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Ragtime
  

Ragtime (Library Binding)

by E. L. Doctorow (Author) "In 1902 Father built a house at the crest of the Broadview Avenue hill in New Rochelle, New York ..." (more)
4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (100 customer reviews)

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Product Details


Product Description

From AudioFile

Doctorow does a fairly nice job reading his justly celebrated portrait of 1906 America. He has a sandy, pleasant, lightly accented voice and a fine sense of the dramatic--though he strangely mispronounces words, as, for instance, "lau-DEN-um" instead of "LAU-de-num." Neither has he the comic touch as a performer to match his comic touch as a writer. More importantly, this tape suffers from the same inevitable flaw of the film and musical versions. They cannot reproduce the original's principal achievement: the stunning conjuration of ragtime music. To hear that, one must read the book silently to oneself. Y.R. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


Product Description

Published in 1975, Ragtime changed our very concept of what a novel could be. An extraordinary tapestry, Ragtime captures the spirit of America in the era between the turn of the century and the First World War.
   The story opens in 1906 in New Rochelle, New York, at the home
of an affluent American family.
One lazy Sunday afternoon, the famous escape artist Harry Houdini swerves his car into a telephone pole outside their house. And almost magically, the line between fantasy and historical fact, between real and imaginary characters, disap-
pears. Henry Ford, Emma Goldman, J. P. Morgan, Evelyn Nesbit, Sig- mund Freud, and Emiliano Zapata slip in and out of the tale, crossing paths with Doctorow's imagined family and other fictional characters, including an immigrant peddler and a ragtime musician from Harlem whose insistence on a point of justice drives him to revolutionary violence.
The Modern Library has played a significant role in American cultural life for the better part of a century. The series was founded in 1917 by the publishers Boni and Liveright and eight years later acquired by Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer. It provided the foundation for their next publishing venture, Random House. The Modern Library has been a staple of the American book trade, providing readers with afford-
able hardbound editions of impor-
tant works of literature and thought. For the Modern Library's seventy-
fifth anniversary, Random House redesigned the series, restoring
as its emblem the running torch-
bearer created by Lucian Bernhard in 1925 and refurbishing jackets, bindings, and type, as well as inau-
gurating a new program of selecting titles. The Modern Library continues to provide the world's best books, at the best prices. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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First Sentence
In 1902 Father built a house at the crest of the Broadview Avenue hill in New Rochelle, New York. Read the first page
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Customer Reviews

100 Reviews
5 star:
 (65)
4 star:
 (13)
3 star:
 (11)
2 star:
 (5)
1 star:
 (6)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.3 out of 5 stars (100 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most helpful customer reviews

 
5.0 out of 5 stars Haunting and Beautiful, Jul 4 2004
By pmegan "pmegan" (Massachusetts) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: Ragtime (Paperback)
I delayed reading this book for many years, because it sounded sort of hokey. That was a HUGE mistake. It is one of the most beautiful books that I've ever read. It makes me cringe when people describe a book using the "tapestry" metaphor, but it is really fitting here: the reader watches, spellbound, as a city full of individual lives come and go and interact in surprising ways during a fascinating period of American history.

Everyone is here: the Gilded Age millionaires, the upper middle class suburbanites, the newly-arrived immigrants, the writers and singers and musicians, the protesters. Every thread that still makes up a city appears and lives and works together. We see them all, and we see the world as they see it, even if only for a few moments. The book has some funny moments and some poignant moments, but ultimately it will leave you feeling like you've witnessed some very important events.

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5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, May 27 2004
By A Customer
This review is from: Ragtime (Paperback)
There's too much happening in this great novel to go into detail, but suffice it to say that if you're even remotely interested in history and/or good writing, this is the book for you. With scenes ranging from hysterical to repulsive (I'm referring to the one with the dead horse) E.L. Doctorow has given us a rollicking good time in the key of turn-of-the-century America, resplendent with all its ills and wonders. I hate to use this phrase, but it applies here: "I couldn't put it down!"

Also recommended: McCrae's "Bark of the Dogwood"

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5.0 out of 5 stars always a classic, May 15 2004
By Katy (North Carolina) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Ragtime (Paperback)
I first read this book in high school and have since read it again. It's one of my all time favorites. Ragtime captures the essence of the early 1900's in a way that's illuminating without becoming hokey or caricatured. While this portrayal in itself is satisfying, it is only a backdrop for an epic fable of class and love. The weaving together of three seperate tales keeps the reader interested by not lingering too long in any spot. It gets better I've time I read it.
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Most recent customer reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Ragtime: Distant Thunder
When I first heard of Ragtime, it was in the musical form of the book. The musical interested me so much, that I decided to read the book as well. I highly recommend both. Read more
Published on Mar 8 2004 by dave kanter

5.0 out of 5 stars Captivating and real
This was required reading when I was in college and I wasn't optimistic going in. Then I got past the first two chapters and was hooked! Read more
Published on Feb 6 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars Overlooking bias:
... The first thing I can say about Ragtime, which is a fictionalized story about things that essentially happened in one way or another, is that Doctrow manages to get beyond... Read more
Published on Jan 14 2004 by asphlex

5.0 out of 5 stars a great source of literature and history
i loved this book. i read it for Engligh, and thankfully, we were learning about this time period in US History at the same time, so i had a great foundation for the novel. Read more
Published on Jan 1 2004

5.0 out of 5 stars A set of plots that all converge
Never having read any of EL Doctorow's other works, I do not know whether he writes most of his books this way, but this one was incredible. Read more
Published on Oct 4 2003

4.0 out of 5 stars Captures the Beat of the Period
Doctorow's Ragtime is different from any other book I have read. Ragtime tells the story of an unnamed family living in the early 20th Century. Read more
Published on Aug 10 2003 by Adam Shah

5.0 out of 5 stars Listen to that Ragtime!!!
This I would have to say is one of the most amazing books I have ever read! I can only define it as "rich". Read more
Published on Jun 4 2003 by *STAR*

1.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely The Worst (Ever)
This would have to be one of the worst books I've ever read, and after 5 years of highschool, I've read a lot of horrible novels.

This book meanders. Read more

Published on Dec 16 2002 by OAC English Student

4.0 out of 5 stars Good reading--savor the fin de siecle flavors
In an "age", spanning millions of lives and many years, how to capture the sentiment? Doctorow gives one take on the turn of the century. Read more
Published on Nov 20 2002 by Quickhappy

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best of Times, The Worst of Times: RAGTIME!!
I gotta say this is one heckuva novel. E.L. Doctorow is a fine writer and scholar, possessing a novelist's eye for narrative and good storytelling and a historian's knack for... Read more
Published on Oct 18 2002 by Judd Michael Conrad

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