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Summary: The moon of the day before calentured me
Review: It's not easy to estimate this book. It's not a normal, straightforward narrative.It has the flavor of the post-apocalyptic novel, though it's not clear what kind of apocalypse occurred.There are recollections of civil right issues, of the hippie culture of sixties-seventies, of the search of one's own identity, of status differences, of street gangs (the scorpions). One notices that the protagonists himself seems to be writing the book, or one similar. I think that as metaphysical novels go, this book is very similar, in concept, to Calenture of Storm Constantine and The island of the day before of Umberto Eco. What is being described are states of mind and metaphysical concepts in the form of characters of a novels. And yet some characters in the novel spring vividly, like gentle Tak, the overbearing Nightmare, the self-delusional Ms Richards, Layla and Denny, Kidd's friends. As for Kidd's identity...at the end all becomes clear (in a sense).
To conclude, Dhalgren is the "Total novel" of the Seventies, like Infinite Jest of David Foster wllace was of the Eighties and Cryptonomicon of Nel Stephenson wasofthe Nineties If you like the genre, and aren't homophobic, it's one of the best!
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Summary: The Ulysses of SF
Review: Delany's masterpiece, arguably one of the most important sf books ever, goes forever. Dense and packed with unbelievabely thorough description, Dhalgren is more about the writing than the plot.
This is not a book for the casual science fiction reader. Nor is it a book to be tossed by lightly. It takes work to get through. The book demands your total attention, and asks that you work for the nuggets of story that you get from it. Dry and sometimes didactic, Delany isn't a writer for the masses, nor should he ever try to be.
Every time I make my way through Dhalgren, which I do every couple of years or so, I'm astounded by Delany's intelligence, talent and, well, genius. The man knows his craft, possibly more so than any other writer I've ever read. I could recommend that someone not familiar with Delany's works start off with "Nova" or "Triton", but nothing can compare one for the onslaught of "Dhalgren".
Still, there are places where one wishes Delany would just get to the point. At times, the book is just too thick, too dense and too much to deal with. There are particular passages that I look forward to every time I read through it, and others I dread coming across. How do you fault a writer for being too thorough, or too good?
This is not Delany's most outrageous book, by any stretch of the imagination. As others point out, Delany is a gay, African-American writer, a writer who truly paved the way for a whole new generation of speculative fiction. He is a master of his craft and, as such, no one should expect him to be follow the road of the cookie cutter plot. Delany has points to make with his writing, and Dhalgren touches on areas both comfortable and uncomfortable, erotic and stomach turning.
This is not an easy book, but it is a great one.
Rating: 
Summary: Unreadable
Review: Tried reading this book again after slogging through it 20 years ago. Unreadable is the only adjective I can think that fits this book. One of the worst SF books ever written IMHO
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Summary: Negative Reviewers Begone
Review: Before there was Neuromancer and The Matrix there was Dhalgren. I've read the negative reviews on this site and I have to say that the people who were expecting the usual blithe, fluff and puff were of course disappointed and blamed the writer. But Dhalgren is so much more comprehensive than simply science fictional. It is a journey of self-discovery and quite possibly the best book I've ever read. It is so much more than what I can write here and is best left up to the reader to discover....
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Summary: For those who enjoy the journey more than the destination!
Review: A friend asked, Does this get worth reading at some point? I read about a third before tossing it aside in frustration.If you mean, does it start to have a conventional plot, then no, not really. If you mean, do things more interesting than helping some delusional middle Americans move to a different apartment start happening, then yes. The book is more like poetry in some ways than an ordinary novel. Partly because the style and the wording (the purely writerly aspects) make up a significant portion of why I found it to be a worthwhile read (and, in fact, one of my favorite books). But also because it has a lot of subtle layers of hidden meaning. It is in no way a cyberpunk or SF action adventure. Rather, it is an existential exploration of some of the currents running through our own, real world. Race relaions, inter-racial sex and sexual domination and power issues, repressed desires, the meaning of freedom (from one's own mental walls as well as from laws and social oppression), gender, homosexuality and bisexuality, drugs, madness, delusion (both the delusions of the insane and those that can come from pervasive social agreements/tendancies to think a particular way or fail to see certian things), the difference between what is real and what is believed or percieved. By the way, I started on it and stopped at various points twice before I read it all the way through. It's not easy, especially before you figure out that it's not aiming to be a typical post apocalyptic adventure, and that it doesn't have any of the same storytelling goals of such a tale.
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