E.L.

Doctorow's Ragtime (Bloom's Guides)

E.L. Doctorow's Ragtime (Bloom's Guides)
By Harold Bloom

Publisher: Chelsea House Publications

Number Of Pages: 100
Publication Date: 2004-03
ISBN-10 / ASIN: 0791078809
ISBN-13 / EAN: 9780791078808

Product Description:

E.L. Doctorow's Ragtime, part of Chelsea House Publishers' Bloom's Guides

collection, presents concise critical excerpts from Ragtime to provide a scholarly
overview of the work. This comprehensive study guide also features "The Story
Behind the Story," which details the conditions under which Ragtime was written.
This title also includes a short biography on Doctorow and a descriptive list of
characters.

Summary: If only all books were this great!

Rating: 5

This book is exceptional. It is one of those books that rivets your mind; makes you
realize how ordinary other books are by comparison.Sentence builds on sentence
creating fantastic images making this book a joy to the senses.
Doctorow brilliantly recreates the Ragtime era using actual events and people from
the time and interweaving with three fictional families;one WASP, Tateh and his
daughter who are poor jewish migrants, and Coalhouse Walkers entanglement with
the WASP family.
I normally condemn books written about the past as 'unauthentic' or 'lacking the
realism' of the age discribed. 'Ragtime' and Doctorow show me that I was talking
out of my hat! This really is superb. Anyone giving this less than 5 stars must be a
green with envy writer wishing they could write like E L Doctorow!