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World’s Fair by E. L. Doctorow
The publication is set within the late twenties to early thirties. This spans the period before the Second World War and during the Great Depression. The economic patterns within the set period were very tough and majority of the American people were really suffering. Additionally, the same period marks Hitler’s hold over Europe and the World Fair that journeyed to New York. Therefore, New York acts as the setting and is the town where young Edgar lives with his family. The location of the novel is important as it explains the main aim of the author; bringing back the spirit of New York City to the thirties. The identified goal is well achieved within the novel. The author uses the book to display memories he has of his own childhood and the various perspectives he held towards the world. He gives an account of how he grew up in New York, the life his Jewish family had and how life was through his eyes.
The book offers the story of Edgar, who is the protagonist and symbolically the author, grew up and expanded in his career. The plot captures incidences through which Edgar lost his innocence as the thick coverings on his eyes vanished. Comprehensively, the novel is meant to remind people of the thirties and the manner of life within the outlined setting, since the period is being forgotten slowly by the society. The novel’s main purpose concerns the earlier forms of recreation as captured by young Edgar during his development phase. However, the story is told on a recalling basis, reminiscent of part happenings. Events dealt within in the publication include the events in Edgar’s life that lead to his maturity and discovery of self. These events include his trip to the hospital and his first crush, his first encounter with death, among others. The main characters in the story include Edgar, his mother, father and brother.
The book is the combination of a hybrid and memoir. A few observations that deem this as true include the naming of the characters according to real and historical individuals. Edgar is named as the author and his parents are named Dave and Rose just like his parents. His brother is named Donald just like his real brother. The book is unique and in a good way as it displays the negativity of the notion that memory and imagination are ever independent of each other. The author divides truth from imagination and successfully displays to the readers that the art of remembering is a process of invention in itself. The book creates a classic display of a combination of a novel, memoir and oral history all in one book. Towards the end of the book, about its final 100 pages, the book becomes more of a novel and Doctorow’s mix of art forms becomes more highlighted.
The book is however weak in mixing the three genres in a non-clumsy way. Doctorow mixes them in a low artistic manner and leaves the main work to the author to disambiguate the versions of the story. The author also fails to consider that a fictional piece has a higher responsibility in the telling of a story than that of explaining how well a life was lived. Therefore, if the novel had been published as non-fiction, making it an autobiography it would have produced a masterpiece. The story would have been a story of a young man, his life and its recreation in very accurate and perfect detail. The author also fails in the creation of a credible plot. The book has little suspense and less traces of drama. The publication is based on various events that weaken the content; had the author based it on one of the major issues of the time, it would have made the book more involving. However, since this is overlooked, the book becomes less captivating. In conclusion, the book is good for reading though it is built on a weak foundation. However, readers will find it interesting to get the story of the young boy in New York and how life was in the city was in the thirties, but not for plot and certainly not for biographical account.
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