I blame the Bahamas for my swooping on a copy of E.L. Doctorow's
Ragtime at the Edinburgh BookCrossing unConvention this summer. I borrowed a novel from our hosts' large library of books - while the novel itself was rather forgettable, I adored the old-fashioned jacket design (the edition I read was published in the 50s), so when I spotted this early edition of
Ragtime I was immediately attracted.
Ragtime is the critically-acclaimed novel by E.L. Doctorow - it won the American National Book Critics Circle Award in 1975 - that tells the story of three fictional families, who come into contact with many real-life historical figures throughout the book. The first family is not named, but only referred to as Father, Mother, Grandfather, Mother's Younger Brother and (presumably) the narrator, a young boy. The second family is Tateh and his young daughter - poor Jewish immigrants - and the third is Coalhouse Walker, Sarah, and their baby. Real-life historical figures in the book include Harry Houdini (who appears quite frequently), J.P Morgan, Henry Ford, Harry Thaw and Evelyn Nesbit, Emma Goldman, and Sigmund Freud.
The book basically gives us a snapshot of American life in the early 1900s - where racism was casual and rampant, and police brutality was commonplace. Entrepreneurs such as Father and (later) Tateh are representations of the American Dream, while J.P Morgan is the out-of-touch rich banker (which echoes current thinking, I'm sure). The most arresting character of the novel, in my opinion, was Coalhouse Walker, the black musician who, I think, is the embodiment of dissent and struggle against the powers that be. He, along with Tateh, were the true heroes of the book.
What it all boils down to is that
Ragtime is an excellent read. I'd also read
The Interpretation of Murder fairly recently, and it shares many characters with
Ragtime, which I found rather amusing. The characters in
Ragtime are well-drawn and the plot moves along at a good pace. I was intrigued enough when I got to the end to do a bit more research into the characters, which, to me, is the mark of a good book - if you cared enough to look things up, you cared about the characters.
Recommended!
