Review of The Fortress of Solitude by Jonathan Lethem

Yes, I'm a little behind the curve. I just got around to reading this novel, which came out in 2003 or so.

The Fortress of Solitude tells the story of two boys-- one white, one black, both motherless-- growing up in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, in the 1970s. Having lived near this part of Brooklyn for many years, I found Jonathan Lethem's description of the area to be the most interesting part of the book. Boerum Hill, now a "hot" neighborhood, was a very different place in the '70s. Lethem's detail regarding the interaction between the kids on the street and surrounding neighborhoods was incredibly well done.

The friendship between the two boys, Mingus and Dylan, is the vein that runs throughout the book. Mingus, the black boy, serves as Dylan's protector. Dylan is a sensitive white boy, one of the few white kids in that area. Their relationship is both complicated and simple, and we follow them from boyhood to manhood.

The "supporting cast" in the book includes the fathers of both Mingus and Dylan, unhappy and lost men in their own right, as well as Mingus's grandfather, neighborhood kids and an occasional girlfriend.

I thought the book was overwritten-- poetic often, but overwritten. If there were one word I would use to describe this novel, it would be "dense."

Unlike most people who read it, I didn't love Fortress. I liked it, but didn't find it exceptional.

Just One Pink gives Fortress a 6.5