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Appointment in Samarra

John O'Hara

Start date: May 1, 2019

Finish date: May 31, 2019

Discussion: Lesser Know/Wilderness Classics

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Jan 19, 2018 Chrissie rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, classics, usa, audible-us, 2018-read, love, relationships

The book is about three days in the life of Julian English, the 24th, the 25th and the 26th of December 1930. So it is Christmas and during the Prohibition and the Depression. Julian is thirty, lives on the right side of the tracks in the fictional town of Gibbsville, a surrogate for Pottsville in the anthracite coal region of eastern Pennsylvania. He has a wife that loves him, his father is a doctor and he is himself a wealthy car dealer of Cadillacs. He is a member of the town's most posh coun The book is about three days in the life of Julian English, the 24th, the 25th and the 26th of December 1930. So it is Christmas and during the Prohibition and the Depression. Julian is thirty, lives on the right side of the tracks in the fictional town of Gibbsville, a surrogate for Pottsville in the anthracite coal region of eastern Pennsylvania. He has a wife that loves him, his father is a doctor and he is himself a wealthy car dealer of Cadillacs. He is a member of the town's most posh country club, and yet he drinks, spends more money than he has and is a rake. He is promiscuous. He is immoral, profligate and rash.

So that is what the story is about, but what made me like it so much? The writing, the characters and that it is so very American.

What we are presented with is real people and real dialogs. OK, the setting is 1930, so the issues are different than those of today. Our IT gadgets and gizmos do not yet exist, but I recognize in what is said the words and language that shaped my parents, my childhood and myself. The expressions and language and habits are genuine not to my life but to the generation that shaped my parents. The cocktail before dinner, the partying and that intimate but not-so-honest talk between mother and wedded daughter. The advice given by mother to daughter, what is avoided and what is not said made me smile--different form our times but true to earlier times. I liked all of this .I think it is something you will appreciate if you are or have American background.

I came to care for Julian English. I came to understand him and his wife and to feel empathy for him!

The audiobook is very well narrated by Christian Camargo, although a bit fast in the beginning when many names and characters are thrown at you. I had difficulty keeping track of who was who, but that straightens out by the end. I have given the narration four stars.

I will speak now of the title, Appointment in Samarra and the epigraph with which O’Hara’s story begins. (My source is Wiki.) The title and the epigraph are in reference to W. Somerset Maugham’s retelling of an ancient Mesopotamian tale in his play Sheppey. The epigraph that begins the novel is this:

“A merchant in Baghdad sends his servant to the marketplace for provisions. Soon afterwards, the servant comes home white and trembling and tells him that in the marketplace he was jostled by a woman, whom he recognized as Death and she made a threatening gesture. Borrowing the merchant's horse, he flees at great speed to Samarra, a distance of about 75 miles (125 km), where he believes Death will not find him. The merchant then goes to the marketplace and finds Death and asks why she made the threatening gesture. She replies, ‘That was not a threatening gesture, it was only a start of surprise. I was astonished to see him in Baghdad, for I had an appointment with him tonight in Samarra.’"

Thus the epigraph suggests that fate is central to the story’s theme. In the foreword to the book’s 1953 reprint, O’Hara stated that the title and the epigraph speak of the “inevitability of Julian English’s (view spoiler).” All of this I find interesting and so have included this information here. One can ask if it is fate that has determined Julian English’s outcome or if it is his personality and temperament.

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I preferred O'Hara's BUtterfield 8 a bit more because it so wonderfully captures NYC. Both are definitely worth reading. ...more

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Aug 09, 2018 Susannah rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: listened-to-audiobook, five-star-reads, reading-the-classics

At the risk of sounding like a cliche, this book, to me, felt like the perfect Jazz Age novel. It was lean with a driving beat, reminding me a lot of The Great Gatsby (about as hopeful as Gatsby too), though this one was even less ... ponderous than Gatsby because it doesn't include the memory element.

I really recommend the audiobook version, narrated by Christian Camargo. He's got a great voice for the third person narration and lead character Julian English.

(Increasing to 5 stars, Sept. 4, 20 ...more

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