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A review by cpope9
Appointment in Samarra by John O'Hara
3.0
The story of a Fitzgerald novel....with the feel of a Graham Greene novel....inspired by the style of a Hemingway novel....compiled just after binge reading Virginia Woolf novels.....as written by some significantly less talented than all four of those noted authors.
This book is good. It’s easy to read, easy to feel, easy to understand, but it’s just too....easy. Too transparent. Too clear and accessible. The characters are deep, complex, and beautiful. But they’re also locked into this world where, from the opening epigraph, their fates are sealed. There’s no confusion or contention about where each new encounter or setting would take their stories. Each page is just the tick of the clock toward the clear and obvious end each character will meet. While the journey of those characters grows in value and connection with each chapter, the depth of their looming conclusions doesn’t become any more real, meaningful, or questionable as the book goes on.
A note in the writing, this book entertained detour after detour from its narrative without too much relevant substance being provided therein. These digression seemed to be enough of a stream of consciousness to annoy the reader, but not enough to enlighten. In addition, it seems to me that there’s a laziness to the writing where the author makes the themes so clear that he then must feel no need to provide or evoke any meaningful exploration of those ideas; that his readers must understand it all. And, as it is written, I feel confident that I do understand the themes the author wanted me to understand. I just don’t feel confident that the author fully understands what he’s trying to share.
With that said, this was a worthwhile read. There’s an aura of adequacy about all parts of this novel. Everything here seems to be notably above average, despite its flaws. There is clear style and classic-ness spread throughout these pages. But, in the end, I feel that the novel was too upfront about its themes at the cost of its narrative, and that, in more capable hands, this truly could be a re-readable “classic”. But, alas, despite it mostly succeeding on any given individual merit, it falls just short when those individual points are looked at collectively as a whole.
This book is good. It’s easy to read, easy to feel, easy to understand, but it’s just too....easy. Too transparent. Too clear and accessible. The characters are deep, complex, and beautiful. But they’re also locked into this world where, from the opening epigraph, their fates are sealed. There’s no confusion or contention about where each new encounter or setting would take their stories. Each page is just the tick of the clock toward the clear and obvious end each character will meet. While the journey of those characters grows in value and connection with each chapter, the depth of their looming conclusions doesn’t become any more real, meaningful, or questionable as the book goes on.
A note in the writing, this book entertained detour after detour from its narrative without too much relevant substance being provided therein. These digression seemed to be enough of a stream of consciousness to annoy the reader, but not enough to enlighten. In addition, it seems to me that there’s a laziness to the writing where the author makes the themes so clear that he then must feel no need to provide or evoke any meaningful exploration of those ideas; that his readers must understand it all. And, as it is written, I feel confident that I do understand the themes the author wanted me to understand. I just don’t feel confident that the author fully understands what he’s trying to share.
With that said, this was a worthwhile read. There’s an aura of adequacy about all parts of this novel. Everything here seems to be notably above average, despite its flaws. There is clear style and classic-ness spread throughout these pages. But, in the end, I feel that the novel was too upfront about its themes at the cost of its narrative, and that, in more capable hands, this truly could be a re-readable “classic”. But, alas, despite it mostly succeeding on any given individual merit, it falls just short when those individual points are looked at collectively as a whole.