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World's Fair
This wonderfully poignant story leads irresistibly to the glittering, futuristic promise of the New York World's Fair of 1939, where the young protaganist at the age of nine crosses over into a future of his own. 7 cassettes.
7 pages, Audio Cassette
First published October 12, 1985
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About the author
E.L. Doctorow
100 books1,153 followersHistory based known novels of American writer Edgar Laurence Doctorow. His works of fiction include Homer & Langley, The March, Billy Bathgate, Ragtime, The Book of Daniel, City of God, Welcome to Hard Times, Loon Lake, World’s Fair, The Waterworks, and All the Time in the World. Among his honors are the National Book Award, three National Book Critics Circle Awards, two PEN Faulkner Awards, The Edith Wharton Citation for Fiction, and the presidentially conferred National Humanities Medal. In 2009 he was short listed for the Man Booker International Prize honoring a writer’s lifetime achievement in fiction, and in 2012 he won the PEN Saul Bellow Award given to an author whose “scale of achievement over a sustained career places him in the highest rank of American Literature.” In 2013 the American Academy of Arts and Letters awarded him the Gold Medal for Fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 438 reviews
July 10, 2024
I believe World’s Fair is a literary reproduction by E. L. Doctorow of his own childhood – the novel is so compassionate and it is full of authentic feelings.
Child’s imagination, child’s fantasies and memories of our childhood are all dear to us. And I suppose there is always some central recollection that remains with us during our entire life.
Life goes on, we grow older but memories of childhood remain the brightest and dearest.
I imagined houses as superior beings who talked silently to each other.
Child’s imagination, child’s fantasies and memories of our childhood are all dear to us. And I suppose there is always some central recollection that remains with us during our entire life.
My father had predicted the Fair would be good for business. He explained that people were coming to see it from all over the country. They would have to stay in hotels, they would have to have dinner, they would spend money going to Radio City and they would pass the shop and see records and electrolas they wanted and they would come in and buy something. People on trips always set aside money to buy things. Besides, in his store they could find things you couldn’t find anywhere else. He was very optimistic.
Life goes on, we grow older but memories of childhood remain the brightest and dearest.
February 5, 2019
Hope Is Where You Find It
Doctorow's World's Fair is, for me, an important document touching on family history. My mother was 11 years old when she visited Flushing Meadows in 1939 and it influenced her life as significantly as it did Doctorow's. Both he and his avatar 'Edgar' were two years younger than my mother. New York City was (and of course largely still is) a city of immigrants and the children of immigrants. In other words it is a place of constant dislocation and dissolution. It doesn't so much melt into a pot as anneal on a blacksmith's iron. But the depression of the 1930's added a component of desperation to the lives of many that is the stage set in which his protagonist functions. For Edgar the Worlds Fair is not just a glimpse of other worlds, but rather, as for my mother, the symbol of a hope for a new world. It was almost an excuse to feel good. Edgar's father with his failing business sees it expressly as that, in almost the same words I am sure my mother quoted to me from my grandfather. The experiences that affected Edgar most deeply weren't the visions of new technologies or urban designs but the 'trivial' encounters like the archly vulgar sideshow 'Oscar the Amorous Octopus'. For my mother it was the bank of valves that released small amounts of unusual fragrances. The one that stuck in her mind was labelled, she found only after testing it, Human Gas.
Doctorow's World's Fair is, for me, an important document touching on family history. My mother was 11 years old when she visited Flushing Meadows in 1939 and it influenced her life as significantly as it did Doctorow's. Both he and his avatar 'Edgar' were two years younger than my mother. New York City was (and of course largely still is) a city of immigrants and the children of immigrants. In other words it is a place of constant dislocation and dissolution. It doesn't so much melt into a pot as anneal on a blacksmith's iron. But the depression of the 1930's added a component of desperation to the lives of many that is the stage set in which his protagonist functions. For Edgar the Worlds Fair is not just a glimpse of other worlds, but rather, as for my mother, the symbol of a hope for a new world. It was almost an excuse to feel good. Edgar's father with his failing business sees it expressly as that, in almost the same words I am sure my mother quoted to me from my grandfather. The experiences that affected Edgar most deeply weren't the visions of new technologies or urban designs but the 'trivial' encounters like the archly vulgar sideshow 'Oscar the Amorous Octopus'. For my mother it was the bank of valves that released small amounts of unusual fragrances. The one that stuck in her mind was labelled, she found only after testing it, Human Gas.
November 16, 2012
I’m not sure what you’d call this (memoir? novel? cultural history book?), but whatever it is, it works. Young Edgar, bright and observant, describes Jewish family life as he knew it growing up in the Bronx in the 1930’s. E. L. Doctorow (E for Edgar) presumably didn’t stray far from his own experiences to write this. The boyhood sketches spanned the whole decade, ending the year of New York’s iconic Fair when Edgar was 9. It was told in a voice that combined a kid’s sense of wonder with an adult’s more artful way of putting things. I thought part of what made the narration so effective was how detailed but natural the day-to-day snippets seemed. They were over-described and sensationalized in the way you'd expect and even hope from an enthusiastic child. His portrayals of the radio shows, movies, music, the pre-war political scene, bigotry, the depression economy, sports, and the precursors to carnal knowledge were all the more vivid from this young, zealous source. And that was just fine with me. Now I have something other than Radio Days to go on for a mental image of the times.
Edgar’s parents fell somewhere in the vast middle ground between Norman Rockwell and dysfunction. If anything, given his father’s proclivities, they leaned more towards the latter. Time did not always do its job to soften the painful memories. With a dad who was flawed, Edgar’s older brother was often the better role model. Like their father, brother Donald was clever, aware, and good at working angles, but unlike the old man, he was also responsible. Their mother was solid and dependable, though she was losing a bit of her spark. She didn’t have much to bring joy to her life, and had a mother-in-law to detract from it. I make this seem like a pretty grim scene, but there were plenty of warm undercurrents, too. The overall tone was more nostalgic than anything else.
One of the vignettes was about putting together a time capsule. In a way the whole book seemed like stories told by an old guy rummaging just such a trove. And always with the context to appreciate them.
Four stars bordering on five.
Edgar’s parents fell somewhere in the vast middle ground between Norman Rockwell and dysfunction. If anything, given his father’s proclivities, they leaned more towards the latter. Time did not always do its job to soften the painful memories. With a dad who was flawed, Edgar’s older brother was often the better role model. Like their father, brother Donald was clever, aware, and good at working angles, but unlike the old man, he was also responsible. Their mother was solid and dependable, though she was losing a bit of her spark. She didn’t have much to bring joy to her life, and had a mother-in-law to detract from it. I make this seem like a pretty grim scene, but there were plenty of warm undercurrents, too. The overall tone was more nostalgic than anything else.
