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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.
A native Brooklynite-turned-suburban commuter deemed the quintessential New Yorker, Roz Chast has always been intensely alive to the glorious spectacle that is Manhattan--the daily clash of sidewalk racers and dawdlers; the fascinating range of dress codes; and the priceless, nutty outbursts of souls from all walks of life.
For Chast, adjusting to life outside the city was surreal--(you can own trees!? you have to drive!?)--but she recognized that the reverse was true for her kids. On trips into town, they would marvel at the strange visual world of Manhattan--its blackened sidewalk gum-wads, "those West Side Story-things" (fire escapes)--and its crazily honeycombed systems and grids.
Told through Chast's singularly zany, laugh-out-loud, touching, and true cartoons, Going Into Town is part New York stories (the "overheard and overseen" of the island borough), part personal and practical guide to walking, talking, renting, and venting--an irresistible, one-of-a-kind love letter to the city.
A native Brooklynite-turned-suburban commuter deemed the quintessential New Yorker, Roz Chast has always been intensely alive to the glorious spectacle that is Manhattan--the daily clash of sidewalk racers and dawdlers; the fascinating range of dress codes; and the priceless, nutty outbursts of souls from all walks of life.
For Chast, adjusting to life outside the city was surreal--(you can own trees!? you have to drive!?)--but she recognized that the reverse was true for her kids. On trips into town, they would marvel at the strange visual world of Manhattan--its blackened sidewalk gum-wads, "those West Side Story-things" (fire escapes)--and its crazily honeycombed systems and grids.
Told through Chast's singularly zany, laugh-out-loud, touching, and true cartoons, Going Into Town is part New York stories (the "overheard and overseen" of the island borough), part personal and practical guide to walking, talking, renting, and venting--an irresistible, one-of-a-kind love letter to the city.
169 pages, Hardcover
First published October 3, 2017
About the author
Roz Chast
66 books485 followersRosalind "Roz" Chast is an American cartoonist and a staff cartoonist for The New Yorker. She grew up in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, the only child of an assistant principal and a high school teacher. Her earliest cartoons were published in Christopher Street and The Village Voice. In 1978 The New Yorker accepted one of her cartoons and has since published more than 800. She also publishes cartoons in Scientific American and the Harvard Business Review.
Chast is a graduate of Midwood High School in Brooklyn. She first attended Kirkland College (which later merged with Hamilton College) and then studied at the Rhode Island School of Design and received a BFA in painting in 1977. She also holds honorary doctorates from Pratt Institute and Dartmouth College, and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is represented by the Danese/Corey gallery in Chelsea, New York City.
Chast is a graduate of Midwood High School in Brooklyn. She first attended Kirkland College (which later merged with Hamilton College) and then studied at the Rhode Island School of Design and received a BFA in painting in 1977. She also holds honorary doctorates from Pratt Institute and Dartmouth College, and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She is represented by the Danese/Corey gallery in Chelsea, New York City.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 829 reviews
October 6, 2017
If you love Roz Chast, or New York and have perhaps developed a soft spot for graphic art books ......secretly knowing “Can’t We Talk About Something More
Pleasant” is when your love, appreciation, and admiration, for ‘graphic art’ books first grew.....then there is no reason you won’t enjoy this book too: “Going Into Town”....a love letter to New York.
I wasn’t rolling on the floor - laughing and crying - hysterically like I did in CWTASMP.... ( yes.... I really ‘was’ laughing and crying uncontrollably the second time I read the book when reading it out loud… or at least trying to read it to my husband Paul...who was adding his own jokes).....but I enjoyed it.
This book is EXACTLY what it says it is....” Going Into Town”. It might seem tedious for some New Yorkers to read a page about the facts of streets and avenues— and the important facts about the east side and the west side... but I think even a native might get a kick from Roz’s creation. After all not everyone knows what the term CROSS STREET means in Manhattan.
From walking around the city making “discoveries” such as a store that sells a
“jabillion” kinds of ribbon, to noticing the wide variety of installation pipes, to the subway experience, the shuttle stations, how to hail a cab, things to do, finding a place to be alone, shopping, parks, wildlife ( mice, rats, apartment cats, dogs, and psycho pets), food....(if you can’t find something to eat in New York you must not like food), to apartment living, etc., Roz Chast who no longer lives in New York but grew up in Brooklyn was inspired to write this book when her daughter was leaving for college in Manhattan.
All mom’s want to make sure their daughters and son’s know how to get around in the new city where they will be attending college —�( shhhh even if they have been there a zillion times) .....Roz wrote this book as letter to New York... focusing on Manhattan... where she feels most at home .... but as any mother will see.....
it’s a love book to her daughter too!
4.5 Stars. ‘not’ as powerful as “Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant”....yet still warms your heart!
Pleasant” is when your love, appreciation, and admiration, for ‘graphic art’ books first grew.....then there is no reason you won’t enjoy this book too: “Going Into Town”....a love letter to New York.
I wasn’t rolling on the floor - laughing and crying - hysterically like I did in CWTASMP.... ( yes.... I really ‘was’ laughing and crying uncontrollably the second time I read the book when reading it out loud… or at least trying to read it to my husband Paul...who was adding his own jokes).....but I enjoyed it.
This book is EXACTLY what it says it is....” Going Into Town”. It might seem tedious for some New Yorkers to read a page about the facts of streets and avenues— and the important facts about the east side and the west side... but I think even a native might get a kick from Roz’s creation. After all not everyone knows what the term CROSS STREET means in Manhattan.
From walking around the city making “discoveries” such as a store that sells a
“jabillion” kinds of ribbon, to noticing the wide variety of installation pipes, to the subway experience, the shuttle stations, how to hail a cab, things to do, finding a place to be alone, shopping, parks, wildlife ( mice, rats, apartment cats, dogs, and psycho pets), food....(if you can’t find something to eat in New York you must not like food), to apartment living, etc., Roz Chast who no longer lives in New York but grew up in Brooklyn was inspired to write this book when her daughter was leaving for college in Manhattan.
All mom’s want to make sure their daughters and son’s know how to get around in the new city where they will be attending college —�( shhhh even if they have been there a zillion times) .....Roz wrote this book as letter to New York... focusing on Manhattan... where she feels most at home .... but as any mother will see.....
it’s a love book to her daughter too!
4.5 Stars. ‘not’ as powerful as “Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant”....yet still warms your heart!
January 19, 2018
I have had exactly two visits to the isle of Manhattan (three, if you count seeing Woody Allen's movie while it was still in theaters). I have a vague recollection of going there once with my father when I was young enough to have required a trip to F.A.O. Schwartz. We also visited the Statue of Liberty and peered out her crown. And, I believe my favorite matryoshka doll was purchased at the U.N. gift shop . . . I'm not sure, and my dad is no longer around to ask. He'd remember, I know.
My second time in the big city was much more memorable. It was my high school senior class trip. More than a hundred teens, plus chaperones, left central Pennsylvania frightfully early one June morning to arrive in Manhattan many hours later. We all trooped out of our plush traveling buses, and into two different buses for a touristy but fun ride around the city with a smart-ass driver offering commentary. From this I mostly remember seeing the Bowery (those bums made quite an impression), and that tennis court built on a pier where Annie meets Alvy in yet another Woody Allen movie - Annie Hall. We were then split up into groups of about eight kids, and two chaperones. This is were it gets kind of fuzzy. I spent most of my time with Debbie E.'s weird father who looked just like Wallace Shawn. I can't remember where we went, or what we did, but since my group was comprised of all girls, I'm pretty sure I saw the inside of every public restroom in Manhattan.
