Cleverly written, a quick interesting read. The end of the book felt a little unsatisfying to me, though I think I'd need a reread to figure out why. ( )

This book seemed so promising at the start -- right up my alley with its playful approach to how naming works, what naming means, and tying it in the end to more sober matters like what it meant to be given a new name as a slave. I liked the book, but something about the breezy tone at times bugged me, and I felt like Whitehead could have done more with the material. But it's a quick two-day read with plenty to like, and it keeps me interested in Whitehead for sure. ( )

Our narrator is a name whiz, a guy who names new products. He's been called on to name, or rename, a town. He must dig into the history of this town, which somehow ties in with his own struggles. Very interesting ideas about names, specifically as they relate to America, and race. ( )

The town of Winthrop has hired a nomenclature expert. Its three-member ruling council can't decide whether to change its name, or what to change it to. The descendant of the town's original white founding father, Mr. Winthrop, likes the name just as it is. A nouveau rich software developer whose company is now driving the town's industry wants to change the name to New Prosperity. And the mayor, a descendant of the town's original black settlers (who were there before the Winthrops arrived), wants to change the name back to the original name given to the town by its early black settlers, Freedom. They have hired the nomenclature expert to study the issue, and to decide on the name.

The nomenclature expert (who is ironically unnamed) is our main point of view character. His prior nomenclature triumph was the development and naming of a multicultural band-aid that would match the user's skin color (or "hide" the hurt). We are in his mind most of the book, and there is a lot, and I mean a lot, of riffing going on there. Every other thought relates to potential products and potential names for them. It's meant to be a satire on advertising and consumerism, I gather, but the result is a book in which the characters are cardboard and the plot is minimal. There were a few funny and inventive parts, but overall I was very disappointed, and mostly skimmed this.

2 stars ( )

What's in a name? That's at the core of Colson Whitehead's 2006 novel [Apex Hides the Hurt]. The plot is this: A name change has been suggested for a town. The proposal comes from a hometown tech entrepreneur, Lucky Aberdeen, who thinks the name Winthrop should be replaced with New Prospera. He needs the assent of one of the two others who, with him, make up the town council. One of the two is Regina Goode, a descendant of a co-founder of the town, which was called Freedom by the freed slaves who settled it. The other is Albert Winthrop, the last survivor of the Winthrop family, which located its barbed wire factory in the town (and contrived to change the town's name to Winthrop).

Is it a surprise that Regina favors a return to the name Freedom, that Albie likes the current name, and Lucky wants New Prospera?

The three seek professional advice from a nameless guy who names things. He's from a very special, very high stakes business, and he is Whitehead's protagonist.

He came up with the names and like any good parent he knocked them around to teach them life lessons. He bent them to see if they'd break, he dragged them behind cars by heavy metal chains, he exposed then to high temperatures for extended periods of time. Sometimes consonants broke off and left angry vowels on the laboratory tables. How else was he to know if they were ready for what the world had in store for them?
   Those were the good times...In the coffee room they threw names around like weekends tossing softballs. Clunker names fell with a thud on the ground...They brainstormed, bullshitted, performed assorted chicanery, and then sometimes they hit one out of the park. Sometimes they broke through to the other side and came up with something so spectacular and unexpected, so appropriate to the particular thing waiting, that the others could only stand in awe. You joined the hall of legends.

Once hired, The Name Guy [my name for the protagonist] heads to Winthrop, moseys about, chatting with denizens and visitors, and the novel settles into exposing everyone's backstories, including TNG's. As the naming work progresses, Whitehead doles out a lot to think about, not least of which is the story behind the novel's title. It is not a linear advance; TNG's attention, perception, recognition and comprehension, and finally understanding are't linear. Whitehead's presentation reflects the episodic nature of research and understanding.

Good book. Not perfect, but good. Thumbs up.