I finished this today and enjoyed it's perspective of it's time although I did skip over a few spots here and there which I don't usually do but some of this content was dated although interesting. I especially liked his views on some of the early concepts of American culture that we take for granted today but were relatively new when he was writing. Things like advertising, mass media, travel agencies, reader's digest, political polling, changes in technology, etc.
We went down there at 4 pm, hung out a little bit talking with the staff and then walked around the area. Mike told us about a tiny mall nearby that was interesting to explore on Main Street. The entrance was a book store and a narrow hallway took us through to several businesses that ended with a ramen restaurant. We walked up and down several streets before heading over to the Streetlight at 5 pm.
When we came into the restaurant the host sat us at a prime location table at the front window where we had a great view of the downtown neighborhood and the happy hour bar crowd.
It's nice to go there and buy this stuff then drive to the back lot and someone loads it into the car for you. But of course we had to get it out of the car, on to a wheel barrow and then get it out to the backyard... one bag at a time.
I enjoyed this book very much although it was a very intense trashy view of NYC and particularly Harlem life in the early 1970's. I was also reading this novel the same time I was reading Ibram X. Kendi's Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age, 2026. Another very intense book.
This is the fifth Colson Whitehead book that I've read so I really should add a posting for him in my Authors List series.
This set ran about three hours.
He was one of my favorite tenor saxophone players. I played tenor sax as a teenager.
We ended up with four bags of clothes. I even had some old shoes that were in somewhat good condition that I wasn't going to use anymore that went into the bags.
Well, except for the one house of neighbors who set up a table, screamed at the runners, played bongo drums and shook noise makers. Yep, same folks every year but this year they didn't last very long... about an hour. Maybe their voices gave out.
The people in the pic watching the race can be very obnoxious and that has been a long tradition from that house going back to Peter who liked to shout at the runners often mocking them if they slowed down or started walking. He thought his comments were funny but he was an embarrassment to the block and the neighborhood. Him and his family also backed on all kinds of pots and pans, drums, etc. He's been gone for a few years now but his family keeps his tradition going... well except the mocking runners thing.
