A review by _dilliam_william
The 42nd Parallel by John Dos Passos

adventurous informative medium-paced

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

2.75

I have some conflicting feelings about this book. It was my first assigned book for this year of university so obviously it will just automatically rank lower because I’ve been forced to read it. But that aside, there was a lot of this book that I really enjoyed, but there just wasn’t enough to get attached to and I felt like I was forcing myself to perceiver in the middle for a bit. 

This book provides a really interesting insight into the Lochner Era in America. Through it’s varying perspectives and narrative forms it’s gives a really jarring yet quite whole view of this era in terms of industrialisation, labour movements, the First World War from the American perspective, and what it means to be American in general during this period.

I like the form of the book, the camera eye and the newsreels provided a really strange, abstract, modernist style that I think I will find really engaging to play about with and analyse during class. However, the multiple character perspectives meant that although I got a wide range of perspectives, I didn’t really spend enough time with any of them to care about their highs and lows throughout the book. I really liked Mac’s story in the first 100 pages and I really liked Charley’s story.

One other note, I have never heard so many slurs for all different kinds of people in my entire life. If John Dos Passos was meant to be satirising racist viewpoints, it does not come through for the most part. Just a warning about the average way minorities are spoken about in 1930s America. 

Overall, this book was interesting for its historical context and its narrative style, but outside of a reading list I don’t know if I’d recommend this book. At least not with any urgency.