The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead - Literary Fiction Paperback - Pulitzer Prize Author

Details. Condition: New. Format: Paperback. ISBN: 9780708898475. Publisher: Abacus (Little, Brown Book Group). Age Range: Adult. Overview. The Intuitionist is Colson Whitehead's daring, genre-bending debut novel, following Lila Mae Watson, the first Black female elevator inspector in a sprawling, unnamed American city. When a brand-new elevator plunges into freefall on her watch, Lila Mae is plunged into a citywide conspiracy involving corrupt guild politics, racial prejudice, and a rivalry between two schools of inspection philosophy. Sharp, strange, and quietly devastating, it remains one of the most inventive American novels of the last thirty years.. About the Book. Set in a vividly imagined metropolis where elevator inspection is a matter of civic pride and political power, The Intuitionist introduces a world split between two rival schools: the Empiricists, who inspect elevators by rigorous physical measurement, and the Intuitionists, who "ride" a car and sense its faults instinctively. Lila Mae Watson, the department's first Black woman inspector, is a devoted Intuitionist with a spotless record. When a newly inspected elevator in a prestigious building suffers a catastrophic freefall, she becomes the prime suspect in a scandal engineered to discredit her entire discipline during a heated guild election. As Lila Mae digs for the truth, she uncovers secret writings, buried rivalries, and a conspiracy that reaches into the highest levels of city government. Blending noir detective plotting with speculative invention and sly social allegory, Whitehead uses the humble elevator as a lens onto race, ambition, bureaucracy, and the promise (and failure) of American progress. First published in 1999, the novel announced Whitehead as a major new voice in American fiction. This new paperback edition is a brand-new copy, perfect for readers discovering Whitehead's work for the first time or long-time fans filling a gap on their shelves.. A genre-blending literary mystery