Video summary
The reviewer expresses an unreserved admiration for Colson Whitehead's novel *The Intuitionist*, declaring it his favorite work among the author's bibliography despite having read and loved everything else he has written so far. The book is described as a superb piece of fabulist noir that operates on two distinct levels: a surface narrative about an elevator guild and a deeper subtext exploring racial issues. The story centers on the conflict between two factions within this guild; the "intuitionists," who possess an innate ability to sense structural flaws without inspection, and the "empiricists," who rely on scientific measurement and data. The reviewer emphasizes that while the plot involves elevators, the true brilliance lies in how these two opposing worldviews interact and clash, creating a spectacular narrative that rewards close reading.
A significant portion of the discussion focuses on the novel's complex characters and themes, particularly through the lens of Lila Mae Watson, an intuitionist who is portrayed as educated, methodical, and morally steadfast. The reviewer notes that the book handles sensitive racial dynamics with nuance, specifically referencing a character named Pompey whose name might seem problematic to modern readers but serves a specific narrative purpose regarding how Black individuals navigate a white-dominated society. Lila Mae's journey involves an internal realization of her own identity and position within this world, balancing the need to work for white men while refusing to let them win or compromise her integrity. The reviewer appreciates Whitehead's ability to explore these tensions without needing to dictate a specific political outcome, valuing the fiction simply as a story that invites readers to engage with its layers rather than treating it as non-fiction.
The reviewer also draws strong literary connections between *The Intuitionist* and Ralph Ellison's *Invisible Man*, noting shared themes and subtexts that make the book memorable alongside classics like Toni Morrison's *The Bluest Eye*. He shares a humorous anecdote about a scene where code breakers spend years deciphering a complex message, only to discover it was merely someone adding up his laundry list in the margins of a notebook. This moment illustrates the book's dual nature: it is accessible on the surface but packed with hidden meaning underneath, though the reviewer cautions readers not to over-analyze every detail. He admits that he initially doubted the book would be interesting because of its elevator setting, but became completely hooked within the first ten pages, ultimately awarding it a perfect five out of five stars.
Beyond the review itself, the video transcript includes the author's personal reflections on his own writing career and current life circumstances. He recounts a painful experience with an editor who destroyed his early novel, *Dastardly Bastard*, for being unbelievable, which he believes derailed his career by making him hyper-critical of fiction until he learned to enjoy stories simply as art. The reviewer also mentions that he is selling all his books to a private collector due to financial constraints and the harassment he faces from trolls who mock his minimalist transition. Consequently, future reviews will likely be filmed from his car or in public spaces before he finds a permanent new location. He concludes by promising two more book reviews before this era of filming ends, urging viewers to check out *The Intuitionist* if they have not yet read it.
Read the full video transcript
I firmly believe that Colson Whitehead
can do no wrong. Um I just got through
reading The Intuitionist. Um and by far,
hands down, even though I have loved
everything I have read from him so far,
this is my favorite one.
The
hiding the subtext
of
racial itch- issues underneath
overt racism
is crazy. This book is great on the
surface. It is a wonderful uh bit of
fabulist noir um about uh
an elevator guild and there are two
there are two sides of the elevator
guild. There are the intuitionists, um
who intuit. They don't even have to look
at the workings of the elevator.
Uh they just know what's wrong with it
or whether or not it's stable, so on and
so forth. Um and then you have the
empiricists,
who I mean, they
Read Read it for yourself. I don't want
to give away any of the subtext, any of
the clues, or anything. But the two
branches
are are very very clear clear.
Um
uh
The interactions between them,
what one believes, what the other
believes, and how it all turns out in
the end is is spectacular. Uh
the
I'm trying to I'm trying to get around
this book uh without uh spoiling
anything. Uh if you haven't read it, I
highly suggest you pick it up. And uh
especially if you like uh Colson
Whitehead's other books. And the ones
that I have read so far, so you can
maybe judge if you have read these also
and you enjoyed that at these books,
then definitely pick up The
Intuitionist. Uh but yeah, we have uh
The Nickel Boys. I love This one broke
my heart. Abs- absolutely destroyed me.
Um especially the boxing scenes. Uh that
stuck in my head. And then you have, of
course his uh
National Book Award winner
The Underground Railroad. This one
supposes that it's it's fabulism again.
And some people say magical realism, but
I believe magical realism has to be
Spanish in origin.
That's where it started. That's where it
came from. Sorry, I have a bug on my
head. How long he been scurrying around
up there? I don't know.
Colson Whitehead's Underground Railroad
was fantastic. It it supposes that there
is an actual underground railroad during
you know, slave times, Civil War, all
that stuff. And they they escape on this
not a subway, really. It is an actual
like choo-choo train underneath the
ground. I thought that was really really
cool.
He has
these books. I believe it's his Harlem
trilogy, Harlem Shuffle, Crook
Manifesto. And there's another one
coming out.
I have to read Zone One, his zombie
novel. I have to read that one before I
jump into the trilogy. I believe the
third book is coming out very soon. It
is
currently
July 8th. So, it'll be out soonish.
But by the time that comes out and I
review that, all of this stuff will be
gone. So, you got two more reviews in
this location, and then we're really
going to go with the minimalist thing
because I just I I can't afford to keep
this up anymore. I have people that have
been helping me so far, and they've
helping me more than I mean it well
above and beyond the call of duty. So,
everything in here must go. Everything
must go. And every time I try to
move this stuff, every time I've been in
trouble and I've tried to sell it, you
guys are like, "Hey, no. Here, we'll
just donate." And then I get harassed
for a year or two by by trolls like,
"Oh, he's begging on the internet." I'm
done with that.
