MADreads

Apex Hides the Hurt (Huh? See below.)

May 31st, 2006 Liz - Central Library

The latest from Colson Whitehead impresses me once again. He’s just so darn smart. This time around the unnamed narrator is a ‘nomenclature consultant’: he comes up with names for products. Hence the novel’s title. The plot here is fun and moves right along, but it’s the bigger ideas that make me think Colson’s worthy of that McArthur genius grant he won. The apex adhesive bandage of the title comes in 20+ shades of cream, brown, tan– a real multicultural ‘bandaid.’ Our African-American narrator stubs his toe and uses an apex on his wound. The wound festers until… well, I won’t give it away. Flash forward to our narrator’s current project: should the town of Winthrop be renamed New Prospera or not? Would a new name hide the town’s real identity? Its real history? There are big ideas here amongst the sharp metaphors and up-to-the-minute cultural references. Similar to his previous novels John Henry Days and The Intuitionist, Colson entertains while making me think. Hard. At length. With inconclusive results. Read Apex Hides the Hurt.

Entry Filed under: Literary Fiction