for an advance copy of this colorful book.

“This building of mine, I came to realize, this 63 Bank Street, holds the stories of America.”

This book is a treasure trove of memories from Bank Streets’ past. Reading it, I imagined I was sitting atop the steps of a brownstone, cup of tea in hand, chatting with a neighbor who had lived there for years and who was welcoming me to the neighborhood. Each chapter is loosely based off one of the authors neighbors that she remembers from a life on Bank Street. The pages are filled with rich histories of different decades, the changing neighborhood and times, glimpses into her parents life before the author is born, as well as, her own life experiences from childhood through adulthood.

I SO enjoyed getting to know the people In this book. As I think back on it, I can actually visualize them and can easily recall some of the tidbits shared about their lives.

Many thanks to the Donna Florio, NYU Press, and NetGalley for a digital copy of this book. I read and reviewed this voluntarily and opinions expressed here are unbiased and entirely my own. This book is available for purchase in March 9th, 2021!

"And everyone who arrives, whether by birth like me or under a border fence or on a jet plane, makes their own story on their own Bank Street"

Thank you, Donna, for an amazing insight into Bank Street and its soul.

It has been a long time since I have read an autobiography, as I mentioned I was drawn to this book because of the cover, the title, and of course the wish to visit NYC once in the future. This is an account of many important people in New York, socialites, actors, actresses, artists... Donna has such a great talent for grabbing your attention, the stories follow one after another and you just can't stop reading.

Before I started reading I had some expectations, so, at times Donna's style can be descriptive and detailed, I personally liked that, because my imagination has just enough details to go wild and create those images in my head. I loved all the stories about her friends, some of them were more vivid than others, and I would have to say that I was amazed at how much love and care Donna writes about her neighbors. I think it's rare to have such a connection with neighbors nowadays, everyone seems to be running around and about, burdened with their problems, and I always thought of NYC as a place where people felt alienated, but Donna's stories proved me wrong. And I am glad that's the case, this memoir surpassed my expectations, and it was just what I needed at this time.

I am a lover of all things New York. That was what drew me to this book initially as I’m not normally a huge fan of memoirs. Well, I’m glad I gave it a try!

It’s a rich and captivating experience of what living on Bank Street in Greenwich Village was like over the span of many decades. There are stories of celebrities and everyday people that are very interesting and grab at your heartstrings. I loved the way I felt like I was there on Bank Street. I could see and feel how it must have felt due to the author’s descriptive style of writing.

I would recommend this to anyone who loves learning about the history of New York or just history in general but in a more personal way.

Thank you to NetGalley, Donna Florio, and Washington Mews Books for the opportunity to enjoy this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Donna Florio for the advanced copy of “Growing Up Bank Street: A Greenwich Village Memoir” in return for my honest review. This book is available for purchase on March 9, 2021!

Donna shares her journey living at 63 Bank Street and the people she came across. From rock stars and starlets to people suffering from mental illness - Donna has seen it all. Each chapter is filled with the story of a resident and Donna’s memories of them.

This was an interesting read. It was fun getting to meet a new person in every chapter and feel as though we are experiencing what Donna did growing up on Bank Street. Some chapters were more entertaining than others and I found that the chapters about the average tenant pulled on my heartstrings more than the more famous people noted. For an honest, raw, beautifully told story of early Greenwich Village - go grab this one!

Being a history nut and a fan of memoirs, I was excited to read Growing Up Bank Street. Donna Florio's penchant for storytelling and her vivid and vibrant descriptions of a bygone era made this New York community come alive. It also made me want to go visit Bank Street myself! My only critique of this book was that there were so many vignettes & characters in this memoir - that it left me feeling a little scattered and overwhelmed as I tried to keep up. All in all, I think this book is charming, and a rich micro-history. If you want to learn about growing up in a 20th century New York community, meet an eclectic cast of characters, and be swept up with a startling sense of nostalgia, then this book is for you.

”This building of mine, I came to realise, this 63 Bank Street, holds the stories of America. We are linked across the decades, and far more than we know.”

This is a remarkable memoir of the friends, neighbours and visitors of Bank Street, Greenwich Village. Over the decades this Street in ‘The Village’ has housed actors, actresses, movie producers, rock and roll stars (John Lennon and Sid Vicious!), investment bankers, teachers, mothers, fathers and children. So much history and this memoir is told with detail and emotion around those individuals. It’s incredible that this street was so welcoming to all, lifelong friendships were made and never forgotten.

It’s interesting thinking about neighbourhoods and how friendships are established. Do you have friendships with your neighbours? Donna Florio narrated this so well, with each chapter about a new neighbour in the street. I’m super lucky to have been to New York City a few times so I could really picture her writing. I knew the buildings she was talking about and can imagine what it would have been like back in the early 1900’s. NYC is really an incredible city with so many stories so if you are in the mood for a non-fiction memoir, this would be a great pick! I mean who doesn’t love reading about New York!

I received an advance digital copy of this book through NetGalley.

Donna Florio grew up and still resides in the same apartment building on Bank Street in New York City. In this memoir, she does a beautiful job of sharing the heartache, joy, generosity, mystery, and love of her fellow friends and neighbors. I am blown away by the extensive research and interviewing required to memorialize so many people in such a deep and meaningful way. I’ve never read a book that made me feel so connected to strangers. She has lived amongst celebrities, music stars, artists, Broadway performers, and just regular people doing quiet but extraordinary things. I was especially touched by the stories of Jack Heineman Jr., Auntie Mame, Billy Joyce and Marty Braverman. If you have ever visited New York, you understand the special charm and energy that the city and its people provide. This book gives you a behind-the-scenes look at the magic.

This is a very interesting, enjoyable account of the author’s life growing up in New York’s Greenwich Village. The events and the characters she describes are colorful, unusual, and she paints a picture of how these people, from vastly different backgrounds, lived together as a family of sorts. I recommend this book to those who are familiar with life in NY, as well as those who might want to learn about it. My review on Goodreads is linked below.

I apologize for giving this review so quickly. This is a first for me. I read and reread many pages and can not finish the book. It has too many adjectives for every room, thought, describing individuals etc. It does not capture my interest or make sense.

Donna Florio has written her memoir but has also written a history of New York. Not all of New York, but of a certain neighborhood, at a certain time. It's everything you want in a story - artists and families/adventure and love/sadness and growth.

Thank to NetGalley and the publishers for the opportunity to read and review this lovely book.