The whole class met up for dinner at an Italian restaurant that had been hand-picked by our class president, an urbane, artsy sort who "knew the city well." I remember one girl at my table, horrified by the price of soda, ordered water, only to be served a more expensive bottle of Perrier. For some reason, the females at my table seemed taken with the glasses in which our drinks were served, so much so that they decided to slip them into their purses - a kind of souvenir, I suppose. I didn't take one. I mean, it was a drinking glass; we had more than a few at home. I doubt I'll ever forget the busboy's expression when he came to clear the table which was virtually devoid of glassware.
When we climbed aboard the buses for the return journey, it was discovered that some of the groups were missing. It seems their chaperones had just turned their charges loose in the big, bad city. Happily, everyone was safely rounded up, and we departed for home one and a half hours late, but mostly no worse for wear. Because of certain individuals' indiscretions, however, I believe we were the last senior class to make the traditional NYC trip. Yep. We were the ones who ruined it for everybody else.
What's this have to do with anything? Well, I always expected that I would someday live in Manhattan. I would be a writer for Saturday Night Live, and cruise around the city in my yellow VW convertible, just like Diane Keaton in you-know-what-movie. None of this ever came to pass, and I've never been back to that city that never sleeps. And, quite honestly, I didn't really miss it.
Until . . .
I read this book. Damn you, Chast! Your descriptions of ALL THOSE MUSEUMS made me drool on my keyboard. This is indeed a love letter to New York, which grew from a guidebook Chast wrote for her daughter who would be attending college in the city. It's also a wonderful collection of cartoons that does more for NYC tourism than any slogan featuring that ubiquitous heart could ever do.
Well, sort of . . .
I feel about Manhattan the way I feel about a book, a TV series, a movie, a play, an artist, a song, a food, a whatever that I love. I want to tell you about it so that maybe you will love it too. I'm not worried about it being "ruined" by too many people "discovering" it. Manhattan's been ruined since 1626, when Peter Minuit bought it from Native Americans for $24.00.
Chast grew up in Brooklyn. She and her parents would take the subway into the city - what they called "going into town" to see musicals. Chast vowed she would someday live there. She did, and now graciously shares her insights with us. I suppose I enjoyed this so much because Chast and I seem to take delight in many of the same things, like a building that features a dollar store on the ground floor, shiatsu massage, hat repair, and a psychic on the second floor, and a dentist and a cat psychiatrist on the third.
And, food.
In Manhattan, every food ethnicity, preference, aversion, allergy, craving, fad, or combination of the above is represented. If you can't find what you want to eat here, maybe you don't like food.
The author offers valuable hints for taking the subway, like:
An empty car in the middle of a bunch of packed cars means that the air conditioning or heating is on the fritz; a nut is holding court, someone has had a pungent accident; or there's a dead person in there.
There's also advice for hailing cabs, taking buses, and enjoying the local flora and fauna.
Obviously, this is not a serious guide to visiting New York City. It does however provide plenty of laughs, and make you want to visit the place.
Sort of . . .
March 4, 2020
I do not really like New York.
I wish I did. I would like nothing more than to be a young, hip woman in the city, working for very little money in the publishing industry, spending too much on takeout and books from cool used bookstores and cheap wine, living with like 8 cool roommates in an NBC-sitcom style apartment that doesn’t make financial sense unless you write a one-off line about how it’s someone’s dead grandma’s fifty years’ worth of rent control.
But alas. New York overwhelms me. I like smaller cities that I can pretend I know how to navigate. Also, I am smell-sensitive, and New York is full of smells.
I like to visit but I can never imagine myself living there.
However, this book, which is half quasi-guide to living in the city and half adorable / funny / absurd, allowed me to pretend that I could.
MAYBE I CAN.
Bottom line: What a blast!
----------
this was very very fun, and now i would like to walk around in new york for eight months at least.
review to come / 4 stars
----------
staying true to myself by reading an ARC 2 years past its publication date
(thanks to bloomsbury for the copy)
I wish I did. I would like nothing more than to be a young, hip woman in the city, working for very little money in the publishing industry, spending too much on takeout and books from cool used bookstores and cheap wine, living with like 8 cool roommates in an NBC-sitcom style apartment that doesn’t make financial sense unless you write a one-off line about how it’s someone’s dead grandma’s fifty years’ worth of rent control.
But alas. New York overwhelms me. I like smaller cities that I can pretend I know how to navigate. Also, I am smell-sensitive, and New York is full of smells.
I like to visit but I can never imagine myself living there.
However, this book, which is half quasi-guide to living in the city and half adorable / funny / absurd, allowed me to pretend that I could.
MAYBE I CAN.
Bottom line: What a blast!
----------
this was very very fun, and now i would like to walk around in new york for eight months at least.
review to come / 4 stars
----------
staying true to myself by reading an ARC 2 years past its publication date
(thanks to bloomsbury for the copy)
November 22, 2017
I just read indie comix artist Julia Wertz’s Tenements, Towers & Trash: An Unconventional Illustrated History of New York City, and was reminded of other love letters to NYC I have read in recent years: Cheap Novelties: The Pleasure of Urban Decay, Ben Katchor, and See the City: The Journey of Manhattan Unfurled, Matteo Pericoli. I lived in Manhattan, on the upper west side, from 1995-1999, and loved it. But could never be seen as a New Yorker, even if I lived there forty years. I was an am an outsider, and know how to drive! I was born in the flyover midwest, Grand Rapids, Michigan, so my nearest Big Cities were Chicago, where I visited with my family yearly the Art Institute and Museum of Science and Industry, and Detroit, where I mainly saw the Detroit Tigers play. But NYC, and especially Manhattan! It had everything that I read about in The Village Voice, music, art, theater! The Village! When I finally lived there, I was too old to go clubbing (though I did go to several shows and even actual clubs to dance), but I was at the time childless, so it was great to eat out a lot and see the museums and plays. It was exciting to be there, teach there.
Roz Chast is a whimsically odd and always insightful staple of The New Yorker. She last year wrote a memoir about her aging parents, Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? Going Into Town is less memoirish, but—as the subtitle says—a love letter to her beloved Manhattan (though she doesn’t really talk about the other boroughs; Chast’s New York City is Manhattan). She calls it a “sort-of guide” to NYC, because it talks of the layout of the City and the subway system, the things to do such as museums and parks, apartment life, but it is more a kind of meditation on the look and feel of it, the experience of this great city, mainly for those who live there and love it. The audience isn’t clear, really, but you get Chast cartoons, all lovely and funny and quirky.
Here’s an article in “The Times” (or, what others outside of New York might refer to as the The New York Times, “Roz Chast is New Yorkier than You”:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/11/ny...
You can see some of the book on the NPR Review site. Do it now:
https://www.npr.org/2017/10/02/555035...
