Online - March 21, 2006

The Name Game

“Apex Hides the Hurt,” by Colson Whitehead

Ever wonder who’s in charge of naming new products?

Nomenclature consultants, of course. Members of that little-known, ultra-prestigious niche of the marketing industry who specialize — like free-market Adams and Eves in the garden of supply and demand — in just that.

Or so it goes in Apex Hides the Hurt. The new novel by Colson Whitehead tells of just such a guy, whose big successes include the product referenced in the book’s title: a multicultural bandage made to match any skin tone.

As the book opens, our nameless hero is lured to the small town of Winthrop, settled after the Civil War by freed slaves and built up by a barbed-wire magnate and his descendants. When the city council hits an impasse over what to rename the town, it calls upon the expertise of the young consultant, who’s quickly drawn into Winthrop’s political agendas, personal ambitions, shadiest secrets, and oldest rivalries.

Like a Bret Easton Ellis crossed with Italo Calvino, it’s part fable, part satire, hilariously thought-provoking, and seriously funny. If you’re looking for spring’s must-read literary fiction, trust us.

A book by any other name just won’t do the trick.

Available online at amazon.com or at your local bookstore.