From the MacArthur and Whiting Award–winning author of John Henry Days and
The Intuitionist comes a new, brisk, comic tou... read full description
The Intuitionist comes a new, brisk, comic tou... read full description
reviews
Dec 12, 2011
Trish
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Dec 16, 2009
David
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Whitehead writes well, but shows signs of being a serious one-trick pony. How rich is the "outsider from out of town" story lode anyway? Not rich enough to support three books, that's for sure.
Colson Whitehead - (the novels; haven't read "The Colossus of New York")
So, I didn't totally get "The Intuitionist", but I kind of liked it anyway. The world of elevator inspectors didn't exactly thrill me, however, and the main character seemed More...
Colson Whitehead - (the novels; haven't read "The Colossus of New York")
So, I didn't totally get "The Intuitionist", but I kind of liked it anyway. The world of elevator inspectors didn't exactly thrill me, however, and the main character seemed More...
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Jan 01, 2009
Trin
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A nameless nomenclature consultant who’s had a bit of a nervous breakdown is hired by a small town to lend his expertise to the renaming of their community. This book didn’t really work for me. I found the prose very flat, and the way the plot progressed—interspersed with flashbacks exploring the reasons behind the protagonist’s meltdown—offered no surprises. I felt like—even though Whitehead clearly had some interesting ideas about community, race, identity, and history—I’d read this book befor
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Jun 09, 2011
Jeruen
rated it:
If you want to make fun of some concept, say, the fact that Americans are so obsessed with new things and natural things, would you write a book about it? At least one author did, and the end result was this novel.
Apex Hides the Hurt is about an unnamed nomenclature consultant, who as we learn as the novel progresses, is hired by a town because the town wanted to change its name. There are three possibilities: New Prospera, which is the suggestion by one of the business magnates in the More...
Apex Hides the Hurt is about an unnamed nomenclature consultant, who as we learn as the novel progresses, is hired by a town because the town wanted to change its name. There are three possibilities: New Prospera, which is the suggestion by one of the business magnates in the More...
Feb 14, 2010
Catherine
rated it:
3.5 stars.
For all the apparent unsubtlety of this novel - should the town at the center of the plot be called Freedom, Winthrop, or New Prospera? - there's are wonderful nuances of thought and expression in the prose. I love Whitehead's ruminations on the power of names, that they can make or unmake us, sell something, preserve something, obscure something, and we may not know which at the time. Similarly, the sub-plot about Apex band-aids is fascinating, not least of which because More...
For all the apparent unsubtlety of this novel - should the town at the center of the plot be called Freedom, Winthrop, or New Prospera? - there's are wonderful nuances of thought and expression in the prose. I love Whitehead's ruminations on the power of names, that they can make or unmake us, sell something, preserve something, obscure something, and we may not know which at the time. Similarly, the sub-plot about Apex band-aids is fascinating, not least of which because More...
Dec 20, 2009
Matt
rated it:
I'm a big fan of Intuitionist, and I wanted to see what Whitehead did a little further on in his career, so I read this one. The results are kind of mixed: I think maybe the writing is a little better, a little more controlled and self-consciously manipulated, less tick-filled. But the story itself ran aground for me a little bit.
It's a story about a guy who names things (Nomenclature Consultant) and it's written in this very showy, self-conscious style. The style suggests that the cho More...
It's a story about a guy who names things (Nomenclature Consultant) and it's written in this very showy, self-conscious style. The style suggests that the cho More...
Oct 12, 2009
Mocha Girl
rated it:
"You call something by a name, you fix it in place. A thing or a person, it didn't matter - the name you gave it allowed you to draw a bead, take aim, shoot. But there was a flip side of calling something by the name you gave it - and that was wanting to be called by the name that you gave to yourself. What is the name that will give me the dignity and respect that is my right? The key that will unlock the world." Colsen Whitehead, Apex Hides The Hurt
What is in a name? App More...
What is in a name? App More...
Jan 20, 2012
Cassiangrey
rated it:
If you're a reader, that is, if you have time to sit down and read a book that isn't going to rock your world then go ahead and read this. Its only 211 pages and an easy read.
After reading another book by this author, a book that left me with mixed feeling I thought I'd give him another go. This book isn't bad and it isn't good. Part of me feels like someone told the author to write a first person narrative with a self-deprecating character. So he did and slapped a story and some ch More...
After reading another book by this author, a book that left me with mixed feeling I thought I'd give him another go. This book isn't bad and it isn't good. Part of me feels like someone told the author to write a first person narrative with a self-deprecating character. So he did and slapped a story and some ch More...