Roz Chast is a whimsically odd and always insightful staple of The New Yorker. She last year wrote a memoir about her aging parents, Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? Going Into Town is less memoirish, but—as the subtitle says—a love letter to her beloved Manhattan (though she doesn’t really talk about the other boroughs; Chast’s New York City is Manhattan). She calls it a “sort-of guide” to NYC, because it talks of the layout of the City and the subway system, the things to do such as museums and parks, apartment life, but it is more a kind of meditation on the look and feel of it, the experience of this great city, mainly for those who live there and love it. The audience isn’t clear, really, but you get Chast cartoons, all lovely and funny and quirky.
Here’s an article in “The Times” (or, what others outside of New York might refer to as the The New York Times, “Roz Chast is New Yorkier than You”:
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/11/ny...
You can see some of the book on the NPR Review site. Do it now:
https://www.npr.org/2017/10/02/555035...
January 5, 2018
This is a charming love letter to New York City from cartoonist Roz Chast. I had liked her previous book, “Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?” and was thrilled she had written another one.
Chast said this book started as short guide for her daughter when she moved to Manhattan for college. The final version is both helpful and humorous, packed with useful tips about the layout of the city, how to get around, what to do, how to find an apartment, etc., but also lots of jokes about the urban jungle, the quirky stores, the subway, and the people. I smiled often while reading it, and even called my husband over to look at a favorite drawing.
Highly recommended for fellow Roz Chast fans, or anyone who loves NYC.
Favorite Quotes
“I feel about Manhattan the way I feel about a book, a TV series, a movie, a play, an artist, a song, a food, a whatever that I love. I want to tell you about it so that maybe you will love it too.”
“I will always feel gratitude and astonishment that Manhattan allowed me to make my home there. It’s still the only place I’ve been where I feel, in some strange way, that I fit in.”
Chast said this book started as short guide for her daughter when she moved to Manhattan for college. The final version is both helpful and humorous, packed with useful tips about the layout of the city, how to get around, what to do, how to find an apartment, etc., but also lots of jokes about the urban jungle, the quirky stores, the subway, and the people. I smiled often while reading it, and even called my husband over to look at a favorite drawing.
Highly recommended for fellow Roz Chast fans, or anyone who loves NYC.
Favorite Quotes
“I feel about Manhattan the way I feel about a book, a TV series, a movie, a play, an artist, a song, a food, a whatever that I love. I want to tell you about it so that maybe you will love it too.”
“I will always feel gratitude and astonishment that Manhattan allowed me to make my home there. It’s still the only place I’ve been where I feel, in some strange way, that I fit in.”
August 2, 2021
I don’t care for the expression “guilty pleasure” too much although I will say that if you enjoy watching movies from Tiers 7 and 8 from The Most Disturbing Movies Iceberg* then yeah, that would count as a seriously guilty pleasure, but the way people often use this term is to titter about how they love to read Agatha Christie or Harry Potter instead of The Brothers Karamazov or they watch Mamma Mia Here We Go Again! in preference to the collected works of Bela Tarr, but having said all of that yeah I do acknowledge some guilty pleasurability in the consumption of this graphic delight Going into Town by Roz Chast of Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? fame, that title being a total blast and a must-read, this one, not so much unless you want 40 minutes of untrammelled fun (& you will still have time to make a cup of coffee) because this book is wee, tiny, incy wincy, slender, and the only bad thing about it is that it should be twice as long, New York being a large-ish place as everyone knows. Another element of the guilt involved in reading Going Into Town in 35 minutes is that it cost three times the price of a long novel, because even though this is a 2nd hand copy (thank you Point Pleasant Borough Branch, Ocean County Library, 834 Beaver Dam Road, Point Pleasant, NJ, thank you so much, but I just do not understand why you wrote DISCARD on the back of this pristine copy and sent it to me, there is no sense to be made from this! Are there no Roz Chast fans at all in Point Pleasant NJ?) you simply can’t find cheap graphic novels anywhere, or whatever this thing is, it isn’t a novel. Or a travel guide. But it is so sweet, like the best ice cream you ever ate.
I could wax more lyrical about this thing but I have to stop now or I might end up taking more time to write a review than it did to read it, which would be ridiculous.
*you may have been thinking The Human Centipede 2 or Cannibal Holocaust were the most disturbing movies but no, they are only on Tier 3
I could wax more lyrical about this thing but I have to stop now or I might end up taking more time to write a review than it did to read it, which would be ridiculous.
*you may have been thinking The Human Centipede 2 or Cannibal Holocaust were the most disturbing movies but no, they are only on Tier 3
June 23, 2022
Review originally published July 2019
If you are a Roz Chast fan, either you have already read Going Into Town: A Love Letter to New York, or you must do so immediately! If you are not already familiar with Ms. Chast, you still should read Going Into Town, because Chast is perhaps the best stylistic cartoonist of all time. (If I could be a famous writer, I would be Dave Barry. If I could be a famous cartoonist, I would be Roz Chast.)
Furthermore, if you have ever been to New York, or if you only hope to visit it, you should read Going Into Town because it is delightful, informative, funny, and just a pleasure to peruse.
Many years ago, as a recent transplant from La Crosse to Los Angeles, I became besties with a recent New York transplant. I told her about bubblers, and she told me about boroughs. So besides learning the intricacies of California living, I was also introduced to yet another way of life, one I knew of only vaguely through television and movies.
Concepts of whistling for a taxi, living in something called walk-up apartments, buying food and merchandise from vendors RIGHT ON THE STREET, or deciphering a labyrinthine subway system, were as foreign to me as Instagram to a troglodyte.
These are precisely the kind of subjects Chast so gracefully illustrates in Going Into Town: the nonplussed shopper who finds herself in a store which sells 90 jabillion kinds of ribbon, discovering that a “private house” is a rarity among apartments, or the availability of every food ethnicity, preference, aversion, allergy, craving, fad or combination within a few blocks of each other. (Sustainable Waffle Shoppe, or gluten-free pho, anyone?)
Treat yourself to an enjoyable short escape from familiar Midwest living and check out Going Into Town: A Love Letter to New York.
Find this book and other titles within our catalog.
If you are a Roz Chast fan, either you have already read Going Into Town: A Love Letter to New York, or you must do so immediately! If you are not already familiar with Ms. Chast, you still should read Going Into Town, because Chast is perhaps the best stylistic cartoonist of all time. (If I could be a famous writer, I would be Dave Barry. If I could be a famous cartoonist, I would be Roz Chast.)
Furthermore, if you have ever been to New York, or if you only hope to visit it, you should read Going Into Town because it is delightful, informative, funny, and just a pleasure to peruse.
Many years ago, as a recent transplant from La Crosse to Los Angeles, I became besties with a recent New York transplant. I told her about bubblers, and she told me about boroughs. So besides learning the intricacies of California living, I was also introduced to yet another way of life, one I knew of only vaguely through television and movies.
Concepts of whistling for a taxi, living in something called walk-up apartments, buying food and merchandise from vendors RIGHT ON THE STREET, or deciphering a labyrinthine subway system, were as foreign to me as Instagram to a troglodyte.
These are precisely the kind of subjects Chast so gracefully illustrates in Going Into Town: the nonplussed shopper who finds herself in a store which sells 90 jabillion kinds of ribbon, discovering that a “private house” is a rarity among apartments, or the availability of every food ethnicity, preference, aversion, allergy, craving, fad or combination within a few blocks of each other. (Sustainable Waffle Shoppe, or gluten-free pho, anyone?)
Treat yourself to an enjoyable short escape from familiar Midwest living and check out Going Into Town: A Love Letter to New York.
