Manhattan Transfer : A Novel

Rating:
Summary: Manhattan Transfer?
Review: At the risk of pointing out the obvious, none of the featured reviewers on Amazon's page for this novel mention the seemingly most obvious point about Dos Passos' style, which is that it's heavily influenced by Jazz rhythms and structures in its cutting between different characters and different points in time to flesh out and vary basic themes. The occasional interruptions by random characters echo the way a soloist seizes on elements or variations of a musical phrase to lend depth and context to an entire piece.

I realize this is all pretty pedestrian: after all, it's New York in the mid-20s, duh. However, some of the reviewers make the novel sound almost like proto nouveau-roman, which seems to me to be both little unfair, and also to make the novel sound a lot more confusing and difficult than it actually is.

In fact, I think an ordinary modern reader consciously or subconsciously familiar with musical and cinematic structures and techniques will have no great trouble understanding what Dos Passos is doing.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best American books
Review: John dos Passos stands amongst the "American modernists," a member of the lost generation, whose most outstanding feature in his literary production is a non-traditional writing style, an outspoken revolt against the molds of classic fiction. He invented the grammar of communication of the late twentieth century, and is considered by some critics as the American Joyce.

In "Manhattan Transfer" the author depicts New York City in the 20's, reflecting social concerns and the two-fold morality of the American Dream. In his narrative he weaves several scenes and a horde of unrelated characters, with flashes and cut-backs, better described as a movie-technique. With the use of stream of consciousness, the author relies on the the reader to make his own conclusion. In view of these innovative techniques, "Manhattan Transfer" does not fit in the traditional scheme of composition and requires some adjustment from the reader.

A knowledge of the author's biography (see "Dos Passos," by Virginia Spencer) is a necessary tool in understanding John dos Passos. His family history (he was an illegitimate child) is characterized by deceits and desertions, by a fundamental sense of not belonging in the scheme of society. It is clear that his characters carry autobiographical references.

Rating:
Summary: Manhattan Transfer?
Review: Manhattan Transfer is a subway ride through New York - both across its geographic landscape - a burgeoning metropolis, the heart of the American economy; but also, slums, dark alleys and industrial wasteland. Likewise it is a ride across the ethnic and social landscape - self-made men, fatcats, bored bourgeois bohemians and anarchists, destitute immigrants, ambitious chorus girls, and washed up stock brokers.

Dos Passsos's book is like a running paragraph that only briefly stops to take us from one sub-scape to another - his voyeuristic way of relating the social current of WWI and 1920's New York to the everyday lives of people, many of whom are caught up in that current. Dos Passos does not quite uncover any new ground or dig deep into any one point - he covers a lot of ground - there is a sense of equilibrium one gets from reading his prose. Just a few just-below the surface issues he tackles are the budding concerns of untested feminism, the moral puritanism of the Prohibition; less oblique are the issues of unfettered capitalism.

Indisputably, Dos Passos's ability to weave in and out of lives while weaving the tapestry of an exciting period in NY and America is admirable. Still, there is an aloofness in a book whose characters are less important to the story than the social forces that encompass them. With no one to anchor the story (despite some possible tenable arguments for the recurring characters), the story just keeps floating along. It doesn't have to end after 400 pages, it can run on ad infinitum.

Rating:
Summary: a gem of a novel on life in New York
Review: Manhattan Transfer presents the good, the bad and the ugly side of life in New York. Money seems to be the driving force behind everybody's lives and love is hard to come by. However, even the failure to realise one's goals does not deter one from hanging on in New York, as Bud does. It is, after all, the 'center of things.' It is in the end Jimmy, who emerges as the man who dares to rebel aganst the 'getting and spending' life that the city promises. The various vignettes that Dos Passos offers somehow tie up, as they all have common concerns, concerns that centre around the great American Dream. What Dos Passos really wants to reveal is the hollowness of this dream.

