What a slog this was to get through. So much of the story felt incoherent. Much of the detail was just filler and irrelevant to the plot or characterizations. A lot of the side characters I just didn't care about. Some of the main characters didn't even really make sense to me with their motivations.
The symbolism was a bit on the heavy-handed side... the Marxism for the time was obviously interesting but didn’t really... go anywhere. Nothing new or interesting was said. Given this was written during the so-called "Red Decade," it was certainly brave to include all the communist rhetoric, but nothing was really done with it. No one was going to solve any real problems, and the Dr. is more likely to die than march on Washington.
I liked Singer the best. I liked his life. I wish there was more of him. Despite that, I see the patterns and symbolism of the other characters. How they needed Singer, but after he was gone, they realized they needed to move on; he was their outlet.
Lots of suffering and sadness, but some hope at the end. How different people need a push, like Mick and Jake, but others, like Biff, are just born to keep going.
I’m pretty sure Singer and Spiros were gay? I’m not certain, but it felt very coded that way to me. I think it was left ambiguous because that was probably even more controversial than the Marxism in this era. I think I’m gonna have to leave this at 3 stars.
