A review by athenidel
Manhattan Transfer by John Dos Passos

5.0

Bustling, jumpy and intense. For me, Manhattan Transfer was a different reading experience than I'm used to, but in a good way! Looking deep into New York life, you never get a sense that you're standing still, in the moment. There's always things going on around the single bit of narrative you're reading. Dos Passos' writing directly places you there, with fleeting looks at characters and detailed descriptions of the busy city. I, surprisingly, liked the complexity of this novel. It's not every day you get a book that pushes outside the boundaries, goes beyond what typically a novel can do. The wide range of characters either succeed or fail tragicly (Bud's story got to me), and, ultimately, thats just the way the city goes.

5/5 for storytelling, in a mish-mash sort of way. Writing that truly made me go 'wow'.

Favourite Quote: The terrible thing about having New York go stale on you is that there's nowhere else. It's the top of the world.