The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book came to mind after reading another attempt at a surreal novel; Whitehead’s tale of two opposing schools of elevator maintenance has stayed with me over the years as an example of how a book can make its own reality. In exploring this idea the writer stays true to the partly magical idea that an elevator can best be understood by feeling it rather than by examining it. But at the same time the world expands to include the history of the dichotomy between the empirical and intuitive schools of elevation, and then to embrace, from a different angle, the idea of racism and its effect on both versions of the truth. I can’t find my copy of the book at the moment so I can’t quote names of characters, but the protagonist’s journey is lucid, detective-like, and meaningful. Much as I liked the novel, it felt to me that the ending faltered, employing maybe too much mechanics, too much exposition; but this is a very slight problem in a very good book. This novel stands as an example of what modern writers do with elements of fantasy to make the real, mundane world more vivid.