Find this book and other titles within our catalog.
December 2, 2017
My introduction to graphic novels was the funny and deeply moving memoir Can’t We Talk about Something More Pleasant? It was very good. This book was more guidebook than love letter. It is clear that the author loves NYC and this has good information, but I was hoping for many more personal stories. Still, a quick fun read for fans of the city. 3 stars
July 23, 2018
4/5
Faithful readers of The New Yorker and lovers of Roz Chast cartoons, will find in Going Into Town another book-length delectable treat. This book is a special sub-genre of love letters to NYC: the humorous perspective of a native of an outer borough (in Chast’s case Brooklyn), who is also a long-time lover of Manhattan and all its greatness. At the same time as she shows her insider stuff, Chast makes sure you know she’s never been to the Statue of Liberty (too touristy) and was only to the Empire State Building once, a visit that turned out to be quite trying because of something Chast just happened to find on the sidewalk as she walked to the building. Even though the book is full of inside jokes about the city (e.g., though Sixth Avenue was renamed Avenue of the Americas in 1945, not one native New Yorker uses its proper name “because GIVE ME A BREAK” (27).), its good humor and its real information in pseudo guidebook/guide map style welcomes everyone. Towards the very end of the book, Chast turns a bit solemn as she mentions the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center and how the city reacted:
Faithful readers of The New Yorker and lovers of Roz Chast cartoons, will find in Going Into Town another book-length delectable treat. This book is a special sub-genre of love letters to NYC: the humorous perspective of a native of an outer borough (in Chast’s case Brooklyn), who is also a long-time lover of Manhattan and all its greatness. At the same time as she shows her insider stuff, Chast makes sure you know she’s never been to the Statue of Liberty (too touristy) and was only to the Empire State Building once, a visit that turned out to be quite trying because of something Chast just happened to find on the sidewalk as she walked to the building. Even though the book is full of inside jokes about the city (e.g., though Sixth Avenue was renamed Avenue of the Americas in 1945, not one native New Yorker uses its proper name “because GIVE ME A BREAK” (27).), its good humor and its real information in pseudo guidebook/guide map style welcomes everyone. Towards the very end of the book, Chast turns a bit solemn as she mentions the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center and how the city reacted:
But New York came back. This is the best place in the world, an experiment, a melting pot, a fight to the death, an opera, a musical comedy, a tragedy, none of the above, all of the above. We’re a target for seekers and dreamers and also nuts. We live here anyway” (168).Well, all this is making this native Brooklynite too misty for her own good. Just go read the book; you’ll see.
July 11, 2017
Roz Chast grew up in Brooklyn (before it became trendy) in the same neighborhood that I did; in fact, we even attended the same high school. So I laughed out loud when she describes the destiny she avoided: commuting every day to Manhattan wearing beige support hose and clinging to a subway pole.
Fortunately, Roz Chast evaded that fate and did move to “the city.” But like many city dwellers. she eventually moved an hour north of the city. When her own daughter decides to attend college in Manhattan, she created this book—a graphic memoir that is, in essence, a love note to the Big Apple.
Both personal and practical (there’s a great guide, for example, to the main museums and the main parks), this is a hilarious, dead-on look at Manhattan: where the city bird may well be the pigeon, the wildlife consists of mice, rats, and GIANT rats, and interesting storefronts and objects abound.
Still, there’s no other city like it – “the best place in the world, an experiment, a melting pot, a fight to the death, an opera, a musical comedy, a tragedy, none of the above, all of the above.” It’s a “must have” book for any New Yorker, former New Yorker, or anyone who has heard of or dreamt of New York. And, while it lacks the introspection and poignancy of Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?, it is what it is…a wonderfully illustrated look at a one-of-a-kind city as only Roz Chast could create.
Fortunately, Roz Chast evaded that fate and did move to “the city.” But like many city dwellers. she eventually moved an hour north of the city. When her own daughter decides to attend college in Manhattan, she created this book—a graphic memoir that is, in essence, a love note to the Big Apple.
Both personal and practical (there’s a great guide, for example, to the main museums and the main parks), this is a hilarious, dead-on look at Manhattan: where the city bird may well be the pigeon, the wildlife consists of mice, rats, and GIANT rats, and interesting storefronts and objects abound.
Still, there’s no other city like it – “the best place in the world, an experiment, a melting pot, a fight to the death, an opera, a musical comedy, a tragedy, none of the above, all of the above.” It’s a “must have” book for any New Yorker, former New Yorker, or anyone who has heard of or dreamt of New York. And, while it lacks the introspection and poignancy of Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?, it is what it is…a wonderfully illustrated look at a one-of-a-kind city as only Roz Chast could create.
June 18, 2021
I’ve only been to NYC once on a senior year high school trip. And while I’d never want to live there, Roz Chast has and she made me see it as a home. Her story of growing up there along with the “guidebook” feel was so interesting.
I read Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? a few months ago; dealing more with her parents. I loved their cameos in this one.
Totally recommend.
I read Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant? a few months ago; dealing more with her parents. I loved their cameos in this one.
Totally recommend.
November 19, 2017
So many reasons to love this book! Roz Chast for one - her humor, her fabulous illustrations and her intimacy with her subject. NYC for another - what's not to love! I got half-way through and deemed worthy of 5 stars.
Looping back now that I've finished . . .
I love Roz Chast and have been enjoying her cartoons for decades. I was reminded by the blurb on the back of the book that she has been drawing in The New Yorker since 1978 - almost 40 years! I've been subscribing that entire time, and more, and one of the first things I do when I get the latest issue is flip through the magazine to find her cartoon. Did I say how much I love Roz Chast?
Going Into Town made me laugh out loud, touched me and left me with a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes. At the beginning of the book, Roz tells us:
It began as a small booklet I made for my daughter before she left her home in Suburbia to attend college in Manhattan.
That just tickled me to think that your Mom would create a book of illustrations to introduce you to the place you're going to college and to the place that your Mom loves, even though you've grown up in Connecticut.
She ends the book with:
This book is a sort-of guide and also and thank-you letter and a love letter to my hometown and New Yorkers everywhere. You know who you are.
Enough said!
Looping back now that I've finished . . .
I love Roz Chast and have been enjoying her cartoons for decades. I was reminded by the blurb on the back of the book that she has been drawing in The New Yorker since 1978 - almost 40 years! I've been subscribing that entire time, and more, and one of the first things I do when I get the latest issue is flip through the magazine to find her cartoon. Did I say how much I love Roz Chast?
Going Into Town made me laugh out loud, touched me and left me with a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes. At the beginning of the book, Roz tells us:
It began as a small booklet I made for my daughter before she left her home in Suburbia to attend college in Manhattan.
That just tickled me to think that your Mom would create a book of illustrations to introduce you to the place you're going to college and to the place that your Mom loves, even though you've grown up in Connecticut.
She ends the book with:
This book is a sort-of guide and also and thank-you letter and a love letter to my hometown and New Yorkers everywhere. You know who you are.
Enough said!
January 24, 2018
Update Jan 2018: downgrading to three stars after seeing Tenements, Towers & Trash: An Unconventional Illustrated History of New York City
Less personal than "Can't we..." so if you're expecting something cathartic you'll be disappointed. It's really a Manhattan travel guide but just focusing on whatever Chast thinks is important. I'd get it from the library (or buy it as a gift for someone from out of town and read it before giving it away).