One of the vignettes was about putting together a time capsule. In a way the whole book seemed like stories told by an old guy rummaging just such a trove. And always with the context to appreciate them.
Four stars bordering on five.
February 25, 2018
Adult Edgar Altschuler is looking back on his 1930s childhood with the wonder and fears of a young boy. The story is full of the sights and sounds during the Great Depression in New York City. In the background in their Jewish household radio reports tell about Hitler's advances. This is not a book with a lot of action, but it's a good character study of a boy growing up in that era. Although it is fiction, E.L. Doctorow incorporates events from his own childhood into the story.
Two visits to the 1939 World's Fair, with its pavilions full of futuristic ideas, come near the end of the book. A time capsule at the World's Fair inspires Edgar to bury his own time capsule full of items that were important to his life--a Tom Mix Decoder badge, a handwritten biography of President Roosevelt, and other remembrances from the 1930s. Moving into the next decade, there's a feeling that Edgar, near adolescence, and the world will both be undergoing many changes.
Two visits to the 1939 World's Fair, with its pavilions full of futuristic ideas, come near the end of the book. A time capsule at the World's Fair inspires Edgar to bury his own time capsule full of items that were important to his life--a Tom Mix Decoder badge, a handwritten biography of President Roosevelt, and other remembrances from the 1930s. Moving into the next decade, there's a feeling that Edgar, near adolescence, and the world will both be undergoing many changes.
November 26, 2025
While I was reading this book, I thought--THIS is why I read books. We can't experience everything during our lives. I will never walk on the Moon--or go to Middle Earth or Pellucidar, for that matter. If we use our imaginations, guided by good writing, we can gain new experiences beyond what is possible in our own lives. That's how I feel about E.L. Doctorow's book "World's Fair," published in 1985. I felt like I was living in the Jewish community in the Bronx in the 1930s, growing up along with Edgar Altschuler. And I learned that it was a rich and even magical culture with so much to discover, but there was a threat hanging over Edgar's young life--the Irish and Italian kids of the East Bronx that Edgar and the other Jewish kids knew they had to avoid. And there was the even greater threat, like dark clouds building up on the horizon, which was the rise of Hitler and Nazism in Germany, a threat which would sooner or later engulf America in war...Our story ends with the wondrous World's Fair in New York in 1939 and 1940, where young Edgar learns more than he should have. As with any excellent book, I was sad when it ended. We have to leave it to our imaginations as to what happened to Edgar--in college, during the war....and after, if there was an after.
January 31, 2025
An Overlooked American Classic
The late E.L. Doctorow's (1931 -- 2015) novel "World's Fair (1985) is a lyrical, autobiographical story about growing up in the New York City during the Depression.. Most of the book is told in the first person by an adult, "Edgar", who reflects upon his childhood up to the age of about nine. The adult writer has also approached family members for their reminisces, and some chapters of the book are in the words of the boy's mother, Rose, brother, Donald, father, Dave, and his Aunt Frances.
A beauty of this novel is the way in which it captures the innocence and feelings of early childhood in simple language but with an adult's sensibility and nostalgia. The story has the feel of authenticity even while it is told in a detached way from a distance of years.
In its simplicity, the story covers a broad scope. Edgar is a youngster of four at the outset of the book, with a brother eight years older. We see the closeness of the brothers together with their relationship to their parents, Dave, a free-spirited unsuccessful businessman and his restless, piano-playing, long-suffering wife Rose. The family is second-generation American descended from Russian Jews. The story also explores family on both the father's and the mother's side, including an aged, troubled grandmother, and relations who have made it further on the American economic ladder than Edgar's immediate family.
Besides showing acculturation to American life, the novel is full of the sights of 1930's New York City with its pushcarts, small shops, crowded streets and apartments, liveliness, and unpredictability. The writer and the young boy have sharp eyes and memories. The story also integrates the highly personal, individualized experience of growing up with the menacing events of the day. The rise of Hitler and the impending WW II are never far from consciousness. The book discusses the Depression and the socialism that appealed to many of the narrator's relatives at the time. There is a portrayal of the Hindenburg flying over the city en route to its disaster. And of course there is the World's Fair of 1939, described with relish in the latter portions of the book.
Although the boy is only nine, the World's Fair shows him a glimpse of the future and takes Edgar out from insularity. He first attends the fair with a young girlfriend and her single mother, who is a bit risqué as compared to Edgar's other acquaintances. Near the end of the boy's first visit to the World's Fair, the narrator describes how he had felt as a child: "I had worried before, all the time in this enormous effort to catch up to life, to find it, to feel it, comprehend it; but all I had to do was be in it and it would instruct me and give me everything I needed. As I fell asleep the fireworks went off over and over again like me pounding my own chest and sending my voice to the heavens that I was here."
In another section of the book, the boy's Aunt Frances discusses her marriage to Ephraim, a highly successful lawyer who has become a political conservative. "Ephraim and I had a wonderful marriage. We never argued. He was a conservative Republican, a member of the Liberty League. He knew I felt differently. I voted for Norman Thomas one year and simply didn't tell him and he didn't ask. He trusted me to handle all the household accounts and make the domestic decisions while he attended to his law practice. The system worked beautifully."
Something may be learned here in our own troubled times.
In a review published after Doctorow's death, Tom Cox described "World's Fair" as "an overlooked classic of American literature." Cox wrote that the book created a voice that "is wise, comforting, open-eyed with wonder and authentic all at the same time". Even though it won the National Book Award in 1986, "World's Fair" has not received the attention accorded to some of Doctorow's other works. It is an outstanding eloquent novel which deserves the description of "overlooked classic".
Robin Friedman
The late E.L. Doctorow's (1931 -- 2015) novel "World's Fair (1985) is a lyrical, autobiographical story about growing up in the New York City during the Depression.. Most of the book is told in the first person by an adult, "Edgar", who reflects upon his childhood up to the age of about nine. The adult writer has also approached family members for their reminisces, and some chapters of the book are in the words of the boy's mother, Rose, brother, Donald, father, Dave, and his Aunt Frances.
A beauty of this novel is the way in which it captures the innocence and feelings of early childhood in simple language but with an adult's sensibility and nostalgia. The story has the feel of authenticity even while it is told in a detached way from a distance of years.
In its simplicity, the story covers a broad scope. Edgar is a youngster of four at the outset of the book, with a brother eight years older. We see the closeness of the brothers together with their relationship to their parents, Dave, a free-spirited unsuccessful businessman and his restless, piano-playing, long-suffering wife Rose. The family is second-generation American descended from Russian Jews. The story also explores family on both the father's and the mother's side, including an aged, troubled grandmother, and relations who have made it further on the American economic ladder than Edgar's immediate family.
