Sag Harbor is a Colson Whitehead about being a private school black New York kid in the seventies and living in a broken home. I use the term “Colson Whitehead” in the hopes of conveying the astounding depth of character and narration, line humour and dark forebodings that the man sets in order each time he approaches his writing and idea apparatus. Mr. Whitehead is a genius, and probably my favourite living author. Zone One and The Intuitionist were each my book-of-the-year (2012, 2011, respectively). The takes on ‘the detective novel’ and ‘the zombie novel’ are hilarious and wordy, and there is a serious amount of poetic virtuosity hiding there in that badass mop of dreadlocks.
Colson, in Sag Harbor (the place)
Colson Whitehead is a brilliant author who touches on issues of racism with an angry nerdliness that can sometimes be baffling. He is so damned clever, it can take pages for you to see the analogy or work out the wording. His sentences can be crafted by no other, and his fuel is so forceful, so intense, and so very much a part of him that you have no option but to be pulled along for the ride.
In reading Colson Whitehead, I am now used to the idea that the issue of race will inevitably arise. I can see his amazing sentence structures and a descriptive verbosity needling conflicts that are often a striking new perspective I hadn’t considered. I remain amazed, and that’s just a part of it. Every white nerd or intellectual should read Colson Whitehead. I digress. Sag Harbor keeps great time, though is more of a ‘thinking’ novel than a ‘stuff happens’ novel. Laugh-out-loud at some points, close to tears at others, and all around an fantastic look at amazing relationships on every scale. Pick it up.
-An aside: at a recent poker night, of five people three brought a Colson Whitehead to be exchanged. Bangin’.
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~Sam Scrimger
Widdershins Lit 