Colson Whitehead’s novel Zone One, a post-apocalyptic zombie work written by this, a literary fiction writer, suffers from the same flaw as the one other work I have read by this writer (The Intuitionist): it starts off fundamentally slow. Painfully slow.
Of course, this is the kiss of death for a narrative. It takes Whitehead nearly 70-100 pages to really get a head of steam on this work. The urge to toss the book aside is strong (and I did so once, only to come back). His propensity for tangents, his excessive wordiness, buries the narrative flow.
How can Whitehead get away with this fatal trait? Part is his reputation. If it were any other writer with a propensity to stumble just right out of the gates, the literary power types would move on; but Whitehead is different, and this is overlooked.
But to be fair, the novel does have many virtues. Whitehead’s deadpan delivery oddly suits the world he has created. His protagonist, Mark Spitz, survives not because he is special – but by virtue of his mediocrity. He is a man who tip toed through the world before the disaster, not making a big splash, while not failing either, and this middling existence contributes to his survival. He is a man with low expectations, and this new world delivers. In the end, it is the character's odd sort balance with a shattered world that rescues this novel.
Of course, this is the kiss of death for a narrative. It takes Whitehead nearly 70-100 pages to really get a head of steam on this work. The urge to toss the book aside is strong (and I did so once, only to come back). His propensity for tangents, his excessive wordiness, buries the narrative flow.
How can Whitehead get away with this fatal trait? Part is his reputation. If it were any other writer with a propensity to stumble just right out of the gates, the literary power types would move on; but Whitehead is different, and this is overlooked.
But to be fair, the novel does have many virtues. Whitehead’s deadpan delivery oddly suits the world he has created. His protagonist, Mark Spitz, survives not because he is special – but by virtue of his mediocrity. He is a man who tip toed through the world before the disaster, not making a big splash, while not failing either, and this middling existence contributes to his survival. He is a man with low expectations, and this new world delivers. In the end, it is the character's odd sort balance with a shattered world that rescues this novel.
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