Less personal than "Can't we..." so if you're expecting something cathartic you'll be disappointed. It's really a Manhattan travel guide but just focusing on whatever Chast thinks is important. I'd get it from the library (or buy it as a gift for someone from out of town and read it before giving it away).
July 17, 2017
I wish I had read Roz Chast’s “Going Into Town: A Love Letter to New York” before my recent trip to New York City! While not a guide book in the strictest sense, there is actually a lot of information and good advice packed in here! Not to mention humor!
I’m a long-time fan of Chast’s work (“Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant”, brought me to tears – it was so close to my own experiences) and so it was a treat to dive into “Going Into Town” just a month after my NYC trip. It brought back pleasant (and a few unpleasant) memories of the trip and also help explain a few things that had confused me logistically.
This would make a terrific gift for a friend planning a trip to NTC!
I’m a long-time fan of Chast’s work (“Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant”, brought me to tears – it was so close to my own experiences) and so it was a treat to dive into “Going Into Town” just a month after my NYC trip. It brought back pleasant (and a few unpleasant) memories of the trip and also help explain a few things that had confused me logistically.
This would make a terrific gift for a friend planning a trip to NTC!
October 4, 2017
a gift from my dad
January 11, 2019
Headed for New York? Live there already? It doesn't matter. You're still going to wish Roz Chast was your mother, just on the strength of this very funny guide to New York City.
January 20, 2018
Rob Chast is a staple cartoonist of the New Yorker. And while this is "oh that is funny" this book isn't snorting your coffee through your nose funny. And it isn't really meant to be. This is more like a guide to New York, with a bit of nostolgia thrown in. It actually is very practice.
I have only been to New York once, and this book would have been fun to read before I went there. It is not, however, the kind of guide that would let you know how to get around in New York. It is more of a, these-are-the-things-that-I-like-about New York.
Some reviewers have said this is a good companion book to the Julia Wertz book about New York, Tenements, Towers & Trash. It is, and it isn't. It is, in that they are both cartoonists. It isn't, because it has a different take on what they both love about New York.
Good to pick up, if you enjoy Roz's work.
I have only been to New York once, and this book would have been fun to read before I went there. It is not, however, the kind of guide that would let you know how to get around in New York. It is more of a, these-are-the-things-that-I-like-about New York.
Some reviewers have said this is a good companion book to the Julia Wertz book about New York, Tenements, Towers & Trash. It is, and it isn't. It is, in that they are both cartoonists. It isn't, because it has a different take on what they both love about New York.
Good to pick up, if you enjoy Roz's work.
February 15, 2018
I borrowed this from the library, but didn’t pick it up until today, as I’m paying daily overdue fines on it. Now I want to buy it! How will I return this charming, wonderful love letter to New York? And I read it on Valentine’s Day too.
Roz Chast always delights with her humor, her humanity, and her fun drawings. She says this is a “thank you letter and a love letter to my hometown and New Yorkers everywhere. You know who you are.”
I’m forever a west coaster, but I also know she means me.
Roz Chast always delights with her humor, her humanity, and her fun drawings. She says this is a “thank you letter and a love letter to my hometown and New Yorkers everywhere. You know who you are.”
I’m forever a west coaster, but I also know she means me.
September 27, 2017
Cartoonist Roz Chast - whose work has appeared often the The New Yorker and in previously published books - seemed to strike gold in her last book of cartoons, "Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant". That book, which was about the aging of her parents and how she coped with it, "spoke" to many, many people in my age group, who often had elderly parents we were responsible for. And, the book reminded US of OUR coming problems, as WE aged. "Good times...", as they say, bemoaning our current lot and fearing for the future, all in one book.
Roz Chast's newest book, "Going Into Town: A Love Letter to New York", is a bit of a different. Please note that to Roz Chast, "New York City" actually means the island of Manhattan. Originally set forth as a guide to her college-age daughter who had grown up in the northern suburbs of New York, and was now moving to the city, the book is a joyful look at New York City, both its past and future, but, mostly its present. Roz had grown up in Brooklyn and ventured into Manhattan with her parents on rare, special occasions, so a lot of what she was writing to her daughter would have applied to her when she finally moved to Manhattan as a young adult. She and her husband moved to the suburbs to raise their two children. Chast's special drawings, combined with spot-on commentary about the city and its people, is a charming reminder to all of us poor people who may go to New York on vacation, but don't get to live in that special place, with the traffic jams, the street food, the noises and smells, all of which combine to make Manhattan, Manhattan.
"Going Into Town" is a sweet book. It truly is a "love letter to New York".
Roz Chast's newest book, "Going Into Town: A Love Letter to New York", is a bit of a different. Please note that to Roz Chast, "New York City" actually means the island of Manhattan. Originally set forth as a guide to her college-age daughter who had grown up in the northern suburbs of New York, and was now moving to the city, the book is a joyful look at New York City, both its past and future, but, mostly its present. Roz had grown up in Brooklyn and ventured into Manhattan with her parents on rare, special occasions, so a lot of what she was writing to her daughter would have applied to her when she finally moved to Manhattan as a young adult. She and her husband moved to the suburbs to raise their two children. Chast's special drawings, combined with spot-on commentary about the city and its people, is a charming reminder to all of us poor people who may go to New York on vacation, but don't get to live in that special place, with the traffic jams, the street food, the noises and smells, all of which combine to make Manhattan, Manhattan.
"Going Into Town" is a sweet book. It truly is a "love letter to New York".
April 26, 2018
As the subtitle says, this is a paean to what is arguably the USA’s most famous city. It’s part love letter and part idiosyncratic travel guide. The book was sparked when Chast’s daughter went off to college in Manhattan. Having grown up in and around the city, Chast put together a small guide booklet, which eventually grew into the present volume.
It's interesting to compare this book to Ben Katchor’s work. Both artists are strongly associated with New York City, and both have a pleasingly sketchy quality to their linework. Chast’s work tends to emphasize people and a general cartooniness, while Katchor is fascinated by architecture and the way the past lingers in odd corners and side streets. My main experience with city living has been more Midwestern--Cleveland, Detroit, and Ann Arbor in particular--but I feel a certain affinity for Chast’s (and Katchor’s) New York. Certainly, thanks to this book, I feel I could navigate walking around the city--possibly even riding the subway--without getting too badly lost. Of course this may be false confidence on my part …
It's interesting to compare this book to Ben Katchor’s work. Both artists are strongly associated with New York City, and both have a pleasingly sketchy quality to their linework. Chast’s work tends to emphasize people and a general cartooniness, while Katchor is fascinated by architecture and the way the past lingers in odd corners and side streets. My main experience with city living has been more Midwestern--Cleveland, Detroit, and Ann Arbor in particular--but I feel a certain affinity for Chast’s (and Katchor’s) New York. Certainly, thanks to this book, I feel I could navigate walking around the city--possibly even riding the subway--without getting too badly lost. Of course this may be false confidence on my part …
May 21, 2018
I loved the approach of this book.
As Chast states in the first section, the impetus for this book was her daughter starting college in the city. Chast made a zine for her with some basic NYC knowledge that she later expanded into this book.
As someone who is fascinated by the intricacies of daily life and travel, I loved all the very specific information about NYC here. Chast's handscrawl is paired with her illustrations and some photographs. It's very much a mom in a good mood sharing nitty gritty about a place she loves.