Rating:
Summary: Poetic Prose
Review: Manhattan Transfer's plot is a series of interwoven stories that span several generations of interconnected lives in early twentieth-century New York City. The most appealing element of the book is Dos Passos's beatifully poetic descriptive prose. The mini-plots are a bit over-contrived and difficult to follow; he assigns them less attention and care than his descriptions of the city itself, but this is his intention. As a reader, I felt no emotional connection to any of the (many) characters I met; I did, however, feel a deep attachment to the city. It is an organic being in Dos Passos's cosmology--it is in fact the book's protagonist, almost as though it's the city's growth we're meant to be charting through the decades and its relationships with its inhabitants, rather than vice versa. His use of verbs is brilliant and rather unique: the city "breathes," it "sweats," it "sighs"; it is alive. As a book lover, you'll appreciate the language, and as a New Yorker, you simply can't not read this novel.

Rating:
Summary: A Milestone in American Fiction
Review: The power of this book is only a fraction less than that of Dos Passos' USA Trilogy. Manhattan Transfer is a lesser-known epic, an intermingling of separate and not-so-separate lives during Jazz Age America. Different people weave in and out of each others' existences, and as readers, it is our job to travel vicariously with them. The end result, as with Dos Passos' other great works, is a massive, verbal slap in the face. We are faced with undying social issues, colossal questions, and the vague aching end-of-book feeling of How Could This Be the End. Because Dos Passos, with his perfect imagery and word usage, draws us into his books and brings so close to his characters that we feel we could reach out and touch them.

Manhattan Transfer is a beautiful example of American Fiction, and John Dos Passos ought to make patriots proud and a little bit ashamed of ourselves. That, in my opinion, is the hallmark of a great nation-oriented writer.

Rating:
Summary: "I dunno...pretty far."
Review: The prose style presented in Manhattan Transfer is fresh and unorthodox, two characteristics that all great literature must contain.

The narrator of the novel is an eavesdropper who chooses his subjects at will. You are able to spend three pages with a subject, then not hear from the subject until scores of pages later, if at all.

Manhattan Transfer serves as a history book, but not the standard type. You actually get to feel, hear, taste and smell what it was like to be in NYC during the early half of the 20th century. Most history books cite landmark events, but Manhattan Transfer records the life of the people living rather than the events the people were involved in.

John Dos Passos is one of the most overlooked, underappreciated American writers of the 20th century. I highly recommend this book to everyone. You must visit NYC to fully appreciate the book, though.

Rating:
Summary: One of the best American books
Review: This book is really one of the best American novels. Its style is unique. You will not "read" this book, but you are going to
smell New York, hear New York, see New York, walk around Manhattan on your own sore feet. It is also a fascinating work because different stories run in parallel in it. It may take you a while to find your way through the book, but then, it will give you a panoramic impression about NY at Dos Passos' time. This book is also a somewhat sceptical, even resigned or pessimistic book. Certainly, it reflects some of Dos Passos' own experiences, and life is not always happy-ended. Don't blame that on the book. This book is inimitable. Even Dos Passos himself did not succeed to create another work which is as uniform in style, compelling, impressive and impressionistic as this one. The USA trilogy is far more diconnected, harder to read, and the unique stlye of Manhattan Transfer turns into mere mannerism in the later trilogy. However, in "Manhattan Transfer", everything is perfectly at balance, the style fits the objective perfectly, and there is no arbitrariness. Be patient when reading this book. It does not "tell a story" in straightforward way, so the fun of reading this book is not following a well-knit plot, but the fun lies rather in the process of reading itself, enjoying the style, cherishing every single line. A must read.

Rating:
Summary: An under read classic.
Review: Within the first few pages, it becomes apparent quickly that Manhattan Transfer is not a traditional novel. Dos Passos presents a collage of New York City in the 1920's that even 75 years later describes well the modern city. His technique of jumping from character to character as they interact with each other within the city as some succeed and others fail provides a bleak, yet at the same time oddly wonderful reading. His injection of newspaper ads, songs, and advertisements captures so well the bustle of large cities. I can only wonder why he is often left out of the "canon" of American Modernists. It does take adjustment to read Manhattan Transfer, but you will be more than rewarded for your efforts.