A review by lizmart88
The Intuitionist, by Colson Whitehead
4.0
Reading Colson Whitehead's first novel helped me understand why he just won a Pulitzer Prize. It's not just his writing, but the entire depth of his storytelling.
This is the story of Lila Mae Watson, the first black (they use colored in the novel as its set in the past) elevator inspector. In a similar universe to ours, elevator inspectors are a government job, not a corporate one. And it's a prestigious position that has warring factions - Empiricism and Intuitionism.
Lila Mae is caught in the middle when an elevator she just inspected has a catastrophic accident. As she begins to navigate the world of white people and of the warring sides, she has to emerge from her self created cocoon to engage with her coworkers and the people trying to use her.
Most reviews call it a racial allegory, which it is. But it's also a powerful political allegory. And the two are connected. Why do we believe what we believe? Which side is right? How does chance start a chain of effects that change lives forever? And what should we be contributing?
The book starts slowly, and builds to a crescendo ending. Take your time reading it and enjoy the beautiful writing and good storytelling.
This is the story of Lila Mae Watson, the first black (they use colored in the novel as its set in the past) elevator inspector. In a similar universe to ours, elevator inspectors are a government job, not a corporate one. And it's a prestigious position that has warring factions - Empiricism and Intuitionism.
Lila Mae is caught in the middle when an elevator she just inspected has a catastrophic accident. As she begins to navigate the world of white people and of the warring sides, she has to emerge from her self created cocoon to engage with her coworkers and the people trying to use her.
Most reviews call it a racial allegory, which it is. But it's also a powerful political allegory. And the two are connected. Why do we believe what we believe? Which side is right? How does chance start a chain of effects that change lives forever? And what should we be contributing?
The book starts slowly, and builds to a crescendo ending. Take your time reading it and enjoy the beautiful writing and good storytelling.