Ragtime (Modern Library)


Printed:	1997	Author:	E. L. Doctorow
Publisher:	Modern Library	ISBN:	0679602976
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Hardcover, 336 pages, (December 1997) Usually ships within 24 hours.
Amazon Review
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 the Audio Cassette edition. From School Library Journal Grade 10 Up-Written by scholars or literary experts, these essays discuss Doctorow's use of illusion and mirrors, music as a metaphor, the American dream, the boy narrator, the book's autobiographical elements, Ragtime as a tale of race and property, its historical figures and fictional characters, women's roles, the use of foreshadowing, and many other topics. Authors of individual chapters pick apart Ragtime for underlying meanings and facts, and it is interesting to see how several critics... read more --This text refers to the Library Binding edition. See all editorial reviews...