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alisonjfields's review against another edition
1.0
Beautifully written, way too generous with the hip name dropping. "Harold & Kumar Go To The Upper East Side & Read Baudrillard."
cseibs's review against another edition
2.0
While I appreciated the satire of Manhattanite living, I found little else of interest in this book. The novel read like one long, hazy rant, in which the characters were secondary to Lethem's overwrought, grand themes. I'm especially saddened by the character development, especially after having read Motherless Brooklyn and Fortress of Solitude in which Lethem artfully created such lively and authentic characters. I get that the people of Chronic City are supposed to be empty and self-absorbed, but Lethem took it to an extreme and made me lose interest. There were elements of the novel that were brilliant - I especially loved the scene when Perkus first meets Ava - and if Lethem had focused on those moments and pared down his competing, confusing themes, I think I would have found the novel more enjoyable. Overall, I think Lethem shot for too much and left me with a chaotic, incoherent rant - more Obstinate Dust than Fortress of Solitude.
bluestarfish's review against another edition
3.0
This has got so much going on in it. And so little plot. I really liked Janice's letters but sometime felt adrift in the other parts. Not that that was really a problem as I was quite happy reading this, just felt like I might be missing some things (possibly because I'm not American? It felt really Manhattan-y at times). The alternative reality was quite intriguing too.
nightchough's review against another edition
2.0
After this book I may just give up on Jonathan Lethem. His earlier books were extremely creative and genre-bending. But his last few books have been more insular and aimed mainstream.
The main character of this one is Chase Insteadman, a Manhattan socialite who lives off residuals earned as a child star on a much-beloved sitcom. He meets some people and does some stuff; John Irving could have written this book; I'll stop with that.
The main character of this one is Chase Insteadman, a Manhattan socialite who lives off residuals earned as a child star on a much-beloved sitcom. He meets some people and does some stuff; John Irving could have written this book; I'll stop with that.
richardwells's review against another edition
1.0
i think Jonathan Lethem is a wizardly writer. Fortress of Solitude had it all together: style, plot, character. I read and reread chapters just to try to figure out how he did it. Lethem gave us a piece of Brooklyn that seemed real and magical, and wide open in its possibilities. So, I was looking forward to Chronic City. Well, 200 pages into it I'm done. There's no one in this book I care about, their little dramas are of no importance, the stakes aren't high enough, and the device inserted to create tension (the tiger) is laughable. Instead of an opening into another world, it's a novel of small spaces hermetically sealed, and if that's the point, so what?
meghan111's review against another edition
3.0
New York City, but slightly different: ominous fog and a snowy winter that won't end, a tiger roaming the streets and causing destruction, a conceptual artist who digs huge pits in locations around the city. The New York Times publishes a war-free edition. To fill this edition, there is a need for non-war news. Chase Insteadman, former child star/current lightweight celebrity and socialite, and his fiancee, Janice Trumbull, make up a part of these headlines. Janice is an astronaut currently stuck in the international space station, whose love letters to Chase appear in the paper. Chase, meanwhile, becomes entranced with Perkus Tooth, an enigmatic pop-culture guru who seems to have an interest in finding an answer to the question of the meaning of everything and its relation to Marlon Brando and Gnuppets (a slightly different version of Muppets.) Perkus Tooth wants to know the truth, and Chase comes to realize the illusions he is living in and with.
This book meanders a lot, contains horribly accurate descriptions of migraine, and evolves into an exploration of stoner logic about the nature of reality - what if everything in our reality is just a simulation, one of thousands or millions of similar experiments? How would we ever know? That sounds cliched, but Lethem is such a great writer that he makes it sound new, as if the characters are really experiencing these revelations in their slightly-off version of New York City.
This book meanders a lot, contains horribly accurate descriptions of migraine, and evolves into an exploration of stoner logic about the nature of reality - what if everything in our reality is just a simulation, one of thousands or millions of similar experiments? How would we ever know? That sounds cliched, but Lethem is such a great writer that he makes it sound new, as if the characters are really experiencing these revelations in their slightly-off version of New York City.
scheu's review against another edition
3.0
A book about assholes. Pretty frustrating, as I enjoy reading Lethem and at times he made reading about these assholes worthwhile. Unfortunately by the end I was not satisfied.
audaciaray's review against another edition
3.0
Entertaining, but not my favorite Lethem book. The characters are great, and the details about New York are wonderful. I think that if I ever leave NYC, I will read a lot of Lethem so I can feel close to home.