Reading 1001 discussion

Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow
3/5 stars

My first E.L. Doctorow. He has a very distinctive writing. None of the conversations in this book had quotation marks. It was a little like reading rapid fire conversations.

Ragtime centers around the turn of the century 1906 until the start of World War I. It takes place in New York. The stories deal with the themes of the time period; immigrants, rich vs poor, and racial issues. One of the unique parts of this novel is the insertion of actual figures into a fictional story. Harry Houdini, Henry Ford, Emma Goldman, J.P. Morgan, Evelyn Nesbit, Sigmund Freud, and Emiliano Zapata make an appearance in the novel. Several story lines continue throughout the novel. The affluent American family, a jailed Harry K. Thaw and his wayward wife Evelyn Nesbit, the Latvia immigrant Jew Tateh and his daughter (the ones I liked the most ) and finally the most prominent character Coalhouse Walker, an African American musician who is wronged. The stories intersect and all come to conclusion in the end.

I am not sure how I feel about the novel. It has all the makings of a good historical fiction but it fell a little flat for me. I appreciate the different style of writing and why it won accolades but I did not love these stories or characters.

This is my second Doctorow novel so far. This one is historical fiction, following a few characters through their lives during the first decades of the 1900's in the US. The story weaves its characters together in a sort of pattern reminiscent of a rag tune, so that all the different themes come together by the end into one story. The setting and characters reminded me a bit of Wilson's I Thought of Daisy, and of Dreiser's Sister Carrie. The story pops into all sorts of scenes that draw a good composite picture of life in the aftermath of the Industrial Revolution but before the world wars. It never gets very in-depth, so it is a sort of novel version of a cartoon sketch of the times, I suppose. I was not thrilled with this one, but it got 5 stars on Goodreads, and I suppose it could stay on my version of the 1001 Books list.

Read 2012; This book, set in the first two decades of the twentieth century is excellent telling of American culture through three fictional families but with so many actual personalities that it almost was like reading a newspaper. The first of the three families was white, living in New Rochelle, New York and only designated as Father, Mother, mother’s Younger Brother, the Boy and Grandfather representing the upper middle class, the second representing the immigrants were a Jewish family known as Tateh and Mameh (Yiddish for father and mother) and the little girl, and the third represented by the “Negro” ragtime musician Coalhouse Walker and his common-law wife Sara and their child. The last two family groups were largely invisible groups in America during this time known as the Progressive Era. The opening remarks by the narrator “There were no Negroes. There were no Immigrants,” reflects the selective vision of the upper middle class. Doctorow includes such personages as Booker T. Washington, Evelyn Nesbit (a Gibson Girl), Architect Stanford White and Harry K Thaw, J.P. Morgan, Ford and Harry Houdini giving the novel rich history. Music (Ragtime) often provides us with a picture of a time in history such as “Acid Rock Era” or the “Jazz Age”. The title centers the book on the African Americans and others that are marginalized such as the Jewish immigrants and political radicals like Emma Goldman. Doctorow has such a way of telling his stories, there never really is a protagonist. You might say that the culture is the protagonist just as the March was the protagonist in his book The March. Partly his story telling reminds me of Michener because of how much historical events are included in the story. If you like historical fiction, I recommend this book. The back cover says that this is “a joy to read and it reads like a streak” and it does.

Ragtime is set in New York in the beginning of the 1900s. The book follows different fictional characters intervoven with actual historical characters such as Harry Houdini, Henry Ford, J.P. Morgan etc. The rythm of the book is syncopated just as the ragtime music is.
It is a quick read and gives a good insight into some historical events of that time.
I had to google a lot of names, while I was reading trying to figure out how much was true and how much was not.
Overall a nice read.

Pre-2016 review:

***½

Ragtime provides a panorama of the changing American society at the beginning of the 20th century, with its story woven from the presence of movers and shakers of the time (Houdini, J. P. Morgan, Henry Ford, Emma Goldman) and elements of fiction. The plot revolves around the respective life paths of two families, one patriotic and well-to-do (Father, Mother, Mother's Younger Brother, and the son), the other, immigrant and poor (Tateh, Mameh and their daughter). The triggering event of the plot was the murder in 1906 of prominent architect Stanford White by eccentric millionaire Harry K. Thaw; the minute links between these people and the families lend an initial frame to the novel's development. But the story's main focus begins about half-way, with the entrance of Coalhouse Walker Jr., a successful ragtime pianist, whose pride and willingness to stand for himself in a society still despising the black population leads him (and other close people) to make decisions which will affect the rest of their lives.

