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The Intuitionist A Novel Colson Whitehead 9780385493000 Books

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The Intuitionist A Novel Colson Whitehead 9780385493000 Books

This is the story of Lila Mae Watson, an engineer of highest caliber working in the highest expression of the art – elevator engineering. She is a government official in the most prestigious government office - she is an elevator inspector. She is a black (or “colored,” as the author calls her.) She is the first black woman to achieve such status.

The time is uncertain, but it seems to run concurrently with that of The Maltese Falcon or Farewell My lovely. The dialog and the action seem to parallel a post great war mystery. You expect the desk clerks to be called Velma and the character cast is made up of thugs, patsies, crooks and seekers of the truth. The plot is a mystery – who caused the elevator in the newly christened Fanny Briggs building to fail?

Clearly, all of this is symbol. Elevators are the mechanisms of ascension. We’re moving to a higher plane led by Lila Mae. The main engineering texts are the volumes of Theoretical Elevators. This is a book without equations and light on the diagrams. The text is full of life philosophy largely relating to the human condition. Now, Lila Mae is building on this, taking us higher but in a different direction. Her science is “intuitive” more human than that of the old, mechanistic, dominantly white society.

There were a lot of really good set-ups in this novel that didn’t quite make it in the end. The period piece feel of the book was carried off well. Lila Mae was fairly well drawn, a mixture of hard and soft. The softness was that of the submissiveness Fanon attributed to colonial subjugation of black women. But there was hardness, a determination that was leading to elevation. Unfortunately, she is the only character with any depth.

There were a lot of running jokes, like the importance of elevator engineering, that kind of fell flat in the end. But the main problem was with Lila Mae. Nothing in her character suggests a real break with or improvement on existing social norms. There was nothing to get you to really root for her (apart from her position as “victim.”) So the whole read seemed to lack a real point in the end.


Tags : The Intuitionist: A Novel [Colson Whitehead] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <b>This debut novel by the Pulitzer-Prize winning author of The Underground Railroad</i> wowed critics and readers everywhere and marked the debut of an important American writer. <b>Nominated as one of America’s best-loved novels by PBS’s The Great American Read</i></b> </b> It is a time of calamity in a major metropolitan city's Department of Elevator Inspectors,Colson Whitehead,The Intuitionist: A Novel,Anchor,0385493002,Urban,African American women;Fiction.,Afro-American women,Afro-Americans,Elevators - Inspection,Elevators;Inspection;Fiction.,Humorous stories,AMERICAN FIRST NOVELISTS,African American women,Elevators,FICTION Alternative History,FICTION General,FICTION Literary,FICTION Urban,Fiction,Fiction - General,General,General & Literary Fiction,General Adult,Inspection,MARKETING PROMO 1,Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945),Modern fiction,african american;black literature;civil rights;alternate universe;allegory;satire;literature;sf;science fiction;scifi;speculative fiction;noir;new york;fantasy;mystery;contemporary fiction;the great american read;great american read;pbs great american read;alternate history;literary fiction;urban fiction;historical fiction;urban books;fiction;novels;fiction books;books fiction;realistic fiction books;alternate history books;dystopia;american literature;time travel;race;dystopian fiction,African Americans,african american; black literature; civil rights; genre bending; cross genre fiction; alternate universe; allegory; satire; literature; sf; science fiction; scifi; speculative fiction; race fiction; noir; new york; fantasy; mystery; contemporary fiction; great american read; the great american read; dystopian fiction; dystopia; literary fiction; pbs great american read; alternate history; urban fiction; historical fiction; urban books; fiction; fiction books; american literature; 20th century; classic; race; time travel; sci-fi,Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945),Modern fiction

