Ragtime

The Big Apple has always been a refugee’s safe haven and a melting pot of cultures.  The 1920’s saw the city full of immigrants from Eastern Europe, the ongoing Harlem Renaissance, and the white upper-class – all bringing their own culture, bias, and fears with them.  What should have been an opportunity to learn from one another because a powder keg waiting to explode – and boy did it.

Ragtime is E.L. Doctorow’s 1975 historical fiction that explores the New York of the 1920’s and the pain that created a race and class friction that continues today.  While complete fiction, Doctorow incorporates several figures prominent to NYC history like Harry Houdini, JP Morgan, and Sigmund Freud, giving the story a feel of non-fiction.  This is a tale of righteousness and justice, and of how far we have ventured from the ideals that founded our country.

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I give Ragtime 3 out of 5 stars.  I was warned by a few of you how….unique….this author’s style was, and you were not wrong!  I struggled with this novel and was glad to be listening to it on audiobook – I would have probably stopped if I had been reading the hard copy.  One of the biggest frustrations for me with books like this is the blurred line between real and fictional characters.  With that said, I can understand the draw this novel has created for nearly 50 years. 

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If you have ever seen the Broadway show inspired by this book, you need to read the novel.  I would also recommend this to anyone interested in this era of the city’s history.  However, with themes of violence, racial discrimination, and riots, this book would be best directed to more mature audiences over 16.

I chose Ragtime for the US States Reading Challenge prompt “New York”.  In 1999, my high school show choir (think Glee) traveled to the Big Apple to perform at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral and sightsee.  While there, we took in three Broadway shows, Ragtime being the first.  More than anything, the music and the message has stuck with me for years.  One song in particular has become especially dear to me – “Make Them Hear You” where Coalhouse Walker Jr. charges the people to “go out and tell our story…make them hear you.  How that justice was our battle and how justice was denied.”  I heard those words in 1999, nearly two decades before the Me Too and Black Lives Matter movements, but this song embodies every bit of the sentiment behind those movements.  I did have a unique listening experience with this book – I listened to the original Broadway soundtrack just after listening to the audiobook and was surprised to find so many of my favorite lyrics were transferred word-for-word from the original text! By the way, the Broadway show was also the catalyst for my love of all musicals featuring Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, and Lea Michele – their voices are amazing! 

 

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What I’m Reading

• Current print book: Spirit Crossing, William Kent Krueger
• Current audio book: Welcome to Temptation, Jennifer Crusie
• Book I’m most looking forward to: My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry, Fredrik Backman