A review by matthewjulius
Feral City: On Finding Liberation in Lockdown New York by Jeremiah Moss

4.0

Does do plenty of Real New York gatekeeping and contradiction. Complaining that the loud party noise the transplants make in public spaces is bad while celebrating that the loud party noise the og new yorkers make in public spaces is good actually. Ironically, the author posits a firm binary of the hypernormal neoliberal subjects and the Real New Yorkers+the gays+people of color that feels too limiting; I personally am a transplant, have lived here 9 years, did not leave during the pandemic, don’t really plan to ever leave as long as I can swing it bc this is where my community is now. What I loved about this book was that it captured how WEIRD it was to live in New York during the pandemic, the factors that made some parts of the experience oddly massively improved over the monoculture hub this place can be, what it felt like during the summer where the police state said the quiet part out loud and like literally everyone was going to get beaten arrested or killed by state violence, what it feels like to mourn the return to neoliberal business as usual. Then again, does not seem to contain a single sentence about how the main thing I remember from these years was the constant fear I was going to get and spread Covid and kill innocent strangers and/or loved ones, which, odd choice.

Also, as a Brooklynite, enjoyed hearing from someone who actually likes Manhattan. Interesting! I still hate it but interesting!