E. L. Doctorow (1931–2015)

This is Doctorow's fictional account, from multiple perspectives, of Sherman's "March to the Sea" in the late stages of the American Civil War. There is a large cast of characters, from plantation owners to recently emancipated Black people, from a Union battlefield surgeon to a crafty young Rebel soldier with few principles of any kind, from a "white Negro" nurse to a madwoman looking for her sons among the dead and wounded, from General Sherman himself to his reckless but indispensable show more cavalry commander, General Judson Kilpatrick ("a hell of a damned fool", in Sherman's words). There's blood and suffering a-plenty here, but there is also compassion, humanity in both strength and frailty, and the persistence of pursuing survival into a terrifying and uncertain future. There's even a touch of humor here and there, as when Gen. Kilpatrick, a bit the worse for his overnight non-military endeavors ("horizontal drill"), stumbles outside in his long-johns to see what all the noise is about, and finds himself in the midst of a Confederate cavalry raid on his own camp. When a Rebel officer demands to know the whereabouts of General Kilpatrick, he points at the house he's been using as headquarters ("they went that-a-way") and then, still clad only in his skivvies, careens off into the woods on horseback trying to figure out what to do next. I've always enjoyed Doctorow's way with historical fiction, blending actual events with the fruits of his imagination, putting recognizable historical figures into contact with his fictional creations to excellent effect. [The March] hit all the right notes for me, and will be one of my best reads for the year (2024).
ETA: In reviewing my reading threads, I find I first read this novel in 2007. I always had the feeling that I HAD read it, but couldn't remember it, and I didn't document it in my catalog at that earlier date. Interestingly, I took note of very different elements in my comments back then. Here's what I said on my 2007 reading thread:

"A good read for civil war buffs. Interesting characters, some of whom were kind of abandoned in the course of the "march". In particular, Coalhouse Walker, Sr. presumably the father of Coalhouse Walker, Jr., of [Ragtime]. He had a very small part here, and then disappeared. This is by no means a military novel, but we do get character sketches of General Sherman, General Grant and others. Also briefly raises the interesting premise that Lincoln may have been afflicted with some premature aging disorder. Must research that--is there really such a school of thought?
Edit: So far, I have determined that "some people wonder" if Lincoln was afflicted with Marfan's syndrome, in which individuals have very long limbs, and eventually develop heart problems; life expectancy is short...that could be what he meant. The premature aging diseases all seem to have dramatic affects at an early age, and rarely do their victims survive to adulthood at all." show less

For the first time that I can remember, I loved every single selection in a collection like this. Short fiction is so often hit or miss with me, and even when I greatly enjoy some of the stories, others usually feel flat and pointless. There are only five stories in the collection, and each one is a gem. Three of the five are told in the first person. The most powerful of the lot is "Walter John Harmon", a first person narrative from inside the head of a member of a religious cult founded by show more a former mechanic who survived a cyclone that engulfed the repair shop where he worked. It is downright terrifying to note how the healthy skepticism of the seemingly rational narrator gradually turns to cautious acceptance of the cult's lifestyle requirements, and ultimately morphs him into a true believer and incipient fanatic. In "A House on the Plains", the narrator is a young man whose mother is up to something, the nature of which gradually and subtly becomes horribly clear. It's a tiny little novel, and I rate it right up there with Tom Tryon's [The Other] for the way pieces fall in place to suggest and then reveal a picture you don't want to see but can't look away from. "Child, Dead, in the Rose Garden" is a touching portrait of a disillusioned FBI agent who does what he can unofficially to rectify a sad situation created by a disturbed young woman with a grudge against her father and a bureaucratic system that sees nothing in human terms. Highly recommended.
Reviewed December 2015 show less

Situado num período sobre o qual eu li muito pouco, mas que parece ser a vibe dos Bioshocks (especialmente o Infinite), Ragtime se passa no começo do crescimento dos EUA, entre 1900 e o começo da Grande Guerra. O livro fala muito sobre a questão racial e migratória, com as hordas de pobres nas beiras do sistema americano lutando para sobreviver, enquanto os EUA se segmentavam como potência econômica, bem nessa época dos grandes burgueses e da decadência final da aristocracia show more européia. É nessa época que surgem grandes como Carnegie, Morgan (do JP Morgan) e afins, enquanto também surgem movimentos anarquistas e socialistas a rodo dentro dos próprios EUA, lutando pela dignidade dos trabalhadores, que comiam o pão que o diabo amassou, vivendo enfurnados em bairros sujos. Isso sem falar da questão racial, que só foi avançar realmente DÉCADAS depois, mas já fica exposta na atitude dos personagens e no que sofre o Coalhouse, que, por ser alvo de fortes perseguições raciais de bombeiros decide buscar Justiça a todo custo, tornando-se um revolucionário, e para isso convertendo o fio condutor da narrativa, onipresente, o Irmão Mais Novo. Coalhouse vai de músico educado, tentando casar-se com a humilde lavadeira que engravidou, para incendiário e assassino, obcecado em ter seu carro reparado. O livro faz algo que, ao que consta, era inédito na época, misturando figuras históricas, como Morgan, Houdini, Emma Goldman, dentre outros, com a narrativa ficcional da família de New Rochelle. O resultado é um livro deveras interessante, que me apresentou uma série de coisas sobre o período, como o começo do movimento sindical nos EUA, a existência de outro presidente americano assassinado (achava que era somente JFK), e é um livro delicioso de se ler. Uma jóia. show less

The best historical novels read as if they were written in the time they are being written about. It can’t be easy to create that illusion, while at the same time producing a story contemporary readers can appreciate, understand and identify with. E.L. Doctorow does all this nicely in his 1994 novel “The Waterworks.”

Doctorow’s narrator is McIlvaine, a now aged newspaperman remembering his best story, one he couldn’t dare tell in his newspaper back in the 1870s when it all occurred. show more Now, after so many years, it doesn’t matter whether anyone believes it or not.

Martin Pemberton, a freelance or what we would today call a freelancer, mentions one day that he has seen his father. No big deal, except for the fact that his father, Augustus Pemberton (a wealthy, disreputable businessman) is dead and buried. McIlvaine assumes his reporter is just mistaken, until Martin disappears and the newsman learns that when the old man’s grave is opened the body of a boy is found inside. To help find Martin, McIlvaine enlists the services of one of the few honest cops in New York City during the Boss Tweed era, Capt. Edmund Donne. When they find Martin he is being held captive in, of all places, an orphanage.

The shocking story Martin later tells involves a mad doctor of the Doctor Moreau school of medicine who convinces dying old men of great wealth to, in exchange for passing that wealth on to him, gain, if not immortality, at least extra years of blissful existence as guinea pigs in a great scientific experiment. How the doctor makes use of the orphans is another part of the horror.

Other writers might have taken Doctorow’s plot, doubled the length of the novel (Doctorow’s goes barely 250 pages), added more deaths and sex and shocks, and gotten a bestseller in the horror genre. Doctorow earned his bestseller with an understated literary novel in which most of the horror comes secondhand. For someone like me who doesn’t go for horror anyway, secondhand is more than good enough. show less