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briandice's review against another edition
4.0
In this homage to his beloved city, Whitehead weaves 13 pieces of 13 different locales. It's penned in fragmented sentences that convey his message that this is a city of fragments - some fragments are subtle enough to evade your detection, others are sharp enough to cut and wound. And in the end no one can ever assemble the experiences into a whole as the landscape is constantly shifting, always changing - your favorite deli is now an H&M, your auto mechanic can no longer afford the rent and has moved to PA.
nickoftheparty's review against another edition
4.0
Prose was A+, but I wish I'd read these at a slower pace (or that there'd been fewer). Each chapter has a different theme (many geographic) and describes the mass of humanity that is NYC; it got to be a little repetitive/overwhelming by the end, but still found myself loving certain ideas or turns of phrase.
jessica_lam's review
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
5.0
Do you remember when you saw a Shakespeare play performed live, the way it was intended to be consumed, and all of a sudden the words on the page that didn't make a lick of sense all of a sudden you had sobbing or rolling on the floor? While that's not exactly the case of The Colossus of New York, I'd say that Colson Whitehead's rhythmic and melodic voice added atmosphere, depth, and tone to beautiful prose the way my inner voice could never.
Read like beat poetry, Whitehead's description of New York feels like a familiar mix of the romanticized New York and the one that you trudge through on your way to work. His born-and-raised pedigree shows in how much he loves and simultaneously critiques the most cliched, oft portrayed pieces of New York, from Broadway to Central Park. The thirteen vignettes feel at once fictional and familiar.
Or perhaps I'm spending the holidays away from the city I've called home for the past 20 years and am missing it a bit, nostalgic for a place I'm constantly losing.
Read like beat poetry, Whitehead's description of New York feels like a familiar mix of the romanticized New York and the one that you trudge through on your way to work. His born-and-raised pedigree shows in how much he loves and simultaneously critiques the most cliched, oft portrayed pieces of New York, from Broadway to Central Park. The thirteen vignettes feel at once fictional and familiar.
Or perhaps I'm spending the holidays away from the city I've called home for the past 20 years and am missing it a bit, nostalgic for a place I'm constantly losing.
steller0707's review against another edition
3.0
If you are from or have visited NYC for a length of time, the observations in these essays would certainly be familiar. Yet, the first essay, The City, might be universalized, and with slight modification, could even be my own. Name a sandy beach near you and you will recognize your days spent there in the Coney Island essay. But New York City is definitely unique and the essays pay homage to its particularities very well. Here are my favorites:
The City, the first essay, serves as an introduction. It is so New York! And yet it could be my own city, where I have lived the longest.
Rain in which the challenges of dealing with rain may be more urgent without a car in the big city; nevertheless they are universal.
Broadway, Is metaphor for the city: hopes and disappointments; brilliance and decadence; beauty and squalor. And both exciting and boring.
Times Square that iconic place. Is that an angel up there; or, is it a 40 foot can of soda? What time is it in Tokyo - oh, there it is. See the ticker tape of the world! Kitschy glitz capital of the world!
Declarative sentences and sentence fragments make up the rhythm of this book of essays, which eventually got too much for me, like eating candy. Otherwise, it is 3.5/5
The City, the first essay, serves as an introduction. It is so New York! And yet it could be my own city, where I have lived the longest.
Rain in which the challenges of dealing with rain may be more urgent without a car in the big city; nevertheless they are universal.
Broadway, Is metaphor for the city: hopes and disappointments; brilliance and decadence; beauty and squalor. And both exciting and boring.
Times Square that iconic place. Is that an angel up there; or, is it a 40 foot can of soda? What time is it in Tokyo - oh, there it is. See the ticker tape of the world! Kitschy glitz capital of the world!
