Customer Reviews

Appointment in Samarra: A Novel

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This is the first O'Hara novel I've read in decades. Back then, I read for sensationalism. In the ensuing years, like my body, my reading tastes have matured. This book in particular, with its wonderful take on a certain society at a certain point in history, should be read by anyone interested in the modern novel. Way ahead of its time -- astounding that it was published in 1934.

It all depends. If you class John O'Hara as an American writer of popular fiction, then he must be up there at the very top with detailed descriptions of his society, use of both colloquial and literary language, and character development. If, on the other hand, you put him in that category we often label "classic fiction", then he doesn't measure up to the other greats of his time. I can't place O'Hara alongside Faulkner, Hemingway, Lewis, Fitzgerald, or even Anderson. Still, APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA reads very well; it is fast-paced and involves you with the various characters, it contains humor, and excellently drawn characters.

Julian English, the main protagonist, inherits a place at the top of his society in Gibbsville, Pennsylvania---a pseudonym for Pottstown, where O'Hara grew up. He has married the most desirable girl of his set. What makes him throw a drink in the face of a gentleman who annoys or bores him ? Whatever it is, that starts a most precipitous decline, which only a few days later, leads to a (by then) non-surprise ending. Fate has written it thus, and Julian cannot escape. He doesn't struggle much, that's for sure. Much of the book explores the previous lives of several characters: wife, friends, a small-time gangster. Pottstown life comes across as narrowly provincial, sexually active, fairly alcoholic, at least in its upper reaches, and divided into rigid categories. It has been said before about O'Hara that he creates excellent atmosphere, builds up an intricate plot, and then crashes at the end. This novel is no exception; it just trickles across the finish line.

O'Hara's America is one in which Anglo-Saxons still rule, but live under challenge from newer, perhaps more dynamic groups. The rulers dislike all their challengers intensely. Snobbism is writ large in O'Hara's work---though a Catholic of Irish descent, he obviously placed himself with the ruling class and he did come from a wealthy background. He constantly emphasizes the importance of "being with the right people", consuming the right items, living on the right street, and "being at the right social events". And it's no wonder that he reserves his nastiest cracks for Jews. Never a mention without a sneer, a condescending witticism, or outright nastiness. I often felt like throwing the book out the window. I thanked my good luck that I outlived that narrowminded America and can look back on Mr. O'Hara and his heyday with considerable relief that America has changed, at least in this way, for the better. Nothing can prove my point better than the experience of reading this outdated novel.

Then read this...pronto. Rated the #22 fiction book of the 20th Century, Appointment in Samarra did not disappoint. Being a huge Fitzgerald and Hemingway enthusiast and seeing how both recommended this book wholeheartedly, I concluded it to be a can't miss prospect. Something about the shameless decadence, the seemingly limitless ambition, & the uproariously good times that were had during The Jazz Age made it such a riveting and inimitable setting for the likes of Fitzgerald, Hemingway, and John O'Hara. While I wouldn't quite include O'Hara in a class with his two contemporaries, Appointment in Samarra does, however, make a strong case for its serious inclusion not too far behind such works as The Great Gatsby, The Sun Also Rises, etc.

What strikes me as a distinct divergence from such works as The Great Gatsby is that it, unlike Gatsby, it takes place at the onset of The Great Depression - just after Gatsby's epoch. So, in a sense, Appointment is not all fun and games and infinite debauchery without any foreseeable repercussions. Of Fitzgerald's works, I liken it most to The Beautiful and Damned - the perpetual dynamics of a moral vacuum, alcoholism, self-destructive proclivities, failed relationships, adultery, etc. are all readily present -- as is the constant and unflagging conviction of Julian as he steadfastly holds on to any vestige of his integrity through it all.

In summation, the extraordinarily crass (although realistic and highly entertaining) dialogue, superb characterization of a veritable endless array of diverse individuals, & a fluid and genuinely suspenseful plot are what make this a great, although somewhat morose, American novel not to be missed.

It would be easy to dismiss "Appointment in Samarra" as insignificant when compared to other, more well known literature. It's certainly a quick, entertaining read, very funny at times, with a loose, somewhat disjointed quality that gives the whole novel a strange tone. Separate events and characters are introduced that don't seem to have any obvious relation to one another, and at the book's end, they still don't. However, as a time capsule of a specific place and time in American cultural history, it's very well done and fascinating to read.

At its basic level, "Samarra" inserts a stick of dynamite into the safe, complacent world of affluent, East coast snobbery by introducing into it an influx of immigrants and "new" money. The WASP environment of cocktail parties, Ivy League schools and country clubs couldn't be sheltered forever from European emigres, specifically Jews, with money of their own. I don't want to give anything of the plot away, but I will say that there is a tragedy in this book, and the ripples it sends through the rich community that serves as the focus of this novel's story are meant to signify the larger ripples affecting American culture on a much greater scale as the heady days of the Roaring 20's give way to the more sombre and politically aware days of the 30's and 40's.

I'm not completely sure what to make of a side story involving some petty mobsters, but I assume their intrusion into the fabric of this East coast society is meant as yet one more example of the loss of security from which these people felt by rights they would be sheltered.

There is no reason not to read "Appointment in Samarra." It won't take up much of your time, and I promise you won't ever be bored by it. Whether you'll find it profound or especially memorable is another story. I didn't particularly find it either, but I would recommend it nonetheless.

