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A review by agmunth
U.S.A.: The 42nd Parallel / 1919 / The Big Money by Townsend Ludington, Daniel Aaron, John Dos Passos
adventurous
challenging
informative
slow-paced
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
5.0
Absolute monster of a book
I had mixed feelings about it at times and it was definitely a slog to get through in parts, but now that it's over I can't help but love USA. It's unlike any other book I've read and paints a really comprehensive picture of an America that I've never really learnt about before - a much more socialist America (and an even more heavy drinking America) than I'd ever known.
It's got its flaws though. I love the use of four different narrative modes in the book, it makes the portrait of America feel much more textured than if it were just a traditionally told story, I just wish the mode you spend the bulk of the time reading was as interesting to read as the other three! The stream of consciousness in the Camera Eye sections is obtuse as balls, but it all adds up to an incredibly visceral political coming of age story; the Newsreel sections where Dos Passos makes collages out of news articles, headlines, songs and ads from the era are hard to make sense of when you have as little historical background as me, but they're so cool and make the scope of the book feel so much broader; the biographies of notable Americans are maybe the best of the bunch and they show that Dos Passos can tell a coherent account of someone's life in a stylistically interesting and understandable way (the biographies of unnamed citizens that close out Nineteen Nineteen and The Big Money are probably the best sections of the book). But then you spend 90% of the time reading perfectly well written accounts of fictional characters lives that just feel so much more dull in comparison. And these stories aren't particularly satisfying in the traditional sense, major events happen with very little build up and they are populated with so many characters that are often given so little space to develop its hard to keep track of them (especially all the men in Nineteen Nineteen). This structure makes sense looking at the book from a distance - the grounded realism and rapid shifts in the narratives are there because that's what the book's trying to show you a reality where Americans lead unstable lives with little or no control. The book probably wouldn't work without it, it's just a shame it can be a bit of a slog to get through.
I don't want to seem like I secretly hate this book and am just giving it 5 stars on prestige alone. It was a difficult read and I didn't always enjoy it, but USA deserves its reputation. Over its three volumes it builds up the strongest, clearest and most powerful message of anger at America and capitalism I've seen in any book (and maybe any thing?), all while highlighting members of American society I've never read about before. It may not be the most fun book whilst reading, but I'll be thinking about and dipping back into USA for a long time.
btw The Big Money is the best volume
I had mixed feelings about it at times and it was definitely a slog to get through in parts, but now that it's over I can't help but love USA. It's unlike any other book I've read and paints a really comprehensive picture of an America that I've never really learnt about before - a much more socialist America (and an even more heavy drinking America) than I'd ever known.
It's got its flaws though. I love the use of four different narrative modes in the book, it makes the portrait of America feel much more textured than if it were just a traditionally told story, I just wish the mode you spend the bulk of the time reading was as interesting to read as the other three! The stream of consciousness in the Camera Eye sections is obtuse as balls, but it all adds up to an incredibly visceral political coming of age story; the Newsreel sections where Dos Passos makes collages out of news articles, headlines, songs and ads from the era are hard to make sense of when you have as little historical background as me, but they're so cool and make the scope of the book feel so much broader; the biographies of notable Americans are maybe the best of the bunch and they show that Dos Passos can tell a coherent account of someone's life in a stylistically interesting and understandable way (the biographies of unnamed citizens that close out Nineteen Nineteen and The Big Money are probably the best sections of the book). But then you spend 90% of the time reading perfectly well written accounts of fictional characters lives that just feel so much more dull in comparison. And these stories aren't particularly satisfying in the traditional sense, major events happen with very little build up and they are populated with so many characters that are often given so little space to develop its hard to keep track of them (especially all the men in Nineteen Nineteen). This structure makes sense looking at the book from a distance - the grounded realism and rapid shifts in the narratives are there because that's what the book's trying to show you a reality where Americans lead unstable lives with little or no control. The book probably wouldn't work without it, it's just a shame it can be a bit of a slog to get through.
I don't want to seem like I secretly hate this book and am just giving it 5 stars on prestige alone. It was a difficult read and I didn't always enjoy it, but USA deserves its reputation. Over its three volumes it builds up the strongest, clearest and most powerful message of anger at America and capitalism I've seen in any book (and maybe any thing?), all while highlighting members of American society I've never read about before. It may not be the most fun book whilst reading, but I'll be thinking about and dipping back into USA for a long time.
btw The Big Money is the best volume