Rating: 
Summary: Linearity's Bane
Review: If you're a hard sci fi, "hardware" fan; if you need a linear narrative where "something happens" and there's a well-defined beginning, middle, and end; if you need a "rational" explanation for everything that happens in a book; if you like easy to read, shoot-em-up space opera- don't read _Dhalgren_, 'cos you "won't get it", and it will frustrate and anger you. This is one ov those extreme either-or books- either you love it and think it's truly profound and visionary, or you hate it and think it's pointless gibberish. I happen to be ov the first opinion. This book made a huge impression on me. For one thing, it was the first sci fi (really kind ov a misnomer for this book, but lacking a better term...) that I'd read that was about real, non-mainstream people and their response to the strange. It was about sex and poetry, gritty communal living, interclass interactions, life on the edge... in short, it was about everything I was doing at the time. But it's about more than just that... it's about everything suddenly changing; it's about how people deal with everything changing; it's about language and reality and the strange and fey place where the two meet and inescapably change each other forever. It's about consensus reality and the Rashomon effect. It's about life going on, no matter how bizarre things may get. It's about the strange & twisted ways that people take comfort in each other's humanity in the face ov a strange & twisted reality. It's about the complexity ov the world, and our experience ov that complexity. And I can see how, if you're a very linear, traditional Western-dichotomist thinker, those are all things that you probably don't really like thinking about- much less actually reading about them for pleasure. This isn't an easy book, even if you're into "this sort ov thing". Even readers who love this book often take a long time to finish it. But a little patience, a little effort, will yield infinite rewards. You will find yourself remembering stray fragments ov _Dhalgren_ years later, at the strangest times, in the oddest places.
Rating: 
Summary: On a Ten Point Scale, this is the only book I give a Zero.
Review: When I was a kid, I saw a fat ancient copy of Dhalgren sitting on a sheld at the library and I said to myself, "Someday I'm going to read that." Over five years later I bought a copy and it turned out the be the most colossal waste of time ever. It's not just a waste of time; it actively ruins the time it takes to read. It's 800 pages long and there's not a single idea of any sort in it. This book does not have a single redeeming feature; Delany's style is pretentious and his overuse of ellipsis mechanical. I would give Dhalgren no stars if I could (a black dot) but I can't.
Rating:
Summary: A forty(?)-subject verbal fugue.
Review: A vision of another world--dark, frightening, and horrifyingly beautiful. The most penetrating insight into the lives and minds of so-called "underclass" or "counterculture" people I have ever encountered. It will be your companion and solace for the rest of your life. _The_ masterpiece of 20th Century American literature.
Rating:
Summary: An incredible piece of Dreck.
Review: This has been one of the most unintelligable pieces of sci-fi written, As a flight of fancy that builds and extropolates on where science may take us, it is totally lacking. As a universe of its own merit from which to examine issues that pertain to life and how we live or the choices we have before us as a society, again lacking. An immense waste of time, money and energy. It made me question only the taste of the person who recomended this dreck.
Rating:
Summary: The only book I could read again and again...
Review: I am 34 years of age.I first read Dhalgren when I was about 13 and even today images of the one-sandaled man stay with me. Try to remember the feeling of wearing only one shoe or sandal at a time? It feels awkward doesn't it? This novel is a story of our awkward humanity; of nature/culture; and the sometimes terrible price we pay to 'socialize' our citizens.To Delaney I send my deepest thanks for one novel that reflects what it is to be an imperfect soul in an imperfect world.
Rating:
Summary: Dhalgren: Mystery as Enigma
Review: This is undoubtably Chip's masterpiece - a dense, multi-layered reflection on the nature of language and reality that nonetheless conveys a distinct (and disturbing) sense of place and time. Delany's fascination with semiotic deconstruction suits the protean post-apocalypytic world he has created here, and the literary tropes that would prove distracting in his later fiction are executed masterfully in this novel.
Rating:
Summary: A World Within Worlds
Review: I picked up a paperback copy of this book about 10 years ago at a Greek airport as something to keep me occupied on the flight home from holiday. Two years later, I was still reading it! Eventually I got to the end and then began re-reading it immediately. I must have read it about six times now. This is one of those books that becomes a personal "bible" - it speaks to the soul somehow. Dhalgren is a heavy read and requires much concentration, but if you allow it the space to unwind it'll draw you in to the strange world Delany has created. It's my all-time favourite story, and I send thanks to Delany for opening my eyes and mind to a new genre.
Rating:
Summary: awesome
Review: Waht can I say ,, I read this so long ago. My keys were a Brass Orchid,, and anyone who has been in the industrial part of a city like San Francisco,,, Walked the streets of Dhalgren. Every time I have been in the industrial part of a city,, there is always a streetlight that blinks off as I near it,, and I always remember this book.... this story is a dear friend to me
Rating: 
Summary: A very long novel of survival in a desolate future.
Review: The one thing that stands out in my mind from when I read this novel 20 years ago is the weirdness of the sexual connotations in the story. This is a VERY long novel, and a major work of Delany. Readers who look for post-apocalyptic survival stories should read this novel after they are sure they have read at least 5 other novels of this subject matter. This novel will require all your attention and stretch your reading stamina to the limit.
Rating:
Summary: Ranks among the greatest novels of all time
Review: When I opened Dhalgren, I really had no clue what to expect. I mean, the novel begins with the fragment of the end of a sentence, which I found extremely unorthodox. Still, I gave Delany the benefit of the doubt and figured it would all serve a purpose. Well, I was pleased to find myself enjoying and savoring this rich, fully detailed novel, which seems to transcend the genre and rightfully take its place among the greatest literary novels of this century. While I may not have understood the purpose for everything Delany inserted into the novel, that's more my fault than his and I could at least appreicate it. Many people would probably find this novel offensive, but I found nothing to warrent that and besides, didn't they call Joyce's Ulysses obscene also? That's a good company of offensive to be in. People owe it to themselves to buy this novel, borrow it from a friend, or get it from their local library, so they can sit down and read this fascinating novel
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