First Lines of "Chronic City"

I first met Perkus Tooth in an office. Not an office where he worked, though I was confused about this at the time. (Which is itself hardly an uncommon situation, for me.)

- Chronic City, by Jonathan Lethem.

I find Jonathan Lethem to be one of the most promising "newer" writers these days. His merging of genres provides an energy to his prose that is exciting, and his ideas are always top notch. As i've stated before, his novels to date have been a bit of a letdown in that they don't seem as committed to the bizarre as his short stories. The Fortress of Solitude was a fascinating premise, and it worked for a majority of the book, but I thought that the "growing up" portions of the book were a let down in that they were bland compared to the inventions and wildness of the earlier portions.

So far, Chronic City is building up a nice head of steam. I'll let you know if it makes it to the finish line this time.