Scan barcode
A review by synoptic_view
The Colossus of New York by Colson Whitehead
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.]