Appointment in Samarra

I literally just finished reading Appointment in Samarra and loved it.  I picked it up because it had a foreword written by John Updike (a favorite), then a blurb by Fran Lebowitz in which she called John O'Hara the real Fitzgerald.  He was also loved by Hemingway and Dorothy Parker, so I was quickly sold on the novel.  And it delivered.

I do love a grisly tale of a good family gone bad.  This is a classic example of how a little social misstep fueled by a lot of liquor can lead to a very slippery slope.  Julian, the main character, plays the perfect patsy in a community where the distinction between the haves and the have-nots is all too clear.  Though Julian English has money, he has very little class.  In the rise of the tensions spawned by the burgeoning Depression, Mr. English learns the hard way that he can't afford to be making any enemies.

I love the way O'Hara makes you feel very much like Julian's actions may well be blown off, while stirring you up enough to prepare for the very worst.  It gave me much the same feeling I had when I was reading Revolutionary Road, one of my all-time favorites.  You can sympathize with and even appreciate the poor decisions these characters are making as they steer themselves toward disastrous ends.  These are not uplifting books, but damn, are they good.