A couple generations ago, John O’Hara was a best-selling novelist with hits like Appointment in Samarra, Ten North Frederick, and Butterfield 8 to his credit. Today, O’Hara is best known for his short fiction mostly published in The New Yorker. From the Terrace is rarely mentioned in critical studies of O’Hara, but I think this 900 page whale of a novel contains some of John O’Hara’s best writing. Its story applies to today’s preoccupation with everything economic. O’Hara tracks the rise of Alfred Easton, a banking tycoon. O’Hara takes Easton into the Washington, D. C. corridors of power as money and politics blend into a mix of deal-making and duplicity. If you want an insider’s view of finance and power, From the Terrace takes you there.
I believe Appointment in Samarra is his only work I’ve read but remember enjoying it quite a bit. I notice you’ve watched season one of the old McQueen series. I watched it about a year ago and consider it, thanks to Steve, a western that holds up remarkably well.
Fifty years ago or so, I went through an O’Hara phase. I read all the books you mentioned, plus others. Loved ‘em. I still remember things from FROM THE TERRACE, and not just the sexy parts.
I remember my father throwiing this out the front door and saying I was too young to read it.
Your father was trying to protect you from those “hot” passages in From the Terrace. Those racy parts were quite daring for 1959.
From the Terrace had a lot of sex for a book written at the end of the 1950s. Yet, it’s pretty much a forgotten book in the O’Hara canon.
All of John O’Hara’s works are worth reading. He was a craftsman. WANTED DEAD OR ALIVE really made McQueen a star.
I remember the movie of FROM THE TERRACE with Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward – well, I remember seeing it years ago but none of the details – but never read the book. Like David up there I’ve read only APPOINTMENT IN SAMARRA among his novels, though I’ve read hundreds of his stories, short and long.
I’ll look out for this one as you make it sound interesting, and of course I have so little to read as it is!
OK, ordered it from PaperBackSwap.
You won’t be sorry.
The main character’s name was not Easton. It was Alfred Eaton.
Thanks for the correction, Mike.
I LOVE From the Terrace. You cannot put it down and it applies to today even though it really gets going in the twenties. It is not just about the power of money, but also of love and how so many of us just do not know what it is. His writing is magnificent. I have read so many of his great books: Appointment in Samarra; Ten North Frederick; Rage to Live. O’Hara is a master and I envy his genius because I love to write and shall never, ever be in his class.
I’m a fan of From the Terrace, too, Ellen. John O’Hara was a prickly guy, but a great writer. I’ve read most of his novels, but I think as good as they are O’Hara was a better short story writer.