City on Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg
My rating: 4/5 cats
for the most part, this book was totally worth 2 million dollars. and it’s definitely worth the cover price of $30.00.
but damn it’s hard to review. at its most reductive, it’s a multi-viewpoint novel told from the perspective of several characters living in new york during ’77, culminating in that summer’s blackout. it’s a panoptic of the ultra-wealthy and the squatters, the artists and musicians and revolutionaries, gay and straight, old and young, black and white and asian, uptown and downtown, police and criminals (both white collar and otherwise), journalists and teachers, sex and drugs and rock and roll and on and etc. the narrative axis around which the separate stories spiral out is the shooting of a teenage girl in central park on new years’ eve, but although that event does serve as an anchor, it’s hardly the main focus. this is not a mystery novel – it’s a sprawling, exciting puzzle whose individual stories interlock so tightly that it’s impossible to discuss one part without having to discuss all the parts.
it’s a little bit Infinite Jest, a little bit A Visit from the Goon Squad, a little bit jonathan dee, a little bit Underworld, a little bit pynchon, and oddly enough, a little bit A Midsummer Night’s Dream. didn’t see that one coming, did ya? and it’s the parts that feel MND-y that brought this one down to a 4 instead of a 5 star cat. basically, i loved the book until the blackout itself. while i think the blackout is a smart choice with great metaphorical potential, and while i acknowledge that the situation necessitates some irrealism, it just got a little murky for me in those bits. some stories definitely benefitted from this tonal change – particularly mercer’s, and also keith and regan’s. but others, like jenny’s and charlie’s, just missed the mark for me.
like Night Film, this book has all sorts of ephemera crammed in: a zine, letters, news articles, patient records, emails – but it doesn’t come across as gimmicky. it is all necessary to tell this sprawling tale. this 900+ page book that reads smooth as chocolate milk.
it’s a beautiful, lonely book about the changing face of a city – a city which has been changed several times over since the 70’s. it’s wonderfully nostalgic reading. i’ve lived in new york for twenty years, and i have seen many changes firsthand, but there’s still so much that is recognizable in this book, despite hallberg’s changing of a few names.
you don’t have to know anything about new york to love this book. or fireworks, punk rock, posthumanism, fiscal concerns, or messianic delusions. i mean, it helps, so you can chuckle at things like this:
Rotten, Vicious, Hell & Thunders, like some firm of malign lawyers.
but this is a novel about people – about the way human beings live and love and screw up. it’s one of the most impressive debuts i have ever read, even though i’m not crazy about the endish bits. you’d be wise to read it, since it’s all anyone’s going to be talking about for the next year or so…
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got laid off?? read a giant book!
although, considering this cat got two million dollars for this debut, i’m probably approaching this from the wrong side.
