A Coney Island Reader: Through Dizzy Gates of Illusion

by Louis J. Parascandola (Editor), John Parascandola (Editor)

Featuring a stunning gallery of portraits by the world's finest poets, essayists, and fiction writers--including Walt Whitman, Stephen Crane, José Martí, Maxim Gorky, Federico García Lorca, Isaac Bashevis Singer, E. E. Cummings, Djuna Barnes, Colson Whitehead, Robert Olen Butler, and Katie Roiphe--this anthology is the first to focus on the unique history and transporting experience of a beloved fixture of the New York City landscape.

Moody, mystical, and enchanting, Coney Island has thrilled newcomers and soothed native New Yorkers for decades. With its fantasy entertainments, renowned beach foods, world-class boardwalk, and expansive beach, it provides a welcome respite from the city's dense neighborhoods, unrelenting traffic, and somber grid. Coney Island has long offered a kaleidoscopic panorama of people, places, and events, creating, as Lawrence Ferlinghetti once wrote, "a Coney Island of the mind." This anthology captures the highs and lows of that sensation, with works that imagine Coney Island as a restful resort, a playground for the masses, and a symbol of America's democratic spirit, as well as a Sodom by the sea, a garish display of capitalist excess, and a paradigm of urban decay. As complex as the city of which it is a part, Coney Island engenders limitless perspectives, a composite inspiring everyone who encounters it to sing its electric song.

Genres: History, New York

360 pages, Paperback

First published November 5, 2014

Reviews

[Janet]

A delightful collection for all Coney Island lovers starting with Walk Whitman traveling through the farms to get to a clambake. Truly well chosen, illustrated and edited.

[D]

Oh what fun this book was! I’m a lover of Coney Island anyway, which was what attracted me to this book in the first place, but to have this compilation of different points of view of such a magnificent place it was just fantastic to read.

I liked how it started off giving some general background about Coney Island, from its first settlers and traveling straight through today, showcasing its rise and subsequent decline with little hiccups of interest pops throughout the 20th century. I just love reading about Coney during its heyday so that’s probably my favorite Coney cluster I like to read about but seeing it through the eyes of history, by people who lived it at different times in its life, was just fascinating.

From a snippet of The Warriors to early twentieth century newspaper articles to the latest intention to revitalize the area as drafted by the people who are currently in control of it, and the subsequent backlash from that. It gives Coney Island a very well-rounded, dynamic life that people are incredibly passionate about. Anyone with a modicum of interest in history and the preservation of our nation’s landmarks can appreciate all that Coney’s gone through and will love this anthology of work that’s been compiled.

I only have a digital copy but I absolutely plan on buying a hardbound edition so I can enjoy it all over again. Looking at the archival photos littered throughout the book on a little iPhone just doesn’t do them justice. I want to soak in the details and really absorb whatever part of Coney the images are trying to portray.

The Parascandolas did an amazing job of putting this book together and I think it’s a really unique look at the span of Coney Island. It’s not just about their interpretation of what the area is. They let other people do the speaking, and not just in annotations and footnotes. It lent itself to variety and diversity and gives you an amalgam of history from a myriad of eyes, not just a couple of sets.

For anyone interested in Coney Island history, or amusement history, or New York history, A CONEY ISLAND READER is a must read.

5

I received a copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Mandy]

RATING 5 STARS

When downloading this book I expected a thorough history on Coney Island.

What I received was much better.

This unique compilation of poems, short stories, memoirs, and personal accounts from years past was an easy, light-hearted, and still informational read. The text in itself reads like a story, because, well, it is a story - told from multiple perspectives and multiple time periods. Arranged in chronological order, the book has a great flow between pieces and a very poetic feel overall making the entire reader whimsical, which I found as a fabulous tribute to Coney Island.

Coney Island in all of its time, has been magical, whimsical, complex, historical, and full of memories of past prosperity - all of which were included in the book through different authors, points of view, and separate writing styles - ultimately showing the diversity of the Island. Shown throughout the reader {as promised by the title, and probably the most enticing part of reading this wonderful book} were multiple visuals, maps, diagrams, illustrations, photographs, and other historical artwork and artifacts - giving life to the varied stories and poems on the pages.

Overall, this was a fabulous read. I was swept away into the pages and into the fantastic history of Coney Island as we know it. This unique reader gave new meaning to the history of Coney Island as told by many historical authors and natives of the island.



Also reviewed at http://booknooksbooks.blogspot.com
http://www.netgalley.com

**I received an Advanced Electronic Copy of A Coney Island Reader for free through NetGalley**
**This review is based on an uncorrected proof, the novel is subject to change until publication**

[Mandy]

This is a wide-ranging collection of fiction, non-fiction, verse, memoir, journalism and official reports about Coney Island, a place that seems to have inspired so many writers, from Walt Whitman, who is the earliest author to be represented in the anthology, to Joseph Heller, from Freud to Gorky. There’s a chronology from 1829 when Coney Island House, the first hotel opened, to the damage caused by Hurricane Sandy in 2012. We’re also given a list of the films in which Coney Island appears. Coney Island has always been an iconic place in American culture, and this book is an ideal way to learn a little more about it. Certainly it’s a book I would want with me if I were to visit. Some great illustrations too. All in all a great read for anyone interested in American social history and, of course, amusement parks.

[Rowan MacBean]

I received A CONEY ISLAND READER: THROUGH DIZZY GATES OF ILLUSION as an ARC through NetGalley.com.


A collection of stories, news articles, and essays, this book showcases the history of Coney Island from its earliest beginnings, through its peak and its decline, bringing it all the way to the present with current project plans for the area. None of the reading really stood out to me, but the pictures are fantastic. I highly recommend it to people who are interested in the history of the area, or amusement parks in general.

[World Literature Today]

This book was featured in the Nota Benes section of the May 2015 issue of World Literature Today Magazine.

http://www.worldliteraturetoday.org/2...