Besides showing acculturation to American life, the novel is full of the sights of 1930's New York City with its pushcarts, small shops, crowded streets and apartments, liveliness, and unpredictability. The writer and the young boy have sharp eyes and memories. The story also integrates the highly personal, individualized experience of growing up with the menacing events of the day. The rise of Hitler and the impending WW II are never far from consciousness. The book discusses the Depression and the socialism that appealed to many of the narrator's relatives at the time. There is a portrayal of the Hindenburg flying over the city en route to its disaster. And of course there is the World's Fair of 1939, described with relish in the latter portions of the book.
Although the boy is only nine, the World's Fair shows him a glimpse of the future and takes Edgar out from insularity. He first attends the fair with a young girlfriend and her single mother, who is a bit risqué as compared to Edgar's other acquaintances. Near the end of the boy's first visit to the World's Fair, the narrator describes how he had felt as a child: "I had worried before, all the time in this enormous effort to catch up to life, to find it, to feel it, comprehend it; but all I had to do was be in it and it would instruct me and give me everything I needed. As I fell asleep the fireworks went off over and over again like me pounding my own chest and sending my voice to the heavens that I was here."
In another section of the book, the boy's Aunt Frances discusses her marriage to Ephraim, a highly successful lawyer who has become a political conservative. "Ephraim and I had a wonderful marriage. We never argued. He was a conservative Republican, a member of the Liberty League. He knew I felt differently. I voted for Norman Thomas one year and simply didn't tell him and he didn't ask. He trusted me to handle all the household accounts and make the domestic decisions while he attended to his law practice. The system worked beautifully."
Something may be learned here in our own troubled times.
In a review published after Doctorow's death, Tom Cox described "World's Fair" as "an overlooked classic of American literature." Cox wrote that the book created a voice that "is wise, comforting, open-eyed with wonder and authentic all at the same time". Even though it won the National Book Award in 1986, "World's Fair" has not received the attention accorded to some of Doctorow's other works. It is an outstanding eloquent novel which deserves the description of "overlooked classic".
Robin Friedman
April 3, 2020
While I see considerable value in the book, I was not blown away by it. Edgar Altschuler, a stand in for Doctorow (Edgar Lawrence Doctorow), tells of his early family life and comes of age in the era just prior to World War II. Change is in the air, symbolized by the fair and occasional dark news from Europe. The family suffers from hard times as his father is not able to sustain a decent income, partly from the nature of the times, but also the result of a toxic gambling habit (and maybe other vices as well). Edgar is brought up east of the Grand Concourse, on Eastburn Avenue (subsequently chopped in half by the Cross Bronx Expressway) near Claremont Park, about a mile and twenty years away from my childhood haunts. I recognized many of the landmarks mentioned here, and many of the physical details of apartment living of that time. In fact, maybe it was too familiar. We see Edgar grow, but not too far, only far enough to see some things he should not see and feel some new, natural things. In fact, by the end of the book he has just entered fifth grade and begun school with his first pair of long pants (which cannot be literal, given New York winters)
The characters are well-portrayed, believable, and we care about Edgar. His mother, Rose, is given a voice as well, narrating a few chapters showing her history.
History begins and ends the book, starting with Rose telling us of her birth and ending with Edgar dropping a time capsule into the ground. I guess that is what this book really is, a time capsule of a certain time and place in a particular class of people. Edgar’s father reminds us, when at the fair, that history tends to ignore the experience of the working people. It is also very clear that even within the family there are clear class differences.
Edgar’s feelings seem quite real, seeing his parents as god-like when very young, then slowly coming to see their flaws. Feeling the growing distance from his older brother, Donald, as Donald reaches adulthood while Edgar is still a child. Enjoying the company of his friend Meg, and her unusual mother, Norma (who, as a sexy woman, had to have been named for Norma Jean), who so casually stirred nascent attractions, then learning that perhaps there was more potential to the friendship than being just friends. We see how Edgar deals with fear, cowering and weak when attacked by muggers, willing to deny his Jewishness, then later overcoming his fear in a small way when on the parachute ride with Meg. We see him go from being completely public to having a private life. We see him take a private chance when he enters a writing contest. He had grown. And as an omniscient viewer of history we know just how much change is just around the corner for Edgar. He seems a decent enough kid, an everyman, and we can root for him.
=============================EXTRA STUFF
My reviews of other books by Doctorow
-----The March
-----Homer & Langley
The characters are well-portrayed, believable, and we care about Edgar. His mother, Rose, is given a voice as well, narrating a few chapters showing her history.
History begins and ends the book, starting with Rose telling us of her birth and ending with Edgar dropping a time capsule into the ground. I guess that is what this book really is, a time capsule of a certain time and place in a particular class of people. Edgar’s father reminds us, when at the fair, that history tends to ignore the experience of the working people. It is also very clear that even within the family there are clear class differences.
Edgar’s feelings seem quite real, seeing his parents as god-like when very young, then slowly coming to see their flaws. Feeling the growing distance from his older brother, Donald, as Donald reaches adulthood while Edgar is still a child. Enjoying the company of his friend Meg, and her unusual mother, Norma (who, as a sexy woman, had to have been named for Norma Jean), who so casually stirred nascent attractions, then learning that perhaps there was more potential to the friendship than being just friends. We see how Edgar deals with fear, cowering and weak when attacked by muggers, willing to deny his Jewishness, then later overcoming his fear in a small way when on the parachute ride with Meg. We see him go from being completely public to having a private life. We see him take a private chance when he enters a writing contest. He had grown. And as an omniscient viewer of history we know just how much change is just around the corner for Edgar. He seems a decent enough kid, an everyman, and we can root for him.
=============================EXTRA STUFF
My reviews of other books by Doctorow
-----The March
-----Homer & Langley
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 5, 2019
The World’s Fair was written by E.L. Doctorow and won the National Book Award in 1986. It is largely an autobiographical novel of a boy, Edgar, growing up in the Bronx in the 1930’s. His fun-loving father owns a prominent music store. His mother is the adult in the relationship who constantly worries about the finances which are tight during the Depression even before his father loses the store. At some point young Edgar begins to figure out what romantic relationships are about and what his dad might be up to. He learns what it means to be Jewish in the Bronx in an era when it might cost him his life to wander into the wrong neighborhood. The book culminates with Edgar entering a city wide essay contest and his trips to the 1939 World’s Fair in New York City.
