Empty City

By Gabriel Shapiro

A suburban father and his teen-age son move into a dilapidated mansion in the depleted inner city. Will the recently divorced Gaspar and his emotionally disconnected son be able to help Brush Park... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1401035965
• ISBN13: 9781401035969
• Release Date: August 2002
• Publisher: Xlibris
• Length: 248 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.2" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Excellent book!

What a fresh voice! Shapiro is an excellent writer. The characters and scenes all leap off the page as fresh and real. This book has a true passion for its characters and for the issues that it deals with. Add to this Shapiro's insightful musings and you have a book that is refreshing, stimulating, and a true pleasure to read.

Atmospheric, Provocative

Empty City shows us that the road to rebirth and revitalization -- of city and of self -- is the antithesis of clean, suburban predictability. The descriptions in Mr. Shapiro's debut novel paint word pictures and evoke the sound of truth.

Wonderfully unique read!

I used this novel for a summer reading club where I teach because the author is local to my area. A group of students and I read the book in increments throughout the month of June and then had weekly discussion sessions. We found the novel to be extremely interesting and written from a unique perspective. The character development is detailed and intriguing; the narrative voice of the main character, Gaspar is fresh and insightful. The book is sprinkled throughout with philosophical ruminations on all manner of modern ills, including consumerism, alienation, and the plight of the american urban core. The students and I found these observations to be thought-provoking and were able to generate many a lively debate using them as a catalyst. In addition, the prose is intermittently enhanced with forays into verse, a technique that adds to the intensity of the action. I would thoroughly recommend this novel to anyone looking for a strong, unique voice and some intriguing opinions on living in our damaged twenty-first century american culture.

Excellent book

Shapiro's insights and wit shine through in his novel. The author clearly has a passion for his subject matter, and readers will find themselves drawn into this world that is rich in character and in characters. This is Shapiro's debut novel and I can't wait to read more of his writings! Shapiro has all the markings of a great writer. I have a feeling that anything Shapiro produces is going to be interesting and very well-done.

Brilliant book

A must read for anyone interested in the fate of our cities. The author writes with great passion, sensitivity, and humor. Shapiro can turn a phrase with the best of them. He writes with such style and innovation that this slice of city life is sure to absorb any reader.