The Colossus of New York
by Colson Whitehead
|
|
Sign in to Goodreads to see your friends' reviews of The Colossus of New York.
discuss this book
friend reviews (0)
To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up.
lists with this book
Where's the love? Add this book to your favorite list.
other reviews (showing 1-20 of 210)
bookshelves:
best-i-read-2004-edition,
cle-pub-lib,
finished
Read in March, 2004
Colson Whitehead, The Colossus of New York: A City in Thirteen Parts (Doubleday, 2003)
When one encounters the name "Colson Whitehead," one is apt to think of an old Irish immigrant viewing the city through a jaundiced eye, bleary from another night of stumbling home in rush hour only to find he's locked himself out of his bachelor pad and can't get to the can of beans sitting on the counter seductively calling his name. Instead, what we're given is a young (younger than I am, anyway)...more
When one encounters the name "Colson Whitehead," one is apt to think of an old Irish immigrant viewing the city through a jaundiced eye, bleary from another night of stumbling home in rush hour only to find he's locked himself out of his bachelor pad and can't get to the can of beans sitting on the counter seductively calling his name. Instead, what we're given is a young (younger than I am, anyway)...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in March, 2008
recommended to Vicki by:
Ryan Chapmanrecommends it for: New Yorkers at heart
Is it possible a book can make you feel nostalgic for a city you've lived in for four years...and STILL live in?
Every year, New York Magazine does a why we love New York issue. It's my favorite issue, delving into everything from your favorite subway stalker to the ultimate mojito. I feel like if you end up in New York, its because you just couldn't help it. You are little bit crazy, a guaranteed neurotic, and you love the beauty and ugly of it all equally. New York bitch slaps you and you ...more
Every year, New York Magazine does a why we love New York issue. It's my favorite issue, delving into everything from your favorite subway stalker to the ultimate mojito. I feel like if you end up in New York, its because you just couldn't help it. You are little bit crazy, a guaranteed neurotic, and you love the beauty and ugly of it all equally. New York bitch slaps you and you ...more
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
bookshelves:
2006booklist
Read in April, 2006
Forget this book if you want sentences to be formatted correctly and punctuated properly. The tone Whitehead creates is comforting, chaotic and wonderful. 13 essays about parts of New York…beautifully portrayed. The joys, the cruelties and the frustrations of New York City. I read this book right before traveling to New York City and it was a good appetizer. Beautiful writing. If you love New York City, it is a must read. Book #20 of my 2006 Book List, finished reading it on 4-4-06.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2004
If you love New York, and if you love creative writing (not the class or the genre, but writing that is creative), you’ll love this book. The book is basically a series of descriptions and feelings and word connections about various aspects of New York (the boroughs, Times Square, Central Park, NY in the rain, etc.). The prose ranges from jazz to dream. No real emotional depth to the stories, but writing that is simply enchanting.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2007
Never read a book quite like this. A collection of essays all about New York, sometimes featuring the intersection of the author and the city, and sometimes not. All written in his distinctive, clipped, sparse voice. Reminded me of prose poetry, or something mixed-up like that. Still, beautiful language in all of them and also evidence of a fierce intellect. Probably nobody else on the planet could've written a book quite like this.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in November, 2007
A stream of consciousness reflection of New York City that jumps perspectives and focuses on different aspects of the city in each chapter. A very well-written novella that creates images using small everyday details that draws in all of its readers. I recommend this book to everyone, especially to those who appreciate fluid, pretty, and experimental writing. A short, satisfying read that could entertain one afternoon.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
bookshelves:
2007
Read in July, 2007
This short book is a prose poem about the city by someone intimately observing it at all times. Some of the details are freaky in the captured shared experience, but it seems written solely for the under-35 hipster crowd and tends to neglect large swaths of New York. Still, Whitehead's writing is beautiful and he nails the details.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
A deft piece of writing: variegated splashes, staccato bursts, and robust observations comprise this series of affectionate insights into NYC. An extended prose poem that's a lightning-quick read. I am, however, sympathetic to the view that it's a little too clean, a little too cloying. Still, there is much to admire here.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in May, 2008
Stimulating collection of essays on New York City full of wit and wry observation. The author deftly describes such diverse topics as "Rain" and "Rush Hour" while giving the reader a window into one of the greatest cities in the world. Hometown New Yorkers and urban strangers will both find things to love about this book.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in March, 2008
Great short essays about NYC that could only be described as a feat of creative nonfiction. Whitehead's unconventional voice gets a little tiresome despite its originality, but his observations about life in Manhattan are often dead-on, and ultimately all-encompassing.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in November, 2005
Poooooooo.
Sadly, Colson Whitehead is actually a pretty decent writer under all that choppy post-modernist crap (at least, I suspect). I'll try reading something else of his sometime, I guess, but this book was basically an occasion for aesthetic suffering.
Sadly, Colson Whitehead is actually a pretty decent writer under all that choppy post-modernist crap (at least, I suspect). I'll try reading something else of his sometime, I guess, but this book was basically an occasion for aesthetic suffering.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
ugh. too precious. sure, new york is like this, but other writers (john dos passos and e.b. white, for instance) did the free-form, "jazzy" thing way earlier and, in my opinion, way better. at least whitehead is a native new yorker; that's his one saving grace.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in April, 2008
I love Whitehead's novels, but his quirky, overwrought style doesn't work nearly as well here. This is a collection of cynical, somewhat tired observations about New York, and the elaborate writing drags it down.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
This is an instant classic, a modern companion for E.B White's Here Is New York. Whitehead nails the special ambiance of New York with his unique prose styling. This is one of my favorite New York books.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in March, 2007
recommends it for:
people who live in New York
maybe I'm just a romantic, but Whitehead's prose seems to embody the amalgam of New York--the beautiful, the stinky, the gritty, the tourists, the hip, the subway--and to enjoy it as much as I do.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
bookshelves:
high-caliber
It gets five stars just for the first essay. Not that the other ones aren't great - they are wonderful - but the first one so wonderfully encapsulates life in New York that it made me tear up.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
This is a very small and pleasant homage to NYC.
Many moments with an aftertaste of Invisible Cities:
"Talking about New York is a way of talking about the world"
Many moments with an aftertaste of Invisible Cities:
"Talking about New York is a way of talking about the world"
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Read in January, 2006
The Colossus of New York is not a novel, but rather a collection of snippets describing moments and places in the City. Colson Whitehead is a master.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
bookshelves:
essays,
never-finished,
non-fiction
Read in January, 2005
Given to me prior to my move to NYC, this book is a great treatise on the ever-changing landscape to a city that so many people call home.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment
Writing's too choppy for my taste, but there are a lot of good observations thruout. Tough to stick with.
Like this review?
yes
add a comment





