This is a heartwarming story masterfully wrought in typical Doctorow fashion, replete with descriptive detail. It reminded me of another wonderful book about growing up in New York City in the 1930s - ‘A Tree Grows in Brooklyn’ by Betty Smith. There is very little sensationalism in either book. Other than Edgar being exceptionally bright and Jewish there is nothing that distinguishes his story from millions of other children that have grown up in New York.
4.5 stars. Some people find Doctorow’s writing a little boring. I know that doesn’t sound like much of an endorsement but boy he writes with such clarity and his stories are some of the most descriptive and realistic that I’ve read. I would have liked to learn more about the main character’s brother as he just drifted off to the merchant marines.
This is a heartwarming story masterfully wrought in typical Doctorow fashion, replete with descriptive detail. It reminded me of another wonderful book about growing up in New York City in the 1930s - ‘A Tree Grows in Brooklyn’ by Betty Smith. There is very little sensationalism in either book. Other than Edgar being exceptionally bright and Jewish there is nothing that distinguishes his story from millions of other children that have grown up in New York.
4.5 stars. Some people find Doctorow’s writing a little boring. I know that doesn’t sound like much of an endorsement but boy he writes with such clarity and his stories are some of the most descriptive and realistic that I’ve read. I would have liked to learn more about the main character’s brother as he just drifted off to the merchant marines.
March 5, 2024
A touching story of the 1930's in New York with a family with many facets. The reader's tour guide is Edgar who was born at the beginning of the decade and visits the World's Fair as the decade changes to 1940. Doctorow is just a brilliant writer, and the depth of the characters makes one feel for all of them.
I especially enjoyed the friendship between Edgar and the girl in the neighborhood, the ending is also excellent and leaves the reader with just the right tone that the story deserves. Highly recommended to those who enjoy superior historical fiction.
I especially enjoyed the friendship between Edgar and the girl in the neighborhood, the ending is also excellent and leaves the reader with just the right tone that the story deserves. Highly recommended to those who enjoy superior historical fiction.
September 30, 2015
I wanted to like this more than I did. It is filled, filled, filled with accurate details of life in the Bronx during the 30s, ending in 1940 with the New York World's Fair. Everything is described, and all is well described - the news, the clothes, the food, new inventions, the street life, games, parks, Jewish traditions. This is a secular Jewish family. Seeing the Hindenburg airship was excitingly told to site just one fun episode. What you get is a million and one descriptions. The book ends with the burying of a time capsule, but actually that is the best way of describing the whole book! The book is a time capsule of a time and place.
I had one serious problem with the book. The central character is a young boy; he is still only nine when the book ends. He has an older brother; there is about six - seven years between the two. And his parents? Pretty typical, they have their shortcomings, but who doesn’t?! An ordinary family, not wealthy, struggling to get through the years of the Depression. The problem is that this kid, his name is Edgar, uses words way beyond his years, and it is predominantly him telling the whole story. Is the young boy telling the story or is it him when he is an older man? I could never decide. Look a nine year old, and certainly not this nine year old, would use such words as “articulate” or “insouciance”, to give but two examples! A paragraph later the words and thoughts were those of a child. Jarring!
The relationships were actually well depicted. You knew these family members well by the book's end. Edgar is treated as a kid - always. He is told nothing. His older brother is forced into being more adult than his years. HE analyzes the family relationships very well, but he is not the main character. Edgar cannot understand and so all he can do is to observe. Rather than getting under the skin of the characters, you observe from a distance, just as you observe the factual tidbits of the era. You do not feel empathy for any character. Character portrayal is not the point of the book. It is instead all the details that are the point - a flurry of many, many bits so information. Interesting per se, but you are not drawn in. The whole book ends up being kind of flat. A time capsule.
The narration by John Rubinstein wasn't great. I think he made Edgar sound young; it was so weird to hear this young, innocent and sometimes childishly excited voice use such complicated reasoning and adult words! The author's inability to define the age of the person telling the story became even more evident with the narrator's childish tone. He uses a Jewish Bronx accent, which is good. There are a few chapters told by the mother and one or two by the older brother. No change in tone is used. If a narrator dramatizes or personifies the narration then all characters must be done accurately. You cannot then use the same intonation for all characters.
I have read that the book most probably has autobiographical content. Note that the E in the author's name is Edgar. The author was born in the Bronx in 1931!
I had one serious problem with the book. The central character is a young boy; he is still only nine when the book ends. He has an older brother; there is about six - seven years between the two. And his parents? Pretty typical, they have their shortcomings, but who doesn’t?! An ordinary family, not wealthy, struggling to get through the years of the Depression. The problem is that this kid, his name is Edgar, uses words way beyond his years, and it is predominantly him telling the whole story. Is the young boy telling the story or is it him when he is an older man? I could never decide. Look a nine year old, and certainly not this nine year old, would use such words as “articulate” or “insouciance”, to give but two examples! A paragraph later the words and thoughts were those of a child. Jarring!
The relationships were actually well depicted. You knew these family members well by the book's end. Edgar is treated as a kid - always. He is told nothing. His older brother is forced into being more adult than his years. HE analyzes the family relationships very well, but he is not the main character. Edgar cannot understand and so all he can do is to observe. Rather than getting under the skin of the characters, you observe from a distance, just as you observe the factual tidbits of the era. You do not feel empathy for any character. Character portrayal is not the point of the book. It is instead all the details that are the point - a flurry of many, many bits so information. Interesting per se, but you are not drawn in. The whole book ends up being kind of flat. A time capsule.
The narration by John Rubinstein wasn't great. I think he made Edgar sound young; it was so weird to hear this young, innocent and sometimes childishly excited voice use such complicated reasoning and adult words! The author's inability to define the age of the person telling the story became even more evident with the narrator's childish tone. He uses a Jewish Bronx accent, which is good. There are a few chapters told by the mother and one or two by the older brother. No change in tone is used. If a narrator dramatizes or personifies the narration then all characters must be done accurately. You cannot then use the same intonation for all characters.
I have read that the book most probably has autobiographical content. Note that the E in the author's name is Edgar. The author was born in the Bronx in 1931!
February 12, 2022
Very well done coming of age story. The title made me think the World’s Fair was the center of this book. The World’s Fair records an evening at the Fair by Edgar as well as a writing contest he enters that wins him a second visit to the venue but this comes basically at the end of the book. The book documents Edgar growing up in NYC. By his detailed story telling you get a feel of current events, education, family life, and the city. There is an “interesting” scene at the Fair involving a tank of water, female swimmers and an octopus.
