A Rage to Live

by John O'Hara

A huge bestseller when it first appeared in 1949, A Rage to Live is a large-scale social chronicle of America set against the backdrop of Fort Penn, Pennsylvania, a city with a dynamic history, both public and personal. The Caldwells are its leading family, and Grace Caldwell Tate is the dramatic symbol of their dominance. Her avidity for life carries her through an impetuous childhood, marriage, violent extramarital affairs, scandal, disaster, and her own kind of triumphs. Idealists and libertines, public-spirited and self-seeking citizens, officials and tradesmen and crusaders, men of violence and goodwill, and women of fierce possessiveness and tenderness form the pageant of memorable characters who vitalize what is perhaps the most ambitious work of O'Hara's career.
   "The range of O'Hara's knowledge of how Americans live was incomparably greater than that of any other fiction writer of his time," judged The New Yorker. "One would have to go back to Frank Norris, Stephen Crane, and Theodore Dreiser to find a novelist who had even the intention of acquiring knowledge on the scale that O'Hara acquired it on, and with his degree of particularity." The New York Times Book Review "Like Dreiser and Sinclair Lewis before him, he was determined to record the whole of American life, and in such a comprehensive manner that the truth of his portraits would be unassailable. . . . O'Hara was perhaps the most class-conscious writer since James, and certainly one of the most accurate chroniclers of manners in America."

Genres: Fiction, Classics, American, Historical Fiction, Novels, 20th Century

705 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1949

About the author

American writer John Henry O'Hara contributed short stories to the New Yorker and wrote novels, such as BUtterfield 8 (1935) and Ten North Frederick (1955).

Best-selling works of John Henry O'Hara include Appointment in Samarra . People particularly knew him for an uncannily accurate ear for dialogue. O'Hara, a keen observer of social status and class differences, wrote frequently about the socially ambitious.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_O&#...

Reviews

[Vit Babenco · Rating 5 out of 5]

“You purchase Pain with all that Joy can give,
And die of nothing but a Rage to live.”
Alexander Pope – Epistle to a Lady
A Rage to Live is a family chronicle and a subtle chronicle of the downfall… Like an experienced anatomist John O’Hara bares every tiny nerve of relationships inside and outside the family… Always standing aside and having no empathy for any of his characters… His irony is elusive and refined… The story begins at the celebration of the Independence Day in 1917…
Sidney is a happy at first and then unhappy husband…

The man was almost completely bald, darkly tanned and with large, strong teeth. He was slender, sparsely built, and he appeared to be shorter than he was. He was wearing a Norfolk jacket, white flannels, white buckskins (now grass-stained), a soft white shirt with a gold safety-pin in the collar and a striped necktie… He was forty, a friendly, unsuspicious man, accustomed to being liked. He had a long history of regular meals, none ever missed except by choice, and of good digestion and fifteen thousand baths.

Grace – a wife and mother – is a central figure of the novel…

The woman beside him on the steps was in a blue-and-white muslin Red Cross canteen uniform. She was slightly taller than the fashion of the day and would have been still taller if she had not been wearing “sensible” heels. At first she seemed to be achieving chic without departing from strict uniform, and with no jewelry but a plain gold wedding band and a Tiffany-setting engagement ring, but on her wrist was a man’s watch-chain, wrapped twice around and with a small collegiate charm dangling from it, and under the band of her nurse cap her widow’s peak was showing, and it directed attention down to her black-brown eyes and her mouth, her mouth and her black-brown eyes. She was thirty-four years old, and they were Mr. and Mrs. Sidney Tate.

After the description of festivity the narration jumps back and the author analyzes the past of the heroine and her hero… Many things happen on the different social levels… There were many cloudless years of family life… Then one fine day here comes the first seducer…

“Will you listen, please?”
“Oh, for God’s sake, go ahead. Get it over with. Is this supposed to be Catholic confession? Tell your sins and go out and do them all over again, the way you people do?”
“A lady doesn’t make insulting remarks about a man’s religion.”
“A lady? What do you know about a lady? Where would you ever learn about a lady? Have you ever seen one? You contemptible son of a bitch, you wouldn’t know a lady if you saw one.”
“Yes I would. You’re a lady, and probably you’re acting like one.”

Despite all the aristocratic gloss primordial instincts always are capable to gain an upper hand over reason.

