The Colossus of New York - Colson Whitehead

In a dazzlingly original work of nonfiction, the Pulitzer-Prize winning author of The Underground Railroad recreates the exuberance, the chaos, the promise, and the heartbreak of New York.
Here is a literary love song that will entrance anyone who has lived in-or spent
time-in the greatest of American cities.

A masterful evocation of the city that
never sleeps, The Colossus of New York captures the city's inner and outer landscapes
in a series of vignettes, meditations, and personal memories.
Colson Whitehead conveys
with almost uncanny immediacy the feelings and thoughts of longtime residents and
of newcomers who dream of making it their home; of those who have conquered its challenges;
and of those who struggle against its cruelties.


Whitehead's style is as multilayered
and multifarious as New York itself: Switching from third person, to first person,
to second person, he weaves individual voices into a jazzy musical composition that
perfectly reflects the way we experience the city.
There is a funny, knowing riff
on what it feels like to arrive in New York for the first time; a lyrical meditation
on how the city is transformed by an unexpected rain shower; and a wry look at the
ferocious battle that is commuting.
The plaintive notes of the lonely and dispossessed
resound in one passage, while another captures those magical moments when the city
seems to be talking directly to you, inviting you to become one with its rhythms.


The Colossus of New York is a remarkable portrait of life in the big city.
Ambitious
in scope, gemlike in its details, it is at once an unparalleled tribute to New York
and the ideal introduction to one of the most exciting writers working today.