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A review by cnyreader
Manhattan Transfer by John Dos Passos
4.0
The only constant character in this book is the city of New York, and we peer into the lives of many who live within her confines. Spanning a few decades, this book shows us through the Gilded Age into the Jazz Age, through WWI, and staring at the economic depression that looms. The reader looks into windows at snippets of lives, moments of joy, heartache, sorrow, elation, and the rest of the gamut of emotions.
I found snippets of prose in this book to be transcendent, and some of the descriptions stopped me for a minute in their beauty. The book is divided into three sections, and the mood changes as we move into darker times for the city and its residents. The sensation of being in a very specific moment and place in time was palpable, a considerable feat accomplished.
Food: at first, it was like those candied fruit slices- bright, full of strong flavor and sweetness. Then, it became darker and darker chocolate, until it was almost bitter.
I found snippets of prose in this book to be transcendent, and some of the descriptions stopped me for a minute in their beauty. The book is divided into three sections, and the mood changes as we move into darker times for the city and its residents. The sensation of being in a very specific moment and place in time was palpable, a considerable feat accomplished.
Food: at first, it was like those candied fruit slices- bright, full of strong flavor and sweetness. Then, it became darker and darker chocolate, until it was almost bitter.