Apex Hides the Hurt

Infobox Book
name = Apex Hides the Hurt
title_orig =
translator =


image_caption =
author = Colson Whitehead
illustrator =
cover_artist =
country = flag|USA
language = English
subject = American culture
genre = Humour
publisher = Doubleday
pub_date = March 21, 2006
english_pub_date =
media_type = Novel
pages = 212
isbn = ISBN 038550795X
oclc = 60671865
preceded_by = The Colossus of New York
followed_by =

"Apex Hides the Hurt" is a 2006 novel by American author Colson Whitehead. The novel follows an unnamed nomenclature consultant who is asked to visit the town of Winthrop, which (it turns out) is considering changing its name. During his visit, the main character is introduced to several citizens attempting to persuade him in favor of their preferred name for the town.

The novel has received mostly positive reviews from critics, with few negative comments. In a positive review for American magazine "Entertainment Weekly", Jennifer Reese called the book "a blurry satire of American commercialism," adding that "it may not mark the apex of Colson Whitehead's career, but it brims with the author's spiky humor and intelligence."cite web|url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,1174130,00.html|title=Apex Hides the Hurt (2006)|accessdate=2008-03-18|first=Jennifer|last=Reese|date=March 17, 2006|publisher="Entertainment Weekly"] The book was featured among the 100 Most Notable Books of The Year for 2006, as published by "The New York Times".cite web|url=http://www.nytimes.com/ref/books/review/20061203notable-books.html|title=100 Notable Books of the Year|accessdate=2008-03-18|publisher="The New York Times"]

About the author

Colson Whitehead (born 1969) is an American author. Whitehead was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York and wrote for the "The Village Voice" for two years during his early career,cite web|url=http://www.colsonwhitehead.com/biography.shtml|title=Colson Whitehead|accessdate=2008-03-18|publisher=Colsonwhitehead.com] and has since authored three other novels: "The Intuitionist", "John Henry Days" and "The Colossus of New York".cite web|url=http://www.pen.org/page.php/prmID/1033|title=Colson Whitehead|accessdate=2008-03-18|publisher=Pen.org] Since Whitehead began writing, he has had his books and writing reviewed and mentioned in the "The New York Times", "New York Magazine", "Harper's Magazine" and has been a recipient of the MacArthur and Whiting Award.cite web|url=http://www.powells.com/biblio/1-038550795x-5|title=Colson Whitehead|accessdate=2008-03-18|publisher=Powell's Books]

Plot

The book is set in the fictional town of Winthrop.cite web|url=http://www.randomhouse.com/doubleday/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780385507950|title=Apex Hides the Hurt|accessdate=2008-03-16|publisher=Random House] The protagonist of the book is an unnamed African-American "nomenclature consultant" who has had recent success in branding and selling Apex bandages, which come in multiple colors to better match a broad array of skin tones.cite web|url=http://www.bookmarksmagazine.com/book-review/apex-hides-hurt/colson-whitehead|title=Apex Hides the Hurt|accessdate=2008-04-14|publisher=Bookmarks Magazine.com] [cite news|title=Book reviews|date=June 10, 2006|accessdate=2008-03-27|publisher="The Hamilton Spectator"] cite web|url=|title=Apex Hides the Hurt: A Novel (Hardcover)|accessdate=2008-03-16|publisher=Amazon.com] cite web|url=http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/02/books/review/02gates.html|title=Name That Town|accessdate=2008-03-16|publisher="The New York Times"] The novel begins with the main character being contacted by his former employer, which he had left after losing a toe.cite web|url=http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/03/19/RVGHRHMCJO1.DTL&type=books|title=Man with the brand|accessdate=2008-04-14|first=Michelle|last=Orange|date=March 19, 2006|publisher="The San Francisco Chronicle"] He travels to the town of Winthrop after requests from the town council, which has proposed that the town be renamed. However, three key citizens disagree what the name should be: Albie Winthrop, descendant of the town's namesake (who'd made his fortune in barbed wire); Regina Goode, the mayor (descendant of one of the town's two founders); and Lucky Aberdeen, a software magnate who's leading the drive to rename the town. Winthrop wants to keep the name; Goode wants the town to revert to the name it bore at its founding as a town of free blacks, Freedom; while Aberdeen wants to call it "New Prospera."

