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Liked It3 of 3 members found this review helpful “Doctorow's greatest success. "Ragtime" is at once fable, romance, history, and prophecy...it is a prism that captures a specific time in our history as a nation (at the birth of modern America), reduces it to an essential pinpoint of light and sends it blinding and dazzling back from the past...” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“A sweeping saga of 20th century history and lives, written with mastery and audacity. Fictitious characters and real events are mixed with real people and fictitious events, racing along to an amazing conclusion. The characters are unforgettable: Coalhouse Walker; Harry Houdini; Pierpont Morgan; Mother Sarah; Will Conklin; etc. Fascinating titbits of history are embedded in re-creations of entire landscapes. Doctorow has an uncanny ability to put the reader into the shoes of the protagonists. We are left with some old moral certitudes looking evil in the light of hindsight and history - and basic humanity. ”
lyn l wrote this review 12 days ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Doctorow mixes completely fictional and historical characters in this tale of life in New York in the early 20th century. Like a rag tune, this bouncy novel takes the reader through the adventures of noble anarchists, pagan industrialists, odorous immigrants, racist public servants and impulsive heroines. Doctorow is able to weave historical figures like Harry Houdini, J.P Morgan, and others into his narrative without getting bogged down in too many details. A fun read. ”
deebxlib wrote this review Tuesday, March 13, 2012. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“After reading 85 books in 85 weeks, I feared I was losing my reading mojo. After reading a mere page or two of Ragtime, I was awakened and couldn’t stop talking about what a wonderful book it was.
V Sudia wrote this review Monday, February 13, 2012. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Doctorow not only manages to weave a perfectly crafted tale, but at the same time introduces several historical figures including, but not limited to Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Dreiser, Freud, Jung, Emma Goldman, Henry Clay Frick, Alexander Berkman, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Henry Ford, J. P. Morgan, Booker T. Washington and Erik Weiss, aka Harry Houdini…whew, what a cast of characters. Doctorow introduces these characters very unobtrusively and the truly fictional characters very intimately so that the melding of them seems quite natural. And just when you’re wondering about a certain someone, he/she appears at just that moment.
So, it’s 1902 and in New Rochelle, New York, we meet Mother, Father, Grandfather, Little Boy and Mother’s Younger Brother…no names are provided and the need for them seems unnecessary. In contrast, we meet Mameh, Tateh and Little Girl living in the Lower East Side. While the families are at opposite ends of the social scale, they both face adversity and deal with a changing world. The families and the expanded cast cross paths, sometimes head on and sometimes with only a passing glance. If there is an equivalent bravo for literature, I stand and pronounce it here.
Harry Houdini, figures most prominently of the true life characters. Doctorow introduces him in New Rochelle when his car breaks down in front of Mother and Father’s home. He appears in several story lines with many of the book’s characters and we get to see some factual traits; his deep love for his mother, his disdain for bogus mediums and his love of aviation. His angst is keenly felt as he grapples with his place in the world.
Mother’s Young Brother isolates himself from the family and without intention, falls in with anarchists while stalking his idol, Evelyn Nesbit. Working for a fireworks manufacturer gives him the in he needs to help invade the home of J. P. Morgan with a wronged musician demanding amends. An interesting, yet troubled young man destined for tragedy.
The piano player of ragtime, Coalhouse Walker, Jr. is a man determined to set things right after a menacing encounter with a fire chief and his crew. His young lover and recent mother to his child dies trying to get help for him after an encounter with secret servicemen. Outraged at these events, he organizes a crew and begins bombing firehouses and threatens worse if his demands are not met. Of course, this can’t end well, and it does not, but not before Booker T. Washington intervenes and tries to thwart more bloodshed, without success. Another unfortunate man destined for tragedy.
Mr. Doctorow is now the third living author among those from the Modern Library’s list and one I’d truly love to meet. Perhaps he could read one of his short stories and share his methods. Ah, to dream of such an encounter.
READ THIS BOOK…
My rating for Ragtime is a 10 out of 10.
”“A family in the 1960s who learn the problems with being forward thinking. Incredible complex book.
Laurel B Deloria wrote this review Friday, January 27, 2012. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Ragtime is set in America at the beginning of the 20th Century. Its characters: three remarkable families whose lives become entwined with people whose names are Henry Ford, Emma Goldman, Harry Houdini, J.P. Morgan, Evelyn Nesbit, Sigmund Freud, Emiliano Zapata.”
