The Human Comedy by William Saroyan

I am 90 percent sure I have read this book before. Strangely, I didn't realize it until I was 20 pages from the end. It all sort of came together as I read about the war buddy Marcus made who fell in love with the idea of having a home.

This book was sad. With a young boy forced to take care of his family by delivering messages of lost men in the second world war to the sad fate of a telegraph operator who has outlived his time, this book pulls at the heart throughout.

Ultimately, this book was Saroyan's attempt to raise attention to xenophobia in America around World War Two. I can't count how many references were made to 'we are all americans', etc. It was not terribly subtle. Nonetheless, I picked "The Human Comedy" up and had a hard time putting it down over the course of a couple days. It was an accurate and shockingly indepth look at humankind and the stages of our lives. Describing what the young boy does as something no man can understand and no child can ever remember was brilliant.

Great book. I will read more Saroyan.