Reviews
"John Updike did it later, but I actually think John O'Hara did it better--dissecting the country club set, the ways everyone interacts with each other, their sex lives and the way men cheat. I can't think of when I've read a book and thought it had such a modern feeling to what he chooses to say about marriage." -- Delia Ephron, The Wall Street Journal "With a dazzling new cover and smart new introduction, one of my favorite novels, Appointment in Samarra by John O'Hara, is reborn. . . . This novel about class, drinking and sex is fun--and incredibly smart." -- Elizabeth Taylor, Chicago Tribune "[A] gorgeous new edition . . . Appointment in Samarra still astonishes and amazes; and [O'Hara's] style and themes--a bridge, if you will, between F. Scott Fitzgerald and John Updike--remain painfully and beautifully relevant today." -- Huffington Post "Suspenseful, character-driven--it deserves to be read more." -- Joshua Ferris, Details "Transfixing . . . A Jazz Age novel set amidst the early throes of the Depression . . . A striking antidote to contemporary novels like Nathanael West's Miss Lonelyhearts and Erskine Caldwell's Tobacco Road , which remain startling for their implacably cynical view of humanity. O'Hara offers a more nuanced, and more subversive view of the national mood at the cusp of the Depression." -- Nathaniel Rich, The Daily Beast "Nobody who's read it ever forgets Appointment in Samarra. " -- San Francisco Chronicle "An attractive new edition of Samarra, with deckled edges and a jazzy cover." -- The Philadelphia Review of Books "If you want to read a book by a man who knows exactly what he is writing about and has written it marvelously well, read Appointment in Samarra ." -- Ernest Hemingway " Appointment in Samarra lives frighteningly in the mind." -- John Updike "It is alive with compelling characters and O'Hara's dead-on dialogue and sharp observations." -- Chicago Tribune's Printers Row "[O'Hara] was as acute a social observer as Fitzgerald, as spare a stylist as Hemingway, and in his creation of Gibbsville, in western Pennsylvania, he invented a kind of small-bore variation on Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County." -- Los Angeles Times "An author I love is John O'Hara. . . . I think he's been forgotten by time, but for dialogue lovers, he's a goldmine of inspiration." -- Douglas Coupland, Shelf Awareness "O'Hara was one of Mom's favorite authors. . . . 'So I finally read Appointment in Samarra,' I told her. 'I'd always thought that book had something to do with Iraq.' . . . 'It does apply to Iraq, even if that's not at all what it's about. It's a book about setting things in motion and then being too proud and stubborn to apologize and to change course.' " -- from The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe, "With a dazzling new cover and smart new introduction, one of my favorite novels, Appointment in Samarra by John O'Hara, is reborn. . . . This novel about class, drinking and sex is fun-and incredibly smart." - Elizabeth Taylor, Chicago Tribune "[A] gorgeous new edition . . . Appointment in Samarra still astonishes and amazes; and [O'Hara's] style and themes-a bridge, if you will, between F. Scott Fitzgerald and John Updike-remain painfully and beautifully relevant today." - Huffington Post "Suspenseful, character-driven-it deserves to be read more." - Joshua Ferris, Details "Transfixing . . . A Jazz Age novel set amidst the early throes of the Depression . . . A striking antidote to contemporary novels like Nathanael West's Miss Lonelyhearts and Erskine Caldwell's Tobacco Road , which remain startling for their implacably cynical view of humanity. O'Hara offers a more nuanced, and more subversive view of the national mood at the cusp of the Depression." - Nathaniel Rich, The Daily Beast "Nobody who's read it ever forgets Appointment in Samarra. " - San Francisco Chronicle "An attractive new edition of Samarra, with deckled edges and a jazzy cover." - The Philadelphia Review of Books "If you want to read a book by a man who knows exactly what he is writing about and has written it marvelously well, read Appointment in Samarra ." - Ernest Hemingway " Appointment in Samarra lives frighteningly in the mind." - John Updike "It is alive with compelling characters and O'Hara's dead-on dialogue and sharp observations." - Chicago Tribune's Printers Row "[O'Hara] was as acute a social observer as Fitzgerald, as spare a stylist as Hemingway, and in his creation of Gibbsville, in western Pennsylvania, he invented a kind of small-bore variation on Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County." - Los Angeles Times "An author I love is John O'Hara. . . . I think he's been forgotten by time, but for dialogue lovers, he's a goldmine of inspiration." - Douglas Coupland, Shelf Awareness "O'Hara was one of Mom's favorite authors. . . . 'So I finally read Appointment in Samarra,' I told her. 'I'd always thought that book had something to do with Iraq.' . . . 