John O’Hara’s opus of fictional writing, "A Rage to Live", is the story of a young woman with high social ranking in a small town of Pennsylvania in the early 1900s. The fictional town of Fort Penn is modeled after John O’Hara’s home town of Harrisburg, but he provides a special note on Page 1 of the 1949 First Edition that says all characters are purely fictional- “anyone who thinks they recognize themselves or anyone else they know personally in the novel is completely wrong.” Perhaps he makes a point of that distinction because his rich, young, debutante lady protagonist, Grace Caldwell, is a nymphomaniac. This creates havoc and fodder for gossip in the otherwise conservative, but somewhat hypocritical community.

Nymphomaniac? When is the last time you heard that term? When the book was first printed it was unimaginable that a normal woman could have the same sexual appetite as a man. Thus, she must be some kind of a maniac. Not that John O’Hara dubbed Grace with that nasty epithet. It was the literary critics that defined her as such. The irony is that all she really wants in life is to live a simple quiet unpretentious life in the country. But she has a tendency to like physical passion which attracts the bad boys- and unscrupulous men. Grace makes a few very damaging mistakes in her life which result in tragic consequences.

John O’Hara tells his narrative objectively from the various points of view of several different characters, including Grace’s husband, her best friend, and one of her lovers. And the beauty of the novel is in the story telling. "A Rage to Live" is not a quick read. There are lengthy descriptions of customs, rituals and social etiquette. And as stated in my review of O’Hara’s award-winning novel "Appointment to Samarra"- his expertise lies in his ability to create natural dialogue where his characters each carry their own distinct way of communicating; intonation, language, and expression. He takes the reader to the heart of Pennsylvania Dutch country and illustrates an authentic depiction of the way people of that era behaved, thought, talked, and lived their lives.

Regardless of the fact that "A Rage to Live" was a literary success and best seller worthy of converting to a Hollywood film, it now suffers mediocre reviews. Perhaps because the film version (typical of Hollywood) was banal and trashy, sensationalized sex, and turned the real-to-life characters into one dimensional caricatures. Or maybe today’s readers are jaded. At the time of publication, "A Rage to Live" was an original scathing tale of a “fallen woman”. However, by today’s standards, it may be just another outdated novel. ( )

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Perhaps in 1949 this would have ground-breaking fiction, but in 2016 it's ground that has been gone over and has gone stale. Worth reading just to on a time travel trip to early twentieth-century Pennsylvania and experience the lives of these people but no earth shattering look into the human psyche. Maybe there is a reason why Mr. O' Hara has faded from the canvas of American writers. He's good but not great and certainly not timeless. ( )

Interesting saga taking place in the WWI era in Harrisburg, PA (Fort Penn in the novel) near where i grew up as a kid. I enjoyed very much the daily life and social structure routine detail that one typically finds in O'Hara's books. Plenty of Pennsylvania Dutch references and names that i am very familiar with, but never encounter in my new home in Maine. And there was plenty of politics tucked away here as well, and the perspective is very interesting....i mean all the talk of the corruption and unfairness in today's political world pales in comparison to the truly corrupt backroom chicanery that went on in those days of smoke-filled backroom deals, and at a time when women still could not even vote. Believe me, things have changed a lot, and seemingly for the better, a fact quite often lost on too many.

The tale was kept interesting for me as it followed the trials and tribulations of the well-to-do Caldwell/Tate family, since it was full of completely unexpected twists and turns that i always seemed unprepared for. That in itself was a good thing, but it also sometimes left me wondering where are we going with this.....but then again, is not that also very true of our own lives? I'm an old car guy and there was lots of very specific descriptive, and accurate, i might add, references to wonderful old cars of the era, and that will always win you points in my book! I have usually enjoyed the O'Hara i have read thus far, and this was no exception. I have almost everything he wrote, so i look forward to the next one i pull from the shelf, whenever that will be. ( )

An interesting look at the evolution of females in society, and the prejudices which exist in smaller areas of America. I wasn't sure of this one in the beginning but it turned out to be quite good. ( )