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bookfreak28's review against another edition
4.0
A neat book that interweaves the history of the neighborhood with the author's personal narrative of inhabiting harlem and researching for the book.
shirleenr's review against another edition
5.0
Sharifa Rhodes-Pitts innovates a tired genre--The Writer in the City. Generally, it goes: writer moves to a famous metropolisis; writer observes defining city rhythms and traits; writer succeeds or fails to transform themselves from outsider tenant to inhabitant , the hostile or welcoming cityscape determines that fate.
I disagree with readers who claim this book is too dense or academic. The book is a gift to readers who desire an un-Disneyfied , Greatest Hits picture of Harlem or of cities.
Unfinished review: Will complete over the weekend
I disagree with readers who claim this book is too dense or academic. The book is a gift to readers who desire an un-Disneyfied , Greatest Hits picture of Harlem or of cities.
Unfinished review: Will complete over the weekend
emmkayt's review against another edition
4.0
Took me a long time to read, but I enjoyed it hugely. Contemplative, meandering, and fascinating exploration of the history and significance of Harlem by a young writer from Texas who moves to the neighbourhood. She acts as a flaneur and observer, noting phrases in old clippings and her neighbours' speech, musing about the rich cultural and political history of the area and the effects of gentrification. It's not organized in any kind of obvious way, but I found it really rich. 4.5 stars.
melissajo's review against another edition
4.0
This book is so special, what a great final chapter too. Making a note here as I want to remember Victoria Earle Matthews and the White Rose industrial association she founded (this would make a great tv show) and Raven Chanticleer.
sariggs's review
4.0
This book took me awhile to read, but it was worth it. It’s about Harlem as a neighborhood; it’s history, it’s famous people, and what it’s like to live there. It taught me that Langston Hughes’s ashes are interred under the floor of the atrium of the Schomburg branch of the nypl. It taught me that Hughes, like Baldwin, was queer. It described utterly familiar street scenes, and places in Harlem I had never noticed, like the Marcus Garvey Park fire tower. Very cool stuff.
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