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Rating: 
Summary: A Great American Novel.
Review: 'Appointment in Samarra' is a great novel. I was led to read it by an article in the Atlantic Monthly that lamented the pretentiousness of much of contemporary writing. Not only is the writing pretentious, but it doesn't say anything intelligible. 'Appointment in Sammara', by contrast, tells a story in a direct manner while still revealing to us hidden truths about the human spirit. It's not giving anything away to say that the story concerns the self-destruction of one Julian English. Julian is suave, Protestant, lives in the finest neighborhood, and hangs out with the in crowd. But Julian makes the mistake of throwing his drink into the face of a powerful, nouveau riche Irish Catholic. Suddenly, Julian's support structures don't seem so firm. Julian's descent is heart breaking because, although he is not an especially likeable person, John O'Hara still manages to make us care for him. O'Hara's book was prophetic in that it portrays the end of WASP domination in America. The book takes place in 1930 and was published in 1934 ' just six years after the Catholic Al Smith was denied the presidency by a virulent anti-Catholic backlash led, in part, by the Klan. We're told that some of the locals in Pottsville are members of the the Klan. Twenty-six years later, in 1960, an Irish Catholic would be elected president. Appointment in Samarra is a must read for those who are serious about the American novel.
Rating:
Summary: Ranks with Fitzgerald
Review: At the end of every year, Brian Lamb talks to three authors on a special Booknotes on C-SPAN. Last year one of the guests was Shelby Foote & he said that he was reading some great American authors who folks had sort of forgotten. One of them was John O'Hara. Now I've seen dozens of his books at book sales, so I knew two things: one, he sold a ton of books; two, folks aren't reading them anymore. So I picked up From the Terrace, Appointment in Samarra & a couple collections of the short stories & loved them all. It was very heartening to see that he made this list (Modern Library Top 100). Appointment tells the story of Julian English, a WASP nervously perched atop the social heap in Gibbsville, PA. At a Christmas party in 1930, he throws a drink in the face of the town's leading Catholic businessman and thus begins his downward spiral. O'Hara etches very sharp portraits of characters from the varying strata of society & presents a vivid tale of an America & it's establishment shaken by the oncoming Depression and the rise of new Ethnic groups. GRADE: A
Rating: 
Summary: sloppy but profound
Review: I was not disappointed with this novel, but I do not think it belongs on the best novels of the century list. While much of this book is excellent, its flaws are jarringly obvious. There are plot holes galore, characters who inexplicably appear and then are never heard from again, and so much detail that it just boggles the mind. I suspect that when O'Hara sat down to write this book, he just started typing whatever came to his mind, and without consideration for structure, grammar, or punctuation. After he was finished, he sent it off to his publisher and no one, including O'Hara, knew how to edit it. I've read several of his short stories and they suffered from these same flaws. He is, however, a matchless winner when it comes to writing dialogue; all of his characters are distinctly real in the way they talk. Alas, sometimes, I wonder what ever happened to John O'Hara; he was one of the literary lights of the first half of this century, but he is largely forgotten today.
Rating: 
Summary: WASP Wastrel Wimps Out
Review: It all depends. If you class John O'Hara as an American writer of popular fiction, then he must be up there at the very top with detailed descriptions of his society, use of both colloquial and literary language, and character development. If, on the other hand, you put him in that category we often label "classic fiction", then he doesn't measure up to the other greats of his time. I can't place O'Hara alongside Faulkner, Hemingway, Lewis, Fitzgerald, or even Anderson. Still, APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA reads very well; it is fast-paced and involves you with the various characters, it contains humor, and excellently drawn characters. Julian English, the main protagonist, inherits a place at the top of his society in Gibbsville, Pennsylvania---a pseudonym for Pottstown, where O'Hara grew up. He has married the most desirable girl of his set. What makes him throw a drink in the face of a gentleman who annoys or bores him ? Whatever it is, that starts a most precipitous decline, which only a few days later, leads to a (by then) non-surprise ending. Fate has written it thus, and Julian cannot escape. He doesn't struggle much, that's for sure. Much of the book explores the previous lives of several characters: wife, friends, a small-time gangster. Pottstown life comes across as narrowly provincial, sexually active, fairly alcoholic, at least in its upper reaches, and divided into rigid categories. It has been said before about O'Hara that he creates excellent atmosphere, builds up an intricate plot, and then crashes at the end. This novel is no exception; it just trickles across the finish line. O'Hara's America is one in which Anglo-Saxons still rule, but live under challenge from newer, perhaps more dynamic groups. The rulers dislike all their challengers intensely. Snobbism is writ large in O'Hara's work---though a Catholic of Irish descent, he obviously placed himself with the ruling class and he did come from a wealthy background. He constantly emphasizes the importance of "being with the right people", consuming the right items, living on the right street, and "being at the right social events". And it's no wonder that he reserves his nastiest cracks for Jews. Never a mention without a sneer, a condescending witticism, or outright nastiness. I often felt like throwing the book out the window. I thanked my good luck that I outlived that narrowminded America and can look back on Mr. O'Hara and his heyday with considerable relief that America has changed, at least in this way, for the better. Nothing can prove my point better than the experience of reading this outdated novel.
Rating:
Summary: APPOINTMENT WITH OHARA
Review: Julian English is a synonym for self-destruct. Just as Scarlett O'Hara instantly brings to mind a well-defined personality, so does Julian. O'Hara (John, that is) is that good. His eye and ear for time and place are uncanny. I can see and hear the characters in their surroundings, like seeing a movie and reading a book at the same time. "Appointment" is inevitable from the time Julian throws a drink in the face of the town's leading businessman. Its tone is elegiac as in a Greek tragedy. I always think of Caroline English as the Chorus. She sees the path Julian is on, but there is nothing she can do or say to change a step he takes. I don't think there is a word wasted in the entire novel. O'Hara still has not been quite forgiven for being too successful in his own lifetime. His sin is that he is too readable, too good a storyteller and; therefore, his books sold like hotcakes. He had the temperament of a wounded grizzly bear which alienated almost every friend he had. I believe he will find his way back to his reader's affections; he writes too well to be ignored.
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Summary: Societal troubles in a so-called civilized world
Review: This book is like American Beauty of the 1930s. A man, trapped into a rigid social order, bursts out uncontrollably. Amazingly, this novel focuses on modern themes that still exist today, despite being written seventy years ago. One man, going to dances and social clubs, trying to keep his community standing in tact, maintaining his marriage, just couldn't take it anymore. A simple thing like disliking a man's story later tears his life apart. Such a simple constrained life blew up like a high-pressure balloon. While not a story with action or a plot, it is a literary device that portrays the upper-middle class life at that time. It's a nice timepiece and gives the reader a sense of living that life. A typical small Depression era American town with a country club and speak easy. It's a suprisingly quick and easy read, with a good description of life, and an opening for social interests. Unfortunately, it doesn't captivate readers like many other literary masterpieces.
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