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milkfran's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
This brief summary doesn’t even begin to cover how bleak this novel is, however.
“it was not unusual for two men to own the same mattress in common, one working by day and using it by night, and the other working at night and using it in the daytime. Very frequently a lodging house keeper would rent the same beds to double
shifts of men.”
Compare this with George Monbiot’s description of a recent trip to our own River Wye:
“In hot weather, the entire river stinks of chicken shit, from the 10 million birds being reared in the catchment. We made the mistake of swimming in it: I almost gagged when I smelled the water. The free-range farms are the worst: the birds carpet the fields with their highly reactive dung, which is then washed into the catchment by rain. Several times a year, algal blooms now turn the clear river cloudy. The fish gasp for breath. Aquatic insects suffocate.”
(The government is looking the other way while Britain's rivers die before our eyes | George Monbiot | The Guardian)
By the end of the novel I was playing content warning bingo and it really does contain the whole spectrum of human misery.
Not just as an important piece of history but as a novel in its own right. I stayed up late tensely reading chapter after chapter willing our protagonist on. Unfortunately it falters at the end slightly when Jurgis miraculously discovers socialism and the last two chapters become a party political pamphlet. Apparently Sinclair hit a brick wall whilst writing and rushed the ending and it shows. There’s nothing wrong with the theory he espouses, it’s just that as a polemicist he is not as subtle or as nuanced as Orwell (could anyone be?) but this can be overlooked as the sheer humanity he brings to a suffering underclass is worthy of being up there with Robert Tressell’s The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists, Walter Greenwood’s Love on the Dole or even anything Orwell ever wrote.
Graphic: Child death, Animal death, Pregnancy, Blood, Animal cruelty, Racism, Ableism, Violence, Medical trauma, Slavery, Excrement, Injury/Injury detail, Murder, Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Trafficking, Death of parent, Racial slurs, Child abuse, and Classism
Moderate: Drug abuse and Antisemitism
jessthanthree's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Body horror, Classism, Death of parent, Death, Medical trauma, Medical content, Gore, Racism, Antisemitism, Grief, Pregnancy, Animal death, Child death, Alcoholism, and Alcohol
Moderate: Abandonment, Addiction, Sexual assault, Sexism, Child abuse, Trafficking, Domestic abuse, Rape, Violence, and Excrement
Minor: Cannibalism and Confinement
haleyreads32's review against another edition
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Mental illness, Ableism, Violence, Pregnancy, Physical abuse, and Animal death
alex2teeuw's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
The ending is abrupt. Hopeful though it may be, it does not relate the prospects of a brighter future to the tumultuous lives of the past documented throughout the novel. (who am I to criticise Upton Sinclair??). The Jungle is impactful and insightful, but it's not exciting, it's not gripping. And it feels like the story is unfinished.
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Blood, Death, Death of parent, Gore, Medical trauma, Violence, Police brutality, Miscarriage, Murder, Pregnancy, Suicidal thoughts, Child death, and Classism
Moderate: Alcoholism, Abandonment, Racial slurs, Abortion, Xenophobia, Grief, Cursing, Misogyny, and Medical content
grrr8_catsby's review against another edition
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
Minor: Alcoholism, Racism, Adult/minor relationship, Child death, Classism, Death of parent, Death, Gore, Police brutality, Pregnancy, and Rape
bseigel's review against another edition
- 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? It's complicated
4.0
Graphic: Animal cruelty and Animal death
Moderate: Child abuse, Child death, and Abandonment
Minor: Pregnancy and Rape
grayscale08's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
Graphic: Death, Forced institutionalization, Grief, and Xenophobia
Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Blood, Child death, Death of parent, Misogyny, Murder, Physical abuse, Sexism, and Violence
Minor: Pregnancy, Rape, and Sexual assault