Lost and Found: Stories from New York

by Thomas Beller (Editor)

True stories from the Naked City―a tour of the subterranean psyche of New York. Acclaimed fiction writer Thomas Beller culls a new volume of essays, vignettes, and tales of the city from the literary Web site Mr. Beller’s Neighborhood, one of the premier venues for the urban sketch on the Internet. Lost and Found , Volume II of the series, is a mosaic of voices, drawing on the diverse experiences of such New Yorkers as a frequent patron of Manhattan sex clubs, a diamond dealer on 47th Street, and a doorman on the Upper East Side. The book features many exciting new voices (Said Sayrafiezadeh, Rachel Sherman, Bryan Charles) alongside work by well-known writers, including Phillip Lopate, Jonathan Ames, Alicia Erian, Madison Smartt Bell, and Edmund White. Taken together, the essays, reportage, and vignettes in Lost and Found are a testament to the vitality, diversity, and complexity of New York City, a reflection of the churning thoughts, wishes, and fantasies of the myriad faces on the city’s streets.

Genres: New York

888 pages, Paperback

First published May 25, 2009

About the author

Thomas Beller is an American author and editor.

Reviews

[Shell · Rating 5 out of 5]

i love this. i want to recreate this for beijing.

[Laren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am honored to have a story in this wonderful anthology! True stories from the Naked City‹. A tour of the subterranean psyche of New York. Acclaimed fiction writer Thomas Beller culls a new volume of essays, vignettes, and tales of the city from the literary Web site Mr.Beller¹s Neighborhood, one of the premier venues for the urban sketch on the Internet. Lost and Found, Volume II of the series, is a mosaic of voices, drawing on the diverse experiences of such New Yorkers as a frequent patron of Manhattan sex clubs, a diamond dealer on 47th Street, and a doorman on the Upper East Side. The book features many exciting new voices alongside work by well-known writers, including me, Phillip Lopate, Jonathan Ames, Alicia Erian and Madison Smartt Bell. Taken together, the essays, reportage, and vignettes in Lost and Found are a testament to the vitality, diversity, and complexity of New York City, a reflection of the churning thoughts, wishes, and fantasies of the myriad faces on the city's streets.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are looking for a collection of stories about New York life I don't think that this is the one that I would recommend picking up. I think, probably based on the character of the website the stories come from, the intention is more to cover breadth and variety than to showcase the best, most stirring writing on being a New Yorker. Some of the stories seem to be by interesting people who aren't great writers, most of the stories were by your typical underemployed Brooklyn writer attempting to wrest deep meaning from random New York encounters and a few were gems. I actually thought the book peaked during an odd interlude of tragic and disturbing stories. I'm not sure if it's that these more serious topics bring out better writing or if I just respond to them more. I'm not sorry I made the commitment to such a big collection, just a little sorry it didn't meet my excitement about it.

[Darren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally got through all the stories. Great variety of essays all focused around New York experiences. Good help in writing your own essays.