Review: City on Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg

 

City on Fire by Garth Risk Hallberg is a book I liked.

 

It is a big, long, sprawling book that has a plot set into motion with the 1977 death of a New York University freshman named Samantha or Sam. However her death does not occur until about page 200. If you want a plot-driven novel, then this is probably not the book for you.

 

Most of the plot takes place in Manhattan’s East Village and the lower East side (it can be hard to tell if Hallberg sees a distinction between the two). But the plot also moves into Long Island, the Upper East Side, and other areas of Manhattan. The city itself, at least as it existed for some people in 1976 and 1977 is a sort of character.

 

One thing I liked about Hallberg’s book is the fact that there is a certain exuberance to the book and it manages to simultaneously convey the fascination that drew young people to Manhattan at this time including the cheap rent, music, clubs, sex, as well as things that gave people pause including the squalor, the fires and arson, the crime and violence, as well as heroin addiction and overdosing. For those concerned, I do not remember any graphic descriptions of shooting up or being dopesick.

 

At least in my opinion, Hallberg's style is one of the high points of the novel; I was not disappointed by a single sentence and many of them were excellent. The book is written in third person and moves from character to character without confusing the reader.

 

Despite its length, City on Fire is not an experimental novel. It has fairly standard chronological plotting and third person narration. This conventional structure is what makes Hallberg's book different from the big experimental writers associated with the 1970s -- the time period of City on Fire. These writers, who Hallberg has praised elsewhere, include Donald Barthelme, Robert Coover, Stanley Elkin, William Gaddis, William Gass, Barry Hannah, John Hawkes, Joseph McElroy (his book Women and Men is the most challenging of all the difficult books of this era), David Markson, Thomas Pynchon, Susan Sontag, Gilbert Sorrentino.

This is not to say that Hallberg’s book does not have some experimental elements. Like Marisha Pessl's Night Film the book includes occasional interludes of text that step outside the narrative such as letters, medical files, emails, and a zine.

 

At the beginning of this essay I did say that I liked the book. However, there are times when the book is overwritten. Hallberg occasionally delights, unnecessarily, in my opinion, in adding obscure Greek and Latin words. Personally, if I am interested in improving my Greek or Latin, then I would rather find quality translations of Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, or Seneca and compare the translations with the original.

 

In addition, the book has a sprawling cast of characters who are all connected to each other, but, since the publisher did not include one, I would suggest making a chart while reading to understand the relationships between the characters.

 

There is one question that you need to consider before committing to reading City on Fire. The text exceeds 900 pages; would you rather read City on Fire or three other books?