ojoh's review against another edition
4.25
Really beuaotufl writing, ending felt a little slopped together, Great vocab, loved to learn about elevators (both historic and theoretical)
lexalynn's review against another edition
4.0
I love the writing in this book. There are certain passages which are just beautiful and Colson Whitehead somehow manages to make elevators really interesting? Or at least really makes you believe that the main character really loves elevators. It also has just enough plot to keep it going and the commentary on race and racism hit hard at just the right moment.
smalefowles's review against another edition
5.0
Yesssss, still five stars.
I read this in college, back when I was a jerk, and I loved it then. Bought an actual physical copy of it recently (a rare act nowadays), so it was time for a reread.
Brilliant, gorgeous, and insightful. It's everything.
I can't believe it was Whitehead's first book. I think it's still his best book. It's my favorite, at least.
I read this in college, back when I was a jerk, and I loved it then. Bought an actual physical copy of it recently (a rare act nowadays), so it was time for a reread.
Brilliant, gorgeous, and insightful. It's everything.
I can't believe it was Whitehead's first book. I think it's still his best book. It's my favorite, at least.
alliepeduto's review against another edition
3.0
Listen, I've had a while to process this and a whole book club discussion of the story, and I still don't exactly know how I feel. In retrospect, I think I enjoyed this? I'm certainly glad I read it and I will continue to read everything Colson Whitehead writes, but to say I liked the story would be a stretch. I thought it had merit and it made me think, and I loved getting other's perspectives on the metaphor of the story. I don't think I would have enjoyed it as much if I hadn't been able to discuss it, so there's that!
emtz8689's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.25
joakley's review against another edition
5.0
Here’s the typical series of thoughts I have as I make my way through a Colson Whitehead novel:
1. Why are we spending so much time talking about [whatever the main topic of the book is]? Do I really wanna spend my time reading a whole book about [the topic]?
2. OK hold on, actually [the topic] is pretty useful in idk like metaphors and maybe some comparisons to modern-day America, there is some good stuff here.
3. I cannot imagine conceptualizing modern America in any way other than comparing it to [the topic]. [The topic] is LITERALLY America and I am convinced of that.
This exact timeline has played out for 3 of the 4 Whitehead novels I have read, so you would think I should stop being surprised at how brutally talented he is, but I am still taken aback after every novel. Just plug in whatever the topic is – for Zone One it was zombies, in John Henry Days it was the eponymous mythic character, and in the latest book I picked up (which was actually Whitehead’s first novel) I spent my time reading about the elevator industry in The Intuitionist. In each of these instances your initial reaction is “OK this is weird, why are we talking about this?” But at the end of the novel every loose end and narrative detour fits together perfectly to give you a complete picture that transports you somewhere fascinating so that you can learn about where it is you were transported from.
Our main character in The Intuitionist is Lila Mae Watson, a young black woman who happens to be the first elevator inspector able to be described in that way. The allegory is immediately apparent – she is a black woman trying to weave her way through the challenges and pratfalls of working in an industry dominated by white men. In this world that Whitehead has created, the elevator industry is huge. The war between Empiricism and Intuitionism in the field of elevator inspection tears the city apart with its corruption and intrigue. There is a latent absurdity built into the fictional importance of elevators in this novel, but it becomes so believable the more Lila Mae and the rest of her world dwell on it – a believability dependent on the correlation it has to the depressing race relations in our world that are all too real. The intricacies of who is able to inspect elevators, the corruption behind it all, the political motives between the warring parties, the obvious racism that tries to pass as tradition, and the concrete metaphor of being actually elevated into modernity make for fruitful and engaging reading at every turn.
Whitehead’s biggest asset is that he always makes the right choices when it comes to deciding what to tell the reader. When he takes a few random pages to talk about Lila Mae’s father’s occupation, it is not clear at first why the narrative has been interrupted in this way. But as the layers are peeled back and you see the passion with which he worked and the humiliation he had to suffer, you can feel the emotional force of those very few passages stick in your brain to give just the right impression moving through the novel. We don’t need to return to his story, we get the feeling and we add it to our bank of readerly thoughts and move on. The same happens when we hear about the patron saint of elevator inspectors, or when we see a passage from the notebook of one of the academic pioneers of Intuitionism, or when Big Billy Porter tells a story about a cockroach infestation during one of his inspections. These stories are all essentially random and unnecessary, but put together with the allegorical force of Lila Mae’s battle, all of these narrative detours are *chef’s kiss* perfect.
