Skip to main content
PBS logo
 
 

Book Reviews of Ragtime

Ragtime
Ragtime
Author: E. L. Doctorow
ISBN-13: 9780452275706
ISBN-10: 0452275709
Pages: 270
Edition: Reprint
Rating:
  • Currently 4.1/5 Stars.
 6

4.1 stars, based on 6 ratings
Publisher: Penguin Putnam~trade
Book Type: Paperback
Reviews: Amazon | Write a Review

13 Book Reviews submitted by our Members...sorted by voted most helpful

reviewed Ragtime on + 21 more book reviews
Fascinating! The original story upon which the musical is based.
michael avatar reviewed Ragtime on + 42 more book reviews
The beloved classic bestseller of wicked and wonderful people-real and imagined-swept by the dazzle of turn-of-the-century America. The story of three remarkable American families-rich white-Harlem black-immigrant Jew-whose lives become intertwined with the likes of Henry Ford, Emma Goldman, Harry Houdini, J.P. Morgan, Theodore Dreiser, Sigmund Freud and Emiliano Zapata.
reviewed Ragtime on + 116 more book reviews
This was a pretty good book. It took me some time to actually get into it, but once I was introduced to many of the characters I enjoyed the story. I love how the characters all intertwine together at some point in the story.
reviewed Ragtime on + 174 more book reviews
E. L. Doctorow really gives you a sense of the era he's writing about and also gives enjoyable glimpses into the lives of some of the famous people of the day. Has inspired me to read his other period novels.
reviewed Ragtime on + 8 more book reviews
A serious and worthwhile novel.
reviewed Ragtime on + 31 more book reviews
Fabulous tale(s), filled with famous names, THE novel about america at the turn or the century and after. A classic by anyones' standards.
reviewed Ragtime on + 28 more book reviews
One of those "great American novels" that people are always talking about. Do yourself a favor and read this book...then go see the musical they made from it. It's completely brilliant, a very good representation of the events of this historical novel.
baeb47 avatar reviewed Ragtime on + 207 more book reviews
I was swept up by this story of three families (rich white, Harlen black, immigrant Jew)whose lives converge in New York in the early 1900's.
reviewed Ragtime on + 3 more book reviews
Very good read.
reviewed Ragtime on
One of my two favorite Doctorows. The movie is good, too.
joann avatar reviewed Ragtime on + 412 more book reviews
Ragtime is set in America at the beginning of this century (1900's). Its characters: three remarkable families whose ives become entwined with people whose names are Henry Ford, Emma Goldman, Harry Houdini, J.P. Morgan, Evely Nesbit, Sigmund Freud, Emiliano Zapata.
It is a novel so original, so full of imagination and subtle pleasure, that to describe it further would only dilute the pure joy of reading. Turn to the first page BEgin. You will never have read anything like Ragtime before. Nothing quite like it has ever been written before.
ClareS avatar reviewed Ragtime on + 87 more book reviews
Very interesting. Ties many historical themes and people together.
deltatiger avatar reviewed Ragtime on + 74 more book reviews
This is a brilliant novel by one the greatest living American novelists. I got totally caught up in the action, the characters, the plot. Wonderful, powerful, and impossible to put down.