I definitely want to re-read prior to visiting NYC again.
Read with:
Tenements, Towers and Trash
As Chast states in the first section, the impetus for this book was her daughter starting college in the city. Chast made a zine for her with some basic NYC knowledge that she later expanded into this book.
As someone who is fascinated by the intricacies of daily life and travel, I loved all the very specific information about NYC here. Chast's handscrawl is paired with her illustrations and some photographs. It's very much a mom in a good mood sharing nitty gritty about a place she loves.
I definitely want to re-read prior to visiting NYC again.
Read with:
Tenements, Towers and Trash
February 9, 2018
This was my love Facebook post to New York when I left:
I'll never be able to fully articulate a decade plus of living there but here's some of the stuff that happened:
- 9/11 (I was on a plane).
- The Great Northeast Blackout of 2003 (I was interviewing).
- Snowpocalypse 2010 (I was stuck in a plane on the tarmac at JFK for 11 hours - our flight made CNN).
- Hurricane Sandy (I was moving).
- Once, at Columbia, a pretty lady asked me where the nearest ATM was. That lady was Julia Stiles.
- My first apartment was around the corner from the Seinfeld diner. At my second job, I often passed the Soup Nazi.
- I interviewed to intern for the city. The guy who interviewed me was late, then spent some more of my 15-min. slot barking at his admin assistant on the phone. 'What a jerk,' I thought. As a throwaway question at the end, I asked him how he liked working there. 'Love it,' he said, then proceeded to tell me an anecdote about his interview with Mayor Bloomberg. It involved helicopters. Turned out the guy was Michael Cardozo, THE Corporation Counsel for NYC. He was a Columbia alum so he had come out to campus to do some interviews himself. I got an offer.
- I think Cardozo knew David Stern, then NBA Commissioner, from law school or a firm or something. The big treat of the summer as a city intern was getting to go to the NBA draft. I saw LeBron James get drafted to Cleveland for 18 million dollars.
- I got stuck on the opposite side of the Pride parade from Karen and crew. It is VERY difficult to cross a parade route. (The trick is to use subway stations as underpasses.) I bought a heinously priced bottle of iced water out of a cooler, sold by a drag queen wearing nothing but a bunch of red netting.
- I once saw a person walking a rabbit on a leash. Not five minutes later, I saw a person with a hawk on their shoulder. Don't know how this story ended.
- Our graduation was held at Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center. Our speaker was future Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
- One day, out of the blue, my friend Ben invited me to join him and his wife at the Jazz Age lawn party on Governor's Island. The ferry was full of people in all-out Gatsby garb, carrying wicker picnic baskets. On our way back, the ferry was bringing in people for the evening event - a superhero themed rave.
- I learned that my friend Yining also owned a 1L stein that she'd never used. We discovered growlers. We paired it with some great local bratwurst and Oktoberfest NYC was born. The series: Oktoberfest; Oktoberfest Part Deux; Oktoberfest III Tokyo Drift; Oktoberfest IV Eat Free and Drink Hard; and Oktoberfest V The Growler Strikes Back.
- I came to loathe Halloween and St. Patrick's Day, when people would flood into my city and treat it like a spittoon. One St. Paddy's, while I was getting lunch, a drunk guy crashed into me. My growled "WATCH IT" was apparently so full of menace that he backed away from me with his hands raised.
- We went for dim sum in Queens. We found lobsters for $5.99/lb. We came back with seven.
- I discovered a private lending library in midtown that also had guided reading groups. That's how I ended up reading Ulysses. I refused to commit to the year-long series and the place was really nice about me paying for one session at a time. After that, I did Infinite Jest with them. That was the start of my love for book clubs.
- I saw Lin-Manuel Miranda in In The Heights. I saw Al Pacino in Merchant of Venice. Cate Blanchett in Hedda Gabler. Patrick Stewart in Macbeth. Etc. Etc.
- Once, my friend Huijin and I, both longtime NYC residents, tried to take a shortcut through Central Park. We walked around for 30 minutes and then came out the same side we went in.
- I started doing indie movie reviews for a friend's site and realized that there are tons of little screening rooms in random office buildings in midtown.
- The High Line opened. Conveniently, Tia Pol, one of my favorite NYC restaurants, was in that neighborhood - the perfect combination.
- For my birthday one year, my friend Rachel and her husband took me to Grand Central for oysters, gave me an Ina Garten cookbook gift set, and taught me about the whispering columns.
- I became sort of obsessed with this guy based on his online dating profile. I went to Nerd Nite Brooklyn to... well, stalk him. Yining dared me to sign up as a speaker. I did. Five months later, post-obsession, I gave a talk on romance novels that went over like gangbusters. They invited me back to their "Best Of" night. The dude I was obsessed with was the second speaker that night; I was the third. I never saw him again.
- My last apartment was by the Midtown Tunnel exit. One day I heard a commotion outside and saw ELEPHANTS coming out of the tunnel. Ringling used to walk their elephants into the city from Queens, through the Midtown Tunnel. It's 2 miles.
- Before my last opera at the Met, I was chatting with a stranger at dinner, sitting at the bar at Cafe Fiorello. That woman's seat ended up being just across the aisle from me. (I should mention that the opera house has a seating capacity of 3,800.) She invited me to coffee in the donors' lounge, and bought me a souvenir mug and CD to remember the Met by. I still use that mug.
I think everyone should live in New York City once. It is literally the experience of a lifetime. At the same time, my tenure there was pretty ordinary in the context of all the people that have called New York home at one point or another. (Look up Madonna's story.)
Over a decade, New York taught me how to love. Those heady, halcyon early days; settling down; then disillusionment, apathy. I thought about leaving. I got a job offer in Seattle. It didn't feel right so I turned it down. And then I fell in love with New York all over again, deeper and more profound than the first time. The whole city can be a sort of mood ring, throwing unexpected delights your way when you're up and letting a pigeon to poop on your head when you're down. Love is celebrating the great stuff and seeing the ugly stuff with a clear but accepting eye.
I <3 NY.
(Oh, the book? Yeah, the book was cool too.)
"11 years, 3 apartments, 1 graduate degree, 2 law firms, over 10,000 amazing meals, Shakespeare in the Park, Broadway, off-Broadway, off-off-Broadway, Carnegie Hall, the symphony, the opera, the ballet, the Yankees, the Mets, the Rangers, the Knicks, US Open tennis, the Met, MoMA, the Guggenheim - and that ain't even the half of it. The very best friends a girl could ask for. The very best city a girl could ask for. There will always be a part of me that lives in New York."
I'll never be able to fully articulate a decade plus of living there but here's some of the stuff that happened:
- 9/11 (I was on a plane).
- The Great Northeast Blackout of 2003 (I was interviewing).
- Snowpocalypse 2010 (I was stuck in a plane on the tarmac at JFK for 11 hours - our flight made CNN).
- Hurricane Sandy (I was moving).
- Once, at Columbia, a pretty lady asked me where the nearest ATM was. That lady was Julia Stiles.
- My first apartment was around the corner from the Seinfeld diner. At my second job, I often passed the Soup Nazi.