August 9, 2016
Esta es la historia de un niño, Edgar, y de una ciudad, Nueva York. ‘La feria del mundo’ transcurre en los años 30 en una Norteamérica azotada por la Gran Depresión, y la vivimos a través de la mirada de Edgar. Pero lejos de parecer un relato infantil, Doctorow nos regala una extraordinaria novela, con ciertos tintes autobiográficos, en la que resalta la calidad estilística del autor, su sencillez a la hora de narrar, y, sobre todo, ese mundo visto a través de los inocentes ojos de Edgar.
Con libros como este, estoy acostumbrado a encontrarme con escritores que se pierden en disquisiciones y recuerdos, que van adelante y atrás en una trama de la que terminas por perder el interés. Este no es el caso de ‘La feria del mundo’, que Doctorow lleva con mano firme, sin apenas flashbacks que interrumpan el hilo narrativo y temporal de la historia, algo de agradecer.
Siguiendo las andanzas de Edgar, conoceremos a su familia: su madre, Rose, su padre, Dave, su hermano mayor, Donald, su abuela materna, y su tío Willy, además de la familia de su padre, destacando su tía Frances. La historia está plagada de descripciones de la vida familiar de Edgar, de momentos entrañables y melancólicos, al igual que momentos más tristes. Las enseñanzas de su hermano Donald, del que Edgar siente devoción; la escucha de seriales radiofónicos, desde noticiarios, salpicados por los comentarios irónicos de su padre, hasta las aventuras de La Sombra; las calles del Bronx; los juegos del tío Willy; las sorpresas de Dave; los viajes de compras con su madre; los primeros amigos en la escuela; los deportes, el béisbol, el fútbol americano; las tareas escolares; las primeras lecturas, desde cómics hasta manuales de ventriloquia; la experiencia con la enfermedad y la muerte; el primer amor... Todo ello narrado desde la distancia, con un cierto tono elegíaco y nostálgico, sin caer en elementos sensacionalistas y sensibleros. Todas estas vivencias crean un pequeño universo formado por miríadas de detalles.
La Exposición Universal de Nueva York (1939)
Y después está Nueva York. El Nueva York de Edgar (Doctorow), un mosaico de momentos históricos, de vidas, que casi puedes palpar y sentir: los efectos de la Gran Depresión; la llegada del increíble dirigible Hindenburg surcando los cielos; las primeras noticias de la guerra en Europa, cuyas consecuencias empiezan a sentirse en las calles; el gran recibimiento otorgado a Lindbergh; la Exposición Universal de Nueva York y todas sus maravillas...
El Hindenburg surcando Manhattan
Doctorow era un escritor con oficio, y se nota. 'La feria del mundo’ es su obra más autobiográfica, y una de las más conseguidas.
Con libros como este, estoy acostumbrado a encontrarme con escritores que se pierden en disquisiciones y recuerdos, que van adelante y atrás en una trama de la que terminas por perder el interés. Este no es el caso de ‘La feria del mundo’, que Doctorow lleva con mano firme, sin apenas flashbacks que interrumpan el hilo narrativo y temporal de la historia, algo de agradecer.
Siguiendo las andanzas de Edgar, conoceremos a su familia: su madre, Rose, su padre, Dave, su hermano mayor, Donald, su abuela materna, y su tío Willy, además de la familia de su padre, destacando su tía Frances. La historia está plagada de descripciones de la vida familiar de Edgar, de momentos entrañables y melancólicos, al igual que momentos más tristes. Las enseñanzas de su hermano Donald, del que Edgar siente devoción; la escucha de seriales radiofónicos, desde noticiarios, salpicados por los comentarios irónicos de su padre, hasta las aventuras de La Sombra; las calles del Bronx; los juegos del tío Willy; las sorpresas de Dave; los viajes de compras con su madre; los primeros amigos en la escuela; los deportes, el béisbol, el fútbol americano; las tareas escolares; las primeras lecturas, desde cómics hasta manuales de ventriloquia; la experiencia con la enfermedad y la muerte; el primer amor... Todo ello narrado desde la distancia, con un cierto tono elegíaco y nostálgico, sin caer en elementos sensacionalistas y sensibleros. Todas estas vivencias crean un pequeño universo formado por miríadas de detalles.
La Exposición Universal de Nueva York (1939)
Y después está Nueva York. El Nueva York de Edgar (Doctorow), un mosaico de momentos históricos, de vidas, que casi puedes palpar y sentir: los efectos de la Gran Depresión; la llegada del increíble dirigible Hindenburg surcando los cielos; las primeras noticias de la guerra en Europa, cuyas consecuencias empiezan a sentirse en las calles; el gran recibimiento otorgado a Lindbergh; la Exposición Universal de Nueva York y todas sus maravillas...
El Hindenburg surcando Manhattan
Doctorow era un escritor con oficio, y se nota. 'La feria del mundo’ es su obra más autobiográfica, y una de las más conseguidas.
February 18, 2016
"World's Fair" is a novel that sort of creeps up on you. It has no discernable plot; it is merely snippets of moments in a young Jewish boy's life in New York City in the 1930s. It is a very detailed work; E.L. Doctorow creates the sense of place vividly. You are there when he describes something.
The book is told from the perspective of Edgar Altschuler, a young man looking back on details of his youth. Of the text's 31 chapters all are from his point of view with the exception of four from his mother's (Rose), two from his brother (Donald), and one from his aunt (Frances). I only mention this because when Doctorow shifts the perspective, albeit briefly, it increases the scope of the text and makes the story that much richer. When these seven chapters are interspersed in the book they are written as if the character whose point of view we are getting is telling their perspective to the adult Edgar, who is our guide in this tale. The interspersion creates a nice contrast in the text, and is a good technique as employed here.
"World's Fair" is a beautifully written book, but it is also fair to say that at times it is overwritten. However, when the writing is as good as this is you mostly don't care about that. Doctorow does an amazing job of capturing how a child sees and interprets things. You really live inside the mind of a young boy. You will recognize Edgar's way of thinking from your own childhood. It is an astounding feat, and a real testament to the greatness of this book.
A highlight of the novel is chapters 28 & 29, which feature Edgar going to the 1939 World's Fair, and it is magical. The writing soars at this point and the reader will find they are as enthralled as this nine year old boy is at the wonders that he beholds. It is edge of your seat reading, and you will not put the book down in the middle of these two chapters, I assure you!
One of the critical blurbs on the cover of the novel perfectly captures this text, so I will end my review with it. "Doctorow has managed to regain the awed perspective of a child in this novel of rare warmth and intimacy..." All I can say to that is amen!
