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socopebbles's review against another edition
3.0
Sprawling, maxmimumalist books walk a fine line between great and exhausting. It's hard to say for certain which side Whitehead's effort falls, but it certain was beautifully written. The point-of-view changes as often as the lyrics in the titular song, but only occasionally is it to the detriment to the larger work. I only wish it focused more on a few characters instead of all.
amesbond's review against another edition
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
mrscraftalot's review against another edition
5.0
Solidly 4.5 stars for me. Colson Whitehead is an excellent writer. There are so many sentences in this book that just blew me away. It was a great story. My only complaint is that I couldn’t figure out how a couple of the side stories fit in and didn’t happen to enjoy them. Overall I would read this again.
teresac's review against another edition
challenging
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
sushai's review against another edition
3.0
I have mixed feelings in rating this book, because in some ways it was brilliant and deserves 5+ stars, but in its overreach as a comprehensive look at John Henry from every possible angle it actually created some tedium. I do appreciate the symbolism and the comparison of the main character to John Henry, (in that the American work ethic is unfortunately to admire someone who works himself to death). I would love to see this made into a Ken Burns-style series!
lowkeycatlady's review against another edition
5.0
need to come back to write a review. not really a page turner but astonishing in breadth and scale, thematically, temporally, etc etc etc. i'm slowly warming up to whitehead's style and i'm falling in love bruh i see it now <3 i get it<3
blue_has_no_value's review against another edition
2.0
This is nearly a hundred pages longer than any other Whitehead novel, and I could feel every extra word. It's maybe the most glaring recent example of Second Novel Syndrome--simultaneously about everything and nothing, overwritten and underfocused.
There's clear proof here that Whitehead would eventually be great--and now he's won two of the past four Pulitzers--but this one's a struggle.
There's clear proof here that Whitehead would eventually be great--and now he's won two of the past four Pulitzers--but this one's a struggle.
miscellamy's review against another edition
dark
funny
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
krissymartini's review against another edition
4.0
This was West Virginia. I sometimes got confused with the interlocking stories but overall liked this one a lot. I listened to the audiobook and the narrator did a great Ballad of John Henry.
melias6's review against another edition
4.0
In his 2001 review of John Henry Days, Jonathan Franzen* described it as “funny and wise and ... only rarely a page turner,” which is precisely how I feel completing it almost a month later. Unlike the propulsive, straightforward narrative of The Underground Railroad, Whitehead structures John Henry Days as a series of vignettes told from multiple perspectives, the first section following journalist J. and his colleagues attending the titular festival to celebrate the distribution of a John Henry stamp, and branching out from there in subsequent sections. These include reflections not only from periphery characters like mail clerks and innkeepers, but fictional accounts of those who composed John Henry folk songs over the years and, interspersed throughout, John Henry’s own narration leading up to the events of the legend. Each individual piece reads as a comprehensive, satisfying, deep dive short story that amounts to masterful world-building, but a world I was rarely excited about returning to whenever I put it down. Still, it’s literary and challenging in the best possible way, and worth a read for fans of the Pulitzer-winning Railroad.
*Franzen’s own The Corrections, along with John Henry Days, were shortlisted for the Pulitzer the year it went to Richard Russo’s Empire Falls. That’s quite a line-up.
*Franzen’s own The Corrections, along with John Henry Days, were shortlisted for the Pulitzer the year it went to Richard Russo’s Empire Falls. That’s quite a line-up.