80: A Novel

By Whit Johnston

Book Overview

Whit Johnston's first novel is a witty tale told through the fictional diary entries of one Mary Louise Weeks (ML for short), a struggling photographer and, inadvertently, brilliant social chronicler. Tinged with a certain wistfulness for a Manhattan since lost, 80 is a subtle and nuanced reminder of how much the city and its culture have changed since those final months leading up to the onset of Reagan's "Morning in America." Careening from one lackluster photo session to the next, ML scours the city from the depths of the Bowery to uptown penthouses; from a midtown Diane Arbus exhibit to West Village s-and-m dens, in search of inspiration, authenticity, and a reason to go on. Written with the candor and intimacy encountered only in a diary, and played out against the backdrop of cameos by the likes of John Belushi, Wendy O. Williams, and Keith Haring, ML's dead aim at the hypocrisies of art, commerce, and the self is taken with humor and compassion, in the midst of an uproarious moment in time. 80 is a wryly-incisive debut--an engrossing reminder of the end of an era in New York's downtown scene.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0786713984
• ISBN13: 9780786713981
• Release Date: July 2004
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.8" x 5.3"

Customer Reviews

Astounding debut with astute insight and clarity

This novel by Whit Johnston goes beyond clever observations and commetary on the New York social and cultural scene as the city enters a new era, the 80's. This is just one thread in a brutally honest journal that is kept by a young photographer struggling with loneliness and the direction in which she wants to take her career. For one thing, her relationship has recently deteriorated with the man with whom she was living, and she feels uninspired by the jobs that come her way. Her efforts to find provocative subjects that challenge her artistically are some of the best parts of the book. Johnston cleverly writes in real events of the times, placing our heroine there, without the scenes becoming cloying name-dropping passages. For example, he mentions a subway graffiti artist whose simple chalk outline drawings of glowing babies and barking dogs people steal as soon as they are put up. Most people will know that was Keith Haring. I think if you were living in NY in 1980 and were at the very least aware of the cultural scene, you will find the thinly disguised references to real characters at the time most satisfying. This is not to say that the book will be lost on those who were not. Even if you were too young or weren't even born then or not living in NY, the poignancy of the hurt and uncertainty experienced by someone young in a big city translates to all.