Did you read "Ragtime"? And did you like it?

[grasswire]

I'm just getting around to it. I have to confess that Doctorow's writing style takes a bit of getting used to.

[elleng]

1. Started it.

I agree, and I love him.

[Taverner]

2. Saw the movie - it was good

I assume the 80's era movie has nothing to do with this - does it?

[NanceGreggs]

3. Read it ...

... and more than once.

Loved it.

[givemebackmycountry]

4. It's in my top 5 favorite book list

And I've read a lot of books.
This is one of my favorites.

[The empressof all]

5. I read it 30 years ago....

I remember loving it.

[MaineDem]

6. I read it when it was new

A bit confusing but I loved it.

[grasswire]

7. well, I'm coming off a jag of Wallace Stegner...

...so maybe the contrast is just the trouble.

I love Stegner. I adore Stegner.

[femmocrat]

8. Long time ago. Loved it.

Liked the movie too. I also liked Billy Bathgate, but couldn't get into City of God. Those are the only Doctorow books I have read.

[rurallib]

9. Read it @ 30 + years ago.

read it pretty much in one session. It had a rhythm to it. Only book I ever read like that.

[fishwax]

10. I've read it a few times, and like it a lot

:hi:

[WCIL]

11. I read it a long time ago

and can't remember anything about it other than that I liked it.

[freesqueeze]

12. yes, and yes

I did read it, I did like it. I found it a little Forrest Gumpy, full of odd semi-historical references.

[terrya]

13. I adored it

"Ragtime" introduced me to the genius of E.L. Doctorow and his writing. "Ragtime" is brilliant, very readable history.

And a marvelous film (by Milos Foreman) and stage musical both have done justice to one of my all time favorite books.

[TheCentepedeShoes]

14. I saw the movie, too

I liked it
Never read the book

[Paladin]

15. I Absolutely Loved It. One Of My Favorite Books Ever...... (n/t)

[yellowdogintexas]

16. TWICE and loved it both times. in fact I have been thinking it is

time for a third go around

beautiful book

"Mother's Younger Brother"

[Sequoia]

17. Yes, it was really a good story.

[WCGreen]

18. I read it and it was a ggod story

well researched...

[Journeyman]

19. "Ragtime" is one of the great pro-peace novels* of all time. . .

It's an inventive, uplifting story, full of historical figures and events. It is far more about the bicentennial year of its publication than it is a tale of the century's turn. A novel well worth the effort of explication.

Ask yourself, as you read it: Who's story is this? And why is baseball so central to its core?


*Ragtime is a "pro-peace" novel, as opposed to an anti-war tale. To see this, begin with the answers to the questions I've posed above, then seek the similarities between the age of Ragtime as Doctorow revealed and the bicentennial year of its publication. For that matter, seek the similarities between its age and our present situation. In many ways, we are but a mirror of the Ragtime era. And if we're to find salvation, it will be in the appeal of baseball, as Doctorow explained.