- I interviewed to intern for the city. The guy who interviewed me was late, then spent some more of my 15-min. slot barking at his admin assistant on the phone. 'What a jerk,' I thought. As a throwaway question at the end, I asked him how he liked working there. 'Love it,' he said, then proceeded to tell me an anecdote about his interview with Mayor Bloomberg. It involved helicopters. Turned out the guy was Michael Cardozo, THE Corporation Counsel for NYC. He was a Columbia alum so he had come out to campus to do some interviews himself. I got an offer.
- I think Cardozo knew David Stern, then NBA Commissioner, from law school or a firm or something. The big treat of the summer as a city intern was getting to go to the NBA draft. I saw LeBron James get drafted to Cleveland for 18 million dollars.
- I got stuck on the opposite side of the Pride parade from Karen and crew. It is VERY difficult to cross a parade route. (The trick is to use subway stations as underpasses.) I bought a heinously priced bottle of iced water out of a cooler, sold by a drag queen wearing nothing but a bunch of red netting.
- I once saw a person walking a rabbit on a leash. Not five minutes later, I saw a person with a hawk on their shoulder. Don't know how this story ended.
- Our graduation was held at Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center. Our speaker was future Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor.
- One day, out of the blue, my friend Ben invited me to join him and his wife at the Jazz Age lawn party on Governor's Island. The ferry was full of people in all-out Gatsby garb, carrying wicker picnic baskets. On our way back, the ferry was bringing in people for the evening event - a superhero themed rave.
- I learned that my friend Yining also owned a 1L stein that she'd never used. We discovered growlers. We paired it with some great local bratwurst and Oktoberfest NYC was born. The series: Oktoberfest; Oktoberfest Part Deux; Oktoberfest III Tokyo Drift; Oktoberfest IV Eat Free and Drink Hard; and Oktoberfest V The Growler Strikes Back.
- I came to loathe Halloween and St. Patrick's Day, when people would flood into my city and treat it like a spittoon. One St. Paddy's, while I was getting lunch, a drunk guy crashed into me. My growled "WATCH IT" was apparently so full of menace that he backed away from me with his hands raised.
- We went for dim sum in Queens. We found lobsters for $5.99/lb. We came back with seven.
- I discovered a private lending library in midtown that also had guided reading groups. That's how I ended up reading Ulysses. I refused to commit to the year-long series and the place was really nice about me paying for one session at a time. After that, I did Infinite Jest with them. That was the start of my love for book clubs.
- I saw Lin-Manuel Miranda in In The Heights. I saw Al Pacino in Merchant of Venice. Cate Blanchett in Hedda Gabler. Patrick Stewart in Macbeth. Etc. Etc.
- Once, my friend Huijin and I, both longtime NYC residents, tried to take a shortcut through Central Park. We walked around for 30 minutes and then came out the same side we went in.
- I started doing indie movie reviews for a friend's site and realized that there are tons of little screening rooms in random office buildings in midtown.
- The High Line opened. Conveniently, Tia Pol, one of my favorite NYC restaurants, was in that neighborhood - the perfect combination.
- For my birthday one year, my friend Rachel and her husband took me to Grand Central for oysters, gave me an Ina Garten cookbook gift set, and taught me about the whispering columns.
- I became sort of obsessed with this guy based on his online dating profile. I went to Nerd Nite Brooklyn to... well, stalk him. Yining dared me to sign up as a speaker. I did. Five months later, post-obsession, I gave a talk on romance novels that went over like gangbusters. They invited me back to their "Best Of" night. The dude I was obsessed with was the second speaker that night; I was the third. I never saw him again.
- My last apartment was by the Midtown Tunnel exit. One day I heard a commotion outside and saw ELEPHANTS coming out of the tunnel. Ringling used to walk their elephants into the city from Queens, through the Midtown Tunnel. It's 2 miles.
- Before my last opera at the Met, I was chatting with a stranger at dinner, sitting at the bar at Cafe Fiorello. That woman's seat ended up being just across the aisle from me. (I should mention that the opera house has a seating capacity of 3,800.) She invited me to coffee in the donors' lounge, and bought me a souvenir mug and CD to remember the Met by. I still use that mug.
I think everyone should live in New York City once. It is literally the experience of a lifetime. At the same time, my tenure there was pretty ordinary in the context of all the people that have called New York home at one point or another. (Look up Madonna's story.)
Over a decade, New York taught me how to love. Those heady, halcyon early days; settling down; then disillusionment, apathy. I thought about leaving. I got a job offer in Seattle. It didn't feel right so I turned it down. And then I fell in love with New York all over again, deeper and more profound than the first time. The whole city can be a sort of mood ring, throwing unexpected delights your way when you're up and letting a pigeon to poop on your head when you're down. Love is celebrating the great stuff and seeing the ugly stuff with a clear but accepting eye.
I <3 NY.
(Oh, the book? Yeah, the book was cool too.)
February 3, 2018
Roz Chast, nacida en Brooklyn y que actualmente vive en un barrio residencial a las afueras de la ciudad de NYC, siente la obligación de escribir un libro con graciosas viñetas, para guiar y ayudar a su hija -que pronto empezará la universidad y se mudará a Manhattan- a entender la ciudad de la que está totalmente enamorada.
Mediante viñetas divertidas, creativas, originales y muy graciosas, Roz Chast nos trasmite la esencia de una gran ciudad como NYC, nos habla de las ventajas y los inconvenientes sobre vivir en un lugar tan grande y maravilloso y además nos da pistas, consejos y trucos sobre cómo hacer que nuestra vida allí sea más fácil.
En este libro encontrarás información sobre cómo guiarte por Manhattan, dónde comer, qué ver, dónde descansar y qué cosas puedes hacer cuándo estés aburrido -si es que esto sucede-. Además, también da consejos sobre cómo tratar con los newyorkinos y cómo elegir un apartamento en el que todo funcione y no se derrumbe bajo tus pies.
Lo recomiendo mucho a todo el mundo que haya tenido el placer de pasar una temporada en la gran manzana o sueñe con hacerlo algún día. Es una gran aventura muy divertida y con la que además, aprendes.
Mediante viñetas divertidas, creativas, originales y muy graciosas, Roz Chast nos trasmite la esencia de una gran ciudad como NYC, nos habla de las ventajas y los inconvenientes sobre vivir en un lugar tan grande y maravilloso y además nos da pistas, consejos y trucos sobre cómo hacer que nuestra vida allí sea más fácil.
En este libro encontrarás información sobre cómo guiarte por Manhattan, dónde comer, qué ver, dónde descansar y qué cosas puedes hacer cuándo estés aburrido -si es que esto sucede-. Además, también da consejos sobre cómo tratar con los newyorkinos y cómo elegir un apartamento en el que todo funcione y no se derrumbe bajo tus pies.
Lo recomiendo mucho a todo el mundo que haya tenido el placer de pasar una temporada en la gran manzana o sueñe con hacerlo algún día. Es una gran aventura muy divertida y con la que además, aprendes.
June 23, 2017
I was lucky enough to get an advance reader copy of this book. As someone who grew up an hour and a half from Manhattan a decade or so after Roz Chast, and who worked in Manhattan in the mid 80s, I read this with special fondness. But even if you've never been to Manhattan you will enjoy this book because of Chast's LOL-class humor and her delightful, detail-focused illustrations. The ARC is in black and white with a color insert (the final book will be four-color as are many graphic novels), and the colors are lively and appropriate to the drawings.
Get this one and smile, laugh and enjoy every page.
