Apex Hides the Hurt
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| Author | Colson Whitehead |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Subject | American culture |
| Genre | Humor |
| Publisher | Doubleday |
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Publication date
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March 21, 2006 |
| Media type | Novel |
| Pages | 212 |
| ISBN | |
| OCLC | 60671865 |
| Preceded by | The Colossus of New York |
Apex Hides the Hurt is a 2006 novel by American author Colson Whitehead. The novel follows an unnamed nomenclature consultant who is asked to visit the town of Winthrop, which, rather conveniently for the nomenclature consultant, is considering changing its name. During his visit, the main character is introduced to several citizens attempting to persuade him in favor of their preferred name for the town.
The novel has received mostly positive reviews from critics, with few negative comments. In a positive review for American magazine Entertainment Weekly, Jennifer Reese called the book "a blurry satire of American commercialism", adding, "it may not mark the apex of Colson Whitehead's career, but it brims with the author's spiky humor and intelligence." The book was included among the The New York Times 100 Most Notable Books of the Year for 2006.
Colson Whitehead (born 1969) is an American author. Whitehead was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York and wrote for The Village Voice for two years during his early career, and has since authored three other novels: The Intuitionist, John Henry Days and The Colossus of New York. Since Whitehead began writing, he has had his books and writing reviewed and mentioned in The New York Times, New York Magazine, Harper's Magazine and has been a recipient of the MacArthur and Whiting Award.
The book is set in the fictional town of Winthrop. The protagonist of the book is an unnamed African-American "nomenclature consultant" who has had recent success in branding and selling Apex bandages, which come in multiple colors to better match a broad array of skin tones. The novel begins with the main character being contacted by his former employer, which he had left after losing a toe. He travels to the town of Winthrop after requests from the town council, which has proposed that the town be renamed. However, three key citizens disagree what the name should be: Albie Winthrop, descendant of the town's namesake (who'd made his fortune in barbed wire); Regina Goode, the mayor (descendant of one of the town's two founders); and Lucky Aberdeen, a software magnate who's leading the drive to rename the town. Winthrop wants to keep the name; Goode wants the town to revert to the name it bore at its founding as a town of free blacks, Freedom; while Aberdeen wants to call it "New Prospera".
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