Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #56973 in Books
• Published on: 2000-08-31
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

Synopsis
This is a portrait of New York City, drawn by describing the interconnected lives of dozens of people - bankers, chefs, bums, cabdrivers and others. Written in an impressionistic style, with vivid descriptions and bursts of overheard conversation, it has more in common with films than traditional novels.

Customer Reviews

a sublime Jazz era novel
One of the finest American authors I have read; as suggested, this novel uses a 'cut and paste' technique, where you don't follow every step of the major character. The novel follows the interwoven lives of several characters going through the 1920's New York scene. Dos Passos gets you inside the head of the main character, but moves you forward, occasionally leaving the action behind.

A superb novel to read, and then re-read.

Worth persevering with...
Don Passos uses techniques borrowed from the cinema to examine the lives of many different people living in New York. His aim is clear - this novel is intended to provide a portrait of 1920's New York society as a whole rather than portray the life of individuals. This he does well, but maybe I wasn't paying enough attention when I started to read this book - I quickly became confused with the characters - how they related to each other, and their own stories within the novel.

As a big fan of Bonfire of the Vanities (Tom Wolfe), and a Human Geographer, I am keen to read anything relating to New York society. But I found this 'hard-going.' I am glad I persevered, as things did become clearer towards the end. Perhaps next time I'll read it more carefully from the beginning!