The Intuitionist is a story of a character who you can never anticipate, because she refuses to follow anyone’s plan but her own. She is fiercely independent, and she is fighting her way through a system that fiercely wants to control her and use her as a faceless pawn. Allegories to modern America are interwoven with both a note of subtlety and a stamp of flagrancy. Everything that Whitehead is pointing out to us is apparent out there in the world, but it takes his agile storytelling to make us realize what we are seeing. In addition to all this fancy footwork, he gives a thrilling mystery that has us guessing until the very last page.
The world he has created is realistic but slightly off. He is able to take these unexpected plotlines, confuse and distract us with their absurdity, and land home his point with a right hook that we never saw coming. He is one of the best living writers, and every novel I pick up surprises me more and more.
1. Why are we spending so much time talking about [whatever the main topic of the book is]? Do I really wanna spend my time reading a whole book about [the topic]?
2. OK hold on, actually [the topic] is pretty useful in idk like metaphors and maybe some comparisons to modern-day America, there is some good stuff here.
3. I cannot imagine conceptualizing modern America in any way other than comparing it to [the topic]. [The topic] is LITERALLY America and I am convinced of that.
This exact timeline has played out for 3 of the 4 Whitehead novels I have read, so you would think I should stop being surprised at how brutally talented he is, but I am still taken aback after every novel. Just plug in whatever the topic is – for Zone One it was zombies, in John Henry Days it was the eponymous mythic character, and in the latest book I picked up (which was actually Whitehead’s first novel) I spent my time reading about the elevator industry in The Intuitionist. In each of these instances your initial reaction is “OK this is weird, why are we talking about this?” But at the end of the novel every loose end and narrative detour fits together perfectly to give you a complete picture that transports you somewhere fascinating so that you can learn about where it is you were transported from.
Our main character in The Intuitionist is Lila Mae Watson, a young black woman who happens to be the first elevator inspector able to be described in that way. The allegory is immediately apparent – she is a black woman trying to weave her way through the challenges and pratfalls of working in an industry dominated by white men. In this world that Whitehead has created, the elevator industry is huge. The war between Empiricism and Intuitionism in the field of elevator inspection tears the city apart with its corruption and intrigue. There is a latent absurdity built into the fictional importance of elevators in this novel, but it becomes so believable the more Lila Mae and the rest of her world dwell on it – a believability dependent on the correlation it has to the depressing race relations in our world that are all too real. The intricacies of who is able to inspect elevators, the corruption behind it all, the political motives between the warring parties, the obvious racism that tries to pass as tradition, and the concrete metaphor of being actually elevated into modernity make for fruitful and engaging reading at every turn.
Whitehead’s biggest asset is that he always makes the right choices when it comes to deciding what to tell the reader. When he takes a few random pages to talk about Lila Mae’s father’s occupation, it is not clear at first why the narrative has been interrupted in this way. But as the layers are peeled back and you see the passion with which he worked and the humiliation he had to suffer, you can feel the emotional force of those very few passages stick in your brain to give just the right impression moving through the novel. We don’t need to return to his story, we get the feeling and we add it to our bank of readerly thoughts and move on. The same happens when we hear about the patron saint of elevator inspectors, or when we see a passage from the notebook of one of the academic pioneers of Intuitionism, or when Big Billy Porter tells a story about a cockroach infestation during one of his inspections. These stories are all essentially random and unnecessary, but put together with the allegorical force of Lila Mae’s battle, all of these narrative detours are *chef’s kiss* perfect.
The Intuitionist is a story of a character who you can never anticipate, because she refuses to follow anyone’s plan but her own. She is fiercely independent, and she is fighting her way through a system that fiercely wants to control her and use her as a faceless pawn. Allegories to modern America are interwoven with both a note of subtlety and a stamp of flagrancy. Everything that Whitehead is pointing out to us is apparent out there in the world, but it takes his agile storytelling to make us realize what we are seeing. In addition to all this fancy footwork, he gives a thrilling mystery that has us guessing until the very last page.
