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anniew415's review against another edition
5.0
Loved this... took me a while to get into the style and plot but once I did it was amazingly told. Really loved the ending - kept me guessing until the last page! Loved the scenic descriptions - Norris’ descriptions of San Francisco and the mountains and desert later on; an amazing work in the greater library of California literature.
lizardgoats's review against another edition
4.0
I enjoyed 'McTeague.' The Introduction is very helpful in identifying thematic motifs, which you might not notice otherwise. There's also a lot of repetition of phrases in this novel, specific to character. It is an interesting narrative technique that I have not seen (to this minimalist extent) in any other novel.
It gets a little dull toward the very end, but don't worry, the finale will blow your mind.
It gets a little dull toward the very end, but don't worry, the finale will blow your mind.
jdsatori's review against another edition
3.0
Everyone is pushed to the edge by their own obsessions, and the consequences are horrible.
cfatx's review against another edition
5.0
Yes, there is auch a think as American Naturalism Even though it probably encompasses maybe no more than ten books. This one is outstanding and one of my favorites of all time. A classic that deserves to be read a lot more
zcashman's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
jocelynw's review against another edition
3.0
Bad Shit Goes Down in California. Spoiler alert: They call it Death Valley and not Happy Long Life Super Pleasant Valley for a reason.
bigmuscledreallycoolreader's review against another edition
dark
sad
slow-paced
4.25
“You can't make small of me“
Originally wrote a very bland review, but read the other ones and wanted to make a more thorough overview. I wasn’t assigned this book and even picked it up at a bookstore, which I think gives me a different take than one might have if they were forced to read this.
This book is bleak and full of dislikable characters (except for two lovely side characters, who have one of the most endearing arcs in literature). McTeague is an oaf, friends with a vengeful idiot, who married a woman who seems amazing at first but becomes miserly. The central element of this book follows Norris’ philosophy: characters are unable to change because of their intrinsic nature (often associated with race, social class, etc). Yet the characters weren’t “throw the book away” type of dislikable, which was a weird experience i haven’t had with a book in a while.
The earlier stages of a book get you well acquainted with the words “stupid” and the like, building up to an awkward yet strangely endearing romance between Trina and McTeague, with some lovely steamed beer mixed in the middle (mmmmmm). Though the characters were simple and the story was slower, I kept reading. You couldn’t help but feel bad for the characters, and were anxiously waiting for something to go awry. While Norris’s descriptions are often long, his prose is beautifully written for it’s time, and holds up a lot better than other naturalist classics (cough cough, Sister Carrie).
When the shit hits the fan andMcTeague’s dental practice is getting shut down you can’t help but feel bad for them. They were doing so well! The subsequent fall from grace is quick, with characters becoming more and more unlikable as the circumstances worsen. You understand the characters reasons for feeling certain ways, but knowing that they won’t change makes it feel like watching a car crash. The final scene in the book is about as bleak of a conclusion as you could get, yet it feels fitting.
For an author who lived amongst those who he wrote about and died at 32, this is about what you would expect. I could see why reading it in an academic setting would really suck - the social darwinist perspective of Norris is obviously super antiquated and fucked up, and having to go into a class multiple times to hash out “yeah this is fucked up… read the next 150 pages by next week!” would be a slog. It took me a month or two to get through this book, and i put it down for a few days at a time. Think this made it a lot more enjoyable to me.
Overall, like a fucked up, bleak, but simpler Jane Austen. Heavy on the characters and their massive life changes, but unlike Austen you don’t have to worry about these characters doing anything too crazy like learning or changing their ways. I guess like if it were an Austen novel, it’d be the journey of a young woman so stuck in her ways that she dies a penniless spinster.
4.25/5
Originally wrote a very bland review, but read the other ones and wanted to make a more thorough overview. I wasn’t assigned this book and even picked it up at a bookstore, which I think gives me a different take than one might have if they were forced to read this.
This book is bleak and full of dislikable characters (except for two lovely side characters, who have one of the most endearing arcs in literature). McTeague is an oaf, friends with a vengeful idiot, who married a woman who seems amazing at first but becomes miserly. The central element of this book follows Norris’ philosophy: characters are unable to change because of their intrinsic nature (often associated with race, social class, etc). Yet the characters weren’t “throw the book away” type of dislikable, which was a weird experience i haven’t had with a book in a while.
The earlier stages of a book get you well acquainted with the words “stupid” and the like, building up to an awkward yet strangely endearing romance between Trina and McTeague, with some lovely steamed beer mixed in the middle (mmmmmm). Though the characters were simple and the story was slower, I kept reading. You couldn’t help but feel bad for the characters, and were anxiously waiting for something to go awry. While Norris’s descriptions are often long, his prose is beautifully written for it’s time, and holds up a lot better than other naturalist classics (cough cough, Sister Carrie).
When the shit hits the fan and
For an author who lived amongst those who he wrote about and died at 32, this is about what you would expect. I could see why reading it in an academic setting would really suck - the social darwinist perspective of Norris is obviously super antiquated and fucked up, and having to go into a class multiple times to hash out “yeah this is fucked up… read the next 150 pages by next week!” would be a slog. It took me a month or two to get through this book, and i put it down for a few days at a time. Think this made it a lot more enjoyable to me.
Overall, like a fucked up, bleak, but simpler Jane Austen. Heavy on the characters and their massive life changes, but unlike Austen you don’t have to worry about these characters doing anything too crazy like learning or changing their ways. I guess like if it were an Austen novel, it’d be the journey of a young woman so stuck in her ways that she dies a penniless spinster.
4.25/5
Content Warnings
Minor: Antisemitism and Domestic abuse
The antisemitic character is a side character and a function of Norris’s social darwinist thought. The DV is in the final act of the book, but doesn’t get super graphicrhganci's review against another edition
2.0
Oh, the joy of American dentistry.
It's not a half bad book, when you've spend a semester knee-deep in American Realism & Naturalism. But as far as classic literature goes, it just falls into the same pit as the rest of American literature, in my book. It has the dark edges, the bright core, and the callous-hands flavoring of the substance between--the American Dream, and all of the potential ways in which it can be derailed. McTeague becomes a dentist. People are jealous, he is unsure. His wife becomes a money-grubbing maniac. What once was unattainable becomes attainable, and them becomes tainted and its inherent fragility comes to fruitition when somebody else comes along and places their own brand of pressure on whatever has been created by the American Dreamer. McTeague is betrayed and dragged down by his own decadent lifestyle, and ultimately the "realism" becomes just another look at the bleakness of life in urban America.
It's not a half bad book, when you've spend a semester knee-deep in American Realism & Naturalism. But as far as classic literature goes, it just falls into the same pit as the rest of American literature, in my book. It has the dark edges, the bright core, and the callous-hands flavoring of the substance between--the American Dream, and all of the potential ways in which it can be derailed. McTeague becomes a dentist. People are jealous, he is unsure. His wife becomes a money-grubbing maniac. What once was unattainable becomes attainable, and them becomes tainted and its inherent fragility comes to fruitition when somebody else comes along and places their own brand of pressure on whatever has been created by the American Dreamer. McTeague is betrayed and dragged down by his own decadent lifestyle, and ultimately the "realism" becomes just another look at the bleakness of life in urban America.