Sag Harbor: A Novel

Colson Whitehead

Apr 2009 · Sold by Vintage

About this eBook

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • PEN/FAULKNER AWARD FINALIST •  From the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Underground Railroad and The Nickel Boys: a hilarious and supremely original novel set in the Hamptons in the 1980s, "a tenderhearted coming-of-age story fused with a sharp look at the intersections of race and class” (The New York Times).
 
Benji Cooper is one of the few Black students at an elite prep school in Manhattan. But every summer, Benji escapes to the Hamptons, to Sag Harbor, where a small community of Black professionals have built a world of their own.
 
The summer of ’85 won’t be without its usual trials and tribulations, of course. There will be complicated new handshakes to fumble through and state-of-the-art profanity to master. Benji will be tested by contests big and small, by his misshapen haircut (which seems to have a will of its own), by the New Coke Tragedy, and by his secret Lite FM addiction. But maybe, just maybe, this summer might be one for the ages.

Look for Colson Whitehead’s new novel, Crook Manifesto!

Ratings and reviews

A coming of age tale which spans the early to late teenage experiences of Benji and his brother revealed during one summer-long break. The brothers are the mostly sole inhabitants of their parents' second home found in the middle class, racially segregated black wonderland of Sag Harbor, NY. Whitehead explores the values and differences of middle class African-American culture in the mid 80's. The auto-biographical style offers a palpable sense of teen-gangly, boy angst while the prose reveals experiences and memories that transcend race as much as they must also be rooted in race. In addition to race, themes of gender, class identity, and generational power struggles form inside this 2009 novel set in 1985. Stories are told as remembrances and feel both fresh and familiar. No chapter captures this feeling more than the "Heyday of Dag." This protracted musing on the word "dag" finds the main character considering and launching into the playful yet insulting banter of young men actively honing verbal combat skills in search of friendship and quarry. Similar to one of Whitehead's earlier and notable works, _The Intuitionist_, readers are treated to another engaging installment by one of the best novelists actively considering class in modern America, especially from the point of view of middle-class America. Race is of course well apportioned even while Whitehead may have even more to say about the importance of class in the formation of his characters.

Great Summer Read

great

About the author

COLSON WHITEHEAD is the Pulitzer-Prize winning author of The Underground Railroad. His other works include The Noble Hustle, Zone One, Sag Harbor, The Intuitionist, John Henry Days, Apex Hides the Hurt, and one collection of essays, The Colossus of New York. A National Book Award winner and a recipient of MacArthur and Guggenheim fellowships, he lives in New York City.