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Lila Mae's good ol' boy colleagues in the Department of Elevator Inspectors are understandably jealous of the flawless record that her natural intelligence and diligence have earned, and understandably delighted when Number Eleven in the newly completed Fanny Briggs Memorial Building goes into deadly free fall just hours after Lila Mae has signed off on it, using the controversial "Intuitionist" method of ascertaining elevator safety. It is, after all, an election year in the Elevator Guild, and the Empiricists would do most anything to discredit the Intuitionist faction. Everyone on both sides assumes that Number Eleven was sabotaged and Lila Mae set up to take the fall. "So complete is Number Eleven's ruin," writes Whitehead, "that there's nothing left but the sound of the crash, rising in the shaft, a fall in opposite: a soul." Lila Mae's doom seems equally irreversible.
Whitehead evokes a world so utterly involving to its own denizens that outside reality does not impinge on its perfect solipsism. We the readers are taken hostage as Lila Mae strives to exonerate herself in this urgent adventure full of government spies, underworld hit men, and seductive double agents. Behind the action, always, is the Idea. Lila Mae's quest reveals the existence of heretofore lost writings by James Fulton, father of Intuitionism, a giant of vertical thought, whose fate is mysteriously entwined with her own. If she is able to find and reveal his plan for the Black Box, the perfect, next-generation elevator, the city as it now exists will instantly be obsolescent. The social and economic implications are huge and the denouement is elegantly philosophical. Most impressive of all is the integrity of Whitehead's prose. Eschewing mere cleverness, resisting showoff word play, he somehow manages to strike a tone that's always funny, always fierce, and always entirely respectful of his characters and their world. May the god of second novels smile as broadly on him as did the god of firsts. --Joyce Thompson
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Book Description Original Wraps. Condition: Near Fine. First Edition. Near fine first printing of the trade paperback original. Top corner of two pages slightly creased. Flecking to top edge. As an enthusiastic collector myself I make every effort to provide a high level of service. Enquiries welcomed. Paypal accepted. Seller Inventory # 006711
Book Description Original Wraps. Condition: Fine. First Edition. Fine first printing of the trade paperback original. Flecking to top edge. As an enthusiastic collector myself I make every effort to provide a high level of service. Enquiries welcomed. Paypal accepted. Seller Inventory # 006707
Book Description Original Wraps. Condition: Fine. First Edition. Fine first printing of the trade paperback original. Miniscule crease to top corner and slight push to top edge. As an enthusiastic collector myself I make every effort to provide a high level of service. Enquiries welcomed. Paypal accepted. Seller Inventory # 006710
Book Description Original Wraps. Condition: Fine. First Edition. Fine first printing of the trade paperback original. Very light flecking to page edges. As an enthusiastic collector myself I make every effort to provide a high level of service. Enquiries welcomed. Paypal accepted. Seller Inventory # 006708
Book Description Original Wraps. Condition: Fine. First Edition. Fine first printing of the trade paperback original. Miniscule crease to top corner of front panel. As an enthusiastic collector myself I make every effort to provide a high level of service. Enquiries welcomed. Paypal accepted. Seller Inventory # 006709
Book Description Original Wraps. Condition: Fine. First Edition. Fine first printing of the trade paperback original. Very light flecking to edges of text block. As an enthusiastic collector myself I make every effort to provide a high level of service. Enquiries welcomed. Paypal accepted. Seller Inventory # 006706
Book Description Original Wraps. Condition: Fine. First Edition. Fine first printing of the trade paperback original. Very light flecking to edges of text block. As an enthusiastic collector myself I make every effort to provide a high level of service. Enquiries welcomed. Paypal accepted. Seller Inventory # 006705