The Brooklyn Reader: Thirty Writers Celebrate America's Favorite Borough

by Andrea Wyatt (Editor)

There is no other place quite like Brooklyn. Not only has it inspired and nurtured many native writers, it has had a profound impact on those passing through. The Brooklyn Reader features a rich diversity of writings -- short stories, poetry, essays, novels, biographies, and plays -- that offer thirty writers' unique and colorful experiences of New York City's biggest borough. Ranging from warm, nostalgic memories of childhood to humorous tales of new arrivals adjusting to the American way, or just stories of life's unplanned adventures, this reading tour is a true delight. Contributors

Anatole Broyard

Cristina Garcia

Henry Miller

Betty Smith

Derek Walcott

Truman Capote

Spike Lee

Isaac Bashevis Singer

William Styron

Walt Whitman

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories, New York, Poetry, Essays

304 pages, Paperback

First published March 1, 1994

Reviews

[Alfred · Rating 5 out of 5]

For those of you who don't read short story collections and compilations, here's a little trick: if the passage doesn't grab you, skip it.

This book is so good that you won't have to skip many. The list of contributors is a veritable All Star squad: Walt Whitman, Carson McCullers, Truman Capote, William Styron, Spike Lee, Woody Allen, Neil Simon, Vladimir Mayakovsky, Hart Crane, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Henry Miller. Need I go on?

Having piled on that heap of early superficial praise I am forced to admit that I was actually quite skeptical of "The Brooklyn Reader," and for a superficial reason: I had never heard of the editors. But nearly every piece was delightful and self-sufficient, and I swear I'm not just creamin' all over it because I represent Crooklyn.

I was feeling the whole lot of 'em: the mercifully short (two paragraphs!) poem-prose bit from Woody Allen, Thomas Wolfe's exploration of Brooklyn vernacular in "Only the Dead Know Brooklyn," the odes from Whitman and Walcott, Singer's surreal short story "A Wedding in Brownsville," and my favorite of the bunch, Michael Disend's transcendental take on Brooklyn's greatest handball player, Joe Durso, in "A Painter on a Planet of Blind People."

So why is no one reading this book? The only goodreads reviews I've seen are a few lifeless 3-star joints. Well here's to hoping that some more verbophiles pick up this serenade to the borough that has nurtured some of America's finest authors.

[Kevvy · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Brooklyn Reader is a collection of thirty writers that have written about Brooklyn in some form or another. There are a few poems, short stories and excerpts from other writings. It took a wild to read because it skips between different authors and depending on the writing style of the particular author you may be hooked or you may slowly trudge through it. My favorite pieces were the productions notes from the movie, "Do the Right Thing" by Spike Lee and the excerpt from A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. Some other note worthy pieces were;

Woody Allen - Side Effects
Truman Capote - House on the Heights
Edwin Corle - The Great Manta
Michael Disend - A Painter on a Planet of Blind People
Bernard Malamud - The Assistant
Paule Marshall - The Making of a Writer
Alice McDermott - At Weddings and Wakes
Henry Miller - The Fourteenth Ward
Norman Rosten - Under the Boardwalk
William Styron - Sophie's Choice

It is definitely a good book to read on the side; you can get a good read out of two stories as you take a break from a main book. The editors chose some pretty good content from the various authors. You do see a genuine appreciation of Brooklyn.

[Bill Brudter · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite of all the short stories is Sunday Dinner in Brooklyn by Anatole Broyard. It touches upon, melancholically and even painfully, the very particular blend of emotion—love, anxiety, longing, apprehensive hope and veiled disappointment—that is so frequently woven into familial relationships. It is digressive yet concise; it is concise yet profound.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

have been staying in brooklyn (greenpoint) all week and thought i had to do my temporary home justice and read some of its praises

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a fun read I grabbed from the eReader collection at the library. This is a collection of short stories either about Brooklyn or about characters from Brooklyn or by Brooklyn native or resident authors. While I would have personally preferred more Betty Smith-esque stories (one of the last selections was an excerpt from "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" I enjoyed most all the stories and liked learning some tidbits about writers from the neighborhood. Definitely a worthwhile read.

[Marissa · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a nice little reader of essays, poems, and short stories about Brooklyn. While it's not exactly comprehensive, there's a lot of good stuff in it that I would not have found on my own. I think one of the best things about moving to New York City is being in on all the literary references.

[Jgknobler · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of essays and pieces of memoirs, plays and novels, of varying interest. My favorite is, "A Painter on a Planet of Blind People" by Michael Disend, about a talented but unrecognized handball player.

[Ariella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Half these pieces have almost nothing to do with Brooklyn...but worth reading for the Singer story, the Capote essay, and a couple others.

[Ken Ficara · Rating 4 out of 5]

http://kenficara.net/books/2007/05/th...

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last story was my favorite bc it made me gut laugh it loud. There are a plethora of beautiful stories that each capture a different side of the best borough.

[Rick Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amusing, small snippets of writing about Brooklyn over a long span of time. Some are relatable, some are not as you might expect in an anthology.