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Summary: The Best of Times, The Worst of Times: RAGTIME!!
Review: I gotta say this is one heckuva novel. E.L. Doctorow is a fine writer and scholar, possessing a novelist's eye for narrative and good storytelling and a historian's knack for getting the details right on the mark.Ragtime is a true ensemble drama, the cast ranging from Harry Houdini, who surprisingly was a jewish immigrant whose real name was Erich Weiss, to Coalhouse Walker, a gifted black pianist who becomes via personal tragedy the leader of a terrorist group, to an affluent family who becomes entangled in this fascinating web of intrigue, passion, and murder. Please read Ragtime right away. Not only is it a great story but I also became educated as to the plight of the working class (mostly comprised of immigrants) in turn of the century New York City, where the rich dined on caviar as they sailed on yachts while the poor were packed en masse into squalid slums, without proper health care, education, or nutrition. It was only then that I realized how much I have taken for granted in my sheltered life. Two big thumbs up! Let's put it this way: once you pick up Ragtime you'll never put it down until the end.
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Summary: Captures the Beat of the Period
Review: Doctorow's Ragtime is different from any other book I have read. Ragtime tells the story of an unnamed family living in the early 20th Century. But it also gives glimpses into the lives of all the famous people that tangentially touch the lives of the family, from Harry Houdini to Henry Ford to Emiliano Zapata and Pancho Villa. The intricate interlacing of the story, with digressions that flow from the previous plot, but yet still have a staccato feel to them, mirrors the rags that were popular in music then and from which the book takes its name. There is not much to the plot. You should read the book for the atmosphere and vignettes about famous people, not because you want to become engrossed in the lives of interesting characters. But it is an interesting story of life a century ago.
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Summary: Ragtime: Distant Thunder
Review: When I first heard of Ragtime, it was in the musical form of the book. The musical interested me so much, that I decided to read the book as well. I highly recommend both. This book is wonderful! It is very historical, and one must applaud Doctorow for being so accurate. Take Henry Ford. Not only does he talk about the relationship of him and J.P. Morgan, but also says something about his anti-semitism (Which is a proven fact). He gives a real person, Evelyn Nesbit, heart when she helps Tateh and The Little Girl. Emma Goldman is an influence in Younger Brother's life. All of the historical characters tie in with the fiction characters perfectly. Father's relationship with Admiral Peary is another example. All of the subplots tie in perfectly as well. Coalhouse and The Famliy, Tateh and Mother, the Younger Brother "saga" are all subplots that are like this. The only "problem" with this book is the Tateh subplot. Doctorow uses him as a metaphor for the immigrant population so it gets a bit confusing somewhat. You don't know if that is all of the immigrants or just him. Also, Tateh is never really part of the story. His character is more of an onlooker, watching other people in his life. However, all in all this book is one of the best I have read. I recommend it for all historical fiction fans and also recommend that if you have read the book, listen to the wonderful musical written by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaterery.
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Summary: Doctorow's portrait of an era
Review: It's tough to compare Ragtime with Doctorow's other works. There isn't much of a story here in the narrative sense, though 2/3 through the book one sort of happens with Coalhouse Walker. This book is more of a portrait of the times and of a slew of interesting characters, which include both real figures (J.P. Morgan, Henry Ford, Houdini, etc) and imaginary. Doctorow dips into people's lives for a moment then moves on. One of the faults of the book is that many of the interesting vignettes aren't carried out to completion, rather he just moves on. At the center is an unnamed family (they go throughout the book called only Father, Mother, Mother's Younger Brother, sometimes Younger Brother for short, Grandfather, and the son) that is somehow involved in everyone's life. It doesn't have the social/political importance that _The Book of Daniel_ has, nor the compelling story in _Billy Bathgate_ but it is still a great book to read.
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Summary: It is about three groups involved in each other's destinies.