“This book, set in the first two decades of the twentieth century is excellent telling of American culture through three fictional families but with so many actual personalities that it almost was like reading a newspaper. The first of the three families was white, living in New Rochelle, New York and only designated as Father, Mother, mother’s Younger Brother, the Boy and Grandfather representing the upper middle class, the second representing the immigrants were a Jewish family known as Tateh and Mameh (Yiddish for father and mother) and the little girl, and the third represented by the “Negro” ragtime musician Coalhouse Walker and his common-law wife Sara and their child. The last two family groups were largely invisible groups in America during this time known as the Progressive Era. The opening remarks by the narrator “There were no Negroes. There were no Immigrants,” reflects the selective vision of the upper middle class. Doctorow includes such personages as Booker T. Washington, Evelyn Nesbit (a Gibson Girl), Architect Stanford White and Harry K Thaw, J.P. Morgan, Ford and Harry Houdini giving the novel rich history. Music (Ragtime) often provides us with a picture of a time in history such as “Acid Rock Era” or the “Jazz Age”. The title centers the book on the African Americans and others that are marginalized such as the Jewish immigrants and political radicals like Emma Goldman. Doctorow has such a way of telling his stories, there never really is a protagonist. You might say that the culture is the protagonist just as the March was the protagonist in his book The March. Partly his story telling reminds me of Michener because of how much historical events are included in the story. If you like historical fiction, I recommend this book. The back cover says that this is “a joy to read and it reads like a streak” and it does. ”
Kristel wrote this review Monday, January 23, 2012. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“A towering American classic. Every word is an absolute delight. The mingling of his fictional characters with historical icons is flawless. Doctorow plays on your entire range of emotions and with this uncharacteristically (for him) philosophic novel. ”
Caleb A. Calhoun wrote this review Thursday, December 15, 2011. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“This is an odd book. To me, the most compelling character is Coalman Walker, Jr. and he isn't introduced until halfway through the book. With the exception of Younger Brother, none of the other family members are all that interesting. There were too many famous people introduced in this novel for my liking such as Harry Houdini, Emma Goldman, Evelyn Nesbit and Stanford White. J.P. Morgan, Henry Ford and the Archduke of Austria, Franz Ferdinand, are also introduced but never make contact with any members of the family.
Bill V wrote this review Tuesday, November 8, 2011. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
The book seems to vilify wealth and prosperity and celebrate violence to address one’s grievances, such as when Thaw shoots White. I saw the movie years ago and while I remember firehouses being blown up, I don’t remember people being murdered. While I sympathize with vigilantism to a certain extent, I draw the line at murder. I’m not sure that everyone that was killed in the explosions directly offended Walker. The book also seems to sympathize with left of center politics, including anarchy.
I'm aware Walker had something of a deathwish after Sarah, his fiancée, was senselessly attacked and died. I'm also aware he did his absolute best to work within a flawly system to gain justice but the idea of additional innocents dying because of his bloodlust bothered me.”“need to re-read along with his other two in the quasi-triology”
Don S wrote this review Sunday, October 9, 2011. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Tremendous writing, slightly less tremendous interpretive depth, but undoubtedly a heck of a novel. I've no idea how you would turn this into a musical, or why you would want to try, but then Broadway never really was an intelligible form to me anyway.”
Ross L wrote this review Sunday, October 9, 2011. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Doctorow's 1975 novel has remained on many best-of lists, so picking it up was a no brainer. It has an enormously satisfying gimmick, and I don't mean the way the story interweaves turn of the century historical people with fictional characters: Doctorow's deceptively simple writing style is enthralling. Easy to read, basic grammer, almost-childlike sentence structures make this book a true original: unabashedly playful and melancholic and ironic all at the same time. There are runs of sentences that start off with "the": "The ..., The....,The..." There are no dramatically self conscious, twisting in the air sentences that would stall Doctorow's rhythm. Despite having basic structures, these simple sentences still convey striking visual imagery, and nuanced characters. Better yet there is no conventionally presented dialogue to bog down this text. Characters speak but it is woven into the descriptive paragraphs. And the third person narration just flits here and there all over several different classes, and historical lenses so you're viewing a flippy page history book of Americana. Within the same paragraph the view shifts from the zeitgeist of the time to the isolated expereinces of an individual character. Sure this oh-so-broad view is ultimately a little shallow- shallow like astounding fireworks or a beautiful crafted pastry.
Padraig J wrote this review Friday, October 7, 2011. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
The style also goes on to influence the way we perceive the content. Hearing history told in a seemingly banal way, makes it all the more striking when the novel makes its big flourish: fictionalizing episodes of real historical characters through a contemporary moral lens. You have this run of very simple sentences, and then *boom* Houdini is having an existential crisis about his life's work. You read this run of simple sentences and *boom* Emma Goldman is bragging about her extensive sex life while massaging a naked woman. You have this run of very simple sentences, and "*boom* a man is spraying his lovejuice all over Evelyn Nesbitt. Yes, almost all too often Doctorow uses a sex scene with straight-out-of-a-Harlequin romance novel sex descriptors to jazz up the past. I could not believe he used the words "mons", "girlhood", and several other heavy handed euphamisms but maybe that's the sorts of words they used? I dunno. I doubt anybody used the word mons casually.
Anyway the presence of the historical figures never gets old. Every time they popped up to carry the story I was tickled. The main storyline comes together in the intersection of a upper middle class WASP family- only named by their roles: Mother, Father, and Son-, a younger black family, and a Jewish immigrant family- all named with ethnically stereoptypical names. It's another flare of daring style on Doctorow's part, and it works. I was so glad the main characters did not have serious names. Thirty years or so later while facile corporate media ran laughable stories about "the end of racism" when Obama got elected, it was genuinely a thrill to be reminded through the story of Coalhouse Walker what an episode of hostile racism could have looked like. It's results are all a little fantastic, but that's the thrill of _Ragtime_- the sheer boundless imagination Doctorow throws at the storyline so that you never know quite where it could go.
The reason I can't give it five stars is that I did find my attention flagging through the various shifts in characters, and the almost comlpete dropping of the historical figures when the Coalhouse storyline took full swing. Emma Goldman, and Evelyn Nesbitt were the best part of the first half of the book, but at least we still had loveable Houdini the whole way through.
The book provided a kaleidoscopic look at American life at the turn of the century- an America as wicked as it was innocent. It gave me a taste for New York again, in a way I haven't felt since "Sex & the City" over popularized it. It had a fantastic leftist socialism undercurrent that was really bracing. And through its unusual style _Ragtime_ was the most fun I've had in reading this year. I would highly recommend this book. ”
