Thursday, May 21, 2009

Sag Harbor (book review)

In Sag Harbor, author Colson Whitehead revisits 1985 in the beach community where his family summered from New York City every year. The adult narrator, Benji, looks back on his teen years with about fifty percent nostalgia and fifty percent, "What were we thinking?!"

I loved the narrative voice, which frequently made me laugh. Loved the way the book was structured, starting out as surface-level as a sit-com and then deepening, almost as if the narrator waited to get to know the reader a bit before revealing his family's pock marks.
"Black barbers the world over, they use electric clippers. These are modern times. In many sectors, technological advances are welcomed and embraced. My father, however, loved his special pair of old-school barber scissors, and we loved them too, because the sound of the long, thin blades snipping against each other was the sound of his undivided attention."
Occasionally, the prose veers off onto a tangent so long that it threatens never to return. I've been known to stop reading highly esteemed writers (cough John Irving cough, cough) for this reason alone, but Whitehead pulls it off. Maybe it works because the narrator is an older version of the main character and so the diversions read with the synaptic clarity of memory. (You know, that phenomenon where one memory leads to another seemingly randomly, and only the owner of the brain can see the connection between the two events?). Or maybe it's the pacing of the novel--the long-winded musings aren't a distraction from the plot. Instead, the plot is a vehicle for the musings.

This is Whitehead's fourth book, which is good news for me--no need to wait for his next book to come out, there's a queue of them ready and waiting to find their way to my bookshelves.

The soundtrack: "At any given moment, someone was playing 'Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now.' Labor Day, we cornered the worldwide market on people playing 'Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now.' It was the black national anthem. The disco version of 'We Shall Overcome,' courtesy of Mr. McFadden and Mr. Whitehead."

Title: Sag Harbor
Author: Colson Whitehead
Publication info: April 28, 2009 (Doubleday) 288 pages

10 comments:

  1. I kept waiting for something to happen in this book. It was just okay for me.

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  2. I loved the language, and how much he was trying to make his prose poetic, but even so, I just couldn't keep going on this book. It seemed like nothing was happening. But a lot of people have loved it.

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  3. I hadn't heard of this, but I love a book of "nostalgia" (because we are so stupid so often). I'll have to check this out.

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  4. BermudaOnion and RhapsodyinBooks, I had heard that it was a little sleepy on the plot side of things, so I was prepared for that. I really enjoyed the character development and the language, though.

    Heather, if you like nostalgia, you'll love this. For me it was a like looking at an era I remember all too well, from a different vantage point.

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  5. Ali, I'm glad that you enjoyed the book. I plan on reading this one soon.

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  6. I hope you'll like it, Karen!

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  7. Glad to hear you liked it, Ali. Did my jazz reference in my review, seem right? After reading, Sag Harbor.

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  8. Yes, Doret, that statement makes total sense to me now! (Note: In her review, Doret compared Sag Harbor to improvisational jazz. Love the way she puts this.)

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  9. What gorgeous photos! I just came across your blog today and wanted to tell you that I think it is great!

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  10. Thanks, Diane! I always appreciate when newcomers leave a comment to say hi. :-)

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