Reviews

An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser

ashwise360's review

dark sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

darkonoah's review

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

audreylee's review

dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

0.5

A whinging main character who was obsessed with sex and riches and vacillated between stalking and indifference. There were two saintly mothers and all of the rest of the women in the book were portrayed as manipulative whores. There wasn't a brain cell to be shared among any of the characters.  If this is a classic, we aren't asking for much from our authors. 

jkd08a's review

I can't with this. Bye.

islorad's review

5.0

Tragic and sad. Literally I have started this book three times and I simply cannot finish it. It is too depressing. It is a wonderful book don't get me wrong but this plays to the insecurities and desires in us all and what would we do when they come into conflict. Maybe one day I will pick it up again and continue from where I left off instead of starting over. Maybe it can be finished by degrees but I personally just find it to be a very powerful book.

viktoriaslibrary's review

slow-paced

2.0

catlove9's review against another edition

emotional reflective sad slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.5

lizabethstucker's review

3.0

A classic, An American Tragedy is a look at life at the turn of the century as well as a murder tale. It is a slow read as well as a large book, so if you decide to delve into this one, be prepared to give it your all. A typical hardback is over 960 pages.

The basic storyline is based on a notorious murder committed in 1910. The books, for there are three within one, tell the life of Clyde Griffiths, son of poor street preachers, a boy who wants more out of life than what he has. As he tries to break away from his parents and their life, he finds himself stumbling through relationships with other boys his age and women, trying to learn what he needs to become normal. He is used and abused, learning to do the same to others in his quest for greatness and respectability.

I don't want to spoil the story's quirks and turns and such, so I'm not going to go into any more details, but if you're interested, do a search or check out the Cliffs' or Sparks' notes.

It's been about 35 years since I read this book the first time and I have to say that my interest level wasn't quite as strong this time through. I had forgotten quite a bit of the book over the years.

rmthom2's review

3.0

As for the parents of Roberta, they were excellent examples of that native type of Americanism which resists facts and reveres illusion. Titus Alden was one of that vast company of individuals who are born, pass through and die out of the world without ever quite getting any one thing straight. They appear, blunder, and end in a fog. Like his two brothers, both older and almost as nebulous, Titus was a farmer solely because his father had been a farmer. And he was here on this farm because it had been willed to him and because it was easier to stay here and try to work this than it was to go elsewhere. He was a Republican because his father before him was a Republican and because this county was Republican. It never occurred to him to be otherwise. And, as in the case of his politics and his religion, he had borrowed all his notions of what was right and wrong from those about him. A single, serious, intelligent of rightly informing book had never been read by any member of this family--not one. But they were nevertheless excellent, as conventions, morals and religions go--honest, upright, God-fearing and respectable.

readfineprint's review

5.0

An American Tragedy is one of my all time favorite books, but I’m due a reread because not only have I never heard a single person talk about it on bookstagram, in real life I’ve never met anyone who has read it. So I read it years ago and now I’m doubting myself, but the EIizabeth Taylor movie made of this book won six Oscars so there’s that. Don’t look it up unless you want to know the entire plot of the book.
❤️
I remember I approached an English teacher about how it would be a perfect classic for her students to read😂. I’m kinda embarrassed about that now but I guess I was passionate!
❤️
It’s about a boy who forfeits his life for the American dream, and also about an America that made him want to do it. It made me think about why I want certain things in life, and how badly I want them, and what extent would I go to to get them? I don’t want to give you a single spoiler just in case you don’t know this plot, because it really is sad and chilling and a little twisted.
❤️
After An American Tragedy I read Dreiser’s Sister Carrie and I enjoyed it too, but not as much as Tragedy. On Goodreads it says Dreiser is known for, “portraying characters whose value lies not in their moral code, but in their persistence against all obstacles, and literary situations that more closely resemble studies of nature than tales of choice and agency.” I don’t know about all that but it sure sounds smart! I just know #thisbookhasmy❤️