Classism and alcoholism before any 'disease model' or political correctness. Reading this book is like some sort of regression into a time when your name was your destiny and if you blemished it with too much hootch, it was a tumble from God's grace and your country club status. English, the hero's patronym, and certainly the central point of the American aristocratic mimicry- O'Hara was Irish, after all, though entranced perhaps even more over the WASP's he wrote of so often tragically. Julian's father was a 'first rate' social standard, although the son followed too far in the darker torments of his grandfather the thief and scandalous patriarch held in front of the child throughout his life. Here we see an author in touch with the psychoanalytic religion of his day. This book is an anachronism and an overly romantic and too obvious tale of the fallen soul. That's what makes it akin to a secretive enjoyable read!

Fitzgerald, Hemingway, C.S.Lewis, John Cheever. If any one of these authors was ever important to you, please pick up O'Hara. He's critical to understanding twentieth century American authors. At the very least, you can engage in the unending debate on whether he's worthy of joining this pantheon of writers. Worthy of an airport paperback rack? Smalltime trashy romance writer? Or do you think he paints a richly textured canvas of an America and its high society about to be turn the corner on the first half of the 20th century? An important Irish-Catholic writer?

My tip: read this book. If nothing else you'll learn about bituminous and anthracitic coal, the United Mine Workers, how to mix a martini, (and throw one), why fraternities were ever important, and what a flivver was. It's certainly a period piece, and O'Hara does not hold back with the language of the jazz age...which may confuse modern readers (it was a gay party, his chains dropped a link, etc.) In fact, O'Hara was an early adopter of using slang and vernacular in writing the spoken word, and you can be the judge of whether or not he gets an Irish mobster's (or a "high hat's") tone correctly.

He's really at his best with character development, because Julian English (our protaganist) is our bigoted confidante, our tiresome spouse, our wretched boss, our surly neighbor, our spoiled college-boy brat, our pretentious friend and our preening big man about town all in one. O'Hara waltzes us through Julian's demise and we root for him, for one more chance, all the way down.

This book is like American Beauty of the 1930s. A man, trapped into a rigid social order, bursts out uncontrollably. Amazingly, this novel focuses on modern themes that still exist today, despite being written seventy years ago.

One man, going to dances and social clubs, trying to keep his community standing in tact, maintaining his marriage, just couldn't take it anymore. A simple thing like disliking a man's story later tears his life apart. Such a simple constrained life blew up like a high-pressure balloon.

While not a story with action or a plot, it is a literary device that portrays the upper-middle class life at that time. It's a nice timepiece and gives the reader a sense of living that life. A typical small Depression era American town with a country club and speak easy.

It's a suprisingly quick and easy read, with a good description of life, and an opening for social interests. Unfortunately, it doesn't captivate readers like many other literary masterpieces.

I didn't know what to expect when I began this book. John O'Hara--wasn't Paul Newman or Elizibeth Taylor in some flick I might not have seen, based on one of his books or short stories, sometime in the late 50s? I think he wrote some big bestsellers and the guy on the front cover looks like an interesting drunk . . .

A first novel . . . hmmm . . . I suppose he is well worth remembering. I can think of few books I'd put in the same class with Appointment in Samarra, a stirring, absorbing tragedy of unrealistic aspiration and retreat into self-destruction. Being of the bitter and resentful sort I found definitions of behaviors I'd experienced and a frighteningly accurate explanation of actions I had considered and feelings I had suppressed. The dialogue is blunt and true, the sorts of slangy toss offs people said in the early 30s when they were through with being polite.

As far as a limited perspective can see, this is a perminant picture of life in 1930s America going horribly, horribly wrong.

John O'Hara is like a cross between F.S. Fitzgerald and D.H. Lawrence, if you care to think of it in those terms. Not only do I recommend the book for its social insight into the club-set of the 1930's (like Fitzgerald,) but I also recommend it for its brutal honesty. O'Hara, like D.H. Lawrence, could take any character, a woman, a man, a priest, an alcoholic, and tell you what they would do, why they would do it, and what they would *think* while doing it. We know the lies that they tell themselves, simply because O'Hara knows them and would never let the character get away with lying to his readers. He knows the ins and outs of every kind of mind. In effect, we feel the jealousy, anxiety, anger, and hopelessness of a great range of people.

This book is excellent for those readers who are a little weary of carefully non-offensive works. Prepare for some 200 pages of frank sexual discussion, *real* mental insight, and a story that ends the way it would in real-life.

ï¿Appointment in Samarraï¿ is a great novel. I was led to read it by an article in the Atlantic Monthly that lamented the pretentiousness of much of contemporary writing. Not only is the writing pretentious, but it doesnï¿t say anything intelligible. ï¿Appointment in Sammaraï¿, by contrast, tells a story in a direct manner while still revealing to us hidden truths about the human spirit. Itï¿s not giving anything away to say that the story concerns the self-destruction of one Julian English. Julian is suave, Protestant, lives in the finest neighborhood, and hangs out with the in crowd. But Julian makes the mistake of throwing his drink into the face of a powerful, nouveau riche Irish Catholic. Suddenly, Julianï¿s support structures donï¿t seem so firm. Julianï¿s descent is heart breaking because, although he is not an especially likeable person, John Oï¿Hara still manages to make us care for him. Oï¿Haraï¿s book was prophetic in that it portrays the end of WASP domination in America. The book takes place in 1930 and was published in 1934 ï¿ just six years after the Catholic Al Smith was denied the presidency by a virulent anti-Catholic backlash led, in part, by the Klan. We're told that some of the locals in Pottsville are members of the the Klan. Twenty-six years later, in 1960, an Irish Catholic would be elected president. Appointment in Samarra is a must read for those who are serious about the American novel.