The book is told from the perspective of Edgar Altschuler, a young man looking back on details of his youth. Of the text's 31 chapters all are from his point of view with the exception of four from his mother's (Rose), two from his brother (Donald), and one from his aunt (Frances). I only mention this because when Doctorow shifts the perspective, albeit briefly, it increases the scope of the text and makes the story that much richer. When these seven chapters are interspersed in the book they are written as if the character whose point of view we are getting is telling their perspective to the adult Edgar, who is our guide in this tale. The interspersion creates a nice contrast in the text, and is a good technique as employed here.
"World's Fair" is a beautifully written book, but it is also fair to say that at times it is overwritten. However, when the writing is as good as this is you mostly don't care about that. Doctorow does an amazing job of capturing how a child sees and interprets things. You really live inside the mind of a young boy. You will recognize Edgar's way of thinking from your own childhood. It is an astounding feat, and a real testament to the greatness of this book.
A highlight of the novel is chapters 28 & 29, which feature Edgar going to the 1939 World's Fair, and it is magical. The writing soars at this point and the reader will find they are as enthralled as this nine year old boy is at the wonders that he beholds. It is edge of your seat reading, and you will not put the book down in the middle of these two chapters, I assure you!
One of the critical blurbs on the cover of the novel perfectly captures this text, so I will end my review with it. "Doctorow has managed to regain the awed perspective of a child in this novel of rare warmth and intimacy..." All I can say to that is amen!
August 12, 2021
This was a wonderful story of a boy growing up in the 1930s. He happens to be in the Bronx, but except for not climbing trees, he could have been almost anywhere in the US. He has an imagination. He reads and the characters in his book become part of his playing. He has adventures, mostly of his imagination, but a few real ones. Over the course of the novel, he grows from a pre-schooler to a boy in the fifth grade.
In the "olden days" you waited until the baby was born to find out whether a boy or a girl. I always wanted girls because I thought I wouldn't know what to do with a boy. I love my daughters and wouldn't have it any other way, but something inside me says boys might have been more of an adventure. I've heard my husband tell about his boyhood and I was able to stamp those ideas on the boy in this book. Such fun!
The characterizations were superb - not just of Edgar, but of his family and his neighborhood as well. Nothing could ever be said to disparage Doctorow's writing. The odd thing is that the part about the World's Fair was the least interesting - to me - of the entire novel. It was almost as if Doctorow had written this wonderful childhood, but to make it worth a novel he had to tack on something.
There will be no new Doctorow novels. I still have some unread, so new-to-me, and for that I feel privileged. This was a good 4-star read, but others might find it better.
In the "olden days" you waited until the baby was born to find out whether a boy or a girl. I always wanted girls because I thought I wouldn't know what to do with a boy. I love my daughters and wouldn't have it any other way, but something inside me says boys might have been more of an adventure. I've heard my husband tell about his boyhood and I was able to stamp those ideas on the boy in this book. Such fun!
The characterizations were superb - not just of Edgar, but of his family and his neighborhood as well. Nothing could ever be said to disparage Doctorow's writing. The odd thing is that the part about the World's Fair was the least interesting - to me - of the entire novel. It was almost as if Doctorow had written this wonderful childhood, but to make it worth a novel he had to tack on something.
There will be no new Doctorow novels. I still have some unread, so new-to-me, and for that I feel privileged. This was a good 4-star read, but others might find it better.
February 17, 2017
I loved this book. It is set in the Bronx of the 30s. My mother grew up there in those days and told me many stories about it. Reading about Morris High School (her alma mater), the Grand Concourse, Jerome Avenue, the automat, and more made it seem very special to me, although I haven't seen any of those places for nearly 50 years and then only once. It was kind of like City Boy: The Adventures of Herbie Bookbinder, a well-loved book of my youth, and Radio Days, one of my favorite films. Will probably read it again one of these days.
April 16, 2024
I don't believe I've ever read a book that seemed to glow from every page like this. Growing up in pre-WWII New York City the world seemed safe and warm. Even as his family struggles with things beyond his kin, it remains a safe shelter from the outside world.
Doctorow has created a city through the eyes of a child. Edgar is bursting with energy and optimism and, while the reader already knows much of the answers, a lot of hard questions. The story contains warmness like a favorite family quilt. If you are open to it, it will warm your insides.
I'd recommend this to any reader. It isn't violent or scary or difficult to follow at all. No hot wings to be found here. It's a bowl of warm tomato soup and a grilled cheese with a glass of cold milk.
Doctorow has created a city through the eyes of a child. Edgar is bursting with energy and optimism and, while the reader already knows much of the answers, a lot of hard questions. The story contains warmness like a favorite family quilt. If you are open to it, it will warm your insides.
I'd recommend this to any reader. It isn't violent or scary or difficult to follow at all. No hot wings to be found here. It's a bowl of warm tomato soup and a grilled cheese with a glass of cold milk.
February 1, 2023
"World's Fair" is the author's nostalgic look back at his own childhood and family. It is largely autobiographical, although not entirely. The child in the book is given the name "Edgar" and his parents and brother are called by their real first names. The family's last name was changed. This book won the National Book Award for Fiction in 1986.
This is a book that brought to mind my own parents and grandparents. E.L. Doctorow was a contemporary of my parents. His grandparents were Russian Jews who emigrated to N.Y.C. prior to World War I. My family has the same background, but did not settle in New York. The stories Doctorow tells in the book of his family are most similar to ones I've heard all my life. They resonated with me.
Much of the book is told from Edgar's point of view, from babyhood through age 9. I especially liked the chapters of various family members talking to Edgar, and explaining events from their own perspectives. We hear from his mother, older brother and aunt.
Their household was a middle class one, although there were times that they struggled financially. Plants bloom when given sunlight, water and nutrients. Both Edgar and his brother grew up with books, newspapers, good public schools, music, an attentive mother and a real sense of belonging. They thrived just as plants do.
The book ends with Edgar burying a time capsule that he has made that represents his life for future generations. Likewise, E.L. Doctorow has given us a time capsule of what his life was like in the 1930's. He took care to explain the fashions, radio shows, bands, toys, current events, politics, sports teams, etc. of the day.
Update, 8-17-21: History can be cyclical. When I was reading the book, what jumped out at me was that Edgar's father identified himself as anti-fascist. Of course, this was in response to events leading up to WWII. Here we are in 2021 U.S.A. and I find myself very concerned about fascism on the rise.
This is a book that brought to mind my own parents and grandparents. E.L. Doctorow was a contemporary of my parents. His grandparents were Russian Jews who emigrated to N.Y.C. prior to World War I. My family has the same background, but did not settle in New York. The stories Doctorow tells in the book of his family are most similar to ones I've heard all my life. They resonated with me.