Apr 06, 2010
Dave
rated it:
Whitehead doesn't seem to be getting the respect he deserves. My first impressions were disbelief and smugness. A story about a nomenclature consultant? Sure. Ok. We're going to play with words, meanings, names, language, etc. That hasn't been done before. But as I continued with Apex Hides the Hurt I saw how Whitehead not only expands the many theoretical and abstract discussions about the meaning of language, he gives those discussions life. He puts meat on the abstract bones. And that's bold,
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Jan 26, 2011
Mely
rated it:
Probably more subtle than The Intuitionist, but I liked Lila Mae and the fantastical architecture of that book better than the deliberate anomie of the nameless narrator here. Apparently it's a terrible cliche to compare ambitious black literary novelists to Ralph Ellison, but Whitehead's references and inversions (from the namelessness of the narrator to the distance from the city below to the metaphorical use of real history) are so deliberate and omnipresent I do it anyway. A "nomencla
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Sep 13, 2009
Deirdre
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Apex hides the Hurt is about an unnamed "nomenclature expert" who visits a small town to decide its name. Historically, the town was named "Freedom" by the free blacks who settled there. In order to survive, the citizens of Freedom accommodated a businessman by the name of Winthrop who brought a factory and his name to the town. Now, a software magnate in the new economy wants to bring his business campus and way of life to Winthrop. He is determined to bring about a new
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Nov 11, 2011
J'espere
rated it:
Nov. 1st, 2011 - I don't know how I feel. I'm on page 105, the story is interesting enough but I'm not excited by the book. In fact, I find myself falling asleep every time I pick it up and start reading. The writing style is curious. There is an intellectual craftiness in the way the story is being told and I so wish I could get it... but I don't. No fault of the writer. I'm putting it down for now, starting a new novel, but I will come back to it and hopefully fresh eyes will give me a better
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Mar 31, 2009
Abigail
rated it:
I really wanted to like this book more. But, alas, it was the second book in a row that I read that had an unnamed, black, male author and I found the lack of committment to a character and the need to embrace the "everyman" trite and annoying. It made much more sense in this novel, due to the fact that the narrator is a nomenclature consultant by trade, but the inability to really connect with him made the prose feel plastic and hard to empathize with. Whitehead's brilliant, semant
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Aug 30, 2009
Mara
rated it:
I found this book oddly lacking in tension. Not all books have to have tension, but I got the feeling that this book was supposed to. The main character (whose name we never learn) is supposed to decide between two factions in a small town that have different ideas about how or whether to rename the town. The tension between these two opposing parties should be at the heart of this book, but I just couldn't bring myself to care (possibly because the alternative to the town's current name is just
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Jul 28, 2009
Nic
rated it: 
Colson Whitehead is one of those writers who is so eloquent, whose prose is so elegant and clear, it makes my best efforts look like those of a hack.
This deceptively slim novel opens a world of ideas. The protagonist is an unnamed "nomenclature consultant" a professional paid for naming products who is hired to rename a town. He negotiates councilmember politics, the cultural and economic and racial history of the town, as well as his own reclusiveness following a strange p More...
This deceptively slim novel opens a world of ideas. The protagonist is an unnamed "nomenclature consultant" a professional paid for naming products who is hired to rename a town. He negotiates councilmember politics, the cultural and economic and racial history of the town, as well as his own reclusiveness following a strange p More...
Feb 05, 2009
In Colson Whitehead's satirical look at American identity politics, racial identity, and corporate values, every sentence shimmers. Known as a "writer's writer" for his acclaimed novels, John Henry Days and The Intuitionist, and his essay collection, The Colossus of New York (***1/2 Jan/Feb 2004), Whitehead again shows off his literary and intellectual vigor. In the line of Ralph Ellison, he brilliantly chronicles the exploits of a prosperous black man living in society's shadows. Crit
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Apr 27, 2011
Jesse
rated it:
Extremely well written, but with extremely little substance. No real characters to speak of, just a bunch of gigantic, clunky symbolism that slowly drifts through an uninteresting story setting itself up for a Deeply Symbolic Ending. Meanwhile, the ongoing satire of corporate branding and its fallout reads like a rehash of what Douglas Coupland was doing 20 years ago. Still, the quality of writing is solid throughout: it's a shame it's not there to support character or narrative, instead of just
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Jan 23, 2012
Jinny
rated it:
"What do you call that terrible length of time between when you see that your food is ready and when your waitress drags her ass over to your table with it? He saw Regina emerge from the back of the restaurant. His eyes zipped to the plates sitting on the kitchen ledge. Tantalasia. Rather broad applications, Tantalasia, apart from the food thing. An emotional state, that muted area between desire and consummation. A literal territory, some patch of unnamed broken gravel between places on a
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Dec 11, 2008
Flannery
rated it:
I should've gone back and read Cassi's review before I listened to this one. I would've said almost exactly the same thing. This is the first book I have listened to that did not translate well. I think I would've enjoyed it more had I been reading it.
80% of the time I was spacing out because there is nothing really happening. Here's the plot:"marketing man goes to town to rename it. he's there for some time. talks to some people. doesn't clean up his hotel room. a decision is More...
80% of the time I was spacing out because there is nothing really happening. Here's the plot:"marketing man goes to town to rename it. he's there for some time. talks to some people. doesn't clean up his hotel room. a decision is More...