So, what I'm going to do is I'm going to
sell the I've I've sold. It's done. Um,
I'm I've sold all this stuff to a
private collector and we're going to
move on with uh our lives. Um, and some
of these videos might just be from my
car. Uh, some of them might be out in
public.
But uh until I find a place to land,
that's what we doing, right? So back
back to The Intuitionist. Um, I got two
more reviews for you. I got Tom's
Crossing right here. Um, and then You
First over here. I will probably get to
Chain Gang All-Stars um and we'll uh
we'll we'll go from there.
Um, but I I I actually I doubt I'm going
to get to this one. We're definitely
going to get these two though
before before the background disappears.
Uh, back to back to this again. I'm
sorry I keep rambling. I'm just trying
to give you guys I don't have time to do
update videos right now. So I mean
everything is work work work work work.
Uh
This one uh Lila Mae Watson is a
fantastic character. Um, I I loved
everything about her. I especially loved
uh Whitehead's portrayal of her as the
Okay, so there's one character named
Pompey who is the uh
I'm not sure how to say this um without
it coming off as racist. Um, and there
are people right now like what's he
talking about? Um, I know that my
complexion is not supposed to use the
term
uh raccoon but shortened and I know
we're not supposed to say Uncle Tom. But
that's how he's referred to in the
novel. What I found interesting about
this Hold on, bear with me. What I found
interested interesting about this is
that by the end Lila Mae has to look
inward and see that she is not the same
but the same. And I'm not talking about
both her and Pompey being black. I I'm
talking about how she navigates this
world as uh uppity
um as you know, not giving in to not
letting the white man win but at the
same time still working for the white
man and trying to please the white man
to earn a living. Um she does it in a
different way though. She does it in an
uh her way is educated. Her way is
methodical. Her way is she is never
wrong. And I really really liked the
him him delving in into that. Not the
outcome maybe, but I don't have to like
the outcome. The outcome I'm not one of
those people who has to have it their
way. Um I read fiction for what it is.
Fiction. Um
and nowadays, I used to be hyper hyper I
have been around for a while. I used to
be hyper hyper critical of of fiction
and I've stopped that completely. It's
the only way I could continue on reading
and be happy. Um
there was an editor I worked with a long
time ago when Bay Zen first came out.
That was my debut novel under the Edward
Lauren name, who just drove into me that
everything had to be believable. Um my
second book with her um the first book
that she published um she she hated. It
is called Dastardly Bastard and I
unpublished it and
um there there was plenty of plenty of
things wrong with that book. Um
sorry, I'm going on a diatribe about my
other stuff, but just I guess just swipe
forward until you see me pick this up
again, okay? Um
but uh she she hammered into me that you
know this is unbelievable. This is
garbage. Um but she had already signed
me because she liked Bay Zen so much. Um
and that was an independent release. Uh
Dastardly Bastard. Uh she was like this
is this is trash. And it was trash. It
was trash because an editor tore it to
pieces and didn't understand the subtext
or what I was going for. And whenever I
tried to fight back, they were like I'm
just trying to try they played the
victim. It's like I'm just trying to
help you write the best book that you
can get. Well, anyways, screwed up my
whole career.
Um and then we had subsequent books
after that. They were all failures even
even they were really good books.
Um, but yeah, it's I find I find some
some mirroring here.
Uh, the Okay, so back to this. The
Intuitionist
is going to stick with me for the same
reason that Ralph Ellison's Invisible
Man is going to stick with me. There's a
lot of the same themes, a lot of the
same subtext. Um, it's it's not it's
it's not ripping it off, it's not
repetitive or any anything like that.
And no,
they do mention on on here that it's
like uh
uh Invisible Man and Toni Morrison's The
Bluest Eye. I do not
agree that it is like The Bluest Eye,
but it is definitely has notes of Ralph
Ellison's Invisible Man. Not H.G. Wells,
but Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man.
Um
he he did he did something that I found
absolutely hilarious toward the end, and
it's just a one-off comment from one
character to another
um
about how these code breakers are trying
to work on a code that they thought was
left in In fact, I'm going to spoil it
for you. Just know that I love the book.
If you don't want any spoilers
whatsoever, then I'd suggest you click
away now. Okay? Spoilers in 3 2 1
spoilers. So, these guys said they
worked on this code for a long time only
to find out that it was just dude adding
up his his laundry list
in the
how much money doing like his his books
in the margin
margin of of his his writing.
And I thought that was absolutely
hilarious because I can see that
happening. But it also it also shows
that, you know, with with this book you
can be it is surface level, but there is
so much more underneath it. But at the
same time, sometimes you read too damn
much into things. Uh anyways, that's all
I have to say about this book. It's
absolutely fantastic. It's my favorite
of his books, and it took me so long so
long to read it because it was about
elevators. And I was like, this cannot
be interesting. And I was hooked from
the first like 10 pages on. I was
absolutely enthralled. Um and I'm giving
this one of a five out of five. So,
but yeah, have you read The Intuitionist
by Colson Whitehead? If you have, let me
also also very very very boring cover
for for this edition. Very boring. It
just didn't speak to me at all. And now
it's my favorite one. Funny how that
happens. But anyways, have you read it?
Let me know what you think about it down
there in the doobly-doo. But until next
time, I have been you have been you.
This has been another book review. Two
more left and we say goodbye to it all.
Minimalist lifestyle.
Because I have no other choice.
>> [laughter]
>> I'll see you guys in the next one.
Bye-bye.