World's Fair

I believe World’s Fair is a literary reproduction by E. L. Doctorow of his own childhood – the novel is so compassionate and it is full of authentic feelings. I imagined houses as superior beings who talked silently to each other. Child’s imagination, child’s fantasies and memories of our childhood a......more

I’m not sure what you’d call this (memoir? novel? cultural history book?), but whatever it is, it works. Young Edgar, bright and observant, describes Jewish family life as he knew it growing up in the Bronx in the 1930’s. E. L. Doctorow (E for Edgar) presumably didn’t stray far from his own experien......more

An Overlooked American Classic The late E.L. Doctorow's (1931 -- 2015) novel "World's Fair (1985) is a lyrical, autobiographical story about growing up in the New York City during the Depression.. Most of the book is told in the first person by an adult, "Edgar", who reflects upon his childhood up to......more

While I see considerable value in the book, I was not blown away by it. Edgar Altschuler, a stand in for Doctorow (Edgar Lawrence Doctorow), tells of his early family life and comes of age in the era just prior to World War II. Change is in the air, symbolized by the fair and occasional dark news fr......more

While I was reading this book, I thought--THIS is why I read books. We can't experience everything during our lives. I will never walk on the Moon--or go to Middle Earth or Pellucidar, for that matter. If we use our imaginations, guided by good writing, we can gain new experiences beyond what is pos......more