A review by richardwells
Chronic City by Jonathan Lethem

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?