Colson Whitehead

The best-selling author of Zone One describes his uproarious participation in the World Series of Poker after only six weeks of training, recounting how he interacted with a gritty subculture of high-stakes players while endeavoring to maintain his parenting responsibilities. 50,000 first printing.

Poker, Beef Jerky, and Death

The Noble Hustle

Patrick Book

I’ve never read anything by Whitehead before, but — brief though it may be — I think this is actually a very good introduction. His personality tears through every page, his sense of humour and self-deprecation are powerful and pervasive, and he lends a poetic gloss to the grime of Vegas and Atlantic City. I don’t care about poker but this is some very good social critique.

"In The Noble Hustle, Colson Whitehead does for participatory journalism what he did for zombie novels in Zone One: Take one literary genius, add $10,000 and a seat at the World Series of Poker, and stir. On one level, Colson Whitehead's The Noble Hustle is a familiar species of participatory journalism - a longtime neighborhood poker player, Colson was given a $10,000 stake and an assignment from the online ESPN offshoot Grantland to see how far he could get in the World Series of Poker. But since it stems from the astonishing mind of Colson Whitehead (MacArthur Award-endorsed!), the book is a brilliant, hilarious, weirdly profound and ultimately moving portrayal of - yes, it sounds overblown and ridiculous, but really! - the human condition"--

Poker, Beef Jerky and Death

Ron Bronson

It's a bit too cute by half. His prose is disarming and you can't help but be drawn in, but it sort of drones on after a while and you stop caring about any of it. There's a lot about it that I liked and appreciated, though. I just didn't really feel the need to finish it because there were almost too many metaphors and weaving back to his own life and demons. I dunno.

The Noble Hustle Poker, Beef Jerky, and Death

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