[Paul Bryant · Rating 2 out of 5]

American authors in the 20s and 30s loved to write down every last possible detail of American life and two of them did it brilliantly (Sinclair Lewis and Theodor Dreiser) and another one I have yet to investigate (John Dos Passos). This guy John O’Hara is writing later (1949) but is doing the same vast itemising and this time for me the magic didn’t work. I loved Sinclair Lewis’s ocean of minutiae in Main Street and Babbitt, but in the middle of those books are lovely characters and if you ain’t going to hook the reader with a strong plot, which Sinclair Lewis does not, you need great characters.

Mr O’Hara has the sardonic sociological eye for exhausting telling details (one page on all the courses at a banquet) but he does not have either the plot or the interesting characters. He throws us into the rich smug upper class of Pennsylvania circa 1900 and he thinks that’s enough to set us going on a 600 page novel.

Not for me… I finally (reluctantly) pressed the eject button. I got other fish to fry (tuna, salmon, halibut, mackerel, snapper, hake, trout, sardines, cod, herring and sturgeon).

[Captain Sir Roddy, R.N. (Ret.) · Rating 4 out of 5]

To my mind I am beginning to seriously consider the notion that John O'Hara is the American mid-20th century equivalent to Britain's Anthony Trollope of the 19th century. O'Hara was a prolific writer of short-stories, novellas, and novels from the late-1920s up until his death in 1970. He was incredibly adept at portraying all walks of life in the Pennsylvania coal country that he grew up in, or the streets and nightclubs of New York City, as well as on the film lots and studios of Hollywood. His real skill though, is his ability to describe and characterize the relationships between men and women.

O'Hara's A Rage to Live, first published in 1949, is the story of the life of Grace Caldwell Tate. Grace is a woman of great wealth and great beauty, with an incredibly strong connection to the Pennsylvania Dutch landscape where she has lived her entire life. Not to put too fine a point on it, Grace likes sex, and this butts directly up against the rules that society places on the behavior of women in her day and time. There are consequences associated with Grace's choices and actions, and these consequences affect many of the citizens of the little town of Fort Penn where Grace lives with her husband Sidney Tate, and their three children.

A Rage to Live is an enthralling portrait of small-town America just before, during, and following the First World War. This historical view of early 20th century Pennsylvania, as seen through the eyes of Grace and Sidney, was fascinating for me. O'Hara deftly describes the days of horses and wagons yielding to Model-T's, Ford Coupes, and Pierce Arrows; the patriotic fervor and fear of the on-coming World War in Europe; terrible diseases like influenza and "infantile paralysis" (i.e., polio myelitus) that indiscriminately strike rich and poor and old and young; the 'party-line' telephone system; and even the the arcane goings on at the local cocktail and dinner parties. There is even a brief little vignette where an older and mature Grace Caldwell Tate meets and chats up the young 17 or 18-year-old Julian English, long before he has married the pretty Caroline Walker, bought his Cadillac dealership, and later when at a party on a cold Christmas Eve--in a fit of pique--throws his highball and ice into the face of Harry Reilly, precipitating the events characterized in O'Hara's most famous novel, An Appointment in Samarra (1934).

This was a hell of a good book that kept me turning one page after the other. I know that some reviewers have complained that it was too long, but I respectfully disagree, it was just right. In a sense this novel is the bildungsroman of Grace Caldwell, and it just wouldn't have made sense to only partially know Grace. No, the reader needs to know all of Grace, in order to better understand her "Rage to Live."

This novel is John O'Hara's 'A Portrait of a Lady'--Grace Caldwell Tate-and it merits 4.5 stars out of 5, and ends up being a truly classic work of modern American literature; and a novel that I guarantee you that I look forward to rereading again in the future.

[Debbie Gallaher Tarr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting period piece information. 700+ pages. Whew. The title "A Rage to Live" gave me the impression it would be more intense. Instead, its kind of like a PG-13 Philadelphia Story. Not normally my type of book, but interesting writing style. Sometimes the author would spend 2 pages describing each and every person, say invited to a party, whether or not they were characters later in the book - it would go on and on and on, often making me want to skip to the end of the page. But then something major happens - a main character dies - and it's like the author lost steam, and such an important event begins and ends in the same paragraph, bringing me back to try to focus on EVERY paragraph, so I don't miss a major plot turn. It was odd, having every single food item from a buffet listed in great detail, pages, where you could almost taste the dishes, then the suffering of someone dying - is done and gone with before you know it, and you don't have a chance to feel it. I felt I knew the buffet dinner more than I knew the dying mans pain. A good book to read when you're sick in bed and need something you can pick up and read. Easy to put down, and easy to pick up.

