The Subway Chronicles: Scenes from Life in New York [Paperback]

Ken Wheaton (Author), Jacquelin Cangro (Editor)

Book Description

Release date: August 29, 2006

Some seven million people board the New York City subway every day, each one with a story to tell. The Subway Chronicles collects twenty-seven of the tales, dramas and comedies that unfold during the daily commute. From the “mole people” living in the subway tunnels, to the transit employees working behind the scenes, to the locals and tourists riding shoulder-to-shoulder in harmony, discord, or indifference, The Subway Chronicles offers a kaleidoscope of perspectives on this most public of spaces.

Prominent New York writers weigh in:

• Jonathan Lethem confesses his childhood subway sins
• Colson Whitehead offers mass-transit tips for newcomers to the city
• Francine Prose recalls the thrill and apprehension of riding alone as a teenage girl
• Calvin Trillin pokes fun at the classic New York tendency to be skeptical about everything
• Stan Fischler delights in memories of riding the open-air train cars to Coney Island as a boy

Equal parts hilarious, poignant, and heartbreaking, The Subway Chronicles is a journey into New York’s underground with some of today’s most loved writers.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Here is a delightful collection of New York stories by veteran straphangers—both known and unknown—dedicated to that amazing underground network. Along with expected accounts of the unsavory run-ins with weirdoes and stink bombs during the usual subway commute (e.g., Daniels Parseliti's "Porno Man and I Versus the Feminist Avenger and Displaced Anger Man"), many of these authors offer poignant memories of riding the trains over the years, such as Jonathan Lethem's account of haunting the eponymous station in "Speak, Hoyt-Schermerhorn" as a white, liberal-middle-class kid immersed in a fringe area of crime and poverty. "Parnassus Underground" by Patrick Flynn recalls joyfully the meaty reading the author was able to accomplish during long workday commutes from the Bronx, before he moved and (to his literary despair) shortened his travel time. Robert Lanham's "Straphanger Doppelgänger" records the chilling encounter between two commuters of uncanny resemblance who have observed each other over a long period. Most gratifying are the historical details worked into many of the essays, such as the comparison between Russian and New York underground railroads as noted by Boris Fishman in "Metro Blues, or How I Came to America." This is a clever collection gathered by Cangro from her Web site, thesubwaychronicles.com. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Jacquelin Cangro, founder of thesubwaychronicles.com, has had her work published in literary journals and is a monthly columnist for Learning Through History magazine. She recently completed her first novel.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Plume (August 29, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0452287790
• ISBN-13: 978-0452287792
• Product Dimensions: 5 x 0.5 x 7.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,760,234 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Digging In To the Subway Scene February 18, 2007

By David Zimmerman VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

As a occasional visitor to New York, I've thought of its subway as a transportation necessity moreso than a cultural element of the city, but after reading "The Subway Chronicles", I've got a much deeper perspective. The book is a compilation of short essays by various New Yorkers (or ex-NYers), each offering a different point of view--some historical, some mechanical, some hygenic (or lack thereof), some even poetic, but all personal and all adding a little piece to the big picture--akin to the mosaics that adorn the platform walls in various stations (albeit not to compare with the fabulous artwork in the Moscow subway system, as described by immigrant Boris Fishman.) You'll probably recognize some of the authors--Calvin Trillin for sure, and novelist Jonathan Lethem and others, but many of the essays result from the editor Jacquelin Cangro's successful thesubwaychronicles.com website--launched after an idea germinated at Thanksgiving dinner among friends in and around the publishing business--and as such are written by unpublished or hoping-to-be-published writers. Ms. Cangro has done an admirable job editing and arranging the material--chasing the pace and style of the essays to keep the subject fresh for the reader. The best example of this is when the Fishman's comprehensive essay comparing the history and artistry of the New York and Moscow subways is followed immediately by a short and striking piece featuring an egg salad sandwich.

In addition to learning about the subway and how it affects the people who ride, you'll get a feel for the psyche of the urban dweller--folks who live their life without a car--an unimaginable state of being in the small town or suburban life (or even big city like LA or Houston)that has come to dominate American culture. But even the occasional visitor to New York will recognize him or herself in the essays--many of the authors pay homage of sorts to the tourists, riders oblivious to the nuances, problems or culture of the system, who are just happy to be able to get where they want to go.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A subway-essay collection that is full of suprises December 8, 2006

By 334

Format:Paperback

The essays in this book are all related to the New York City subway system, but they're all different from each other. So far, my favorite is Tim McGloughlin's "Opening Day," a description of the system from the inside, by an old-timer who really knows it. But there's also Daniels Parseliti's "Porno Man and I versus the Feminist Avenger and Displaced Anger Man," that brims with Generation X irony - and tells an outlandish yet totally believable story. Colson Whitehead's "Subway" is a prose poem that describes the tactile and cognitive experience of subway riding so vividly that every experienced subway rider is sure to identify with it. Jonathan Lethem's "Speak, Hoyt-Schermerhorn" - a complex meditation on a particular station - is, like many of Lethem's essays, a cultural-historical journey.

Though, as I've said, the essays in this book are all different, one overall pattern of difference comes through. The writers in the book who are native to New York tend to write wistful, nostalgic essays about aspects of the Subway that have changed or disappeared. The writers who have come to New York from elsewhere more often focus on bizarre things they witnessed: "Guess what I saw!" This difference in focal point of the essays reflects a difference in the people that I meet personally in New York, as well.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars New York's subway system at its best. November 16, 2006

By V. Loos

Format:Paperback

The Subway Chronicles is delightfully entertaining. The book is quick and fun reading for anyone who has ever used mass transit. Subway Chronicles is quite enjoyable and I would definitely recommend it.