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Summary: A Feast of Connections
Review: If the city of this god never sleeps, neither does the mind that wanders it at the close of the twentieth, and possibly worst, century. Its passion, erudition, its hunger to find connection[s], to shape experience with language and embue it with meaning are of biblical proportion. City of God is a composition of strands and versions, of voices and forms, mediated by a witty and loving and ultimately humane god of the page. Readers looking for linearity and closer won't find them here. In this City, doubt and hope survive, and lives go forth.
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Summary: Disappointing
Review: I was very disappointed in this book. While it had it's moments and there was some eloquent language, I did not appreciate the resolution.
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Summary: Hmmmm!
Review: At the risk of sounding stupid, I must admit that I didn't understand the point of the book at all. While Doctorow's writing can be stunningly beautiful and, in places, unforgettable, unfortunately I found the organization of the book puzzling and the plot obscure. I was very disappointed.
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Summary: Mind over Matter - "City of God" by E L Doctorow
Review: E L Doctorow's latest is typical of an unpredictable author. It is another of his attempts to connect historic fact in modern, or in this case, post modern reality. In this sense it is hugely ambitious but it rewards the adventurous reader, willing to journey on his roller coaster ride of themes and styles.His ostensible subject is spirituality at the turn of the 20th Century. He explores this through the experience of a liberal episcopal priest in a crumbling downtown parish in New York City. Under threat from the Authorities his faith is challenged fianlly by the disappearance of his altar cross and ir=ts eventual reappearance on the roof of an uptown liberal Jewish synagogue. There appears to be no reason for this move. Doctorow uses this fable to faith in the 20th century through the development of philosphical thought (principally Wittgenstein, whose parodic musings are a highlight)and in the teeth of the grim horrors of WW1,WW2, Vietnam and, especially, the Holocaust. All this is held together through the attempts of an author to bring the characters and themes together through his own notebooks. thus we also find notes and thoughts on other types of faith including the American popular song, for Doctorow, one of the most obvious expressions of secular belief the 20th century has to offer. If this sounds a tough nut to crack, it isBut dull it is not. The reader barely has room to breathe as he or she is taken through fastidiously grim Holocaust narratives, elegaic descriptions of the beauties of faith and rough hewn poetry. Through it all, this envigorating journey of the mind becomes a meditiation on the development of the soul and the role of faith in any future we might have. If his answers are not comfortable, his style is challenging and thrilling.
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Summary: Outstanding
Review: An incredibly rich and entertaining work. Makes every word worth reading and enjoying
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Summary: A veteran author comes of age.
Review: Some initial caveats: 'City of God' is not a straightforward mystery as its blurb suggests. Nor is it the impossibly cerebral challenge that some have suggested. It is not a theological manifesto. Nor does its blend of fact and fiction does not entail Doctorow's habitual ironic play with history. This is a book about connections. Life and art, fact and fiction, and the past and present conjoin in the ruminations of a middle-aged writer attempting to make holistic sense from the seemingly disparate threads of the late twentieth century. The novel is therefore also about the potential difficulties of being middle-aged, and of trying to look to the future when one is increasingly compelled to reminisce (and confess) about the past. Its characters roam the city of New York and then the world for missing objects and people, including stolen brass crosses from churches, WWII diaries containing evidence of Nazi criminals, and excommunicated reverends. Predictably (but also pleasurably), more important than what they find is what they learn about both themselves and the age in which they live. Some reviewers have criticised the novel for its fragmentary style. But here Doctorow produces some of his most lyrical, least mannered excursions into the human unconscious yet. The novel's chief difficulty for readers is not in trying to understand it but in knowing how to read it. My experience of its chief pleasures come not from looking at the fragments individually, but by examning the connections between them. Moreover, don't expect the 'city' of the title to be teeming with carefully delineated characters. Perhaps it's best to think of the novel as the examination of one person (Everett, the writer who collects ideas for stories, poems and songs in this 'workbook') whose presence is replicated in a number of different stories which range across twentieth-century history. That said, this presence is most successfully telescoped into Everett's contemporary evocations of Tom Pemberton, a cleverly drawn character and a bewitching symbol of oft-thwarted yet surviving ambitions. This novel is a joyful celebration of age, memory, regeneration and hope for the future. Final note: this isn't a 'postmodern' novel, although its style is experimental. In my opinion the subject is more traditional: like Victor Hugo or Dostoyevsky, it is concerned with the power of art to transfigure and redeem history. Be patient with this novel, and enjoy the rewards.
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Summary: Guess it depends who you are...
Review: I can't help but think that if this hadn't been written by an established author, it never would have seen the light of day. (For example, if I had submitted it to a publisher, I feel sure it would have been rejected as rambling, disjointed, not making sense, what's really happening & what's taking place in the writer's head, etc.) It was still interesting & thought-provoking for all that, though.
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Summary: A laborious route to a magnificent ending
Review: I waited until I finished reading Doctorow's "City ofGod" before reading any reviews of this book - not sure why Imade that choice but once made I was thankful I had. If you're looking for his usual mix of historical fact with fascinating fiction, don't try this work. Work? Yes, that is exactly what this book is. And after wading through alot of pages that begged editing, I started over. City of God takes us back to college days, when we wandered from Philosophy to Religion to History to Psychology to Physics and to Biology classes. None of it pulls together until all the courses are finished THEN the magnificence of Doctorow's mind is appreciated. There is a good novel buried in this book, but the true rewards are found in Doctorow's philosphical excursions. His exploration of the beginning of the universe, his mingling the various philosophies that address man's condition and his search for meaning in a abusively chaotic cosmos, his paring down the tennants of Jewish and Christian thought - all these are done with enormous skill and read even better when approached a second and third time. Sometimes he is out of his territory - as when he maligns us with the oh-so-corny reinterpretations of banal songs. But Wow! this man's mind is impressive. And for those hardy readers who commit to finishing this literary task the retrospective gratification is magnificent!
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Summary: Read this book
Review: Do not pay attnetion to the nay-sayers who describe this book as too difficult. This book will flow for you, if you experience it with an open mind. This is a deeply rewarding book by a mature writer. In the future, people will wonder that this book was not better received than it has been; in the future, people will still read this book. It is a novel about the wonder of it all, a leap from Mr. Doctorow's previous works.
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Summary: Confusing and hard to follow
Review: I have read 1/2 of this book and find it a most difficult book to follow. There are rambeling sentences that seem to never end and by time you reach the end you need to reread it. It shifts back and forth from theme to theme challenging you to understand where it's trying to go.It brings up a philosopher that I have never heard of and doubt if most collage graduates other than philosophy majors have. I doubt if I can force myself to finish the book and maybe if I do my opinion may change BUT I don't think most people will get past the first few pages.
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