[Joseph Sciuto · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before I started reading John O'Hara novels about six months ago, I didn't know much about the state of Pennsylvania but that is no longer the case. What I did know, had to do with my studying of the Revolutionary War period and the US Constitution. And now with the election of President Elect Joseph Biden I am becoming somewhat of an expert.

"A Rage to Live," like previous novels by Mr. O'Hara takes place during the turn of the century and just before World War 1 and a few decades after. At a time when the state of Pennsylvania, and rich areas like the city of Fort Penn, were experiencing a new wave of immigration. Previously, the population was mainly Dutch and German, and with the new wave they suddenly started seeing more Italians, Irish, and Jews.

The novel follows the life of one Mrs. Grace Tate, previously Grace Caldwell, and like so many female characters written about by Mr. O'Hara, she is one unforgettable character. Born rich into the super wealthy and the powerful Caldwell family, and marrying rich, she is one for breaking norms, sexual norms like cheating on her husband in the back seat of an automobile, and after his death having affairs with married men, and not just wanting to have sex but coming away satisfied and fulfilled.

Mrs. Grace Tate is not in any way to be considered a 'loose woman.' She is an independent lady and her sexuality is normal, even if her choice of men might not be the wisest. This is a long novel, over six hundred pages, and at times it did get dull, but overall it is a superbly written... At times an electrifying narrative, and simply proves, once again, that John O'Hara was one of the great American writers of the 20th century.

[Tom Schulte · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ah, such excruciating detail on the small-town elite of imagined Fort Allen, PA! O'Hara deserves credit for this detailed setting, and I was surprised for the matter-of-fact and fairly explicit sex scenes of an early 60s book. Was O'Hara ahead of his time? Did the work get banned here and there?

I thought from the movie Grace would be an unbridled nymphomaniac, more just someone that seemed damaged in a way and gave in to the expectation that she would "put out"... She seemed slightly tragic, her husband Sidney dying of a broken heart lamely so, and Richard Bannon like Greek tragedy.

I thought the ending with documentary-style where-are-they-now of the key dramatis personae was weak and the book overlong and slow.

[Stewart · Rating 2 out of 5]

His Appointment in Samarra is just wonderful and he's credited with being one of the great short story writers of the 20th century, but O'Hara is simply dreadful here. I was astonished at how dull it is. There's something dispiriting about an obviously talented writer writing badly. O'Hara thought of A Rage to Live as his magnum opus, a grand social novel, but his envy and resentment towards the upper crust Pennsylvanians among whom he grew up leads to something like fetishism here. O'Hara cannot help but tell us every item on the menu at a society wedding, itemize every gift, tell us where it was purchased and at what cost, go into a lengthy analysis of how one's service at the local barber shop is determined by which country club one belongs to and why...I could go on and on. One keeps hoping O'Hara's incessant chronicling and categorizing of the banal will blossom into a story, but by page 255 (to be exact) I gave up. Oh, dear, what a very bad book.

[Sketchbook · Rating 1 out of 5]

John O'Bloated.

[Paul Wilner · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's O'Hara, post "Appointment in Samarra.'' When he's good, he's very very good and when he's bad he's awful. This one is a little bit of both - could have stood trimming by a hundred pages or two but I still far prefer him to the ever-priggish Brendan Gill, who famously demolished the book for The New Yorker, resulting in a lengthy O'Hara boycott of the magazine. Good on class differences, as usual; kind of an interesting portrayal of the main character, Grace Caldwell; given that it's a male writer trying to explain female experience, he does a better job than most of his contemporaries. Grace's husband, Sidney Tate, comes across as more of a paper figure, kind of like Leslie Howard as Ashley WIlkes. The author knows his rural Pennsylvania landscape, though.