The Intuitionist A Novel Colson Whitehead 9780385493000 Books Reviews

But I really enjoyed it. I kept waiting for the story is to take a turn into the fantastic; but it didn't. I kept wondering why I was reading a story about elevator inspectors. I wasn't sure if the story took place in the past or the future. I wasn't sure if we were on earth or somewhere else ... but I kept reading. In some ways, the story reminded me of another amazing book "the city and the city" by China Mieville. Very nicely done.
It's definitely got some lofty writing, but it enriches the story about something that seems as mundane as elevator inspection. It has an incredibly strong and complex female lead and a fascinating story surrounding her history and work. Would not recommend to people who can't swim through dense writing with lofty language. Would definitely recommend to those who are interested in feminism and race issues.
An interesting premise and a beautifully written novel, but I was bored until the halfway point. Part of the problem is the elevator theme, which I found much less interesting than the author; the rest is that the protagonist, Lila Mae Watson, is undeveloped and rather dull. Fortunately the second half was much better; I'm glad I read it.
The Intuitionist A Novel

Colson Whitehead

Reviewed by Roy Murry, Author

The Intuitionist is the story of bias and racism in the world and a profession one would not think of - city elevator inspection. A woman of color becomes the first woman of color to get a badge as a City Inspector when new elevators were going up and down all over the city.

Lila Mae is an Intuitionist, which has a 10 percent higher accuracy in evaluating elevators as opposed to an Empiricist. Intuitionists are a negative group according to the guild, who don't believe you can communicate with an elevator.

One of Lila Mae's client's mechanism does a dead drop which leads to a significant professional upheaval. She turns into a sleuth to find the cause of the accident, hiding from the public and her cohorts.

In her investigation is a tale of corruption, deceit, bias, white male domination of a profession, and union battles. Where her story ends is a surprise, the reader will applaud.

Articulate prose with racial allegories. Metaphors that will delight the reader, and images relating to a mundane subject as an elevator that is disturbing but understandable.

Intuitionist is an excellent read for the thinking mind.
Other reviewers and the description of the novel in the listing reveals that this is the story of a parallel universe dominated by the world of elevators. The main character, Lila Mae Watson is the first female Elevator Inspector and one of the first blacks to achieve this distinction. The time period is somewhere in the past, maybe the 30's or 40's, when we saw the growth of cities and the rise of the industrial age. Blacks certainly had no equality and the author makes the racism palpable in the characters that comprise the plot. Like Lila Mae, this novel doesn't fit into a nice genre slot but blends elements of several genres in a way that is sometimes confusing and perplexing. Satirical elements overlap analogy and the elevator metaphor can stand for religion, upward mobility, politics, corporate life and race relations. The writing is always original and distinctive, full of dark humor and surprising juxtapositions. The writing is certainly original and inventive which makes this novel often puzzling, thought provoking, quirky, and ultimately very entertaining if the reader doesn't simply get lost in this rich mix.
This is the story of Lila Mae Watson, an engineer of highest caliber working in the highest expression of the art – elevator engineering. She is a government official in the most prestigious government office - she is an elevator inspector. She is a black (or “colored,” as the author calls her.) She is the first black woman to achieve such status.

The time is uncertain, but it seems to run concurrently with that of The Maltese Falcon or Farewell My lovely. The dialog and the action seem to parallel a post great war mystery. You expect the desk clerks to be called Velma and the character cast is made up of thugs, patsies, crooks and seekers of the truth. The plot is a mystery – who caused the elevator in the newly christened Fanny Briggs building to fail?

Clearly, all of this is symbol. Elevators are the mechanisms of ascension. We’re moving to a higher plane led by Lila Mae. The main engineering texts are the volumes of Theoretical Elevators. This is a book without equations and light on the diagrams. The text is full of life philosophy largely relating to the human condition. Now, Lila Mae is building on this, taking us higher but in a different direction. Her science is “intuitive” more human than that of the old, mechanistic, dominantly white society.

There were a lot of really good set-ups in this novel that didn’t quite make it in the end. The period piece feel of the book was carried off well. Lila Mae was fairly well drawn, a mixture of hard and soft. The softness was that of the submissiveness Fanon attributed to colonial subjugation of black women. But there was hardness, a determination that was leading to elevation. Unfortunately, she is the only character with any depth.

There were a lot of running jokes, like the importance of elevator engineering, that kind of fell flat in the end. But the main problem was with Lila Mae. Nothing in her character suggests a real break with or improvement on existing social norms. There was nothing to get you to really root for her (apart from her position as “victim.”) So the whole read seemed to lack a real point in the end.