Day Thirty-Eight

5/8

The Book: The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem

ISBN: 0-375-72488-5

Suggested By: Dan Solomon

Where: Home

When: 9:30-10:25P

Music: None

Company: The Family

Pages: 391- 446 (55)

The Lead In: While I am unsure as to where Lethem is actually from, his dialogue between black and white characters is pretty spot-on. I enjoy the flow. It sounds very sincere and accurate, from a white point of view, of course. And the phrase Mystery White Boy makes an appearance on 418. I like that, nice ring to it.

The 411 on the 55: The story is Dylan in his college in Vermont. He has learned how to party and it consumes all his energy, to the point that he no longer interested in his classes. His friend, Arthur, shows up from Brooklyn to sell some coke, which eventually leads to Dylan getting kicked out of college.

After this, he shifts to UC Berkley, where he takes up the super hero bit, however, with a new twist. The ring, instead of making him fly, makes him invisible now. He has an adventure which leads to a crack head shooting himself in the throat and then begins to get headlines as a caped avenger character. He tries to shift the image from vigilante to superhero (seeking justice rather than revenge against blacks) but the paper paints him otherwise.

Time skip forward and Dylan is visiting NYC. Everyone’s life is screwy. Abraham is a shut in, Mingus’ father is a drug addict, Arthur owns a business but seems to hate it, and Mingus is in prison. Dylan visits Mingus and tries to give him the ring to escape, but Mingus turns it down. That part of his life is over.

Line of the Day: “I’d forgotten my identity as the world’s most pathetic superhero, become a Californian instead.” pg 407

The Fact on the Fiction: Lethem’s life is mirrored by Dylan’s in this book. I’m not saying he can fly with a magic ring, but he did grow up in Brooklyn then move to California. Also has a nifty website. Jonathan Lethem