The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead - Literary Fiction Paperback - Pulitzer Prize Author

Details
Condition: New
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9780708898475
Publisher: Abacus (Little, Brown Book Group)
Age Range: Adult

Overview
The Intuitionist is Colson Whitehead's daring, genre-bending debut novel, following Lila Mae Watson, the first Black female elevator inspector in a sprawling, unnamed American city. When a brand-new elevator plunges into freefall on her watch, Lila Mae is plunged into a citywide conspiracy involving corrupt guild politics, racial prejudice, and a rivalry between two schools of inspection philosophy. Sharp, strange, and quietly devastating, it remains one of the most inventive American novels of the last thirty years.

About the Book
Set in a vividly imagined metropolis where elevator inspection is a matter of civic pride and political power, The Intuitionist introduces a world split between two rival schools: the Empiricists, who inspect elevators by rigorous physical measurement, and the Intuitionists, who "ride" a car and sense its faults instinctively. Lila Mae Watson, the department's first Black woman inspector, is a devoted Intuitionist with a spotless record. When a newly inspected elevator in a prestigious building suffers a catastrophic freefall, she becomes the prime suspect in a scandal engineered to discredit her entire discipline during a heated guild election. As Lila Mae digs for the truth, she uncovers secret writings, buried rivalries, and a conspiracy that reaches into the highest levels of city government. Blending noir detective plotting with speculative invention and sly social allegory, Whitehead uses the humble elevator as a lens onto race, ambition, bureaucracy, and the promise (and failure) of American progress. First published in 1999, the novel announced Whitehead as a major new voice in American fiction. This new paperback edition is a brand-new copy, perfect for readers discovering Whitehead's work for the first time or long-time fans filling a gap on their shelves.

• A genre-blending literary mystery combining noir, satire, and speculative fiction.
• Written by two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Colson Whitehead.
• Compact, portable paperback — ideal for commuting, book clubs, or classroom study.
• Rich thematic material on race, class, and institutional power for discussion groups.
• A widely praised, era-defining debut novel from a major American author.

About the Author
Colson Whitehead is an American novelist and the author of nine books, including his acclaimed 1999 debut The Intuitionist. He is one of only four writers to win the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction twice, for The Underground Railroad (2016) and The Nickel Boys (2019), and he also holds a National Book Award, a MacArthur Fellowship, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Whitehead lives in New York City and is widely regarded as one of the most inventive voices in contemporary American literature.

Why You'll Love This Novel
For fans of literary fiction with a speculative or noir edge, The Intuitionist offers a wholly original premise, memorable characters, and prose that rewards close reading — a brilliant introduction to Whitehead's celebrated body of work.

Please Note: This listing is for the UK paperback edition as shown, with ISBN 9780708898475. Cover artwork may vary slightly by print run.