Themes

In an interview with Alma Books, Whitehead states that the concept of the book originated from an article about the naming process for new pharmaceuticals such as Prozac. The article made Whitehead question how a similar process is used to assert a certain control over one's environment (his example is a boulevard named after a particular person), and yoking the two concepts was the beginning of the ideas that led to his composition of the novel.cite web|url=http://www.almabooks.co.uk/Apex/ApexInterview/ApexInterview.html|title=Interview with Colson Whitehead|accessdate=2007-12-12|publisher=Almabooks.co.uk]

Reception

Overall, the novel was critically well-received. It was highlighted among "The New York Times"' 100 Most Notable Books of the Year, and also highlighted among 100 noteworthy books from 2006, as published by the "The Charleston Gazette". [cite news|title=100 noteworthy books from 2006|date=December 31, 2006|accessdate=2008-03-27|publisher="Charleston Gazette"] In a review in "The Boston Globe", Saul Austerlitz called it a "wickedly funny new novel."cite web|url=http://www.boston.com/ae/books/articles/2006/03/19/identity_crisis/|title=Identity crisis|accessdate=2008-03-17|first=Sauk|last=Austerlitz|date=March 19, 2006|publisher="The Boston Globe"] "USA Today" noted that "no novelist writing today is more engaging and entertaining when it comes to questions of race, class and commercial culture than Colson Whitehead,"cite web|url=http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/reviews/2006-03-29-apex_x.htm|title='Apex' is the height of excellent writing|accessdate=2008-03-17|first=Bob|last=Minzesheimer|date=March 29, 2006|publisher="USA Today"] concluding that the novel "gets to the heart of the thing, but in a delightfully roundabout way." "The San Francisco Chronicle" gave the novel a mixed review, commenting that "It's pure joy to read writing like this, but watching Whitehead sketch out a minor character's essence with one stroke, while breathtaking, makes one wish the same treatment was afforded the people who ostensibly inhabit the novel's complex ideas." American trade news magazine "Publishers Weekly" reacted negatively to the book, writing that "Whitehead disappoints in this intriguingly conceived but static tale of a small town with an identity crisis."cite web|url=http://www.metacritic.com/books/authors/whiteheadcolson/apexhidesthehurt?q=Apex%20Hides%20The%20Hurt|title=Apex Hides The Hurt|accessdate=2008-03-17|publisher=Metacritic]

Erin Aubry Kaplan of the "Los Angeles Times" noted that "too often, [Whitehead] can't resist the temptation of irony, and his big ideas are sometimes overwhelmed by one wink-wink or metaphor too many." Kirkus Reviews praised the book, writing that "while making no attempt at depth of characterization, Whitehead audaciously blurs the line between social realism and fabulist satire." The "Library Journal" praised the book, noting that "In spare and evocative prose, Whitehead does Shakespeare one better: What's in a name, and how does our identity relate to our own sense of who we are?" "The New York Observer" was critical of the book but noted that "readers not looking for direct emotional access to the characters may find it gratifying to solve the intellectual puzzle set here by Colson Whitehead." [cite news|first=Anna|last=Shapiro|publisher="The New York Observer"|location=New York|title=Apex Hides The Hurt|page=40|accessdate=2008-03-19]

Scott Esposito of webzine PopMatters gave the novel mixed comments, writing that "it is no surprise that "Apex Hides the Hurt", Whitehead's third novel, is packed with a number of allegorical elements blended into a multi-layered structure. What's unfortunate, however, is that all this technical artistry is in the service of unremarkable themes and ideas.cite web|url=http://www.popmatters.com/books/reviews/a/apex-hides-the-hurt.shtml|title=APEX HIDES THE HURT|date=March 17, 2006|first=Scott|last=Esposito|accessdate=2008-03-17|publisher=PopMatters] Entertainment newspaper "The A.V. Club" complimented the book, writing that "perhaps taking his cues from his protagonist's profession, Whitehead keeps his prose as streamlined as it comes, and he uses it to craft a satiric novel in tune with a moment where marketing overshadows content and even the lowliest blogger thinks in branding terms."cite web|url=http://www.avclub.com/content/node/47846|title=Apex Hides The Hurt|date=April 26, 2006|first=Keith|last=Phipps|accessdate=2008-03-17|publisher="The A.V Club"] Michael McGirr of "The Sydney Morning Herald" called it "a book of abundant irony."cite web|url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/book-reviews/apex-hides-the-hurt/2006/10/26/1161749221170.html|title=Apex Hides the Hurt|date=October 26, 2006|first=Michael|last=McGirr|accessdate=2008-03-17|publisher="The Sydney Morning Herald"]

References