'It does apply to Iraq, even if that's not at all what it's about. It's a book about setting things in motion and then being too proud and stubborn to apologize and to change course.' " - from The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe, "With a dazzling new cover and smart new introduction, one of my favorite novels, Appointment in Samarra by John O'Hara, is reborn. . . . This novel about class, drinking and sex is fun-and incredibly smart." - Elizabeth Taylor, Chicago Tribune "[A] gorgeous new edition . . . Appointment in Samarra still astonishes and amazes; and [O'Hara's] style and themes-a bridge, if you will, between F. Scott Fitzgerald and John Updike-remain painfully and beautifully relevant today." - Huffington Post "Suspenseful, character-driven-it deserves to be read more." - Joshua Ferris, Details "Transfixing . . . A Jazz Age novel set amidst the early throes of the Depression . . . A striking antidote to contemporary novels like Nathanael West's Miss Lonelyhearts and Erskine Caldwell's Tobacco Road , which remain startling for their implacably cynical view of humanity. O'Hara offers a more nuanced, and more subversive view of the national mood at the cusp of the Depression." - Nathaniel Rich, The Daily Beast "Nobody who's read it ever forgets Appointment in Samarra. " - San Francisco Chronicle "If you want to read a book by a man who knows exactly what he is writing about and has written it marvelously well, read Appointment in Samarra ." - Ernest Hemingway " Appointment in Samarra lives frighteningly in the mind." - John Updike "It is alive with compelling characters and O'Hara's dead-on dialogue and sharp observations." - Chicago Tribune's Printers Row "[O'Hara] was as acute a social observer as Fitzgerald, as spare a stylist as Hemingway, and in his creation of Gibbsville, in western Pennsylvania, he invented a kind of small-bore variation on Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County." - Los Angeles Times "An author I love is John O'Hara. . . . I think he's been forgotten by time, but for dialogue lovers, he's a goldmine of inspiration." - Douglas Coupland, Shelf Awareness "O'Hara was one of Mom's favorite authors. . . . 'So I finally read Appointment in Samarra,' I told her. 'I'd always thought that book had something to do with Iraq.' . . . 'It does apply to Iraq, even if that's not at all what it's about. It's a book about setting things in motion and then being too proud and stubborn to apologize and to change course.' " - from The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe, "With a dazzling new cover and smart new introduction, one of my favorite novels, Appointment in Samarra by John O'Hara, is reborn. . . . This novel about class, drinking and sex is fun-and incredibly smart." - Elizabeth Taylor, Chicago Tribune "[A] gorgeous new edition . . . Appointment in Samarra still astonishes and amazes; and [O'Hara's] style and themes-a bridge, if you will, between F. Scott Fitzgerald and John Updike-remain painfully and beautifully relevant today." - Huffington Post "Nobody who's read it ever forgets Appointment in Samarra. " - San Francisco Chronicle "If you want to read a book by a man who knows exactly what he is writing about and has written it marvelously well, read Appointment in Samarra ." - Ernest Hemingway " Appointment in Samarra lives frighteningly in the mind." - John Updike "It is alive with compelling characters and O'Hara's dead-on dialogue and sharp observations." - Chicago Tribune's Printers Row "[O'Hara] was as acute a social observer as Fitzgerald, as spare a stylist as Hemingway, and in his creation of Gibbsville, in western Pennsylvania, he invented a kind of small-bore variation on Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County." - Los Angeles Times "An author I love is John O'Hara. . . . I think he's been forgotten by time, but for dialogue lovers, he's a goldmine of inspiration." - Douglas Coupland, Shelf Awareness "O'Hara was one of Mom's favorite authors. . . . 'So I finally read Appointment in Samarra,' I told her. 'I'd always thought that book had something to do with Iraq.' . . . 'It does apply to Iraq, even if that's not at all what it's about. It's a book about setting things in motion and then being too proud and stubborn to apologize and to change course.' " - from The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe, "If you want to read a book by a man who knows exactly what he is writing about and has written it marvelously well, read Appointment in Samarra ." - Ernest Hemingway " Appointment in Samarra lives frighteningly in the mind." - John Updike "[O'Hara] was as acute a social observer as Fitzgerald, as spare a stylist as Hemingway, and in his creation of Gibbsville, in western Pennsylvania, he invented a kind of small-bore variation on Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County." - Los Angeles Times "With a dazzling new cover and smart new introduction, one of my favorite novels, Appointment in Samarra by John O'Hara, is reborn. . . . This novel about class, drinking and sex is fun-and incredibly smart." - Elizabeth Taylor, Chicago Tribune, "If you want to read a book by a man who knows exactly what he is writing about and has written it marvelously well, read Appointment in Samarra ." - Ernest Hemingway " Appointment in Samarra lives frighteningly in the mind." - John Updike , "If you want to read a book by a man who knows exactly what he is writing about and has written it marvelously well, read Appointment in Samarra ." - Ernest Hemingway " Appointment in Samarra lives frighteningly in the mind." - John Updike "It is alive with compelling characters and O'Hara's dead-on dialogue and sharp observations." - Chicago Tribune's Printers Row "[O'Hara] was as acute a social observer as Fitzgerald, as spare a stylist as Hemingway, and in his creation of Gibbsville, in western Pennsylvania, he invented a kind of small-bore variation on Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County." - Los Angeles Times "With a dazzling new cover and smart new introduction, one of my favorite novels, Appointment in Samarra by John O'Hara, is reborn. . . . This novel about class, drinking and sex is fun-and incredibly smart." - Elizabeth Taylor, Chicago Tribune "O'Hara was one of Mom's favorite authors. . . . 