Much of the book is told from Edgar's point of view, from babyhood through age 9. I especially liked the chapters of various family members talking to Edgar, and explaining events from their own perspectives. We hear from his mother, older brother and aunt.
Their household was a middle class one, although there were times that they struggled financially. Plants bloom when given sunlight, water and nutrients. Both Edgar and his brother grew up with books, newspapers, good public schools, music, an attentive mother and a real sense of belonging. They thrived just as plants do.
The book ends with Edgar burying a time capsule that he has made that represents his life for future generations. Likewise, E.L. Doctorow has given us a time capsule of what his life was like in the 1930's. He took care to explain the fashions, radio shows, bands, toys, current events, politics, sports teams, etc. of the day.
Update, 8-17-21: History can be cyclical. When I was reading the book, what jumped out at me was that Edgar's father identified himself as anti-fascist. Of course, this was in response to events leading up to WWII. Here we are in 2021 U.S.A. and I find myself very concerned about fascism on the rise.
July 10, 2021
The final scene in this book is of two boys burying a time capsule containing those common items that they believe would give some future person a sense of their moment in time. This book felt like the literary equivalent, a collection of moments from the life of a boy growing up in the Bronx in the 1930s. Each chapter felt like a snapshot, capturing the sights and sounds and smells and tastes of a particular time and place. The writing is evocative. Although I enjoyed each scene, I did not find it a compulsive read.
February 1, 2023
This book takes the reader back in time to 1939 New York City, where protagonist and primary narrator Edgar, a ten-year-old boy, is growing up in the Bronx. It is the story of his Jewish family, and their many challenges. It is occasionally narrated by another family member (to provide an adult perspective). The writing is top rate, and the period is beautifully depicted by an author who lived through it. This book represents historical fiction at its finest.
January 11, 2018
Set during the 1930s this is the story of the boyhood of Edgar Altschuler growing up in the Bronx. It is wonderfully told and set against the backdrop of the Depression and the start of the Second War.
The best books have memorable passages. When I look back to my favourites that is what stands out, and World’s Fair has plenty of them. These key passages for me are ones that resonate with my own childhood, albeit three or four years older than Edgar.
Edgar’s appreciation of music comes from his father, and his music shop in downtown. Benny Goodman has just come onto the music scene, and even for an 8 year old, this is an exciting time.
The young boy is a prolific reader and thinks nothing of walking by himself a mile to the library at 9 years old, and is reading ‘between 3 and 4 novels a week’. There is a beautiful passage as he recalls the most memorable part of his favourite book, Tom and Beckie, lost in the caves, and rescued by Injun Joe.
Sport plays an important role in his life also, the New York Giants, and the Yankees. He says he gets more pleasure from listening to the game on the radio than actually being there, and I can readily identify with that as a youngster myself. But, when his father takes him to his first football game, it is of course a very special occasion. I remember going with my father to Everton and cricket at Old Trafford also, and it is one of my most treasured memories.
Ah, what a moment, coming out into the raked tiers, seeing with my own eyes the green grass field, the white stripes, the colors of the two helmeted teams deployed for the kickoff. Tens of thousands of people roared with anticipation. Pigeons flew into the air. The game was about to begin!
“What do you think of this?” My father said, smiling at us in triumph. “Not bad, eh?” He loved this sort of situation, the suspense of getting in just at the last moment. The game meant more now, more than if he had purchased the tickets a week in advance.
They usually required you to say what you liked about a product in 24 words or less... My friend Arnold had made up a contest for Castoria, the laxative. “I like Castoria because it’s foul-tasing and gives you terrible diarrhoea, and we all know what fun that can be.”
I was not fond of the Dodgers. People liked their pugnacity, as if they were a street gang. Sports cartoons showed them pitching and batting with black stubble on their faces, and cigar butts in their mouths. The whole borough (Brooklyn) offered itself in that characterisation - raucous, rowdy, proud of its lack of manners, like the Dead End Kids.
I was a Yankee fan myself. When things were going bad for them, they did not complain but bore down harder. They were civilised and had a naturally assured way about them. That was the true New York quality of spirit. Not bumhood.
The best books have memorable passages. When I look back to my favourites that is what stands out, and World’s Fair has plenty of them. These key passages for me are ones that resonate with my own childhood, albeit three or four years older than Edgar.
Edgar’s appreciation of music comes from his father, and his music shop in downtown. Benny Goodman has just come onto the music scene, and even for an 8 year old, this is an exciting time.
The young boy is a prolific reader and thinks nothing of walking by himself a mile to the library at 9 years old, and is reading ‘between 3 and 4 novels a week’. There is a beautiful passage as he recalls the most memorable part of his favourite book, Tom and Beckie, lost in the caves, and rescued by Injun Joe.
Sport plays an important role in his life also, the New York Giants, and the Yankees. He says he gets more pleasure from listening to the game on the radio than actually being there, and I can readily identify with that as a youngster myself. But, when his father takes him to his first football game, it is of course a very special occasion. I remember going with my father to Everton and cricket at Old Trafford also, and it is one of my most treasured memories.
Ah, what a moment, coming out into the raked tiers, seeing with my own eyes the green grass field, the white stripes, the colors of the two helmeted teams deployed for the kickoff. Tens of thousands of people roared with anticipation. Pigeons flew into the air. The game was about to begin!
“What do you think of this?” My father said, smiling at us in triumph. “Not bad, eh?” He loved this sort of situation, the suspense of getting in just at the last moment. The game meant more now, more than if he had purchased the tickets a week in advance.
They usually required you to say what you liked about a product in 24 words or less... My friend Arnold had made up a contest for Castoria, the laxative. “I like Castoria because it’s foul-tasing and gives you terrible diarrhoea, and we all know what fun that can be.”
I was not fond of the Dodgers. People liked their pugnacity, as if they were a street gang. Sports cartoons showed them pitching and batting with black stubble on their faces, and cigar butts in their mouths. The whole borough (Brooklyn) offered itself in that characterisation - raucous, rowdy, proud of its lack of manners, like the Dead End Kids.
I was a Yankee fan myself. When things were going bad for them, they did not complain but bore down harder. They were civilised and had a naturally assured way about them. That was the true New York quality of spirit. Not bumhood.
December 24, 2015
Nearly perfect coming of age story, set in NYC, during the 1930s, capping off with the World's Fair in '38. This looks to be based on Doctorow's early life.
