The Novel That Captures New York City Right Now

Colson Whitehead once wrote that all it took to belong in New York City was an act of remembrance—the summoning of a piece of the city that no longer existed. “You are a New Yorker the first time you say, ‘That used to be Munsey’s’ or ‘That used to be the Tic Toc Lounge,’” he wrote. “You are a New Yorker when what was there before is more real and solid than what is here now.” Whitehead wrote this essay in 2001 and it’s easy to understand why he was reflecting on what was missing: Two towers had left the skyline, and 2,977 people were gone with them.

Two decades later, an author has again taken stock of the city’s relationship with memory. His name is Zain Khalid, and his debut novel, , feels like the first since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic that captures the mood of New York right now, describing