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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
I am not well-versed in creative nonfiction, but I felt this book lacked any emotional connection to the material. The author seems to poke fun and make witty remarks but he didn't seem to have anything invested in the work. It felt cold and flat, too distant. Perhaps that was the intent. It didn't work for me.
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
fast-paced
Colson Whitehead’s love letter to the greatest city in the world and it’s ever-changing personality. Some of the most gorgeous prose I’ve read this year.
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
Longer review to come, but here's a short first response:
While the narrative style of this short book was confusing at times, I was also intent on determining who was speaking and how they were sharing their brief stories with the reader. Ultimately, I have come to understand this book as a medley (one of no doubt many musical & poetic terms that older reviews have described this book as) of voices we tend to overhear, absorb, and personally inhabit in our own journey through this particular city.
Here you will find a multitude of stories being told through different formal perspectives (yes, I'm talking first, second, and third), whose narrative shifts with every sentence almost as if you have bumped shoulders with someone on the subway or on the street and now the story belongs to them for another handful of words. I also feel like this would be a great read for the attention-deficit reader with little time to invest in a deep dive of character study, or the curious observer who is content with overhearing and occasionally becoming immersed and invested with overheard first-lines, in media res dialogue, and parting remarks of whole scenes we will never fully have context of. You can catch a glimpse of various iterations of the life cycle from birth to breakup to death in the span of a few burroughs.
What manifests from this cacophonous narrative style is a shared, collective culture, a mutual understanding of life in the city that feels somehow embedded in us all, from stranger to native, traveler to transplant. There are many ways to capture the essence of a city in its entirety--and many do not do this well. It all depends on what voices emerge when you learn how to pay attention to them all.
While the narrative style of this short book was confusing at times, I was also intent on determining who was speaking and how they were sharing their brief stories with the reader. Ultimately, I have come to understand this book as a medley (one of no doubt many musical & poetic terms that older reviews have described this book as) of voices we tend to overhear, absorb, and personally inhabit in our own journey through this particular city.
Here you will find a multitude of stories being told through different formal perspectives (yes, I'm talking first, second, and third), whose narrative shifts with every sentence almost as if you have bumped shoulders with someone on the subway or on the street and now the story belongs to them for another handful of words. I also feel like this would be a great read for the attention-deficit reader with little time to invest in a deep dive of character study, or the curious observer who is content with overhearing and occasionally becoming immersed and invested with overheard first-lines, in media res dialogue, and parting remarks of whole scenes we will never fully have context of. You can catch a glimpse of various iterations of the life cycle from birth to breakup to death in the span of a few burroughs.
What manifests from this cacophonous narrative style is a shared, collective culture, a mutual understanding of life in the city that feels somehow embedded in us all, from stranger to native, traveler to transplant. There are many ways to capture the essence of a city in its entirety--and many do not do this well. It all depends on what voices emerge when you learn how to pay attention to them all.
This one is an experience. It is a walking tour through New York City with a blend of site seeing, people watching and deep insight into the city and humanity through an almost spoken word approach. I was mesmerized. I do adore NYC for someone who’s never been there, so this was a great trip.
informative
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
A book of tight, evocative vignettes. Whether you love New York or you hate it this book will take take you right back to the streets, sights and sounds that live in all who have visited.