The Ragtime Fool

Set in 1950s America, THE RAGTIME FOOL is a story of music, race, and murder centered around the life and music of ragtime composer Scott Joplin. Karp fills this book with many characters that, while interesting to the story line, prove to be monotonous when read by Mirron Willis. Particularly in scenes of dialogue between three or more people, Willis fails to differentiate between the characters clearly enough. However, Willis's pacing is fluid, and his tone is intense when needed and comfortably relaxed elsewhere. Nonetheless, group dialogue is an essential aspect of the plot, and the story suffers as a result of its narration. J.R.G. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

January 25, 2010
American obsessions with race and glory dominate Karp’s lively conclusion, set in 1951, to his Ragtime trilogy (after 2008’s The King of Ragtime
). Decades earlier, Brun Campbell was ragtime genius Scott Joplin’s only white pupil. Now an elderly barber in Venice, Calif., Brun frantically publicizes Joplin, ragtime, and himself. In Hobart, N.J., Alan Chandler, a 17-year-old piano student, has fallen in love with ragtime music. Both Brun and Alan are excited to hear that a journal Joplin kept may soon be published. In Sedalia, Mo., Joplin’s home for many years, diehard Klansmen are plotting to bomb an interracial ceremony honoring the composer. Brun and Alan race to Sedalia, where they find themselves caught in a confused swirl of various characters who want to steal the valuable journal—or stop its publication. Karp handles the intricate plot well, but the best part of the book is its picture of people torn between what they want to forget and what they need to remember.