Get this one and smile, laugh and enjoy every page.
February 20, 2018
A smile was pasted on my face from page 1 to page 169. From the #1 LET'S START HERE sign to the #9 FINAL STOP sign. From the cartoon of Roz's father's exhortation, " When you're going to the subway, ALWAYS HAVE A TOKEN IN YOUR HAND!" To her favorite thing to see at the Museum of Natural History, the 34-ton meteorite called Ahnighito. From the CONCRETE JUNGLE to the CROWN JEWEL OF MANHATTAN, Central Park! Roz Chast's Going Into Town -A Love Letter to New York is a joy to read and to look at and to ruminate over.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 5, 2017
Truly, a love letter to New York, with lots of Chast laughs along the way!
January 7, 2019
Going Into Town
Going Into Town: A Love Letter to New York is the inimitable Roz Chast’s graphic ”sort-of-guide and also a thank-you letter and a love letter to my hometown and New Yorkers everywhere.” It’s an ode to New York (of course, meaning Manhattan):
”I feel about Manhattan the way I feel about a book, a TV series, a movie, a play, an artist, a song, a food, a whatever that I love. I want to tell you about it so that maybe you will love it too. I’m not worried about it being ‘ruined’ by too many people ‘discovering’ it. Manhattan’s been ruined since 1626, when Peter Minuit bought it from Native Americans for $24.00.”
”This is the best place in the world, an experiment, a melting pot, a fight to the death, an opera, a musical comedy, a tragedy, none of the above, all of the above. We’re a target for seekers and dreamers and also nuts. We live here anyway.”
If you haven’t heard of Roz Chast, she’s a long-time contributor of cartoons to The New Yorker and also the author of the beautifully rendered and deeply touching Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?, graphic memoir of the aging of her parents.
4.5 stars.
Going Into Town: A Love Letter to New York is the inimitable Roz Chast’s graphic ”sort-of-guide and also a thank-you letter and a love letter to my hometown and New Yorkers everywhere.” It’s an ode to New York (of course, meaning Manhattan):
”I feel about Manhattan the way I feel about a book, a TV series, a movie, a play, an artist, a song, a food, a whatever that I love. I want to tell you about it so that maybe you will love it too. I’m not worried about it being ‘ruined’ by too many people ‘discovering’ it. Manhattan’s been ruined since 1626, when Peter Minuit bought it from Native Americans for $24.00.”
”This is the best place in the world, an experiment, a melting pot, a fight to the death, an opera, a musical comedy, a tragedy, none of the above, all of the above. We’re a target for seekers and dreamers and also nuts. We live here anyway.”
If you haven’t heard of Roz Chast, she’s a long-time contributor of cartoons to The New Yorker and also the author of the beautifully rendered and deeply touching Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?, graphic memoir of the aging of her parents.
4.5 stars.
February 14, 2018
This ended up being a perfect book to read on my couch in two sittings, though I am not entirely its ideal audience. I came to NYC for college and stayed after graduation: I've now been here for nearly 18 years if you count my time in college; I've lived in Brooklyn for nearly 14 years. So I don't really need an explanation of uptown/downtown, how streets and avenues work, and where the different Manhattan subway lines go. That said, Chast's style, both narration-wise and illustration-wise, totally works for me, so even her descriptions of basic Manhattan geography had their charm. (This book got its start as a guide for Chast's daughter, who grew up in the suburbs and came to NYC for college, so it's a little bit of a beginner's guide to the city, but it's also more than that.)
Where this book shines, for me, is in the more personal bits: the parts about Chast's favorite things in NYC, the parts that capture her style and sensibility and sense of humor and way of looking at the world. There's a bit about the time when Chast found an unusual item on the sidewalk that I'd read previously (I think it was published in the New Yorker) that still made me laugh out loud this time around. There are bits about the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the American Museum of Natural History. There's a drawing of a street tree in winter with plastic bags caught in its branches, whose accompanying text is just: "If Manhattan had an official tree, it would be this one" (125). There are multiple bits about the pleasures of walking in the city, which I relate to a whole lot. "I am interested in the person-made," Chast writes, and continues: "I like to watch and eavesdrop on people. And I really like DENSITY OF VISUAL INFORMATION" (40). (Which is followed by the totally excellent image you can see as the lead illustration in this NPR piece.) "If you are feeling antsy or out of sorts," Chast advises, "pick a street and walk across it from coast to coast. Any street will do. The more nondescript your street is, the greater chance you have of making your own discoveries" (47-49). And Chast's drawings and photographs show some of these sorts of discoveries: I love a drawing of a sign for a deli advertising "ham & cheese warps," and photos showing different varieties of standpipe connections. I also like the way Chast quotes from E.B. White's Here Is New York, another lovely book about the city that I should reread one of these days.
Where this book shines, for me, is in the more personal bits: the parts about Chast's favorite things in NYC, the parts that capture her style and sensibility and sense of humor and way of looking at the world. There's a bit about the time when Chast found an unusual item on the sidewalk that I'd read previously (I think it was published in the New Yorker) that still made me laugh out loud this time around. There are bits about the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the American Museum of Natural History. There's a drawing of a street tree in winter with plastic bags caught in its branches, whose accompanying text is just: "If Manhattan had an official tree, it would be this one" (125). There are multiple bits about the pleasures of walking in the city, which I relate to a whole lot. "I am interested in the person-made," Chast writes, and continues: "I like to watch and eavesdrop on people. And I really like DENSITY OF VISUAL INFORMATION" (40). (Which is followed by the totally excellent image you can see as the lead illustration in this NPR piece.) "If you are feeling antsy or out of sorts," Chast advises, "pick a street and walk across it from coast to coast. Any street will do. The more nondescript your street is, the greater chance you have of making your own discoveries" (47-49). And Chast's drawings and photographs show some of these sorts of discoveries: I love a drawing of a sign for a deli advertising "ham & cheese warps," and photos showing different varieties of standpipe connections. I also like the way Chast quotes from E.B. White's Here Is New York, another lovely book about the city that I should reread one of these days.
January 20, 2018
This is probably the weakest travel-related graphic novel I've read. I went in with no expectations and somehow still walked away disappointed. I don't know what we were supposed to get out of it. It wasn't cute stories, funny observations, or people watching. It was a Mama Bear with an extremely high opinion of her (outdated) life experiences lecturing her 17 year-old daughter about 1) how to live on her own, and 2) what NYC is like. She talks down to the readers (i.e. both us and her daughter) as though we're naive idiots, like we don't know our left hand from our right, and as though she is a certified expert on NYC, even though she hasn't lived there in nearly 30 years. It was like listening to someone lecture you about the industry they used to work in 30 years ago, back when they were still using newspapers to find jobs, and so kindly letting you know what things like 'sick time' and 'deadlines' are. Chast should have left this book on her daughter's shelf.
May 16, 2020
Roz Chast’s love letter to her home town, NYC, strikes a poignant note during the time of Covid-19. I’m a devoted follower of her cartoons in the New Yorker, and Going Into Town is a charming expansion of everything I love about her work - witty narrative and intricate artwork. She helps me notice the details in a big picture. Earlier this month (May 2020), Roz was interviewed by a curator of the Museum of the City of New York. She talked at length about her beloved City and all she hopes for its future in the post-pandemic. The interview is available here: https://www.facebook.com/24425672689/...
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