Io non ho ben capito perché si parli di “fallimento del sogno americano” riferendosi a questa raccolta di racconti. A mio modesto avviso, il fallimento che Doctorow ci mostra sta nelle persone in sé, non nel “sogno”. Anche se i personaggi fossero tutti nati e cresciuti a Timbuctù, sarebbe stato lo stesso, sia pur con modalità differenti. Semmai, direi che è un’attenta e riuscita panoramica di quanti insidiosi motivi esistano per sprecare la propria vita e di come sia facile illudersi o consolarsi pensando che così non sia. Il vuoto è interiore e le scelte sbagliate sono le proprie.Premesso questo, ciascun racconto è dolorosamente compiuto in sé, nel senso che l’autore è ben riuscito a usare e dosare le risorse offerte dal mezzo narrativo scelto, che non è facile da gestire. Personalmente, infatti, preferisco i romanzi rispetto ai racconti, perché di solito riescono a delineare meglio le situazioni e i sentimenti. Ma Doctorow è stato decisamente abile nello scegliere e nel percorrere questi “pezzi di vita”, restituendocene immagini vivide e azzeccate, che non fanno rimpiangere, né desiderare storie di più ampio respiro.Questo è il mio primo approccio all’autore, che conoscevo solo di nome. Avrei già messo gli occhi su “Homer & Langley”, per approfondire. Vedremo.
Well. Five stories. Not uniformly bleak. Well, actually, yes they are. Don't read these to cheer up.Read them if you want to see a well-constructed story. "A House on the Plains" begins with a mother and son departing Chicago for a house outside the city (sounds like now it would be around Aurora, in the middle of another city, but anyway...). It's only very slowly that you realize that this happy family is not your and my kind of happy family. At least I hope not! "Jolene: A Life" is grindingly sad. You can see her life unfolding before you on the first page, at age 15. I kept repeating to myself "It has to get better." And it does. But not really; she ends up reliving the same story over and over, with the dawning awareness that this is her fate and her doom. I normally don't like Depressing-for-Depressing's-Sake. But Doctorow is a crafty writer--in both senses of that word. These are stories populated with folks who will stay in your memory for a long time.
What do You think about Sweet Land Stories (2004)?
E.L. Doctorow's "Sweet Land Stories," presents us with a side of rural America that is rarely witnessed firsthand, but that we all know exists. It is a realm of problematic rationalization:"This newborn baby, whom we have stolen from another couple, will be safer and healthier with us...""My mother is justified in marrying and subsequently killing rich foreign men and keeping their money...""This man is so idiotically cocky and financially successful that I'm sure he'll make a great husband and father..."Needless to say, these stories are not meant for the lifting of spirits. However, quite ironically, they all seem to end on a strange sort of 'high note.' This, I suppose, is where the author's skill lies. Unfortunately, what he lacks is the ability to draw the reader into his characters' jaded thought processes. His subjects are unmistakably 'human,' but certainly not as carefully crafted and maintained as, say, Frank and April Wheeler of Yates' "Revolutionary Road." Still, Doctorow deserves credit for a few very solid and original stories here.
—Patrick
A collection of short stories by E. L. Doctorow. The most memorable one is Child, Dead in the Rose Garden. It is about an 8-year-old child who is found dead in the Rose Garden after a ceremony. An FBI agent tries to find out how the child got there, who he was and what killed him. The trail eventually leads back to one of the President's big contributors in Texas. The child belonged to one of his gardeners. The whole thing is hushed up and covered up by White House political operatives who don't want the public to know about it. Another story, called Baby Wilson, is about a couple where the girlfriend steals a baby from a maternity ward in a hospital in LA. On the run, the couple travel through the west. They finally realize that the need to return the baby and do so through a Catholic church in Nevada.
—Frederick Bingham