Declarative sentences and sentence fragments make up the rhythm of this book of essays, which eventually got too much for me, like eating candy. Otherwise, it is 3.5/5
synoptic_view's review against another edition
3.0
Started this in 2018 and returned to it now because I have been feeling a particularly strong fondness for NY. Some of the vingettes worked better for me than others. The morning commute one, for instance, didn't really mesh with my experiences, in part because I don't typically drink my coffee until midmorning. The Broadway chapter resonated more, and the dreary description of Port Authority was spot on (my phone wanted to say "spit on"--it knows what's up). The overall tone of the pieces was a bit too negative. New Yorkers love to complain, of course, but the piece didn't include enough of those sublime moments that make the city great. The closest passage I can recall was about perfectly timing one's steps to the changing of the walk signal.
I listened to most of this on audiobook. It wasn't helped by the narrator. Given that it is basically prose poetry, I hoped the audiobook format would work well. But the narrator could not pick up on the rhythm of the language. [2021/09/15 Update: I actually just finished the last story from the book yesterday and realized that the audiobook was narrated by Colson Whitehead himself. This makes it so much harder to understand why he couldn't get the rhythm. I revisited a few random sections, and it seemed like he was trying to read it like it was poetry, without letting the naturally poetic prose come through.]
I listened to most of this on audiobook. It wasn't helped by the narrator. Given that it is basically prose poetry, I hoped the audiobook format would work well. But the narrator could not pick up on the rhythm of the language. [2021/09/15 Update: I actually just finished the last story from the book yesterday and realized that the audiobook was narrated by Colson Whitehead himself. This makes it so much harder to understand why he couldn't get the rhythm. I revisited a few random sections, and it seemed like he was trying to read it like it was poetry, without letting the naturally poetic prose come through.]
thejoyofbooking's review against another edition
5.0
If you look at the tags, you’ll notice that this is – oddly – tagged as both fiction and non-fiction. I don’t have a poetry tag, but I feel like that could apply, too. This ode to New York City alternates between first, second and third person in a bizarrely sensible way, as if the book itself is your own stream of consciousness with a bit of omnipotence thrown in. For anyone who’s spent a significant amount of time in New York City and enjoyed it, this book is a must-read – it’s like retracing your own steps, or reading an eloquent diary that you forgot you wrote. Rather than comment on some of the chewy, gorgeous lines in the book, I’ll just place them here. If you like what you read, this is definitely a book you’ll enjoy.
“There are unheralded tipping points, a certain number of times that we will unlock the front door of an apartment. At some point you were closer to the last time than you were to the first time, and you didn’t even know it.”
“This place has practiced them in stuffing down weakness”
“Forming an attachment to an umbrella is the shortest route to heartbreak in this town.”
“Everyone thinks they are more deserving, everyone thinks their day has been harder than everyone else’s, and everyone is correct.”
“People spare a minute or two relishing other people’s setbacks before their own inadequacies distract them again.”
“This city is reward for all it will enable you to achieve and punishment for all the crimes it will force you to commit.”
Those statements, and many more, rang true to me in The Colossus of New York. The experience of that city is such a personal thing, but it’s also fairly universal and this unvarnished look at the beauty and grit of the place was a refreshing, nostalgic, and thoroughly enjoyable read.
“There are unheralded tipping points, a certain number of times that we will unlock the front door of an apartment. At some point you were closer to the last time than you were to the first time, and you didn’t even know it.”
“This place has practiced them in stuffing down weakness”
“Forming an attachment to an umbrella is the shortest route to heartbreak in this town.”
“Everyone thinks they are more deserving, everyone thinks their day has been harder than everyone else’s, and everyone is correct.”
“People spare a minute or two relishing other people’s setbacks before their own inadequacies distract them again.”
“This city is reward for all it will enable you to achieve and punishment for all the crimes it will force you to commit.”
Those statements, and many more, rang true to me in The Colossus of New York. The experience of that city is such a personal thing, but it’s also fairly universal and this unvarnished look at the beauty and grit of the place was a refreshing, nostalgic, and thoroughly enjoyable read.