The Waterworks: A Novel
by E.L. Doctorow
List Price:
Our Price: $6.25
You Save: $8.70 (58%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $1.25 (click here)
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: E.L. DoctorowEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 2007-05-08
ISBN: 0812978196
Number of pages: 272
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Book Reviews of The Waterworks: A Novel
Book Review: Doctorow can write but . . .
Summary: 2 Stars
When all is said and done, "The Waterworks" basically turns out to be a silly mystery/detective novel about a mad scientist set in New York City during the corrupt regime of Boss Tweed. In short, the mad scientist here takes rich old people's money for the promise of immortality. There's alot of other blabbering going on about other topics (i.e. corruption, poverty, governement's influence over the press, orphanages) but these topics are given better and more detailed treatment in other novels. The story gets going (and starts falling apart) when a freelance journalist searches for his late father who he thinks he saw in a horse carriage with other old men (SPOILER ALERT!!! HE DID!! The mad scientist, for some completely unrevealed reason, decides to take his thought-to-be deceased old rich men on carriage rides in the City!! You would think that, at the very least, he would hang curtains over the windows in order to keep secret his nefarious plans). In turn, the city editor of the newspaper he mostly freelances for then searches for his freelancer, eventually partnering up with the one honest city detective.
Anyway, Doctorow is quite a good writer and evokes a creepy atmosphere, but it was all rather too silly, not to mention the fact that Doctorow has fallen in love with one type of punctuation ... the elipses ... which he spatters on every page ... to signify a ... pause.
The Waterworks didn't work for me. A better similar story could have been written by Lovecraft or Poe.
Literature & Fiction Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in 2008 Reading List Pt. 3: Stuff To Finally Get Around To
Brideshead Revisitedby Evelyn Waugh
Back Bay Books; Published: 1999-09; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.99
Price in other shops:
Sartor Resartus (Oxford World's Classics)by Thomas Carlyle
Oxford University Press, USA; Published: 2000-08-03; Paperback; Book
Best price: $7.22
Price in other shops:
The Unbearable Lightness of Being: A Novelby Milan Kundera
Harper Perennial Modern Classics; Published: 1999-05-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.98
Price in other shops:
The Waterworks: A Novelby E.L. Doctorow
Random House Trade Paperbacks; Published: 2007-05-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $6.25
Price in other shops:
Rubicon Beach: A Novelby Steve Erickson
Henry Holt & Co; Published: 1997-03-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.50
Price in other shops:
Deadwoodby Pete Dexter
Vintage; Published: 2005-07-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.44
Price in other shops:
Sheltering Skyby Paul Bowles
Penguin; Published: 2006-01-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.27
The Sportswriterby Richard Ford
Vintage; Published: 1995-06-13; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.96
Price in other shops:
Troubles (New York Review Books Classics)by J.G. Farrell
NYRB Classics; Published: 2002-10-31; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.95
Price in other shops:
The Counterlifeby Philip Roth
Vintage; Published: 1996-08-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.89
Price in other shops:
Similar books summaries and other product reviews
The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy: An Economist Examines the Markets, Power, and Politics of World Tradeby Pietra Rivoli
Wiley; Published: 2006-06-30; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.95
Price in other shops:
Sweet Land Storiesby E. L. Doctorow
Amazon Remainders Account; Published: 2004-05-04; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $7.10
Price in other shops:
City of Godby E. L. Doctorow
Plume; Published: 2001-02-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $1.50
Price in other shops:
The Book of Daniel: A Novelby E.L. Doctorow
Random House Trade Paperbacks; Published: 2007-07-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.49
Price in other shops:
The March: A Novelby E.L. Doctorow
Random House Trade Paperbacks; Published: 2006-09-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $3.40
Price in other shops:
Ragtime: A Novelby E.L. Doctorow
Random House Trade Paperbacks; Published: 2007-05-08; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.44
Price in other shops:
Loon Lake: A Novelby E.L. Doctorow
Random House Trade Paperbacks; Published: 2007-09-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.56
Price in other shops:
Welcome to Hard Times: A Novelby E.L. Doctorow
Random House Trade Paperbacks; Published: 2007-09-11; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.44
Price in other shops:
Billy Bathgateby E. L. Doctorow
Plume; Published: 1998-12-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.70
Price in other shops:
World's Fair: A Novelby E.L. Doctorow
Random House Trade Paperbacks; Published: 2007-07-10; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.71
Price in other shops: