I very much enjoyed Colson Whitehead’s Zone One when I read it a few years back. And since I enjoy reading about writers who travel to Las Vegas for poker tournaments (among other things), I figured I’d check this book out.
I was not disappointed. The book came out of an assignment he received from the web site Grantland, which sent staked him to play at the 2011 World Series of Poker. He begins with “I have a good poker face because I am half-dead inside.”
Whitehead is a keen observer of his fellow travelers (and poker opponents), and he provides a lot of insight about himself as well.
I’m thinking that it might be time to plan a trip to his native land, the Republic of Anhedonia.
Read reviews from the Boston Globe and the Washington Post.