Hundred Book Challenge # 10: “Ragtime” by E.L. Doctorow

Hey! Look at that number in the title! We are one-tenth of the way through the Hundred Book Challenge. At least we are one-tenth through the titles. Being completely accurate it could be more or less depending on how long the remaining books are- I did get through A Dance to the Music of Time.

So. “Ragtime” is pretty spectacular. It's one of those “weave a half dozen stories together” type of story that can get pretty annoying as it substitutes flash for story or character- but not “Ragtime.”

This tells the story of a few different groups of people as their lives twist and turn around each other as well as famous historical folk from early 1900s.

Houdini features prominently in it as does Henry Ford, JP Morgan, Emma Goldman and Robert Peary. It even has a scene where Sigmund Freud takes a ride in the tunnel of love at Coney Island with Carl Jung so that's fun.

One central story that works to unify the various threads of this story features a black ragtime piano player named Coalhouse Walker. Walker dresses nicely and drives an amazing car. One day, a bunch of racist firefighters get tired of what they see as an uppity black man thinking he's above his station and they block the road- preventing him from moving. Walker leaves his car for a moment and the firefighters trash it.

Walker gets mad and demands his car be fixed. The firefighters refuse. Time goes on and Walker starts leading a group of revolutionaries. They want real social change- he wants his car repaired.

And.... as I recount this I realize it's a bit crazy to try and recount the story. After all I already said there is a scene where Freud and Jung share the tunnel of love and how it all connects to Walker is... well, it's there but it would basically be the same length as reading the book and the book has much prettier words- including my new favorite phrase:

“As it happened Houdini's unexpected visit had interrupted Mother and Father's coitus.”

and

“Freud, clamping his teeth on his cigar, said nothing.”

and

“She didn't dare confess to Tateh that she had had no idea socialism and anarchism were not the same thing.”

and

“The Archduke Franz Ferdinand didn't seem to know who Houdini was. He congratulated him on the invention of the aeroplane.”

and

“America was a great farting country. All this began when Taft moved into the White House.”

And a dozen more. This is one of the best written books I've ever read. I was highlighting almost every other line before I just said “stuff it” and just enjoyed the thing as an experience which is a great thing to do.

Ragtime music, unsurprisingly, plays an important role in “Ragtime.” As such, I started populating my Spotify list with ragtime music. A whole bunch of Joplin. As I read this book and listened to this music- music I always associated with cartoons and silliness, I found myself really loving it. Something switched in my mind and I got it.

The same holds true to the people who lived in the past. It's hard to say this but I have to think I'm not the only one who has a hard time empathizing with people who lived before I was ever born. After all, I am the center of the universe right?

Especially people who lived in more or less iconic times. It's easy to think of the stereotype and not the person. This book forces you to erase the stereotypes of past ages and shows you that their problems, though seemingly like ours today, are more vital and interesting that you can possibly believe.