The world he has created is realistic but slightly off. He is able to take these unexpected plotlines, confuse and distract us with their absurdity, and land home his point with a right hook that we never saw coming. He is one of the best living writers, and every novel I pick up surprises me more and more.
paulineg's review against another edition
challenging
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
readingwithhippos's review against another edition
4.0
When Adam asked me what I was reading the other day, I responded, “It's called The Intuitionist. It's about race. And elevators.” He made a noise expressing both surprise and confusion, but pretty much left it alone. Like any good husband would, he reads my site. He knows he'll get better information out of me if he waits for the written version of my bookish thoughts.
So here it is: Lila Mae Watson is an elevator inspector in a New York-ish city full of high rises. The time period is as murky as the setting; the elevator technology is highly developed, but the inspectors have typewriters on their desks. I've seen the book described as noir, and that's exactly what it is—picture everything in grayscale, and men in dark hats puffing on cigars. Lila Mae has worked hard to get where she is: she's the first-ever woman of color to be hired as an inspector. Unsurprisingly, her coworkers, overwhelmingly white and male, don't exactly roll out the red carpet when she joins their ranks, especially because she is of the new and controversial Intuitionist school of elevator inspecting. She is an outlier in just about every way possible, but she keeps her head down and throws all her energy and effort into the job.
And she's good at it—until one day, an elevator in a flagship municipal building goes into freefall just after Lila Mae has deemed it safe for use. Suddenly she is at the center of a political whirlwind, with everyone from journalists to mob bosses circling her and sniffing for blood. Everyone has an agenda, some of them well-hidden, and it soon becomes clear that the only person Lila Mae can trust is herself.
I finished The Intuitionist this morning, and while I realize saying it's “about race” is as helpful a descriptor as if I termed rain “fairly dampish,” its complex themes are still churning around in my mind. It hasn't coalesced for me yet. This feels like the kind of book you could read in a literature class and discuss for about a million years. As for the elevator part, it seemed an odd choice to me at first, particularly as I struggled through passages of technical information about how elevators operate and the many ways they can fail, but by the end I could see how fitting it is, what with the upward/downward mobility connotations and the political dichotomy between the Intuitionists and Empiricists.
Fortunately, I've already graduated college, so I don't have to write a thoughtful essay analyzing all the moving parts of this book. I'll just let my thoughts continue to bubble around in my head and encourage you to read this book yourself so that you can have bubbles too.
More book recommendations by me at www.readingwithhippos.com
So here it is: Lila Mae Watson is an elevator inspector in a New York-ish city full of high rises. The time period is as murky as the setting; the elevator technology is highly developed, but the inspectors have typewriters on their desks. I've seen the book described as noir, and that's exactly what it is—picture everything in grayscale, and men in dark hats puffing on cigars. Lila Mae has worked hard to get where she is: she's the first-ever woman of color to be hired as an inspector. Unsurprisingly, her coworkers, overwhelmingly white and male, don't exactly roll out the red carpet when she joins their ranks, especially because she is of the new and controversial Intuitionist school of elevator inspecting. She is an outlier in just about every way possible, but she keeps her head down and throws all her energy and effort into the job.
And she's good at it—until one day, an elevator in a flagship municipal building goes into freefall just after Lila Mae has deemed it safe for use. Suddenly she is at the center of a political whirlwind, with everyone from journalists to mob bosses circling her and sniffing for blood. Everyone has an agenda, some of them well-hidden, and it soon becomes clear that the only person Lila Mae can trust is herself.
I finished The Intuitionist this morning, and while I realize saying it's “about race” is as helpful a descriptor as if I termed rain “fairly dampish,” its complex themes are still churning around in my mind. It hasn't coalesced for me yet. This feels like the kind of book you could read in a literature class and discuss for about a million years. As for the elevator part, it seemed an odd choice to me at first, particularly as I struggled through passages of technical information about how elevators operate and the many ways they can fail, but by the end I could see how fitting it is, what with the upward/downward mobility connotations and the political dichotomy between the Intuitionists and Empiricists.
Fortunately, I've already graduated college, so I don't have to write a thoughtful essay analyzing all the moving parts of this book. I'll just let my thoughts continue to bubble around in my head and encourage you to read this book yourself so that you can have bubbles too.
More book recommendations by me at www.readingwithhippos.com
mad_matx's review against another edition
5.0
Very nice. Exploration of character in a world that makes sense only because the character lives in it. Ending might be questioned by some, but I found it perfect. Will read his next book.
hannahrosecohen92's review against another edition
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75