Status
Available
Call number
Collection
Publication
Faber & Faber (2005), Paperback, 528 pages
Description
This is the story of two boys, Dylan Ebdus and Mingus Rude. They are friends and neighbors, but because Dylan is white and Mingus is black, their friendship is not simple. This is the story of their Brooklyn neighborhood, which is almost exclusively black despite the first whispers of something that will become known as "gentrification." This is the story of 1970s America, a time when the most simple human decisions—what music you listen to, whether to speak to the kid in the seat next to you, whether to give up your lunch money—are laden with potential political, social and racial disaster. This is the story of 1990s America, when no one cared anymore. This is the story of punk, that easy white rebellion, and crack, that monstrous plague. This is the story of the loneliness of the avant-garde artist and the exuberance of the graffiti artist. This is the story of what would happen if two teenaged boys obsessed with comic book heroes actually had superpowers: They would screw up their lives. This is the story of joyous afternoons of stickball and dreaded years of schoolyard extortion. This is the story of belonging to a society that doesn't accept you. This is the story of prison and of college, of Brooklyn and Berkeley, of soul and rap, of murder and redemption. This is the story Jonathan Lethem was born to tell. This is THE FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE.… (more)
User reviews
LibraryThing member littlegeek
Rarely do books actually make me cry, but Fortress of Solitude achieved this. I am a sucker for books about friendship, and this one really gets at it all, the shared secrets, the heartbreaking letdowns, the miscommunications, the unimportance of time & distance. Plus, one of my best friends in all
Plus I'm a sucker for magical realism. If you don't go there, you might want to skip this book because you really don't see the magic coming at first. It is absolutely necessary for the plot, tho.
Oh, I'm tearing up again just writing this. I wanna go read it again.
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the world is of a different race, and this NAILS the discontinuities between the races on the individual scale, where the change happens. There are so many erudite, intellectual books about race. This intimate, obviously personal novel affected me far more profoundly.Plus I'm a sucker for magical realism. If you don't go there, you might want to skip this book because you really don't see the magic coming at first. It is absolutely necessary for the plot, tho.
Oh, I'm tearing up again just writing this. I wanna go read it again.
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LibraryThing member artturnerjr
Race And Friendship In America
This the story of Dylan Ebdus, a white kid growing up in then-mostly African-American and Hispanic Brooklyn, and Mingus Rude, a mixed-race (white mom, black dad) kid who is his neighbor and best friend. The author uses their friendship to explore race relations (and a
This the story of Dylan Ebdus, a white kid growing up in then-mostly African-American and Hispanic Brooklyn, and Mingus Rude, a mixed-race (white mom, black dad) kid who is his neighbor and best friend. The author uses their friendship to explore race relations (and a
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number of other topics) in this genre-blending magic-realist literary superhero novel, and while his intent is serious, I found this to be an engrossing, entertaining, and frequently funny read. If you grew in the 1970s, you will almost certainly be entranced by Lethem's near-photographic recollection of the popular culture of that era, as I was. If not, your mileage may vary, but if my brief review has piqued your interest, then I would say that THE FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE is at least worth a look. Show Less
LibraryThing member browner56
Dylan Ebdus’ life is something of a failed social experiment. When his artist father and hippie mother move the family into a not-yet-integrated section of 1970s Brooklyn, Dylan becomes one of the only white kids in his neighborhood. He grows up frightened and largely alone, particularly after
The author splits the novel into two parts (with a brief transitional interlude), essentially separating Dylan’s boyhood from his adulthood. The first of these sections is by far the most compelling of the two, in just about every way: mood and location setting, character development, cultural references. The second half of The Fortress of Solitude, which is told from Dylan’s first-person perspective, drags considerably by comparison. In fact, the magical realism elements that Lethem inserts into an otherwise grittily realistic story become a very clumsy and unbelievable device at the end. Beyond that, there is a surprising lack of resolution at the close of the novel, almost as if he just decided to stop writing in the middle of an anecdote.
I found this to be such a very sad book, with little in the way of humor or optimism to relieve the unrelenting grimness of how Dylan’s story unfolds. Although well written and imaginatively conceived—the author is quite good at providing detailed observations of both people and place—this was not an especially enjoyable reading experience. It was hard to get past the fact that virtually none of the characters finds any real happiness in their lives amidst all of the violence, drugs, racial intolerance, and personal indifference. Dylan certainly is imprisoned in a fortress of solitude, but it is a prison that is ultimately of his own design.
