“Sag Harbor”

The fourth novel by Pulitzer Prize finalist Colson Whitehead (“John Henry Days”) draws heavily on the author’s childhood. “Sag Harbor” gives us a glimpse into the life of Benji, a 15-year-old living in Long Island in 1985. Benji is, in the words of the New York Times, “a black teenager so white-headed that he summers in the Hamptons, secretly likes the sound of Abba and works in the ice-cream-scooping trade.” The novel is more character- than plot-driven; in fact, the New York Times calls the plot “so evanescent that the removal of Benji’s braces counts as a milestone.” Yet readers will find themselves drawn in by Whitehead’s fully drawn characters, astute observations, and humor. Says the Village Voice, “All of Whitehead’s previous books were various degrees of funny, and ‘Sag Harbor’ is funnier than all three combined.”