POST: Share a thought about Doctorow's Ragtime

As I said before, I really didn't like the historical part of this novel. It just didn't make sense to the overall story. There were only a few characters I really cared about, and Houdini wasn't one of them. I liked the story, though. Despite the lack of punctuation, it was much easier to read then say, The Crossing.

I still like the musical better.

A reaction to the theme, imprisonment:

I believe every single character in some way or another is trapped, whether it be figuritively, literally, or both.

Father: He is trapped in a life out of his control. He has no control over his family as the members change, especially Mother, Younger Brother, Sarah, Coalhouse, and the boy. He is also trapped in his predudice mentality of others and society.

Mother: She is imprisoned in her marriage. She wishes to be more independent, but is restricted by the prejudices against women of this time. She finds ways to get past and ignore the perceptions of what is correct for wife conduct and carries out her life. An example of this is caring for the black child against her husband's will and the morals of the upper middle social class. However, she is always in the presence of some woman stereotype and therefore always imprisoned by this.

Younger Brother: Imprisoned mentally. Restless and unhappy with his life at home. Tries to escape this by going to the city.

Grandfather: Imprisoned by his health and the family's perception of him. Father believes Grandfather to be incapable and treats him like a child even before Grandfather becomes so old that he obtains this child-like characteristic of needing to be cared for.

Sarah's child: Literally trapped underground.

Coalhouse: Trapped in the library. Represents African Americans imprisoned by racial prejudices and steriotypical perceptions.

Tateh: Trapped in capitalist system. First, he is trapped by poverty. He is unable to make life better for him and his daughter until succeeding with silent films. He plays a part in capitalism. He seems to always be trapped by economical ideals.

Evelyn: Trapped in marriage with Thaw. Trapped by her past with White (the conflict between Thaw and White and her association with either of the two men show her entrapment). Once these two relationships cease she is trapped by people who wish to profit from her beauty and popularity.

Houdini: Trapped literally all the time in his performances. Trapped from getting to society for he is often alone and unable to connect with others. (example: unable to connect with his dead mother)

Emma Goldman: Trapped in a world against women.

Ford and Morgan: Also unable to connect with others because of there intelligence and success. Unable to connect with eachother. Therefore they are trapped in a world where they don't belong.

etc.

Doctorow did a great job of using a broad range of characters. Everyone contributed a new perspective to the novel which made every chapter fresh. The historical figures were also a nice touch--we often put them on a pedestal and forget they interact with normal folk. It brought another level of entertainment to see JP Morgan's insanities play out ( ) or Emma Goldman's masseuse skills.

Honestly I really enjoyed reading this book. Mainly because it breaks all of the molds and stereotypes that history has lead us to believe in. Typically in social classes, the upper classes are made of rich white people and the lower classes are African Americans, immigrants, and other minority groups. Ragtime started out following this pattern, and then eventually broke the stereotype to shine the lower classes in the spotlight. Tateh started out as a struggling artist who sold portraits of customers for 10 cents and then became a very successful artist making flip books for the store. Much the same Coalhouse Walker was an African American who used his incredible piano playing skills to play ragtime music at the local club. I guess I really enjoyed this book because it put the underdogs on top, and made the upper class, rich characters stop and think about the meaning of life outside of money for once.

I personally dislike Coalhouse. He's partly responsible for his wife's death. He puts his revenge above the marriage. Then he puts himself into self-denial, blaming others for Sarah's death. He commit murder and arson. He has lost his wife. He knows how painful it can be. Yet He does not hestitating in taking the life of other peoples, of husbands and fathers. In the end, if he take look back at what he has done. Do they worth it ? To lose his wife, to have his name associate with atrocities, to plague his son when he learns that his father is a criminal. All of that just because someone sabotage his car.

I liked it. Doctorow's unique style made this novel fast paced and easy to read. Readers who could not get over the fact that there were no quotation marks are shallow-minded. Each chapter did in some way relate to the previous one. It may not have been focused on the same character but there were definitely relating themes or motives between them. I would rather have seen the end of the movie like that of the book. And the book was definitely better than the film version.

I personally loved the novel. While reading it, I found myself laughing hysterically at the way the author depicts some scenes in the novel, like when Mother's Younger Brother was having a boner watching Emma get a rub down... that was hilarious I can only imagine how audiences had to have reacted back then

When I was reading the novel, I liked the way E.L. Doctorow described each scene and event in not too much detail, mainly because it gave me space to keep my own interpretations. It is true that the end of the novel is extremely sad, but I finished it feeling extremely happy, not because I finished it, but because I liked to way every character fought for his or her rights. Over all, it is a good book, which taught me a lot about life in the 1920s.

When reading Doctorow’s Ragtime, one can see through the eyes of three unique characters of archetypal America, and one can witness and feel the triumphs and struggles though which each one travels along the journey of life in twentieth century America. The novel is exciting and the ending shocks the reader into more directly reflecting on the events that transpired within the novel.

A good read in my mind, and I'm glad we watched the film.

The first few pages weren't very interesting to me, however after reading a few chapters I was hooked. I really liked how Doctorow uses both fictional and non-fictional characters in his writing, it keeps the reader guessing on what's true and what isn't. I also liked how at first Doctorow jumps around from character to character, although in the end everything comes together. I loved it!

I thought that Ragtime was actually a great book--better than I thought it'd be after reading a little bit of it. It took me a while to get into, but as the characters were established more and more, I got much more interested in the story, and in what would happen next for each character. The novel gave the audience a perfect image of each culture at the time, and kept it interesting by giving each character a story connecting them to another character somehow. I also liked Doctorow's style a lot, and found it very similar to another book I've read called Blindness. I'm also glad that we watched the film because while reading the book got sort of confusing at times due to the quick change of character, the film was easy to follow and more enjoyable, in my opinion. And if you'd like to know more about Mother's Younger Brother, check Lauryn's comment above.