Review: E.L. Doctorow's novel, Ragtime, published in 1975 in America is a hilarious yet somber tale of life in America after the turn of the century. It is an extraordinary tapestry of three groups becoming involved in each other's destinies. The story opens in 1906 in New Rochelle, New York, at the home of a wealthy American family. One sultry Sunday afternoon, little boy standing on the porch of the house witnesses Harry Houdini lose control of his car and crash into a telephone pole. Magically the story lines interweave historical figures become part of fictional events and fictional characters become part of real history. Emma Goldman, J.P. Morgan, Henry Ford, Evelyn Nesbit, Simund Frend, and Zapata slip in and out of the story crossing paths with an imagined family and other fictional characters, including an immigrant peddler, Tateh, and a black Ragtime piano player from Harlem, Coalhouse, whose insistence on a point of justice and law drives him to revolutionary violence. Doctorow's bestseller was made into a major movie. There is a surprising upbeat ending, but let the reader discover it and ponder the implications. Ragtime deserves a thoughtful reading. Salam. OAC English student, Canada.
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Summary: Brilliant
Review: There's too much happening in this great novel to go into detail, but suffice it to say that if you're even remotely interested in history and/or good writing, this is the book for you. With scenes ranging from hysterical to repulsive (I'm referring to the one with the dead horse) E.L. Doctorow has given us a rollicking good time in the key of turn-of-the-century America, resplendent with all its ills and wonders. I hate to use this phrase, but it applies here: "I couldn't put it down!" Also recommended: McCrae's "Bark of the Dogwood"
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Summary: always a classic
Review: I first read this book in high school and have since read it again. It's one of my all time favorites. Ragtime captures the essence of the early 1900's in a way that's illuminating without becoming hokey or caricatured. While this portrayal in itself is satisfying, it is only a backdrop for an epic fable of class and love. The weaving together of three seperate tales keeps the reader interested by not lingering too long in any spot. It gets better I've time I read it.
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Summary: Captivating and real
Review: This was required reading when I was in college and I wasn't optimistic going in. Then I got past the first two chapters and was hooked! Brilliant story, great and believable characters, and interesting historical facts (just enough to make it even more interesting) was what sold me. By the time I finished I was sorry the book had to end. This is Doctorow's best effort and a must read for anyone. Regardless of what genre you're into, this is a fun book, like Berendt's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil, McCrae's Bark of the Dogwood, or Brown's Da Vinci Code. Also recommended: The Da Vinci Code, Bark of the Dogwood, To Kill a Mockingbird
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Summary: Overlooking bias:
Review: ... The first thing I can say about Ragtime, which is a fictionalized story about things that essentially happened in one way or another, is that Doctrow manages to get beyond his clearly socialistic sympathies (evident foremost in the narrative voice) and tell a wonderful and moving story. Ragtime crisscrosses around east coast America to tell three different interlocking stories about three distinctly American families: Old World white and rich, ambitious immigrant Jews and up-and-coming sophisticated black circa 1902. These three families represent three distinct social classes and, being archetypes to the Nth degree can therefore be used to represent a much larger group of Americans. The story itself, as others readers have stated, is very simply told. Ragtime is quite easy to read and very quickly paced. The urgency of the technological and political advances, the rapid social changes and the human inability to reconcile itself with this too swiftly moving world makes up for the bulk of the narrative, consisting mostly of characters struggling to catch up with the latest play of events. Most of these characters are well-meaning idealistics, constantly disappointed or undermined by the larger, antagonistic world and seeing their great hopes destroyed by the impatience of the world around them. It makes for a wonderful and compelling read, biases be damned!--and, if one can overlook the subtle moralizing of Doctrow, there is a great deal to be learned about the importance of America in the 20th century.
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Summary: a great source of literature and history
Review: i loved this book. i read it for Engligh, and thankfully, we were learning about this time period in US History at the same time, so i had a great foundation for the novel. and earlier reviewer said that there was a good deal of irish bashing in this book, but that was how Americans saw the Irish at the time, and we not liked at all, so Doctorow was not making his opinions known, but working off American thoughts of the time. i enjoyed the concept of inter-mixing fictional characters with historical, because it says that anybody is able to be directly connected with history. Doctorow is an amazing author, and this book is certainly a great one. there are so many things you can find and analyze. it isn't simply a story, but a mixture of literary techniques and history, so you learn a lot for both subjects, and even if one or the other doesn't interet you, Doctorow does a good job of making it so you can still enjoy the book. this is such a unique book, especially for our time. i would highly reccomend it to anybody, regardless of how much they knew of literature or history.
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