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Title: The Human Comedy by William Saroyan ISBN: 0-440-33933-2 Publisher: Dell Publishing Pub. Date: 15 August, 1966 Format: Mass Market Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $6.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.96 (48 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: I have read it twice, and I love it.
Comment: I read this book for the first time when I was about 11, and I loved it just as much as I love it now after reading it again. I love the way Saroyan uses such simple words, yet the point comes across so strongly. This book was extremely powerful, and I would recommend it to any one starting at age 10 to however long you live. I think that although some people call this book "naive", it is far from it. In fact, I think it's the opposite. It's the fact that Saroyan can express everything so simply that makes this such a wonderful book.
Rating: 4
Summary: A capsule of life in a small community during World War II.
Comment: This book is an episodic novel centered on the Macauley family in the town of Ithaca, California, in the San Joaquin Valley in the early 1940s (Saroyan [1908-1981] was born in Fresno, California, and much of what he describes of the life of Ithaca relates to Fresno). The central characters are the fourteen-year-old Homer Macauley, who is working as a telegraph messenger, and his four-year-old brother Ulysses (note the names of Homer, Ulysses, and Ithaca!). Through them we see the people and the vitality of this small community and the impact of World War II. The war is having a deep effect on Homer because he finds himself acting as a "Messenger of Death" since he has to deliver telegrams to family members from the Government informing them of the death of a loved one. This book appeared in 1943 in the middle of the war and, in my opinion, much of its popularity is due to the comfort it gave to many families throughout the U.S. who had family members in the armed forces overseas. Families of widely different backgrounds and heritages as well as entire communities were holding together in this time of strain and concern just as Ithaca was doing. [One minor character in the book is Big Chris, who appears a couple of times in the book, always acting as a guide or "savior." Was Saroyan trying to say here that He is always there in times of need? Or, am I reading too much into the symbolism?] This was a required novel in one of my English classes when I was a kid. And, I discover that it is still a required text more than thirty years later!
Rating: 4
Summary: The Human Comedy
Comment: "The Human Comedy" by William Saroyan, which is set in Ithaca, Ca, is about a family whom in time of war shows more courage than even the soldiers of World War II. The struggles and obstacles that the Macauleys face is a reflection of how the families have their own personal war to overcome. Dealing with the death of his father and an older brother drafted in the war, fourteen-year-old Homer still has a simple dream; to become the fastest telegraph messenger in the west. But even through the innocent dreams of a little boy there brings the reality of the nightmares of the real world. Homer is assigned to deliver telegraph messages of wartime to those who wait for their loved ones return. In the midst of enjoying his new line of work, he realizes that he has come "face-to-face with human emotions at its most naked and raw" state. He is awed by the way the letters can affect the feelings of the loved ones. Homer has to cope with the harsh truth of war.
The author's unique writing style goes beyond the norm of how a story is supposed to be told. Instead of the chapters transitioning from one to the next, Saroyan's approach is fragmented into the importance of the plot. Saroyan portrays a broad view of the sophistication of life. In Homer's world we can see him facing obstacles, choices, and emotions that all people go through. In my opinion, I believe that the author has done a good job with depicting the life of wartime families. However, at first I was not intrigued by the story, but as I read on, I was grabbed by it's realistic view on peoples' emotions. Homer represents the individual. Even though his situation may be more extreme than the average, he is basically confronted with decisions that will eventually shape his characteristics of being man. I would recommend this book to those who enjoy reading about surviving trials and tribulations. I have found this book to be fun and satisfactory.
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Title: The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze: And Other Stories (New Directions Classic) by William Saroyan ISBN: 081121365X Publisher: New Directions Publishing Pub. Date: October, 1997 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: WAIT TILL NEXT YEAR: A MEMOIR by Doris Kearns Goodwin ISBN: 0684847957 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 02 June, 1998 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith ISBN: 006092988X Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 01 September, 1998 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
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Title: The William Saroyan Reader by William Saroyan ISBN: 1569800197 Publisher: Barricade Books Pub. Date: 01 December, 1994 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: Here Comes There Goes You Know Who by William Saroyan, Aram Saroyan ISBN: 1569800308 Publisher: Barricade Books Pub. Date: March, 1995 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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