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his mother abandons the family. With his one friend, a black kid named Mingus Rude who is also from a broken home, Dylan tries to survive the muggings, insults, and injustices that he is subjected to on a daily basis. In The Fortress of Solitude, we follow Dylan on his journey over a thirty-year period, through the public schools he manages to escape to the elite colleges he cannot quite navigate to his marginally successful career as a music journalist. Along the way, we learn a lot about why Dylan’s and Mingus’ lives turn out the way they do, even if they themselves never fully grasp the reasons.The author splits the novel into two parts (with a brief transitional interlude), essentially separating Dylan’s boyhood from his adulthood. The first of these sections is by far the most compelling of the two, in just about every way: mood and location setting, character development, cultural references. The second half of The Fortress of Solitude, which is told from Dylan’s first-person perspective, drags considerably by comparison. In fact, the magical realism elements that Lethem inserts into an otherwise grittily realistic story become a very clumsy and unbelievable device at the end. Beyond that, there is a surprising lack of resolution at the close of the novel, almost as if he just decided to stop writing in the middle of an anecdote.
I found this to be such a very sad book, with little in the way of humor or optimism to relieve the unrelenting grimness of how Dylan’s story unfolds. Although well written and imaginatively conceived—the author is quite good at providing detailed observations of both people and place—this was not an especially enjoyable reading experience. It was hard to get past the fact that virtually none of the characters finds any real happiness in their lives amidst all of the violence, drugs, racial intolerance, and personal indifference. Dylan certainly is imprisoned in a fortress of solitude, but it is a prison that is ultimately of his own design.
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LibraryThing member CatieN
Brooklyn in the '70s, '80s, and '90s. Two boys: Dylan is white, Mingus is black. This is a "huge" book in the sense of the ground it covers, yet keeps the reader enthralled. This is really the story of Dylan's life told through his eyes and through the music he loves. Realistic view of families and
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race with the theme of abandonment threading through all of it. Excellent writing. Highly recommended. Show Less
LibraryThing member Mrs_McGreevy
Lethem gives us a fabulous evocation of 70s-era Brooklyn, complete with graffiti and the birth of punk and hip hop, then asks the question,"Now what would happen if a superhero came to the neighborhood?"
LibraryThing member lucasmurtinho
A really good book, but somewhat weakened by the fact that its first part, telling the growing up of a white kid in a poor, black/latino neighborhood in Brooklyn, is much better than the third one, where the kid has grown up and has some scores to settle with his past (the second part being just
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liner notes to an imaginary cd collection). Still, a really good read. Lethem is an almost scarily gifted writed, and the matter-of-factly way he introduces a fantastic element in this painfully realistic story is disarming. Can't wait for "Motherless Brooklyn". Show Less
LibraryThing member Ibreak4books
Well, I'm on a Jonathan Lethem jag...probably the last reader on the planet to read him and I wanted to see what the fuss was about. Verdict so far: despite the brilliant first image of the two girls at sunset, the first 100 pages kind of go nowhere. And the writing isn't that great either in that:
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characters are predictable and I had this creepy feeling that the author looked at a lot of postcards or old movies and took stuff from there. I mean, I read it all before, somewhere else, where it was fresher. It is very second-hand. And this stuff about "race-relations" is kind of old. I mean, we've moved past black-white and we're into shades of yellow and brown. Maybe if he moved out of Brooklyn the author would figure this out. I don't like to be so negative, but when something is so highly recommended, it has to fullfil a big order. Show Less
LibraryThing member sparksmom
Found it hard to get into, but certain parts of the book I really liked. I admired the writing style, but also found it tedious in parts as the book was longer then it needed to be. But for some reason, I feel it is a book I wouldn't mind reading again in the future.
LibraryThing member megcamp
Letham's storytelling is intriguing and opens a world otherwise unknown to me in Brooklyn. A coming of age story that sees life through to adulthood is refreshing, especially when it's not fictionally sunshiny. The use of surrealism is bizarre, and yet somehow works in the book. Of course, without
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it, the story just wouldn't be the same. Show Less
LibraryThing member dst
For the first 200 pages or so I was struggling with Lethem's prose, the never-ending descriptions of inert life (which I suppose I appropriate, but still). Yet I connected with the story of a boy left alone in the world, because–goddamn–ain't the the one narrative that always gets to me?
