Going Into Town - A Love Letter to New York

From the #1 NYT bestselling author of Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?, Roz Chast's new graphic memoir a hilarious illustrated ode/guide/thank-you note to Manhattan as only she could write it.

For native Brooklynite Roz Chast, adjusting to life in the suburbs (where people own trees!?) was surreal. But she recognized that for her kids, the reverse was true. On trips into town, they would marvel at the strange world of Manhattan: its gum-wad-dotted sidewalks, honey-combed streets, and "those West Side Story-things" (fire escapes). Their wonder inspired Going into Town, part playful guide, part New York stories, and part love letter to the city, told through Chast's laugh-out-loud, touching, and true cartoons.

Published on: 2017-10-03

Released on: 2017-10-03

Original language: English

Number of items: 1

Dimensions: 9.59" h x .70" w x 7.73" l,

Binding: Hardcover

176 pages

Review 

"The New Yorker magazine cartoonist has a style and sensibility like no one else's. Here she employs it in a graphic memoir of and tribute to New York City. Though she now lives in the Connecticut suburbs, Chast grew up in Brooklyn ... As her own daughter prepared to move to the city for college, Chast compiled this volume that lets readers see New York through the artist's eyes." - Newsday, "Best Fall Books"

"Chast's voice and vision make this a singular love letter to a singular city." - starred review, Kirkus Reviews

"Observations and advice on making one's way through the city's diversions are mixed with the quirky character that oozes from the metropolis's every concrete pore. It's all delivered with obvious and knowing affection and captured with a keenly observant pen." - starred review, Publishers Weekly

"Chast applies her appealingly shaggy drawing style and ever-so-slightly skewed worldview to New York’s subways, museums, ethnic restaurants, and other attributes." - Booklist

"For New Yorkers past and present, as well as those who admire the city from afar, this book is sure to delight." - Bookish, "The Must-Read Books of Fall 2017"

"Love New York? So does Roz Chast, and we’re the luckier for it ... A handy reminder of what makes the city lovable, maddening and a little gross." - The Forward's "These Are the 23 Books You Need to Read this Summer"

"Fans of Chast's bestselling memoir, Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?, will recognize and enjoy the unique blend of affection and sarcasm that Chast brings to her work while getting to know one of the world's most famous cities." - BookPage

"In nine illustrated chapters, Brooklyn native Chast celebrates Manhattan in all its glory." - Peach

"The wonderful and inimitable Roz Chast introduces her old friend, New York City, in a beguiling way that will illuminate newcomers, prompt old-timers to nod in recognition, and inspire a whole new generation of siamese standpipe buffs." - Luc Sante

"I love this book as much as one can love a book without getting arrested." - Patricia Marx

"Those of us who prefer Roz Chast's work to just about any other amalgam of words and pictures since the Egyptian hieroglyphs will not be surprised that her book about New York is a complete delight from first page to last--but all of us may be instructed anew in how much her art depends on her close observation of detail. Everything in the city--from the positive emptiness of the Metropolitan Museum to the ominous emptiness of a subway car--is registered with a discriminating eye for the truth as real as her matchless sense of the wacky." - Adam Gopnik

"By turns grim and absurd, deeply poignant and laugh-out-loud funny. Ms. Chast reminds us how deftly the graphic novel can capture ordinary crises in ordinary American lives." - Michiko Kakutani, New York Times on CAN'T WE TALK ABOUT SOMETHING MORE PLEASANT?

"A tour de force of dark humor and illuminating pathos about her parents’ final years as only this quirky genius of pen and ink could construe them." - Elle on CAN'T WE TALK ABOUT SOMETHING MORE PLEASANT?

"An achievement of dark humor that rings utterly true." - Washington Post on CAN'T WE TALK ABOUT SOMETHING MORE PLEASANT?

"Revelatory ... So many have faced (or will face) the situation that the author details, but no one could render it like she does. A top-notch graphic memoir that adds a whole new dimension to readers’ appreciation of Chast and her work." - starred review, Kirkus Reviews on CAN'T WE TALK ABOUT SOMETHING MORE PLEASANT?

About the Author 

Roz Chast grew up in Brooklyn. Her cartoons began appearing in the New Yorker in 1978, where she has since published more than one thousand. She wrote and illustrated the #1 NYT bestseller (100+ weeks) Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant?, a National Book Critics Circle Award and Kirkus Prize winner and finalist for the National Book Award; What I Hate: From A to Z; and her cartoon collections The Party, After You Left and Theories of Everything.