The Human Comedy

By William Saroyan

Book Overview

The inspiration for the major motion picture Ithaca, directed by and starring Meg Ryan--with a cast that includes Sam Shepard, Hamish Linklater, Alex Neustaedter, Jack Quaid, and Tom Hanks

The place is Ithaca, in California's San Joaquin Valley. The time is World War II. The family is the Macauley's--a mother, sister, and three brothers whose struggles and dreams reflect those of America's second-generation immigrants. . . . In particular, fourteen-year-old Homer, determined to become one of the fastest telegraph messengers in the West, finds himself caught between reality and illusion as delivering his messages of wartime death, love, and money brings him face-to-face with human emotion at its most naked and raw.

Gentle, poignant and richly autobiographical, this delightful novel shows us the boy becoming the man in a world that even in the midst of war, appears sweeter, safer and more livable than out own.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0440339332
• ISBN13: 9780440339335
• Release Date: August 1966
• Publisher: Dell
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 0.26 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 4.1" x 6.8"

Customer Reviews

A classic for a reason

Each story entangled with the others, and all are beautifully written. Highly recommended.

Humanity and Innocence in amber

This book is the equivalent of the Proustian madeleine...to read it is to recover a past long lost. Making the case for the mordant paradigm shift of US morals, ethics and literary tastes, this is the marker past which one can see the sad decline of the quality of art and life in the modern world. I cannot improve on the highly intelligent and sensitive overview given here by reviewer Big Orange "paxbear" and so will not review the book in detail. That it is one of only three Saroyan volumes still in print makes the case for the obsolesence of the clear heart and clear mind in today's mindlessly kinetic world. You can read this book in the time it would take you to go see MI 111 in a cineplex. Carpe diem. Read this instead.

A Heart-Warming Story

The Human Comedy is a heart-warming story of a family during World War II. This book portrays the part of World War II that is often forgotten, its families. The fourteen year old Homer Macauley is the central character of this story. His brother is at war and his father is dead, so he must be the breadwinner for his mother, brother and sister. Through his job as a telegraph messenger Homer becomes more connected to the war than he would like - having to deliver death notices of soldiers to their families. Through the development of characters and light side plots, Saroyan shows the simplicities and struggles of the families of World War II. Saroyan not only shows the way the war affected the families of World War II, but by using simple anecdotes about little boys at play or Homer at school, he shows that life went on during the war. This book contains simple human truths that are constant throughout history. The reader gets the message that no matter what tragedy happens, life will go on. I found this story to be emotional, humorous, and very touching. The simple lives of the Macauley family represents all family's struggles and joys, during World War II.

The Great American Novel

One of the favorite time wasting conversations at cocktail parties used to be discussions of the "great American Novel." Everyone wanted to write it, everyone had an opinion over whether Hemingway or Fitzgerald or Steinbeck were the ones that already had. Well, if anyone with half a brain and more than a third grade education has stumbled on Saroyan's The Human Comedy the discussion can be ended. True, Hollywood mixed it with so much treacle that enjoying Mickey Rooney's performance has to be rated as a guilty pleasure, but the novel itself is damn near perfect. A scatching indictment of war, a treatise to family values, a celebration of the simple pleasures, an ode to the dying small town: The Human Comedy is all of the above and more. Forced down the throats of a generation of eighth graders by well meaning English teachers, this simple and compelling tale is often mistakenly labeled as a children's book. A good, quick read the first time, this is the type of novel that can be re-read over and over, with each read opening new vistas of thought and levels of meaning. For my stilted taste, none of Saroyan's later works came close. In his foreword, he apologizes for not having waited to be mature enough to give the story its due. He was wrong. The characters are broad brushed, but with enough detail to color in personalities of folks we all have known. Homer, the arguable main character, is a bit too staunch to judge by today's standards, but probably existed in most small towns in the war torn 1940's. Ulysses, the hope of the future and the innocence of childhood, is an everyman under the age of ten. I need not inventory every character, for each has their own value and depth. Simply put, this is a novel to compare others to. Read it or suffer a less fulfilling life than you could have had.

required reading for teens and adults under stress

I'm a retired high school English teacher (42 years in California's classrooms), and I first read this novel in early 1944 at my grandfather's request at age 13. In my early teaching experience, I required this novel be read by my 10th grade students. In later years, the novel became the focus for my less able students as I guided them through the novel by having them prepare maps of Ithaca by transferring author descriptions into real street maps of Fresno, California. Incidentally, I was reared in Hanford, California, about 32 miles south...and, yes, the Postal Telegraph Office existed then and so did the Gallo Winery, though Saroyan used a different name.Human dignity and sense of self within a community are key issues in this disarmingly simple narrative.The casual reader will miss the three-pronged revelation of human insight seen through the eyes of the child, Ulysses; the teen Homer; and the adult, Marcus. The widowed mother provides a stability upon which all these offspring rely. Essentially, she is a life source, and all three sons at the same time mirror her influence as they interact with others in the daily business of living. Saroyan's simplicity in these three viewpoints, though cast in a time few modern readers can recall (1943),still strongly portrays a basic element of humans caring for humans. That act is valued forever regardless of culture, gender, or age. It is universal.Unfortunately,I am unable to locate a copy containing a chapter titled "At the Parlor Rooms." Most copies taught at the high school level have had this chapter deleted. Today's youth would not be offended by its inclusion. Saroyan's intent, I believe, was to illustrate Homer's exposure to a fuller understanding of the "human experience," and its Aristotelian sense of the comedy of life.I'll be assisting Saroyan's grand-niece this summer in a college course as she relates memories of her famous uncle. I look forward to revisiting Fresno, Augie, Shag, Mr. Mechano, the apricot tree, and the saintly librarian who guided two young boys into the magnificent mystery of books.

Excellent book for all ages and all cultures.

The story is very well written. I have read the story three times in three different periods in my life. Each time I read the book the story had a different flavor. This book is like wine; it becomes vintage as you get older. This is everyone's life. If you have a child and are one of those parents that thinks that children do not understand what is going on in life, please read this book. You will understand how does a child's innocence change and emotions drive one into adulthood.Saroyan dedicated the story to his mother. This is a key element of the story. Saroyan lost his father at a very young stage in his life and his uncle (mother's brother) became his father figure. His uncle was taken to war and that was the last he saw of him. That was a devastating experience for a young child. As a commemorative he wrote the story for his mom. He did not know the book would be so famous.Saroyan is truly a genius. He may have died but he still lives in the hearts of all book readers.