By the
By the
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end I was growing weary of the language once again, but this time because it'd settled down and found a new, less splashier way. So I guess there's no pleasing me. Show Less
LibraryThing member Harlan879
The first third of this book is among the best things I've ever read. Amazingly evocative of a time and place (Brooklyn in the 70s), of complicated people, of growing up. A remarkable, joyful ode to graffiti. A compelling telling of early hip-hop. Once Ebdus grows up, however, the book becomes
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inconsistent, mixing uninteresting subplots and events with a few brilliant essays about music, race, and the love of place. Show Less
LibraryThing member Othemts
Lethem's novel is set in Boerum Hill in Brooklyn in the 1970's, 80's, & 90's and tells of the friendship of two boys: Dylan Ebdus one of the few white children in the neighborhood and his black friend and idol Mingus Rude. Both boys live with fathers who are artists and emotionally distant from
While overall this is a great novel and one I wanted to keep listening too, there are a few flaws. For one thing I found it hard to believe that two teenage boys would make as little use of a magic ring as they did, although I appreciate Lethem's efforts to show that having magic powers in the "real world" can be more complicated than in comic books. I also felt that the book may have been more successful if it ended earlier, at the end of Dylan and Mingus' childhood with the liner notes "Part II" as an epilogue. While "Part III" focusing on Dylan and Mingus as adults is interesting and has some really strong pieces, I felt that Dylan the narrator and Lethem the author were trying way too hard to find an explanation for Dylan's childhood and some closure too the detriment of the novel overall.
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their sons and their mothers are completely absent from their lives. So Dylan and Mingus have to make it on their own. Lethem excels in the parts of the novel when his characters are younger and capturing the street scene of 1970's Brooklyn - the games, the language, and the uneasy state of race relations. There's also a magical element to the novel when Dylan finds a ring that allows him and Mingus to fly and they use it to try to fight crime. Along the way the novel takes on many topics and tangents such as music of the 70's & 80's (from R&B to punk), the tagging culture, drug abuse, the lucky breaks Dylan gets from white privilege, and gentrification. Dylan ruminates about feeling invisible in the mostly black neighborhood and the duality of his life in black Brooklyn and at his white high school and college. I have no way of knowing for sure if Lethem was alluding to Ralph Ellison's Invisible Man and W.E.B. DuBois' The Souls of Black Folk for these concepts of invisibility and duality, but either way it's a bold move to apply these traits to the white character.While overall this is a great novel and one I wanted to keep listening too, there are a few flaws. For one thing I found it hard to believe that two teenage boys would make as little use of a magic ring as they did, although I appreciate Lethem's efforts to show that having magic powers in the "real world" can be more complicated than in comic books. I also felt that the book may have been more successful if it ended earlier, at the end of Dylan and Mingus' childhood with the liner notes "Part II" as an epilogue. While "Part III" focusing on Dylan and Mingus as adults is interesting and has some really strong pieces, I felt that Dylan the narrator and Lethem the author were trying way too hard to find an explanation for Dylan's childhood and some closure too the detriment of the novel overall.
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LibraryThing member Rynooo
Overall fairly enjoyable but excessively loquacious and would have been half the length if the author hadn't padded with incidental descriptions at every opportunity. In a more succinct version, perhaps the story and the characters would have held more weight.
Confusingly, the protagonist and
When this book is good, it shines. The chapters about the super powers, for example, are inspired. Sadly the highlights are few and far between, and the ending is hugely disappointing.
Confusingly, the protagonist and
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occasional narrator, Dylan Ebdus, is by far the weakest character in the book. Lethem's flat, matter-of-fact and, at times, downright cold prose, leaves it easier for the reader to empathise with Dylan's somewhat more interesting friends, such that the passages where they are absent tend to drag for what feels like an eternity.When this book is good, it shines. The chapters about the super powers, for example, are inspired. Sadly the highlights are few and far between, and the ending is hugely disappointing.
