Reviews

Lost in the City by Edward P. Jones

stephsec's review against another edition

5.0

This man is a genius! While reading "The Known World" I grew rather impressed with his style and development of each character but reading this novel has shown me how far his genius goes. If a reader does not pay close attention they will miss the connections that he makes during the short stories and now I understand why a previous reader did not like this book. You really should not put it down once reading unless you can remember the smallest detail which become important. *On page 180 of 249*

eunicek82's review against another edition

dark emotional reflective sad

4.0

I enjoyed these DC based stories. They’re about community, the daily struggle, and how upward mobility often comes with a price. The stories that stood out for me were the ones that honed in on a single day or single moment. Some of the more expansive ones felt a little too busy for me. What I loved most was how Jones is able to provide a great snapshot of his characters with a single sentence. 

uvm's review against another edition

challenging emotional informative reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

larryerick's review against another edition

4.0

This book caught me a bit by surprise. First, it gets promoted as a collection of stories about black Washington, DC. It is that, but, especially in the early stories, it is very subtle about making that an obvious part of the setting. This is no Manchild in the Promised Land, oozing with black urban milieu. A Beltway resident may catch some of the street references, but the rest of us will not see any typical DC tourist locations. These are regular folks living "regular" black urban lives. Secondly, the author is quite restrained in his narratives. There are no linguistic gymnastics embellishing what is happening. He describes people and situations very clearly, letting "behavior speak louder than words." Finally, and it took me a while, but I found the stories quite female-centric, coming from a male author, as they do. All but a small number of the stories center on female characters, and even the ones that concentrate on a male character, have extremely important connections with key female roles. The author is obviously very in tune with the central role that women play in the urban black community. He doesn't criticize. He doesn't praise. His women -- and in some cases, young girls -- are nuanced personalities holding the community together in the only ways they know. Sadly, if this collection was about white soccer moms in the suburbs, it would be an easy best seller, but it's not. It's about people lost in the city and lost in American society.

chughes120's review against another edition

2.0

Series of short stories taking place in predominantly black neighborhoods of Washington DC in the 20th century.

It has Lot vibes so I wanted to like this but I just didn’t. The stories didn’t go anywhere and I had to fight to pay attention. It also just felt very generic, like the short stories could have taken place anywhere if not for the street names that felt shoe-horned in.

jennadactyl13's review against another edition

4.0

This is one of the most realistic books I think I've ever read. I think some people might find it disappointing because we, as readers, have certain expectations when we pick up a book. If two people meet on a subway, such as the story "An Orange Line Train to Ballston," we really want them to talk to each other. If a woman meets her father for the first time after he is released from jail after killing her mother, such as the story "The Sunday Following Mother's Day," we want her to ask why he did it. However, in real life, these things don't often happen. Every conversation does not have a purpose, and sometimes bad things happen to good people. Every story in this collection is true to real life, and each title tells exactly what each story will be about.

silvercloudedskies's review against another edition

4.0

“the girl who raised pigeons,” “the store,” and “a dark night” get five stars from me, but the other stories didn’t capture me as much.

philipe's review against another edition

4.0

Great collection of stories.

sevseverance's review against another edition

4.0

I got this book while in DC at Kramerbooks because it is short stories set in DC amidst the African-American community the author grew up in. A community he said is often ignored. I also read a previous book of his and loved the writing. I don't usually read short stories and wasn't sure I would like it, but I did. I loved them. Each story could have become it's own novel. Even in the course of the short stories, I came to really feel and understand his characters. They were completely different than most characters I have read. I did sometimes get confused about the characters and where one story ended and the other began. His writing is just pretty. You just want to keep reading it. I already have his other collection of short stories and am now excited to read it and possibly other short story collections.

ayeyoblack's review against another edition

reflective tense medium-paced

• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0