Ragtime is kind of a weird book. At the beginning of the book, it seemed like there was a million different plot lines, but now they all seem to be combining into one story. My favorite characters so far are probably Tateh and the little girl. My least favorite character is Evelyn Nesbitt because I just feel like her storyline is boring. My favorite aspect of the book is how the author is able to smoothly bring all the characters together while keeping true to their own stories.
My favorite characters/storyline is Tateh and his daughter. I like them because I love how far Tateh will go to keep his daughter safe and happy. Although, I definitely don’t agree with the fact that he kicked his wife out of the house. When Tateh has the opportunity to give his daughter a (temporary) safer life, he takes the chance. He plans to send his daughter away to make her happier, even though he would miss and worry about her. I feel like Tateh’s main goal is to give his daughter the best life he can afford. Even though he doesn’t have a lot of money, he always makes sure his daughter has all she needs, which is why they’re my favorite characters.
Evelyn Nesbitt is my least favorite character because I find her weird and boring, For one, she started a relationship with a man that was watching her while hidden in a closet, and who followed her around everywhere. That seems like a poor choice and bad judgement to me. Also, I think it’s weird that she tries to help her murderous husband get out of jail. even though she is 100 percent sure that he did murder Stanford White. Sure, they got divorced immediately after the trial, but why would you want to set a murderer free, especially one that murdered the man you truly love?
Overall, I really enjoy the novel Ragtime by E.L. Doctorow. I think it’s cool that there are so many different characters, all different types of people, are all involved in the same plot line. I also like that Harry Houdini is involved in this book, even though I don’t really see him as an important character. I also like how Doctorow takes aspects of current events in the 1970s and adds them to the 1920s. Overall, I hope all books we read this semester are as good as Ragtime.