[Anne Kennedy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I never thought I would finish this book, written in the year I was born and a bestseller. Unfortunately, I can only use one requirement for my challenge so I will have to find another 600 page book. It is hard for me to believe that people back in 1949 weren't shocked by reading a story about a woman with quite the sexual appetite as has Grace Tate. Grace is from a wealthy and founding father's family from Fort Penn (Harrisburg), Pennsylvania. The story takes around the turn of the century to 1920. Through her story, John O'Hara introduces us to a grand view of a slice of Americana--the rich and the poor, tradesmen and bankers, the original Pennsylvanians (English and German) and the immigrants, the rich and the social climbers. Characters die from polio, influenza, car accidents. Others almost die from pneumonia. Men frequent brothels. Great detail is given to the political machinations of running for mayor. Underneath this panorama, O'Hara asks why can men have mistresses and women must subdue sexual feelings. Why is it only men who can do the chasing?What happens to a woman when she outsteps her role.....

[Nancy H · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has been on my To-Be-Read list for decades and I finally got to it. I really enjoyed it and I think it is an excellent slice-of-life novel from the early 20th century. It is set in the fictional town of Fort Penn, a thinly-disguised Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania, which is very close to where I live. Many places and things were recognizable in the story, and I think it is probably a very fair representation of what life was like in that time period. The characteristics that make this a timeless story are that O'Hara shows people as they are, flaws and all, and he shows life as it really is, with its triumphs, tragedies, and its good and bad people and parts. There are many 'universal truths' scattered throughout the story, and most readers will be able to relate to the situations and the types of characters. The book is long, and in keeping with the literary style of the time, there are many descriptions, a literary technique which may put off some readers, but yet which add to the aura and atmosphere of the time.

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

The saga of Grace Caldwell, a socialite from a time when that meant setting standards of behavior rather than panty flashes falling out of a limo. Ostensibly she isn't terribly likable but there is something irresistible about her unapologetic "masculine behavior" which displays the double standards and hypocrisy of the time. A long book, perfect to cozy up with in the winter or for lazy summer days.

[Jennifer Dines · Rating 5 out of 5]

Who is Grace Tate (nee Caldwell)? Born into wealth and privilege, Grace has all eyes upon her at all levels of society in Fort Penn, Pennsylvania from the day she is born. After ten years of marriage to Sidney Tate, Grace begins a destructive affair, the timing of which coincides with the height of the 1918 Spanish Flu pandemic. The last 400 pages of the novel engross the reader in the life of Fort Penn - I felt that I was there.

[Mark · Rating 5 out of 5]

My favorite O'Hara book. It is graphic and harsh yet beautiful and very Pennsylvanian.

[Calvin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always considered O'Hara a guilty pleasure, but he's a damn good read.

[Samara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loving this book, only 150 pages in. It's reminding me a lot of East of Eden in the complicated stories of a few different groups of people.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

John O'Hara is noted for skewering the so-called "upper class", and O'Hara does it very well in his short stories and novels..
This monumental novel (published in 1949) begins prior the First World War and stretches past the "war to end all wars".
Typically, O'Hara turns a mirror on the upper class which reflects their foibles, their greed, their "immoral behavior", their paternalism, and their subtle and not so subtle racism...in Pennsylvania no less, home of Gettysburg...
The novel unfortunately runs long.
Nevertheless, O'Hara's naturalness in the dialogue is used expertly in character development and in the exposition of various relationships.
But even the wealthy upper class have their sufferings, and so O'Hara the son of "a well heeled" doctor offers the reader the correct level of pathos and poignancy.

O'Hara mocked the upper class despite his upbringing in an affluent environment.
The theory goes that O'Hara felt like an outsider since he was Irish (American), and felt vindicated through his writing.
O'Hara is a great story teller and I believe, he's had more short stories published in the New Yorker magazine than any other writer......

[Terry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let’s face it, John O’Hara was an ass. One of his biography’s is called “The Art of Burning Bridges.” I don’t think he liked women much, nor the Irish or rich folks, and I won’t even go into people of color, gays, etc. Still, there’s something about his writing I enjoy, most stories are set in rural Pennsylvania, so maybe it’s just that he tells a good story. “A Rage to Live” is about Grace Tate, a wealthy woman who knows what she wants sexually. So there’s some rather frank activity and discussion for a novel published in 1948. Nothing like you’d find in a modern novel, but I did blush a bit. This book could have used a good editor as some scenes jus dragged on and on, but overall, I rather enjoyed this.