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LibraryThing member Allisinner
I had a hard time starting this book, so much so that after I got about a hundred pages into it, I put it down and didn't touch it for 4 months. However, I am glad that I finally decided to finish it as the story did pick up after those initial hundred pages. The story center's around Dylan, the
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lone white kid on his block in Brooklyn during the 1970's. The book focuses on Dylan as he first tries to become invisible to avoid daily bullying and then as he tries to but physical distance between himself and Brooklyn by going to high school in Manhattan and college out of state. The story particulairly revolves around Dylan's friendship with Mingus Rude. Where Dylan tried to hide from the neighbourhood to protect himself, Mingus becomes part of the streets in order to build a reputation that not only will protect him but allow him to protect Dylan. I'll admit that some parts of the book were great and engaging while others seemed to drag, but I'm glad I finally read the book and I feel like it is one that I will remember for quite sometime. Show Less
LibraryThing member belljargurl
I really loved Motherless Brooklyn, so I was really disappointed with this one. I tried about a ga-zillion times to get into the story, but it never got going for me.
LibraryThing member yesssman
This is a beautifully written work. I was pleasantly surprised at the outset by Lethem's evocative descriptions of early childhood, complete with mysterious emotions and sensations of surroundings. By reminding the reader of these feelings, he makes Dylan Ebdus relateable as he grows up in
The characters in this work are more human than any I have come across in a long time. As a member of the following generation, the era depicted here was one to which I have never been able to connect. Lethem succeeds so well at intimately connecting the reader and characters, that I now feel I can really begin to imagine what it was like to belong to that era, without relying on the cartoonish stereotypes prevailing in popular media. In particular the racial interactions stand out in how they really explore conundrums and paradoxes that occur when worlds collide. For me this sheds a tiny bit of light on contemporary attitudes.
From pop culture to raw emotion to the unnameable things, this book has it all, as a true classic coming of age novel should.
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surroundings which many of us would not be able to understand otherwise.The characters in this work are more human than any I have come across in a long time. As a member of the following generation, the era depicted here was one to which I have never been able to connect. Lethem succeeds so well at intimately connecting the reader and characters, that I now feel I can really begin to imagine what it was like to belong to that era, without relying on the cartoonish stereotypes prevailing in popular media. In particular the racial interactions stand out in how they really explore conundrums and paradoxes that occur when worlds collide. For me this sheds a tiny bit of light on contemporary attitudes.
From pop culture to raw emotion to the unnameable things, this book has it all, as a true classic coming of age novel should.
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LibraryThing member cdogzilla
If I had to review this in less than 10 words, they'd be: "Brilliant in streaks, but maddeningly inconsistent and overlong."
Long stretches of this novel frustrated me; they mostly involved several characters' perceived 'magic' of Aaron X. Doily's ring and their ensuing actions. However,I was
I'm only a little younger than the novel's protragonist, Dylan, and while I didn't grow up in Brooklyn, my neighborhood adjacent to the housing projects (an area trending away from gentrification to the same extent Dylan's Gowanus was trending towards), provided enough touchstones for me to connect with his experiences and observations on race, yoking, school, childhood friends and enemies, etc. (Although, with the obligatory Seifeldian "Not that there's anything wrong with that," as a preface, none of the boys on my street - that I know of - were giving each other blow jobs.)
If Dylan's stunted development into a man-child carrying maladaptive behaviors learned on the streets and home of his youth forward into adulthood speaks to me so directly, I'm reluctant to praise Lethem for capturing the feelings and conveying them so accurately on account of the ill my recognizing reaction to them speaks of me ... but there you have it: he did a great job. In that regard, I'm jealous of his writing skill. On the other hand, I felt the novel suffered a fairly serious problem of scope: too long for the story it told, dawdling on characters and events that could have been more precisely encapsulated in the narrative. That's my long-winded way of the long drag from the Con in California back to see Mingus and Arthur (and Woolfork and Junior) bored me.
Long stretches of this novel frustrated me; they mostly involved several characters' perceived 'magic' of Aaron X. Doily's ring and their ensuing actions. However,I was
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impressed by the prose, absorbed in the story, and only occasionally frustrated by the characterizations to the point where my overall reaction is positive one, if qualified.I'm only a little younger than the novel's protragonist, Dylan, and while I didn't grow up in Brooklyn, my neighborhood adjacent to the housing projects (an area trending away from gentrification to the same extent Dylan's Gowanus was trending towards), provided enough touchstones for me to connect with his experiences and observations on race, yoking, school, childhood friends and enemies, etc. (Although, with the obligatory Seifeldian "Not that there's anything wrong with that," as a preface, none of the boys on my street - that I know of - were giving each other blow jobs.)
