Ragtime

 In my class at Senior U, we are studying the works of E. L. Doctorow. We just finished up Ragtime which is said to be his best novel. We also watched the movie which went by the same name. The story comes in three parts. One story line is about a wealthy family in a nice home. People in the family include Grandfather, Father, Mother, Son, and Mother's brother. The second story line is about Coalhouse Walker who is a talented black piano player. Coalhouse has a girlfriend and a newborn son. The third story line is about a Jewish immigrant named Tateh and his beautiful daughter. World War One is brewing in Europe at this time. Model T's are running in the streets of New York. Harry Houdini is in town getting out of chains and locks. This is an epic novel and a blend of fact and fiction. Doctorow was not pleased with the film version. With a novel of these epic proportions, the Director chose to focus on the Coalhouse Walker story line. Doctorow would have preferred 15 hours of film. I suppose they could have done a series of 1 hour shows on television. I liked the book and the film.