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A review by bent
Manhattan Transfer by John Dos Passos
1.0
Over the last 60 pages of this book, my rating dropped from two stars to one. I never really enjoyed it - it was readable enough, but none of the characters were compelling enough to care about. The last sixty pages, however, just seemed to drag on and on.
I found the names of the characters too similar - Jimmy, James, Joe, John, George, Alice, Anna - early on I was flipping back and forth to figure out who I was actually reading about. We don't get to know any of the characters well enough to have much interest or sympathy in their stories.
The book reminds me a lot of Hugh Garner's Cabbagetown but I preferred the latter, partly because it's set in Toronto where I live and can identify with, but mostly because I found I cared about the characters' lives. There was more of a sense of progression in that book. With Manhattan Transfer, I really felt most of the characters were going around in circles, with go-nowhere lives that seemed depressing. I don't think I'll be tackling the USA trilogy any time soon.
I found the names of the characters too similar - Jimmy, James, Joe, John, George, Alice, Anna - early on I was flipping back and forth to figure out who I was actually reading about. We don't get to know any of the characters well enough to have much interest or sympathy in their stories.
The book reminds me a lot of Hugh Garner's Cabbagetown but I preferred the latter, partly because it's set in Toronto where I live and can identify with, but mostly because I found I cared about the characters' lives. There was more of a sense of progression in that book. With Manhattan Transfer, I really felt most of the characters were going around in circles, with go-nowhere lives that seemed depressing. I don't think I'll be tackling the USA trilogy any time soon.