What I really enjoyed about this book was how the different characters interacted, sometimes without us knowing about it. For example, Younger Brother followed around Evelyn Nesbitt, who wanted to be around Tateh and his daughter, who ended up becoming rich and marrying Younger Brother's sister, Mother. Wow, that was kind of confusing! I thought that it was very interesting how Doctorow wrote the book in this circular, merry-go-round type style, it made the book really easy to read and fun too! Overall, I liked Ragtime and thought that it was a good read.

Well, I have to say that I enjoyed the book for the content and its style. I loved how Doctorow combined the lives of fictional charcters and historical ones harmonuously so that it seemed like fact and not fiction. I found it interesting how many of the characters served allegorical roles all the while enhancing the story and displaying the issues of the time where Ragtime reigned supreme. It was nice to read a simple but different novel that gave life to a time period and gave life to the figures of the time.

I like the how the author describes most of the many conflicts in the novel with an unbaised discription. Doctorow rarely if ever side with one character or another. He simply states the situation and lets the read decipher it how ever they please. I likeit. I dont feel like im being pushed to think one way or another. All the author requires from the reader is that he simply acknowledges that such situations do exists and they should be considered.

I really enjoyed this book, his style of writing made it easier for me to read. The short chapters reminded me alot of Gossip Girl, and made it quite intereseting. It was a really interesting book and the way he wrote about each characters and skipped around made the book more suspenseful. I loved how the book wasn't confusing and everything linked to each other in the end.

I think the book would have impacted me in a more positive way if a sequel was made in which coalhouse's son sees the significance of his father's actions. Another book could also further develop each character by showing how the little boy and little girl spent their lives together. The way the book ended did tie up the majority of the loose ends on the surface level, but it still made me wonder exactly how others would react to a jew marrying a white woman and raising their own children, as well as the african american child of an infamous (attempted) bomber.

I just don't see how it's rationale at all that suddenly because the novel is coming to a close all of the injustices that were shown, especially in terms of racial relationships, were suddenly irrelavant. Seems unrealistic for a novel that spent the whole time trying to awaken it's readers to the social injustices of the time.

What I enjoyed about Ragtime the most was the way Doctorow showed how all of the characters were connected some way in each of their own separate stories. As I was reading, I kept relating this technique of characterization to the tv show Lost (huge fan, by the way woo!) The reader would get a glimpse of the character going about their life, learning how that certain character ticks. Then there would sometimes be a short flashback and then the story continues on to another character. It was cool seeing a character that was already introduced, enter into another character's life for the first time and then see them through a different perspective.

Ragtime was probably the best book this year. It was very easy to read and had a great plot. I couldnt exactly relate to any of the characters, Doctorow portrayed their feelings and thoughts in a way that made it easy to understand. I also enjoyed how all the characters put together made up the entire society of America at the turn of the century. He didnt need very many people to sort of paint a picture of the society. Every person represented an entire group and what they couldnt represent was filled in by their actions and thoughts and everyone else's actions and thoughts.I wish real history books were written like this. Then maybe I'd be able to read for history. (I promise I tried reading though)

I thought this novel was good, not great though. The plot of this novel was definitely different and I liked the story line it just skipped around alot. I mean in some cases it makes the novel more interesting but I felt like I just never really got into the story. I was always waiting for something to happen and then it would just cut off. I did like how you felt you personally got to know each character because they spent so much time describing each character in the chapter. All around I would rate this book about a 7. Its just a novel I coudlnt get in to.

Doctorow's writing style was nice and I think he is really good at telling a story, but I thought the plot seemed almost too predictable. The strange tendancies of the characters practically told what would happen next. This is probably largely due to the fact that the characters are so out of the ordinary and out of touch with reality (Coalhouse Walker and Younger Brother). I did like, however, the intertwining of real historical figures with fictional characters because it sets up the situation of America in that time peroid. I would like to see some of Doctorow's other works to see if the plots are any better because I really do enjoy his writing style

I enjoyed the non fictional characters in Ragtime. The development of these characters allowed me to view the well known people throughout history in a new light. Also, I like the way the story introduces all of these randome characters and by the end they are all connected some how.

I really enjoyed how the characters tied together in Ragtime. When the novel begins, there is no connection between any of the families, yet the way Doctorow intertwines the stories is fluid and flawless. The novel was weird, but I enjoyed its uniqueness and appreciated its realism. If history was delievered to us like this, it would be a lot more fun to read and enjoy.

I found the combination of historical fact and fiction pretty fascinating. It brought a different leven of intrigue to the book because because we were reading the thoughts of actual people, but through the mind of E.L. Doctorow. It connected the real characters and the fictional characters and brought all these groups to the same level of humanity. I really enjoyed the book and the interesting points it brought up.

I enjoyed some aspects of this book, but not all. I found the short chapters quick and easy to get through, but on the other hand I wish Doctorow would follow through with a whole thought. It almost seemed like the chapters were too short, which made it a little hard to follow. The style of encorperating historical figures in the story is what I enjoyed the most. Also, the kind of circle pattern that the story went through is unlike any other story I have read before, which was interesting.

I thought Ragtime was a really interesting book to read. I really like how although all the characters were very different they all had that one thing in common and in the end somehow came together for better or for worse. I also like the irony of Tateh's uprising in status as a film director Father's downfall in society when he basically had the American dream and then lost it and eventually dies.