Customer Reviews

The Human Comedy

5 star:		(40)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I'm a retired high school English teacher (42 years in California's classrooms), and I first read this novel in early 1944 at my grandfather's request at age 13. In my early teaching experience, I required this novel be read by my 10th grade students. In later years, the novel became the focus for my less able students as I guided them through the novel by having them prepare maps of Ithaca by transferring author descriptions into real street maps of Fresno, California. Incidentally, I was reared in Hanford, California, about 32 miles south...and, yes, the Postal Telegraph Office existed then and so did the Gallo Winery, though Saroyan used a different name.

Human dignity and sense of self within a community are key issues in this disarmingly simple narrative.The casual reader will miss the three-pronged revelation of human insight seen through the eyes of the child, Ulysses; the teen Homer; and the adult, Marcus. The widowed mother provides a stability upon which all these offspring rely. Essentially, she is a life source, and all three sons at the same time mirror her influence as they interact with others in the daily business of living.

Saroyan's simplicity in these three viewpoints, though cast in a time few modern readers can recall (1943),still strongly portrays a basic element of humans caring for humans. That act is valued forever regardless of culture, gender, or age. It is universal.

Unfortunately,I am unable to locate a copy containing a chapter titled "At the Parlor Rooms." Most copies taught at the high school level have had this chapter deleted. Today's youth would not be offended by its inclusion. Saroyan's intent, I believe, was to illustrate Homer's exposure to a fuller understanding of the "human experience," and its Aristotelian sense of the comedy of life.

I'll be assisting Saroyan's grand-niece this summer in a college course as she relates memories of her famous uncle. I look forward to revisiting Fresno, Augie, Shag, Mr. Mechano, the apricot tree, and the saintly librarian who guided two young boys into the magnificent mystery of books.

The Human Comedy is one of the most beautifully written books I've ever read, so when I opened this paperback version, I was devastated to realize that the unthinkable had occurred-- the text had been altered! The ending that I had so cherished in an old hardback version had been hastily re-written, going so far as to conclude with a completely different final sentence. I do not know how a publisher could in good conscience alter the work of such an extraordinarily gifted writer. In the grand scheme of things, a changed sentence here and a paraphrased statement there might not be of tremendous importance, but in the world of literature, we trust that we are reading the author's original work-- and in this case, that trust has been violated. So, before purchasing this paperback, make an effort to find an old hardback copy of this wonderful novel. At the very least, read the paperback and then re-read the last chapter as it is printed in 'The William Saroyan Reader'. The Human Comedy is an incredibly moving book and, unfortunately, this paperback edition does not do it justice.

This book is the equivalent of the Proustian madeleine...to read it is to recover a past long lost. Making the case for the mordant paradigm shift of US morals, ethics and literary tastes, this is the marker past which one can see the sad decline of the quality of art and life in the modern world. I cannot improve on the highly intelligent and sensitive overview given here by reviewer Big Orange "paxbear" and so will not review the book in detail. That it is one of only three Saroyan volumes still in print makes the case for the obsolesence of the clear heart and clear mind in today's mindlessly kinetic world. You can read this book in the time it would take you to go see MI 111 in a cineplex. Carpe diem. Read this instead.

The Human Comedy is a heart-warming story of a family during World War II. This book portrays the part of World War II that is often forgotten, its families. The fourteen year old Homer Macauley is the central character of this story. His brother is at war and his father is dead, so he must be the breadwinner for his mother, brother and sister. Through his job as a telegraph messenger Homer becomes more connected to the war than he would like - having to deliver death notices of soldiers to their families. Through the development of characters and light side plots, Saroyan shows the simplicities and struggles of the families of World War II. Saroyan not only shows the way the war affected the families of World War II, but by using simple anecdotes about little boys at play or Homer at school, he shows that life went on during the war. This book contains simple human truths that are constant throughout history. The reader gets the message that no matter what tragedy happens, life will go on. I found this story to be emotional, humorous, and very touching. The simple lives of the Macauley family represents all family's struggles and joys, during World War II.

The story is very well written. I have read the story three times in three different periods in my life. Each time I read the book the story had a different flavor. This book is like wine; it becomes vintage as you get older. This is everyone's life. If you have a child and are one of those parents that thinks that children do not understand what is going on in life, please read this book. You will understand how does a child's innocence change and emotions drive one into adulthood.

Saroyan dedicated the story to his mother. This is a key element of the story. Saroyan lost his father at a very young stage in his life and his uncle (mother's brother) became his father figure. His uncle was taken to war and that was the last he saw of him. That was a devastating experience for a young child. As a commemorative he wrote the story for his mom. He did not know the book would be so famous.

Saroyan is truly a genius. He may have died but he still lives in the hearts of all book readers.

