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Spanning a turbulent 30 years, Lethem's expansive new novel examines issues of race and class in his native New York. When Rachel and Abraham Edbus move to Brooklyn in the early 1970s, they're one of the only white families in the neighborhood. This spells trouble for their son Dylan, who must attend predominately black public schools and defend himself against the local toughs. Fortunately, he finds a friend in Mingus, an African-American boy who is a talented artist. The pair share a love of comics books, graffiti and funk records. But a consuming drug habit makes Mingus an increasingly distant figure in Dylan's life, and he soon begins a tragic downward spiral. Dylan goes on to become a music journalist, and the novel itself has an extensive soundtrack, so to speak, as Lethem references the history of hip-hop, blues and pop music. This is a smart, ambitious novel from one of America's finest writers. A reading group guide is available in print and online at www.readinggroupcenter.com.
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Previews available in: French English
Subjects
Race relations, Male friendship, Teenage boys, Fiction, Bildungsromans, Racial tension, Graffiti art, Music as a culture, Friendship vs. love, Drug abuse, Father-son dynamics, gentrification, Large type books, Fiction, general, New york (n.y.), fiction, Friendship, fiction, Fictional WorksPeople
Dylan Ebdus, Mingus Rude, Abraham Ebdus, Barrett Rude Jr., Arthur Lomb, Robert Woolfolk, Rachel EbdusShowing 7 featured editions. View all 13 editions?
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2
The Fortress of Solitude
2005, Faber and Faber
Paperback
in English
- paperback edition (3)
0571219357 9780571219353
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3
The Fortress of Solitude: a novel
2004 September, Vintage Contemporaries, Vintage Books
Paperback
in English
- 1st Vintage contemporaries ed.
0375724885 9780375724886
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4
The Fortress of Solitude
2003, Thorndike Press
Hardcover
in English
- U.S. Large Print Hardcover
0786259965 9780786259960
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5
The Fortress of Solitude
2003, Thorndike Press, Brand: Thorndike Press
Hardcover
in English
- Large print ed.
0786259965 9780786259960
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6
The Fortress of Solitude: a novel
2003 October, Doubleday
Hardcover
in English
- 1st ed.
0385500696 9780385500692
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7
The Fortress of Solitude: a novel
2003, Faber and Faber
Paperback
in English
- printing (2)
0571219330 9780571219339
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Book Details
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This is the story of two boys, Dylan Ebdus and Mingus Rude. They are friends and neighbors, but because Dylan is white and Mingus is black, their friendship is not simple. This is the story of their Brooklyn neighborhood, which is almost exclusively black despite the first whispers of something that will become known as "gentrification."
This is the story of 1970s America, a time when the most simple human decisions—what music you listen to, whether to speak to the kid in the seat next to you, whether to give up your lunch money—are laden with potential political, social and racial disaster. This is the story of 1990s America, when no one cared anymore.
This is the story of punk, that easy white rebellion, and crack, that monstrous plague. This is the story of the loneliness of the avant-garde artist and the exuberance of the graffiti artist.
This is the story of what would happen if two teenaged boys obsessed with comic book heroes actually had superpowers: They would screw up their lives.
This is the story of joyous afternoons of stickball and dreaded years of schoolyard extortion. This is the story of belonging to a society that doesn't accept you. This is the story of prison and of college, of Brooklyn and Berkeley, of soul and rap, of murder and redemption.
This is the story Jonathan Lethem was born to tell. This is THE FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE.
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- Created July 31, 2018
- 17 revisions
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March 8, 2023 | Edited by MARC Bot | import existing book |
December 17, 2022 | Edited by ImportBot | import existing book |
July 15, 2019 | Edited by MARC Bot | import existing book |
April 1, 2019 | Edited by Lisa | Edited without comment. |
July 31, 2018 | Edited by Lisa | Update covers |