Reviews

The Late George Apley by John P. Marquand

lgpiper's review against another edition

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I dunno, Marquand won a Pulitzer prize for this. I figured that meant it would be good. But I found it tedious and uninteresting. Somehow, reading about privileged, rich Boston elites who think they're just plain folks is a bit sick making. I think that's likely the point of the book, but I'm not not willing to finish so as to find out. I got through 18% and then cried, "Give!"

I've read a half dozen other Marquand books, all in the Mr. Moto series, and thought they were all good and well enough written. This not so much. It didn't help that the kindle version I had for this book was egregiously proof read. Oodles of errors in typography and layout. I know that creating eBooks is difficult, but why not make a half-hearted effort? Gah! Anyway, I now know that one is not necessarily in for a GoodRead merely because the book he's picked up won Pulitzer Prize.

drewmoody321's review against another edition

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2.0

Read my full review here: http://thepulitzerblog.wordpress.com/2010/05/05/entry-12-the-late-george-apley-a-novel-in-the-form-of-a-memoir-by-john-p-marquand-1938/

rachaelrace's review against another edition

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

3.0

mcoleman1250's review against another edition

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3.0

Speedy summary: George Apley has passed away and a picture of his life is being put together by a friend using George's old letters.
Thoughts: I adore epistolary novels, which is why this Pulitzer winner stuck out! For me, the more I read the book the more interested I became. While George and the narrator both come from a place of extreme privilege (and this is very clear in the novel), the book really shows one person's reactions to a swiftly changing world. It took persistence to get invested.

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wathohuc's review against another edition

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3.0

Well, I guess I can say that this is an interesting book of a type. But I can’t say that it is a great book, or even a good book in terms of literary quality or substantive meaning. It’s simply a portrait of a man’s life among the Bostonian super elites in the late 19th/early 20th century. It’s told through the prism of a biographer who is drawing a lot from the letters and the testimonials of family and friends of the main subject, George Apley. I suppose if someone were curious about the life and context of a very small sliver of elite society in Boston, this might be more than a passing curiosity; but for 99.99999% of all the rest of us, the world and the life presented are just too far out of our world to be seen as relatable at all. There is no great human lesson in the story. And I found the writing to be quite pedantic, stuffy, and uninspiring. I am surprised it won the Pulitzer. It shouldn’t have. But what I can appreciate about the book, especially as part of my goal to read all the Pulitzer fiction winners, is what it reveals about what books and styles of writing appealed to people at certain moments in time. And the book also gives another glimpse into a certain “America” that I don’t know all that much about. [Picked by John.]

jeffs's review against another edition

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2.0

This is a book about an extremely wealthy man that leads a wholly uninteresting life. I think there’s some satire or social commentary in here, but it was mostly just boring.

bent's review against another edition

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4.0

After a slow start, I got into it and really enjoyed this book. It has a gentle, dry wit to it that took some getting used to. I was expecting a broader satire along the lines of Babbitt, but this book is subtler, with a real love of its protagonist.

George Apley is of the sandwich generation, child of the generation that built the city that he loves and the fortune that sustains him, and father of the 'lost generation' that went off to war and came back filled with discontent at the old world. As a result, he sees himself as being a custodian of a certain way of life, and of the Apley family. This causes him to impose limits on himself and his life, but he views his chains as being made of silk rather than iron. I found his story compelling and somewhat poignant, and in the end, very absorbing.
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