{"id":34257,"date":"2018-08-11T20:56:28","date_gmt":"2018-08-12T00:56:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=34257"},"modified":"2018-08-11T20:56:28","modified_gmt":"2018-08-12T00:56:28","slug":"review-of-going-into-town-by-roz-chast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/blog\/?p=34257","title":{"rendered":"Review of Going Into Town, by Roz Chast"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Going into Town<\/p>\n

A Love Letter to New York<\/em><\/p>\n

by Roz Chast<\/p>\n

Bloomsbury, 2017. 169 pages.<\/p>\n

This book is an introduction to New York, which New Yorker<\/em> cartoonist Roz Chast created for her children, who did not grow up in New York City, like she did. <\/p>\n

Here are some selected things she says about the book. You\u2019ll have to imagine the entertaining cartoons that go with these words.<\/p>\n

This is not a \u201cdefinitive guide book\u201d to Manhattan. In fact, it\u2019s not really a guide book. There\u2019s nothing in here about the Statue of Liberty, for example. Why? Because I\u2019ve never been. I\u2019d like<\/em> to go. Someday. Just not today. Please don\u2019t make me go today.<\/p>\n

This is also definitely not one of those \u201cinsider\u2019s guides\u201d where I tell you about the hippest clubs, the swankiest restaurants, the edgiest neighborhoods, the coolest gyms, or the store where the best people buy the most exclusive shoes.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not a history book. Do not imagine, even for a second, that I\u2019m going to tell you a bunch of cool facts, like how Betsy Ross invented concrete, or that a thousand feet under Grand Central, somebody discovered an old Pilgrim restaurant, and look, here\u2019s the menu: . . .<\/p>\n

I feel about Manhattan the way I feel about a book, a TV series, a movie, a play, an artist, a song, a food, a whatever<\/em> that I love. I want to tell you about it so that maybe you will love it too. I\u2019m not worried about it being \u201cruined\u201d by too many people \u201cdiscovering\u201d it. Manhattan\u2019s been ruined since 1626, when Peter Minuit bought it from Native Americans for $24.00.<\/p>\n

Now my kids are grown-ups. The city has changed since I was 23. Things have happened. Some good, some bad, some very bad. But I still love it more than anyplace else, and hope you will too.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

She does communicate this affection in the pages that follow. And despite saying it\u2019s not a guide book, the next time I go to New York City, I\u2019m going to check out this book and carefully review her chapter on the basic layout of Manhattan \u2013 it makes it all very clear and logical and would be tremendously helpful.<\/p>\n

And along the way, I\u2019d get many ideas of things to do and places to visit. And on top of all that, the book has plenty of things that make you laugh. It\u2019s fun to read even if you never have gone to New York City, but will certainly make you want to remedy that situation.<\/p>\n

bloomsbury.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Buy from Amazon.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Find this review on Sonderbooks<\/a> at: www.sonderbooks.com\/Nonfiction\/going_into_town.html<\/a><\/p>\n

Disclosure: I am an Amazon Affiliate, and will earn a small percentage if you order a book on Amazon after clicking through from my site.<\/p>\n

Source: This review is based on a library book from Fairfax County Public Library.<\/p>\n

Disclaimer: I am a professional librarian, but I maintain my website and blogs on my own time. The views expressed are solely my own, and in no way represent the official views of my employer or of any committee or group of which I am part.<\/p>\n

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