I would describe the style as "descriptive factual", with generally short, simple sentences using basic subjects ('he, 'she', 'they') and basic verbs (conjugations of 'to be' are almost too numerous). This creates the impression that you are flicking through a scrapbook containing sepia-coloured pictures with annotations, yellowing press clippings and other artefacts, with the overarching objective to help the reader recreate mentally this period in American history. This is not a historical novel à la Hugo, for example, but nevertheless is a good, enjoyable read which mixes historical reference points and fictional elements.

Brilliant depiction of the US in the early 20th century with a mix of historical and fictional characters whose stories overlapped in a really clever way. I found the style very lively and engaging, but behind the entertaining story is a really perceptive look at American society and its different strata.

The fictional characters are from a white middle class family who are never named (indicating their universal status), a Black woman and her child who are taken in by the white family, and an immigrant Jewish family. The interactions between the various characters begins to come to a head when a Black musician, Coalhouse Walker, is attacked and humiliated. He decides to take a stand against his treatment and the narrative then escalates to a dramatic conclusion. This did feel a bit disjointed from the earlier sections but it was really compelling.

This is actually my third reading of this book. I truly was astounded by it when I first read it. I loved the historical personages and the complex weave of themes that Doctorow illustrates through them. As of lover of historical fiction, the stories of Thaw and White, Houdini, JP Morgan and Ford all resonant with me. Doctorow's writing style is easy to consume and his wit and humor are sometimes subtle and sometimes ironically heavy handed. This reading gave me more pause as I took greater note of the parallels between Coalhouse Walker Jr. and Malcolm X and the stereotype of black men turning to violence. However, the tangled threads coming together still does it for me and I would probably still give it 4 stars.

There are two reasons I tear through a book.

One: I loathe it, but I must finish it because I have gotten too far to quit. I will listen to audio at 2x the speed. I will skim pages of useless dialogue and descriptions of nature. But I Will. FINISH! See, for example The Magus, The Satanic Verses and, most recently, The Circle

Two: I absolutely adore it. Happily, Ragtime falls into the latter category. I was interested to see what happened in the plot, but I was also just fascinated by the descriptions of the people and the era. Seriously loved the book and excited to see the 1981 film adaptation.

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

With a birds-eye view narrative voice and a breathless narrative pace, characters without names other than Mother and Father, as well as famous people seen in very personal private moments (many having crises of faith), this book reads just like its story moves, with the energy and anxiety of the new century. The second half comes together around a more individual story, a Black man and woman with names, in order to show us how impossible it was for Black men and women to have individual dignity. We also have a Jewish family making good through entertainment, assimilating as "European" and exotic without religion. Father's energy and interest is mostly away from home and he is also aloof and unable to relate to either set of others trying to gain a place in America. Although he is not actively malicious, he does not really help, even when he thinks he tries to help. Younger Brother takes the path of violence and revolution as the answer to oppression, and so he is helping the way he has been asked to help - but does this really help anyone if it just leads to more death? Mother's wall is broken down by the arrival of Sara and her baby and she becomes actually maternal (and beautiful, and more sensual) and open to the world - she is a hope for the spirit of America.

I read this novel fast. I don't see how you could go slowly, it pulls you along at speed, just like every ragtime piece I have ever heard. So I did a bit of research on the quote above. It turns out that he intended for the play to be fast-ish (March temp, quarter = 120; or slow march q=100) but he didn't like the racing speeds of performers going at 150, where you lost the sense of the syncopation and the interweaving lines to a blur of sound. I definitely read this at a quick march - but slow enough to hear the harmonics. For example, the foil of the crises of faith from Houdini, more and more daring stunts, trying to gain recognition and love as himself, but really just seen as a servant and circus clown. Then JP Morgan, imaging himself a reincarnated god (and seeming quite clown like to the reader), spending a night in a pyramid, which he can do because of his wealth, and from which in a sense he does not escape. And wide ranging asides on Americana, like the trip to see the Giants. The novel really sparkles with these threads as it dances along at pace.