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A review by thejoyofbooking
The Colossus of New York by Colson Whitehead
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.