If Dylan's stunted development into a man-child carrying maladaptive behaviors learned on the streets and home of his youth forward into adulthood speaks to me so directly, I'm reluctant to praise Lethem for capturing the feelings and conveying them so accurately on account of the ill my recognizing reaction to them speaks of me ... but there you have it: he did a great job. In that regard, I'm jealous of his writing skill. On the other hand, I felt the novel suffered a fairly serious problem of scope: too long for the story it told, dawdling on characters and events that could have been more precisely encapsulated in the narrative. That's my long-winded way of the long drag from the Con in California back to see Mingus and Arthur (and Woolfork and Junior) bored me.
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LibraryThing member ALLLGooD
Fortress of Solitude was one of those books I was very sad to finish. There are musical and super hero references scattered everywhere that help sell the magic behind childhood friendships. Even though I'm just a shy younger than the audience that would get all of the references, the book reminded
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me to the portions of my childhood where a strong enough belief made things real. It was fun revisiting that place. Show Less
LibraryThing member ragwaine
With 2 new kids in my house I find less time to listen to books on audio so after giving this about 3.5 discs of my time I've decided to give up on it. It definitely evokes an atmosphere and the comic book references are kind of cool but it's basically just everyday life in 70's Brooklyn
His non-fictional biographical stuff (The Disappointment Artist) was actually much more interesting and inspiring.
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overwritten. It also seems a bit self indulgent, I can't help but think, how much of this is directly from Lethem's past?His non-fictional biographical stuff (The Disappointment Artist) was actually much more interesting and inspiring.
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LibraryThing member millerteach
Smart, entertaining and deep, this is a great book.
LibraryThing member AlCracka
Loses a tiny bit of momentum 2/3 of the way through with an abrupt shift in time and person, but gets it back in time for the end. Terrific book.
LibraryThing member presto
Two boys, one black, one white, growing up together in Brooklyn in the 1970s, just before the beginning of its gentrification, a time when a white face was in a minority.
The two boys, the white Dylan Edbus, and black Mingus Rude, have much in common, their fathers are creative (one in music, the
The story, part told in the third person, later narrated by Dylan in the 1990s, reflects a change in attitudes over a period some twenty years. It is about the music of the period, black and white relations, about friendship and loyalties, about lost opportunities. But above all it is a book that is beautifully written, a book to be savoured purely for the pleasure of reading.
The two boys, the white Dylan Edbus, and black Mingus Rude, have much in common, their fathers are creative (one in music, the
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other art), they are both (eventually) in effect motherless, and they share a love of comics and comic book heroes. But their friendship is not simple, it cannot be where a young white boy is prey to regular muggings, otherwise called yolking, but it is a friendship bound by among other things shared intimacies, and a ring with special powers akin to their comic book heroes.The story, part told in the third person, later narrated by Dylan in the 1990s, reflects a change in attitudes over a period some twenty years. It is about the music of the period, black and white relations, about friendship and loyalties, about lost opportunities. But above all it is a book that is beautifully written, a book to be savoured purely for the pleasure of reading.
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LibraryThing member nivramkoorb
This is the 3rd book that I have read by Lethem and this one was superb. His writing is excellent, great imagery and lots of sly references that you have to think about. This was not as easy book but that is the challenge with good literature. I agree with some of the other reviewers that the
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beginning of the book was stronger than the 2nd half but the section about Mingus Rude's jail experience was chilling. He has a way of making you feel the experience of all the characters in the book. A great read!!! Show Less
LibraryThing member librarianbryan
I had to hit this after being blown away by Chronic City. This one was more sprawling and felt unstructured. Chronic City was tighter (though appearing loose - it was a great book) and more thematically tricky. The race issues in Fortress were a bit blase (at least from a literary perspective). I
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wanted to know more about the gentrification of Brooklyn. Still an above average coming of age tale about how a writer becomes a writer, a boy becomes a ghost, and how Brooklyn became a parody of itself. If you are into comics, soul music, or graffiti, I highly recommend it. Show Less
LibraryThing member malrubius
I enjoyed this novel. The writing is excellent. The characters are interesting and well-drawn. The plot is compelling. The setting is vivid and alive. I am moving away from reading literary fantasy (probably because I can't find enough), and my one complaint with this book is that the fantastic
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element is too easy. So, as a literary novel it is excellent; as a fantasy it is okay. Show Less
Subjects
Awards
Original publication date
2003-09-16
Physical description
528 p.
ISBN
0571219357 / 9780571219353