The ideas in The Other Side are relevant to the ongoing debate about the contribution of immigrants to American life. The four generations of Irish-Americans that Gordon portrays exemplify the survival skills that have enabled them to prosper in this country. These immigrants did the hard labor that built the infrastructure and the industry of the nation. Vincent MacNamara, the patriarch of this family, dug the New York City subway and later worked as an engineer for the transit authority. Ellen, his wife, took a degrading job as a maid, then worked as a seamstress in the garment industry, becoming a union activist.

However, Vincent and Ellen cannot escape the consequences of their family heritage. As in her other fiction, Gordon develops the theme of love and its failure — its power to shape human lives for good or ill. She follows this influence through the...