One of the favorite time wasting conversations at cocktail parties used to be discussions of the "great American Novel." Everyone wanted to write it, everyone had an opinion over whether Hemingway or Fitzgerald or Steinbeck were the ones that already had. Well, if anyone with half a brain and more than a third grade education has stumbled on Saroyan's The Human Comedy the discussion can be ended. True, Hollywood mixed it with so much treacle that enjoying Mickey Rooney's performance has to be rated as a guilty pleasure, but the novel itself is damn near perfect. A scatching indictment of war, a treatise to family values, a celebration of the simple pleasures, an ode to the dying small town: The Human Comedy is all of the above and more. Forced down the throats of a generation of eighth graders by well meaning English teachers, this simple and compelling tale is often mistakenly labeled as a children's book. A good, quick read the first time, this is the type of novel that can be re-read over and over, with each read opening new vistas of thought and levels of meaning. For my stilted taste, none of Saroyan's later works came close. In his foreword, he apologizes for not having waited to be mature enough to give the story its due. He was wrong. The characters are broad brushed, but with enough detail to color in personalities of folks we all have known. Homer, the arguable main character, is a bit too staunch to judge by today's standards, but probably existed in most small towns in the war torn 1940's. Ulysses, the hope of the future and the innocence of childhood, is an everyman under the age of ten. I need not inventory every character, for each has their own value and depth. Simply put, this is a novel to compare others to. Read it or suffer a less fulfilling life than you could have had.

I first read this book back in 1965 and have cherished it ever since. I find some chapters and passages timeless: the young man who comes to rob the telegraph office and tells Spangler "let me find one man uncorrupted by the world so that I may be uncorrupted, so that I may believe and live"; when Ulysses hands an egg to his mother ands says the word "egg" and Saroyan says by this "he meant what no man can guess and what no child can remember to tell." I find the writing simple, eloquent, without fat, economic, all the hallmarks of great writing. The lesson to me from the book is about hope - in the midst of war and death and pain there is always hope. "There will always be pain in things, but this does not mean that a man shall despair" and "Love is immortal and makes all things immortal" are two more lines from this lovely, warm, human and humane book. Read it, come back to it.

This is an well written novel that looks at the life for a lower-middle class family of yesterday. Life was enjoyable, but it was also hard. The whole family sometimes had to work just to get by.

First of all, don't come to this book looking for a laugh a minute. Traditionally, a comedy is a lighthearted drama that has a happy ending. It isn't a jokefest, it's just not a dark sadistic story.

On the downside, the character viewpoint changes from chapter to chapter. Until I got used to this, I would get disoriented from chapter to chapter.

On the upside, it portrays life as it is. That is one of the elements of Humor as opposed to Wit. Wit is designed to make us laugh out loud through exaggeration or the twisting of words into a punchline from an otherwise normal situation. Humor portrays the real as it actually is so that we can sit back and see the funny things in life all around us.

This book allows us to sit back and enjoy ourselves through joys and extreme hardships. A son loving his family and providing for it by delivering telegrams comes home utterly dejected because he ends up delivering several War Department telegrams. But we also see him take part in his brother's rescue from a newfangled animal trap designed not to hurt the prey.

Overall I really enjoyed the book, the main thing that held it back from a five star review was the confustion in continuity through the chapters. I would suggest this book, as well as others by Saroyan as a good buy.

"The Human Comedy" by William Saroyan, which is set in Ithaca, Ca, is about a family whom in time of war shows more courage than even the soldiers of World War II. The struggles and obstacles that the Macauleys face is a reflection of how the families have their own personal war to overcome. Dealing with the death of his father and an older brother drafted in the war, fourteen-year-old Homer still has a simple dream; to become the fastest telegraph messenger in the west. But even through the innocent dreams of a little boy there brings the reality of the nightmares of the real world. Homer is assigned to deliver telegraph messages of wartime to those who wait for their loved ones return. In the midst of enjoying his new line of work, he realizes that he has come "face-to-face with human emotions at its most naked and raw" state. He is awed by the way the letters can affect the feelings of the loved ones. Homer has to cope with the harsh truth of war.
The author's unique writing style goes beyond the norm of how a story is supposed to be told. Instead of the chapters transitioning from one to the next, Saroyan's approach is fragmented into the importance of the plot. Saroyan portrays a broad view of the sophistication of life. In Homer's world we can see him facing obstacles, choices, and emotions that all people go through. In my opinion, I believe that the author has done a good job with depicting the life of wartime families. However, at first I was not intrigued by the story, but as I read on, I was grabbed by it's realistic view on peoples' emotions. Homer represents the individual. Even though his situation may be more extreme than the average, he is basically confronted with decisions that will eventually shape his characteristics of being man. I would recommend this book to those who enjoy reading about surviving trials and tribulations. I have found this book to be fun and satisfactory.

Wonderful, feel-good book about family and moral values...Humor and pathos of life properly and wonderfullly mixed...

Though it was written during World War II, it is still a great read, well worth the short time and little effort needed to read and enjoy it...especially meaningful in time of war, rather it be a World War or war in Iraq and Afghanistan...

The world--Ithaca and the United States--was probably never this good, never this pure, but it brings to mind and to heart our highest and finest moments and makes us wish there were more of them. And there could be, if we would pursue the hightest in man, not the lowest.