The descriptions of factory work for women and their free time activities are also interesting and provide a snapshot of New York City’s nightlife during wartime. It takes a special kind of person to do this job, and eventually Anna works her way in with a little help and a lot of respect from a couple of fellow divers. The diving itself sounds terrifying, with much description provided of the heavy suit, the dangers related to breathing, and the isolation of the diver once in the water. The Navy lieutenant who runs it strings her along, with apparently no intention of ever letting her in. One of the strong points of the novel is the description of both the diving program and the sexism that Anna faced in trying to enroll in it. She hopes to find out what happened to her dad and works on getting to know Styles better. He does not recognize her and Anna provides a false name in the event that he would recognize the name Kerrigan.

The second thing that happens is that she meets Dexter Styles again. Anna decides that she needs to dive and works tirelessly to get accepted into the program. Word has it that the Navy needs civilian volunteers to help with this work and they have trouble finding suitable candidates. First, she sees men in the harbor gearing up to do dives and repair ships. While working there, two important things happen that will change her life. Anna has dropped out of college to help with the war effort, measuring and sorting small ship parts at the Naval Yard. The nature of Eddie’s work changed after that trip, as did his relationship with Anna, who resented being left behind. One of the last trips they took together was to Dexter Styles’ fashionable home at Manhattan Beach. Eddie took Anna along with him on jobs until she was old enough that her presence became problematic for him. He often worked as a messenger/mule for the union boss, Dunellen, who has known Eddie since childhood. Eddie’s skill set involves an excellent memory, an eye/ear for detail, and an ability to fade into the background. Eddie worked for the dock workers union, which seems to have been a front for organized crime. As a child, Anna was very close to her father Eddie Kerrigan. The central character of Manhattan Beach is Anna Kerrigan, whom we meet as an 11-year-old in 1934 and then get to know better as a 20-year-old working at the Naval Shipyard in 1942-43.

At the end, I was wondering why characters behaved as they did and why the significance of their actions was not better explained. The problems for me involve both character and plot development. It also involves a mystery - that of the missing father. Set in New York during the pre-war and WWII period, Manhattan Beach explores women’s factory work, the dangerous world of diving, and the merchant marine. This novel should have been an easy like for me.

Manhattan beach by jennifer egan