[Gerald · Rating 2 out of 5]

Silly..I picked this up because a friend of mine released a record album under the name Rage to Live. O'Hara seems to have been a deal in the middle part of the last century and this book was a top seller. Just because he was long winded with his prose doesn't mean I can't be concise in my review. Although I've never read a Reader's Digest Condensed Book, this book could be an argument why they should exist. Bloated mediocre prose with for me, a vague and boring plot. You know the feeling when you are stuck watching a multi season show with so many episodes..c'mon, get on with it..and when they do get on with it, it turns out to be a nothing burger anyway. My advice if you are thinking about picking this one up..move along, nothing to see here.

[Natasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although this book had its moments of titillating scandals, many parts of the book felt like a slog at times to get through. It seemed that for every five pages of lurid affairs, there were 20 pages of backstory for the new character introduced. The book did make the community seem alive with details about events and the going-ons of ordinary citizens. However, a lot of it was rich people doing rich people stuff to stay in power. Despite this criticism, I was surprised on the details about the sex lives of characters, considering the year of publication. The author appeared to have a neutral position, rather than a moralistic one. In addition, I was humored to see how 'messiness' is not a modern construct, and instead seeing it was alive and well in the early 20th century.

[Pamela Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recently discovered John O’Hara through his short stories. This is my first read of his novels and I enjoyed it. Well crafted writing with good story line and descriptive pieces. For me it reached its height about two thirds through and the rest felt a little drawn out storyline wise. However an really enjoyable read and will lead me to try other novels as well as many short stories of his that I can find.
Also led me to “ An Artist Is His Own Fault” John O’Hara. An excellent collection of writings and criticism by him. Can recommend.

[Raime · Rating 2 out of 5]

Uneven, unimpressive prose in a narrative that is at times rather obnoxious. An extra star is for the scene where the will is read.

"people don’t want Christmas every day; your supply of love may be inexhaustible, but people think they have to respond in kind and to the same degree, and they are incapable of it, and because they are incapable of it they will not like you for having so much more love than they."

[Sharon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Descriptions of this book don't match my experience of it. Perhaps that's because I've read so many long, family sagas that a woman's extra-marital affairs did not seem new and shocking, as they must have when the book was first published. To me, it seemed a rather pedestrian story of life in a farm town, where a few families set the tone for everyone else.

[Al · Rating 2 out of 5]

My review, finished but not saved, was lost in a power outage. I don't think enough of this book to rewrite it. Bottom line: If you're interested in reading something by O'Hara, try Appointment in Samarra. It's better than this.

[Amanda · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn’t finish. So wordy with very little plot. There were few points where I actually cared about any of the characters. I slogged through 225 pages out of 740 before finally giving up. Not for me.

[June Fellows · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very thrilling,page turner and I'm looking forward to reading more from this author.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first third of this book was worth reading, if only to reflect in my own mind the language and manner of a time and place (1900's Pennsylvania Dutch country). What we now think of as coal mines and rust belt was, from another perspective, a delicate Victorian society. Turning the pages of this 700 page paperback, I became frustrated with the hypocrisy of the characters and their society, so thoroughly described. The reprieve - or twist - comes in the postlude, in which we find the characters transposed into a different setting. There's the magic. Our minds eye now conditioned to the perspective of the genteel protagonists, we observe the capriciousness of our modern, liberal world.

[Patrick O'Rourke · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a long and, on the face of it, somewhat lurid story of a randy woman. However, as with most of O'Hara, the real story is in the background with the decline of the Pottsville family. The Tates remain resistant to the changes in society around them, but these changes erode them anyway. This theme is personified in the character of Grace Tate. . Rambling in parts, as well as being full of great writing. I would like to read it again sometime. O'Hara is always better on the rereading.

[Ellen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book as a teenager; it was in my parents' library. As I remember it, it was a furious read, full of details and sturm and drang. I ought to reread it someday to see what I think of it some 45 years later.

[Patrick O'Rourke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Uneven, could have been a long shorter, misanthropic. When its good its extremely good. The story is behind the story which he does so well. O'Hara can be very vindictive to his characters, especially the women.