January 4, 2016
hmmm...this is going to sound lame-ass, but when a book is titled 'world's fair' and the fair in nyc is noted on the jacket copy...you kind of expect the world's fair to be an anchor in the story. it's not. not until nearly the very end of the book. so that was a bit weird for me.
but...E.L. DOCTOROW! there. i feel better getting that out of my system.
the man is awesome-sauce. in reading this autobiographical story, i loved the interesting blend of memoir-type remembrances, (doctorow's first name is 'edgar', as is our protagonist. the novel's family are also named the same as doctorow's family - dave, rose and donald, his parents and brother.), fiction and a bit of history too. this is a great portrait of a family in nyc city trying to carve out an existence during two life-changing global events - the depression and world war two. set primarily during the 1930s (there were a couple of very small flashbacks to the mother's childhood) this novel offers a great portrayal of a jewish family in new york city. our main character is edgar, who ranges in age in the book from toddler to 11-year-old. he's wise and introspective and very curious abut the world around him. most kids think the world revolves around them and i think doctorow did a fantastic job capturing how this works and looks in day-to-day life.
doctorow won the 1986 national book award for for fiction for world's fair and i totally get why.
but...E.L. DOCTOROW! there. i feel better getting that out of my system.
the man is awesome-sauce. in reading this autobiographical story, i loved the interesting blend of memoir-type remembrances, (doctorow's first name is 'edgar', as is our protagonist. the novel's family are also named the same as doctorow's family - dave, rose and donald, his parents and brother.), fiction and a bit of history too. this is a great portrait of a family in nyc city trying to carve out an existence during two life-changing global events - the depression and world war two. set primarily during the 1930s (there were a couple of very small flashbacks to the mother's childhood) this novel offers a great portrayal of a jewish family in new york city. our main character is edgar, who ranges in age in the book from toddler to 11-year-old. he's wise and introspective and very curious abut the world around him. most kids think the world revolves around them and i think doctorow did a fantastic job capturing how this works and looks in day-to-day life.
doctorow won the 1986 national book award for for fiction for world's fair and i totally get why.
December 15, 2015
Before I get into my problems with this book which are entirely subjective, let me say that Doctorow writes well; I loved Ragtime and he continues here with his talent for capturing an era of American history. Herein lies the problem: this particularly epoch with its romantic vision of a Depression where all suffering and poverty is merely peripheral has been done to death - the author himself has been a particularly avid miner of this nostalgia - but here what's lacking is any dramatic tension. This may be because it's more of a fictionalized memoir than a novel. (The protagonist is named Edgar; care to guess what the E in E.L. Doctorow stands for?) The family problems are nothing out of the ordinary and so it comes across as a Depression-era "Wonder Years" and growing up in New York, I had more than my fair share of adults talking about how "you knew your neighbors then" and "you could walk the streets at night". This story may have been fresher when this book was published in 1985 and these adults could wallow in it but most of these people are dead now; I've had enough and in the absence of something new, it's time to lay this nostalgia to rest as well.
June 15, 2013
World’s Fair is the story of a Jewish boy growing up in New York in the ‘30s. It’s told in his voice, with occasional chapters written from the point of view of family members—as if the boy, now older, had questioned them about his childhood and family. There are dual forces at work here—present and future, freedom and restriction, mother and father, fact and fiction (for it seems that much of this book is autobiographical)--perhaps all represented by the Trylon and Perisphere sculptures of the 1939 World’s Fair. It’s a really poignant and evocative story…one that made me wonder why I haven’t read everything by Doctorow! (Thanks, Susan, for the recommendation!)
July 28, 2019
Αν κάτσω να σκεφτώ μόνο τα ουκ ολίγα πολύ βαρετά του σημεία, θα του αφαιρέσω ένα αστέρι. Αλλά, εντάξει, σποραδικά ήταν καλούτσικο.
January 28, 2025
Appreciation is the best word to describe how I feel about this novel. I really liked what the author described and how he described it.
While you explore 1930s NYC from the perspective of an 8 year-old, Doctorow not only managed really well to convey the curiosity and fascination of a child, but to also elaborate this perspective in humorous, philosophical, and dramatic ways.
This book took quite a passive role; it described an ordinary life, accentuated the highlights, but left me with a humble overall impression, as no aspect was overly exaggerated.
The balance of humble and highlighting narrative left me just appreciating this book, and to be satisfied with the way it took its course and the way it ended. No aspect of the story feels missing and no aspect was overcomplicated.
While you explore 1930s NYC from the perspective of an 8 year-old, Doctorow not only managed really well to convey the curiosity and fascination of a child, but to also elaborate this perspective in humorous, philosophical, and dramatic ways.
This book took quite a passive role; it described an ordinary life, accentuated the highlights, but left me with a humble overall impression, as no aspect was overly exaggerated.
The balance of humble and highlighting narrative left me just appreciating this book, and to be satisfied with the way it took its course and the way it ended. No aspect of the story feels missing and no aspect was overcomplicated.
April 13, 2022
Loved. My first Doctorow. Perfect coming of age novel. Excellent NY novel.
October 19, 2016
World’s Fair is a marvelous and heartwarming novel of a young boy’s coming of age. Taking place before the Second World War in Doctorow’s hometown of New York City, the book relives a quest for memory through the recollections of the young protagonist, simply referred to as Edgar. The novel captures the time period in all its momentousness and brings loveliness and compassion to the occurrences of everyday life. The story's energy and lyricism generate a magical feeling around the valuable lessons that shape Edgar's moral standing and broaden his perspective of the world. Perhaps Doctorow’s most personally revealing novel, World’s Fair is resonant and rewarding in all its beauty and tenderness. Its rich literary quality and luminously realized characters will keep readers enchanted.
August 15, 2012
Some readers have been frustrated by this book's lack of a strong plot or storyline along the lines of Billy Bathgate or Ragtime but what it lacks in this regard it makes up in other ways. The characters are to me more realistic than in his other more conventional novels. The family members' personalities and characteristics are captured vividly as are childhood memories, concerns, anxieties, fears, excitements, and play. The protagonist is a bright and engaging young boy and the narration is both mature and at the same time reflective of the wonders and mysteries of boyhood. You get the best of both worlds. This is a wonderful reminiscence that captures well the NYC of the 1930s and that remarkable and magical period of a person's life known as childhood.
June 1, 2014
I read this book at the same time as Jane Smiley's upcoming novel Some Luck, which was an interesting experience. While Smiley's characters are given voices appropriate to their age (a child sees the world through a child's eyes), Doctorow's Edgar is looking back at his childhood and waxing philosophic. There are also a few odd chapters here and there told by other characters, as if written in a letter to Edgar. Interesting and unique story structure for an interesting and unique story. For a look at 1930s New York City that lets you hear the elevated train rattle overhead and run down the street for a game of stickball, World's Fair delivers. I'll be rereading this one.
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