A Town Without Time: Gay Talese’s New York
(Gay Talese, Mariner Classics, £20)
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Anyone wanting to show their students how to write compelling prose could do far worse than introduce them to Gay Talese, and the keen eye for detail and ear for dialogue that makes his essays such a masterclass in observation.
As a practitioner of what was once heralded as ‘The New Journalism’, his work vividly shows how factual accounts can be rendered in prose so lively and vibrant that that it almost feels like you’re reading a novel.
As well as his acclaimed essay on Frank Sinatra, other subjects tackled in this collection include the cats of New York, a homeless woman with two homes, and the obituary writer keenly waiting for his subjects to drop dead so that he can at last see his work in print.
Some of these stories are so richly told, it can almost seem as though you’re right there with him. A must for English students.
This book was first reviewed in Teach Secondary magazine.