"Ragtime" by E. L. Doctorow Book Review

Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Ragtime is set in America at the beginning of the 20th century. Its characters: three remarkable families whose lives become entwined with people whose names are Henry Ford, Emma Goldman, Harry Houdini, J.P. Morgan, Evelyn Nesbit, Sigmund Freud, and Emilio Zapata.

It is a novel so original, so full of imagination and subtle pleasure, that to describe it further would only dilute the pure joy of reading. Turn to the first page. Begin. You will never have read anything like Ragtime before. Nothing quite like it has ever been written before.

This was a fantastic book! I recommend anyone in high school or older to read it. I had heard about this book because of a somewhat famous musical that is based on it, though I haven't seen it or heard any of its music so I couldn't tell you if they are at all alike. The musical did win a Tony though. Onto the book...

It's written so differently than what I am used to reading that it blew my mind! I actually kind of liked how the dialogue was written, without quotations, so it was like you could decide on your own whether the character said something or not. Realistically, they had to have said some or most of it, but they didn't have to say everything, the story could continue the way it was going regardless of whether one character said something or not. So some of it could be sitting there for just the reader to know about it, but the other characters may or may not have known anything more than what was told to them.

It was interesting that the author used one family whose members don't have names, or at least not important ones, to tell the history of the country's most famous people who shaped an era in everything; in media, beauty and style there was Evelyn Nesbit (who is the only person whom I was familiar with), in business there was J. P. Morgan and Henry Ford, in psychology there was Sigmund Freud (I loved the bit where the author says he took his vengeance on America by ruining sex for everyone which is so true), in entertainment there was Harry Houdini (who is a fascinating person and I am going to hunt down a good biography of him and learn me some), and in politics there was Emma Goldman (who I didn't know existed before I got this book so one day I will learn about her as well). I'm really glad the family members didn't have names because sometimes I have trouble remembering characters who only appear every so often. I can remember 'Younger Brother', but I can't always remember who the hell 'Tom' (as an example) is supposed to be.

The most fascinating characters were the ones the author made up: Coalhouse Walker and Susan, Tateh and his daughter. Their growth over the course of the story is exactly the opposite of each other and I can't help but think that the author was trying to make a statement using them but I am too dumb to grasp it and put it into words. It is interesting that the author was able to use the gaps in time for all the really famous people and string them all together like he did.

A short and fast portrait of America's most famous people. Highly enjoyable and recommended.

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Five out of five Model Ts.