The Colossus of New York

The Colossus of New York sort of did for me what I thought Teju Cole's Open City was going to do....take me on an insider's tour of the incomparable metropolis and make me feel like I am right there. It's short on specific landmarks, but long on the heart and soul of the city. It's a rapid transit ride, with vignettes of the people and places flashing by through the window; or maybe an extended jazz composition with riff after riff after riff just taking your breath away; or a cocktail party with really interesting people where you just can't decide which conversation to follow. I've only been an occasional visitor to NYC over the years, never a resident nor a hopeful immigrant with an address on a crumpling piece of paper clutched in show more my pocket, but still I recognize so much of essential Gotham in Whitehead's musings---the magic, the tragic, the grime and the beauty, the hopes and the failures, the excitement and the ennui; it's all part of the music, and not just in New York. This is the kind of book that makes me want to meet the author over drinks or dessert. show less

" Talking about New York, is a way of talking about the world" - and that is so true when reading this book. It's a series of snippets, observations, thoughts, recordings of life in New York. Organised mostly through geographically concrete locations - the city, assemblies and disassemblies itself across the page. My favourite section was Brooklyn Bridge - where the bridge seemed to breathe and sigh and be a living part of the city. I loved the image of the bridges anchoring the island of Manhattan, refusing to let it drift off. As a city person - I really felt this book and haven't read about the urban experience before in quite so poetic yet grounding, beautiful yet real ways.

This book was not what I expected. I didn't dislike it, but because I thought it would be something more "New York-y," I was a bit let down. It was much more interior and focused on imagined people, strangers on the streets of New York and how they experience the city. But except for the first chapter, which I absolutely loved, I felt that much of what Whitehead was writing could be true of several different cities. The anonymity, the striving, the crush, the dreams... That said, Whitehead's ability to create a rhythm with his prose, to mimic the heartbeat of an urban landscape, was stunning.

3.5 stars

This is an amazing, literal interpretation of the scenes of NYC. The sections are like poetry thanks to the author's beautiful weaving of words. He tells the story of places and scenes in New York through the eyes of all kinds of people. Since I read some of this while in NYC, I could sense the reality of his words and how he elevates ordinary experiences into a harmony of the city. It is a song for the city that he obviously loves.
A must read for anyone who loves NYC and even for those who don't. You will feel the heartbeat of the city in his lovely prose.

If you are from or have visited NYC for a length of time, the observations in these essays would certainly be familiar. Yet, the first essay, The City, might be universalized, and with slight modification, could even be my own. Name a sandy beach near you and you will recognize your days spent there in the Coney Island essay. But New York City is definitely unique and the essays pay homage to its particularities very well. Here are my favorites:

The City, the first essay, serves as an introduction. It is so New York! And yet it could be my own city, where I have lived the longest.

Rain in which the challenges of dealing with rain may be more urgent without a car in the big city; nevertheless they are universal.

Broadway, Is metaphor for show more the city: hopes and disappointments; brilliance and decadence; beauty and squalor. And both exciting and boring.

Times Square that iconic place. Is that an angel up there; or, is it a 40 foot can of soda? What time is it in Tokyo - oh, there it is. See the ticker tape of the world! Kitschy glitz capital of the world!

Declarative sentences and sentence fragments make up the rhythm of this book of essays, which eventually got too much for me, like eating candy. Otherwise, it is 3.5/5 show less

I listened to the audiobook read by the author, and it got old pretty fast. Whitehead is clever with words, of course, and there are some witty observations and one-liners here. It really isn't about New York, however, it's about the people who live there as Whitehead peeks into their heads to convey their thoughts. It rings true, but that doesn't make it particularly interesting. As a 1- or 2-page piece in a magazine published monthly, perhaps it wouldn't seem so droning and repetitious.

At time lyrical with a spark of genious but carelessly executed, overdone and overrated