'So I finally read Appointment in Samarra,' I told her. 'I'd always thought that book had something to do with Iraq.' . . . 'It does apply to Iraq, even if that's not at all what it's about. It's a book about setting things in motion and then being too proud and stubborn to apologize and to change course.' " - from The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe, "If you want to read a book by a man who knows exactly what he is writing about and has written it marvelously well, read Appointment in Samarra ." - Ernest Hemingway " Appointment in Samarra lives frighteningly in the mind." - John Updike "[O'Hara] was as acute a social observer as Fitzgerald, as spare a stylist as Hemingway, and in his creation of Gibbsville, in western Pennsylvania, he invented a kind of small-bore variation on Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County." - Los Angeles Times , "With a dazzling new cover and smart new introduction, one of my favorite novels, Appointment in Samarra by John O'Hara, is reborn. . . . This novel about class, drinking and sex is fun-and incredibly smart." - Elizabeth Taylor, Chicago Tribune "[A] gorgeous new edition . . . Appointment in Samarra still astonishes and amazes; and [O'Hara's] style and themes-a bridge, if you will, between F. Scott Fitzgerald and John Updike-remain painfully and beautifully relevant today." - Huffington Post "Nobody who's read it ever forgets Appointment in Samarra. " - San Francisco Chronicle "If you want to read a book by a man who knows exactly what he is writing about and has written it marvelously well, read Appointment in Samarra ." - Ernest Hemingway " Appointment in Samarra lives frighteningly in the mind." - John Updike "It is alive with compelling characters and O'Hara's dead-on dialogue and sharp observations." - Chicago Tribune's Printers Row "[O'Hara] was as acute a social observer as Fitzgerald, as spare a stylist as Hemingway, and in his creation of Gibbsville, in western Pennsylvania, he invented a kind of small-bore variation on Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County." - Los Angeles Times "O'Hara was one of Mom's favorite authors. . . . 'So I finally read Appointment in Samarra,' I told her. 'I'd always thought that book had something to do with Iraq.' . . . 'It does apply to Iraq, even if that's not at all what it's about. It's a book about setting things in motion and then being too proud and stubborn to apologize and to change course.' " - from The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe, "With a dazzling new cover and smart new introduction, one of my favorite novels, Appointment in Samarra by John O'Hara, is reborn. . . . This novel about class, drinking and sex is fun-and incredibly smart." - Elizabeth Taylor, Chicago Tribune "[A] gorgeous new edition . . . Appointment in Samarra still astonishes and amazes; and [O'Hara's] style and themes-a bridge, if you will, between F. Scott Fitzgerald and John Updike-remain painfully and beautifully relevant today." - Huffington Post "Suspenseful, character-driven-it deserves to be read more." - Joshua Ferris, Details "Transfixing . . . A Jazz Age novel set amidst the early throes of the Depression . . . A striking antidote to contemporary novels like Nathanael West's Miss Lonelyhearts and Erskine Caldwell's Tobacco Road, which remain startling for their implacably cynical view of humanity. O'Hara offers a more nuanced, and more subversive view of the national mood at the cusp of the Depression." - Nathaniel Rich, The Daily Beast "Nobody who's read it ever forgets Appointment in Samarra. " - San Francisco Chronicle "If you want to read a book by a man who knows exactly what he is writing about and has written it marvelously well, read Appointment in Samarra ." - Ernest Hemingway " Appointment in Samarra lives frighteningly in the mind." - John Updike "It is alive with compelling characters and O'Hara's dead-on dialogue and sharp observations." - Chicago Tribune's Printers Row "[O'Hara] was as acute a social observer as Fitzgerald, as spare a stylist as Hemingway, and in his creation of Gibbsville, in western Pennsylvania, he invented a kind of small-bore variation on Faulkner's Yoknapatawpha County." - Los Angeles Times "An author I love is John O'Hara. . . . I think he's been forgotten by time, but for dialogue lovers, he's a goldmine of inspiration." - Douglas Coupland, Shelf Awareness "O'Hara was one of Mom's favorite authors. . . . 'So I finally read Appointment in Samarra,' I told her. 'I'd always thought that book had something to do with Iraq.' . . . 'It does apply to Iraq, even if that's not at all what it's about. It's a book about setting things in motion and then being too proud and stubborn to apologize and to change course.' " - from The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe
