First Impressions

Let me be frank: I don't think I've regularly kept up with reading assignments in an English class since we read the Joy Luck Club in Freshman English. Even then, I read the entire book in a day, which wasn't really following instructions either. That being said, I've surprised myself and everyone in my family by actually staying on top of the readings for Ragtime. I don't know what exactly it is, but I'm seriously loving this book!

Some of my classmates don't feel the same way, as I've found out rather awkwardly after professing my love for the novel only to have them stare and respond flatly that they disagree, but it's given me some opportunity to think about why exactly I like Ragtime as much as do.

First, I'm quite fond of Doctorow's writing style. Normally, I'm a comma fanatic; I'm used to reading things more akin to Lord of the Rings where you can sit and read for an hour only to find you're still on the same sentence you were when you started. So I guess there's something refreshing for me about Doctorow's simple, comma-less sentences. It's straight to the point without being to the point, (which I'll get to later), and it moves quickly!

I think, overall, Ragtime has been kind of funny. I love the voice of the narrator. It's so detached and obviously ironic that I can't help but smile. I imagine Doctorow sitting at a desk chuckling to himself as he's writing. I was reading last night the part where Grandfather is telling the little boy stories, and he slips in and out of Latin and English because he thinks he's giving a lecture. It's not like I burst into tears of laughter, but it certainly made me smile.

I also really like how Doctorow treats his characters. He pulls them from history and gives them a new story just because he can -- and I admire that somehow, as well as the huge amount of research he must have done. I also like how he manages to bring them all together, real and imaginary, (Evelyn and Mother's Younger Brother, anyone?) and makes a giant web of interesting, interconnected plot lines. My two favorite characters would probably be Houdini and Henry Ford. I thought Ford's introduction to the story was exceedingly clever -- I love that entire chapter, which kind of brings me to my next point.

Doctorow is pretty good at compiling a bunch of seemingly unrelated sentences together into a huge, chapter-long paragraph. He seems to mix things that don't matter in with things that do matter, and the chapter about Henry Ford is a perfect example. I think Doctorow  is somehow able to put a positive spin on Ford's character by doing this -- which, is pretty impressive considering he was a raging racist and Nazi sympathizer. In particular, I liked this part:

He had a way with words. He had gotten his inspiration from a visit to a beef-packing concern where cows were swung through the plant hanging in slings from overhead cables. With his tongue he moved the straw from one corner of his mouth to the other. He looked at his watch again. Part of his genius consisted of seeming to his executives and competitors not as quick-witted as they. He brushed the grass with the tip of his shoe. (135)

Obviously important to the picture of Henry Ford is that he got his inspiration from the beef-packing plant and that he pretended to be stupid in the face of his competitors. Doctorow surrounds those points with seemingly less-important information about his watch and his way with words and the grass and the shoe and whatever, but I don't think it's useless at all! I think it helps paint an even more complete picture of Ford by showing us his mannerisms and how he thinks.

Overall, I think Doctorow is a very talented writer. He makes me laugh, he keeps me interested in what he has to say. I've always been a fan of historical fiction, but Ragtime is something completely unique and new to me. I can honestly say I'm really interested in where this book is going to take me next!