Reviews

Manhattan Transfer by John Dos Passos

whitneyborup's review against another edition

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3.0

First read: November 5, 2011

amodernisttriestoread's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

This is basically everything I wanted from Gatsby. 

frasersimons's review against another edition

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challenging reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

A polyphonic grouping mostly comprised of immigrants, all trying to find their way in a city that sells them something that doesn’t exist. Moving from something that feels like cinematic plays—or tracking shots—to meat of narratives with each chapter, this 1925 text feels really contemporary sometimes, especially when weaving between perspectives and contextualizing things very cinematically and emotionally.

It doesn’t escape being antiquated though. Lots of characters feel like caricatures. They’re openly racist. I doubt any one character arc will be surprising. Oh, and they ride carriages sometimes, dodging new-fangled cars. The plotting is intricate and comes together nicely to form the themes. But I doubt I’ll even remember a character name in a day or two. I never once felt attached. We are far more than arms length. 

More than most this could be a 4 on a day when I’m thinking Fondly about it. Because it does feature great writing and it feels like it might have impacted literature to the degree of perhaps even forging these quintessential stories and this type of fiction. There’s some progressive ideas and the intent of it is explicit enough that the antiquated features are undeniably blind spots. There’s some queer characters and an abortion story, which feels ahead of it’s time, but also of it’s time. 

nipqueen's review against another edition

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challenging emotional reflective sad medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

mpho3's review against another edition

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4.0

3.5

cosasdelvira's review against another edition

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5.0

es como un cuadro de david macho pero en el que existe el paso del tiempo o uno de los dibujos de chris riddell en cualquier libro de ottoline en los que hay mil millones de detalles...en resumen: un libro muy chulo que te deja con buen cuerpo (sobre todo por como está escrito)

dos recomendaciones:
- creo que es mejor leerlo en vuestra lengua materna, hay mazo mazo mazo mazo palabras extrañas y encima va juan dos pasos y te escribe las palabras de la manera en la que son pronunciadas según cada acento
- hacerse una lista de los nombres que van saliendo para no perderse (son muchos) (más de ochenta)

amatullah_sabir's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious reflective sad fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

yashirolevi's review against another edition

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really not my thing in the slightest, gosh what a draaaaag

lois_bozilovic's review against another edition

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challenging informative slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.75

mavenbooks's review against another edition

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challenging dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0