Mar 19, 2008
Rebekah
rated it:
I really enjoyed this book. At first glance, the language is easy, the sentences short and Whitehead's voice just flows over you. Upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that every sentence not only advances the plot, but also serves as an example of the kind of advertising slogans that the main character deals in on a daily basis. The main character, a "nomenclature consultant" spends his days creating the perfect name for products, in order to help them sell. After an accident l
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Jan 21, 2008
Rick
rated it:
This is Whitehead’s third novel and it has certain things in common with his previous two. Race is a theme. His prose style remains graceful, witty, and brilliantly smart. His approach is wry and at times rueful. His protagonist is always an insider who’s nonetheless an outsider, or at least not a fit despite his or her success—someone who is “passing” but is both uncomfortable with his passing and with a simple version of his minority identity and culture. This time the protagonist is a nomencl
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Sep 17, 2007
Darlene
rated it:
This book was recommended to me by my dear Jesse, and he loved it. He's a great fan of Whitehead's work. I believe he's even taught John Henry Days in one of his classes. On the other hand, I had to work hard to finish this book.
I knew almost instantly that it wasn't my kind of read. I could appreciate the quality of the writing. There are moments of real brightness. The style is nauseatingly intimate. The characters are vivid and consistent. Whitehead's observations about rac More...
I knew almost instantly that it wasn't my kind of read. I could appreciate the quality of the writing. There are moments of real brightness. The style is nauseatingly intimate. The characters are vivid and consistent. Whitehead's observations about rac More...
Apr 23, 2007
liz
rated it:
When I saw that this was about names, I figured it was perfect for me, since I do love fun names and am known around my office for it. Amazing! Fantastically subtle and well-observed, about a "nomenclature consultant" who's been hired to rename a small town trying to reinvent itself in the middle of the country. In the process, he manages to mostly recover from a self-imposed convalescence/breakdown after getting his second-to-baby toe amputated. Race issues are thrown in around the ed
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Mar 05, 2007
Ryan
rated it:
Whitehead's an immensely talented novelist, a master of balance. In his newest novel, Apex Hides the Hurt, an unnamed "nomenclature consultant" is recruited from New York to a generic Southern hamlet called Winthrop to decide the town's future name. Will it stay Winthrop, out of tradition and deference to the barb-wire magnate that put the town on the map? Will it revert back to Freedom, the name given by the original settlers, a band of freed slaves? Or will it be New Prospera, favore
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Feb 11, 2010
Mary-Ann
rated it:
This funny, satirical look at consumer culture and revisionist history came at exactly the right time of my life. The narrator is my kind of guy--He ignored his toe problems for so long that he had to have his second-to-baby toe amputated, he's an extremely reluctant marketer but yet he's very good at marketing, he throws his marketing awards into a closet without even looking at them, he thinks the local librarian is sexy, and in times of stress, he chooses to be reclusive and facetious!
Aug 27, 2008
Rachel
rated it:
Whitehead gets an A+ in the writing department; the prose is effortless, dryly funny, and clever (at its best, it reminded me of Ella Minnow Pea, the perfect book for language-lovers). If he could only crawl out from under the boulder of postmodern nihilism. Yep, life sure is bleak. Yep, it's hard to understand, Yep, sometimes it's easier to detach emotionally and make lofty wisecracks than to engage and risk the hurt and pain. But I have little tolerance for this particular brand of Asperger's-
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Sep 05, 2007
Danielle
rated it:
I had the same feeling about this book that I did about the Intuitionist-- like, I must be missing something, and maybe some other more awesome book is happening over my head and I am too dumb to appreciate it. But while reading this, I didn't actually feel like the book was smarter than me, I felt like I was getting it, and there just wasn't that much to get. It feels less like a novel than an excuse for social commentary, but the social commentary isn't original or insightful or particularly r
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Apr 03, 2008
Kerfe
rated it:
The writing is luminous, drawing you into the character's being right from the start. Whitehead has a lot of ideas going on here too, good ones that still keep moving around in my own mind, about names and labels and words and how they both keep us grounded and moving and create distances and walls. The ending kind of left me stranded, though; not the very last sentence,which seemed right, but the label he chose to leave Freedom/Winthrop/New Prospera, the town he was supposed to annoint with a
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Dec 17, 2009
Ben
rated it:
Well you get a two-for-one! Because this book has pretty much the same "main idea" (to use a third-grade term) as John Henry Days, the other Colson Whitehead book I read. It's about race, but not hit-you-over-the-head race - more like, "hey, I'm a person of color and I have pretty much made it in the white man's world, but I still think about race because back when I was young, it was an open question whether or not I would make it in the white man's world and so I am very cogni
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Oct 24, 2009
Kyle
rated it:
The last 50 pages of the book are good and there are small sections which are great, but as a whole the book fell flat. I hoped for more.
There is a subtle arrogance that underlies the book that really bothers me. The main character is the only person in the novel with any insight or hint of depth. He's surrounded by a world of clueless drones who are all waiting for the main character's brilliance to save them. It makes me wonder if this is how the author sees himself?
There is a subtle arrogance that underlies the book that really bothers me. The main character is the only person in the novel with any insight or hint of depth. He's surrounded by a world of clueless drones who are all waiting for the main character's brilliance to save them. It makes me wonder if this is how the author sees himself?
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