Absopositively: Day 50: Where The Wild Things Are

Blog post by one of my favorite people about a terrific book. RCM Absopositively: Day 50: Where The Wild Things Are: I recently saw this interview with Maurice Sendak at Open Culture , which itself is possible the best Web site online. Like just about ev...

Review: The Intuitionist (Colson Whitehead)

I am not completely certain that I understood everything Colson Whitehead had to say in The Intuitionist, his debut and critically acclaimed novel published back in 1998. I listened to Terry Gross interview Whitehead on her Fresh Air radio program when he released his latest novel, Zone One, about humans battling zombies in lower Manhattan. Not really my genre, but Whitehead sounded funny and smart and I suspected the book was not primarily about zombies. After the interview, I looked up an essay he had written on the sportsand pop culture blog Grantland about competing in the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas. The essay confirmed what the interview suggested, that Whitehead is complex, insightful, funny, evocative, all those things that good writers must be.

For Christmas, my in-laws gave me a copy of The Intuitionist. Engrossing, unexpected, complex, entertaining – yes, yes, yes, and yes. I finished this book a while ago and still wonder what it was about. On one level, it’s about intrigue within the elevator industry in what seems to be New York City in the late 1950s. Rival factions (the Empiricists and the upstart Intuitionists) battle for control of the city elevator inspectors’ union. The two major elevator manufactures have picked sides. All interests are racing to discover the mysterious invention of a recently deceased academic (and spiritual leader of the Intuitionist school), an invention that promises to revolutionize not only the elevator industry but the structure of the modern city. Thugs whose allegiances and motives remain ambiguous, have targeted a young elevator inspector named Lila Mae Watson, an Intuitionist who is second black inspector and the first black woman inspector in city history. 

On another level, The Intuitionist is an allegory about race and America. I think. Not completely sure. Nevertheless, the novel is smart with sufficient twists and detours to keep you engaged whether it’s about elevator wars or race relations. So if you stay up sipping Irish whiskey while reading this book late into the night, stop reading after the second glass or plan to do some rereading.  Lesson learned.  In the novel, alliances change and motives shift. Watson, tough, smart, quirky, and extremely competent, struggles to discover why she has been thrust into the conflict (the upcoming union election and search for the mysterious “black box”) while also discovering who, if anyone, she can trust. Intrigue ensures.

Whitehead has a unique and provocative voice.  I am anxious to work my way through more of his work. I’m even tempted to give the zombie novel a go.

RCM