"The fact that you think of yourself as a gentleman in all your dealings, Younger Brother said, is the simple self-delusion of all those who oppress humanity."
Despite being written nearly half a century ago, “Ragtime” represents a lot of contemporary struggles with racism and capitalism. E.L. Doctorow makes clever use of shifting perspectives to tie together disparate storylines, using connections between well-known celebrities and ordinary citizens.
"There are no foreign lands. There is no Mexican peasant, there is no dictator Diaz. There is only one struggle throughout the world, there is only the flame of freedom trying to light the hideous darkness of life on earth."
Published in 1975, the book is at times shockingly frank and unflinchingly lewd, perhaps punctuated by a scene where a stalker ejaculates on an unwitting and unwilling naked woman.
"It was characteristic of Evelyn that she could not resist someone who was so strongly attracted to her."
"She had no guile and could act only in total and helpless response to what she felt. If she loved she acted in love, if she was betrayed she was destroyed. These were the shining and dangerous facts of the life of an innocent."
Set in the early 20th century, the novel melds fact and fantasy in near-“Seinfeldian” adventures and comedic turns. “Ragtime” also leans hard on improbably believable events and a respect for the “Butterfly Effect.”
"There was a heavy traffic to the spas and sulphur springs, where the purgative was valued as an inducement to the appetite. America was a great farting country."
Doctorow takes a hard turn toward domestic terrorism and rampant abuse of immigrants and Black people during the book’s stretch run. The result is a beautifully rendered look at what patriotism means to different elements of American society, a task that could have fallen flat in the hands of a lesser writer.
"He wanted to drive from her memory every tenement stench and filthy immigrant street. He would buy her light and sun and clean wind of the ocean for the rest of her life."
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