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3.98 AVERAGE
3.98 AVERAGE
challenging
dark
reflective
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I got this at the peak of my obsession with Louisiana politics - living in the state capital and on my own for the first time, freshman year of college at Louisiana State University, in my first poli sci class, walking the halls where Robert Penn Warren once taught, when the movie of the same name came out in theaters (starring my crush-at-the-time Jude Law, no less!) - and as a result switched my major to political science and quoted lines from the film nonstop with my friends ("Nail up Joe Harrison! Nail up McMurphy! Nail 'em up!" something something about a meat axe, orange pop with two straws, and a "slut on skates"). I explored the monuments to Huey Long and even tried to recreate one of his stump speeches on the steps of the state capitol. After a few months my excitement fizzled out (probably caused by the realization that politics and especially Louisiana politics were not what I wanted to devote my life to) and I don't think I ever actually finished the book (it's hard to read for fun when you're in college!). Definitely want to pick it up again soon now that I know a little more about the world.
still one of my favorites but liked it the least upon this reread
The themes of “All the King’s Men” include the issues of idealism versus pragmatism, whether or not the ends can justify the means, and whether or not the truth really sets one free. The reader is forced to confront the notion that people are not all good or bad: “the human contraption is a very complicated contraption and they are not good or bad but are good and bad and the good comes out of the bad and the bad out of good.” In fact, the character Jack Burden voices the notion that God would not have made man perfect, that man had to be made imperfect to set him aside from God. The character Willie Stark (based on the real-life politician Huey Long – see below) believes that “everyone had a secret” and understood that he could control people by knowing their secrets and using them to his advantage. Jack Burden always seeks the truth, and it usually causes more trouble than good (for example, the suicide of Judge Irwin). At the end of the book, he finally lets the truth pass when he doesn’t reveal to “Sugar boy” that “Tiny” Duffy was the one who provoked Adam Stanton to assassinate Willie Stark. Stark is powerful and ambitious whereas Burden is impotent in some ways and lacks ambition. This may be why Anne Stanton falls for Stark and never committed herself to Burden earlier in the story: “I lacked some essential confidence in the world and in myself. She came, as time passed, to suspect this fact about me.” Jack’s “burden” is to puzzle out the meaning of things. He finds that human beings are bound together through their imperfections and that life is a force that persists through adversity (the “Great Twitch”): “Life is but the dark heave of blood and the twitch of the nerve.” Huey Long was the real-life Willie Stark. Stark was born in Winnfield, Louisiana in 1893. He dropped out of high school and worked as a door-to-door salesman before pursuing and obtaining a degree in law. He was elected to the Louisiana Railroad Commission in 1918 and ran for governor in 1923 and 1927. He was elected and began serving as governor of Louisiana in 1928. He called himself the “Kingfish” after a popular radio character. Long pushed through several controversial pieces of legislation his first year in office. He expanded social services, built and improved roads, built hospitals and schools and transferred the tax burden to corporations and the wealthy. He soundly crushed individuals who opposed him by political, social, or financial means. An impeachment attempt was made in 1929 but he not only survived it but went on to be elected to the U.S. Senate in 1931. He initially supported Franklin D. Roosevelt for president in 1932 but broke with him in 1934 (the cause for the split was unclear) and planned to challenge Roosevelt for the Democratic nomination or run for president on a third party ticket. This move would have presented a difficulty for Roosevelt in that Long may have taken enough votes away from Roosevelt to allow a Republican candidate to be elected.
In 1932, Long founded the “Share Our Wealth” National Society at the height of the depression. It was founded on the radical notion of redistributing the wealth of the nation by confiscating the fortunes of wealthy individuals. He was viewed by some as a champion of the people against special interests and reviled by others as a dangerous demagogue who used populist rhetoric to advance his own personal interests. On September 8, 1935, one of the things on the agenda for a special Sunday session of the legislature was to gerrymander the district of one of Long’s political enemies, Judge Benjamin Pavy. As Long walked through the Louisiana State House in Baton Rouge on that day, he was assassinated by a physician named Dr. Carl Weiss, Pavy’s son-in-law. Weiss was immediately shot and killed by Long’s bodyguards. After the shooting, Long said “I wonder why he shot me. I don’t know him.” Long died a few days later. This assassination is considered by some to be the second most controversial (after that of John F. Kennedy) in terms of unanswered questions.
In 1932, Long founded the “Share Our Wealth” National Society at the height of the depression. It was founded on the radical notion of redistributing the wealth of the nation by confiscating the fortunes of wealthy individuals. He was viewed by some as a champion of the people against special interests and reviled by others as a dangerous demagogue who used populist rhetoric to advance his own personal interests. On September 8, 1935, one of the things on the agenda for a special Sunday session of the legislature was to gerrymander the district of one of Long’s political enemies, Judge Benjamin Pavy. As Long walked through the Louisiana State House in Baton Rouge on that day, he was assassinated by a physician named Dr. Carl Weiss, Pavy’s son-in-law. Weiss was immediately shot and killed by Long’s bodyguards. After the shooting, Long said “I wonder why he shot me. I don’t know him.” Long died a few days later. This assassination is considered by some to be the second most controversial (after that of John F. Kennedy) in terms of unanswered questions.
challenging
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
Thank goodness I'm FINALLY done. This book was insanely boring and I didn't care about the plot or any of the characters. It took me literally forever to read, and I would have to force myself to keep on reading, even though sometimes I would literally fall asleep.
This book just rambled on and on and on. There were so many tangents, and they were so long that by the time they were done, I was struggling to remember what was going on in the main plot.
The only thing I can say is- how in the world did this win a Pulitzer Prize?
This book just rambled on and on and on. There were so many tangents, and they were so long that by the time they were done, I was struggling to remember what was going on in the main plot.
The only thing I can say is- how in the world did this win a Pulitzer Prize?
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I was required to read this book as part of my AP English class, and quite frankly I can't really get my head around this novel.
All the King's Men is about Willie Stark's rise into politics and power, in the eyes of Jack Burden, our narrator. This novel really frustrates me. Because I'm young, I'm in school, maybe too simple, to really enjoy or understand this novel.
All I can see is that All the King's Men is the story of Willie becoming a man driven from equality and honesty to the same dirty political scandals that have dominated earlier decades - the same political bosses, and bribery, favors with kickback systems. But is this really all the books stands for, an emphasis on the political motivations and corruption of man? I don't know. In my opinion, or rather poor analysis of All the King's Men, themes of injustice, the inevitability of man being forced into evil, corruption in politics, and inevitable tragic end for such corruption are what the King's Men depict.
I didn't enjoy this novel, and I couldn't really pinpoint major ideas, but I read it reluctantly.
All the King's Men is about Willie Stark's rise into politics and power, in the eyes of Jack Burden, our narrator. This novel really frustrates me. Because I'm young, I'm in school, maybe too simple, to really enjoy or understand this novel.
All I can see is that All the King's Men is the story of Willie becoming a man driven from equality and honesty to the same dirty political scandals that have dominated earlier decades - the same political bosses, and bribery, favors with kickback systems. But is this really all the books stands for, an emphasis on the political motivations and corruption of man? I don't know. In my opinion, or rather poor analysis of All the King's Men, themes of injustice, the inevitability of man being forced into evil, corruption in politics, and inevitable tragic end for such corruption are what the King's Men depict.
I didn't enjoy this novel, and I couldn't really pinpoint major ideas, but I read it reluctantly.
Talk about the only assigned reading that I actually enjoyed in high school. This book left such a strong impression on me that I can recall where I was when I read certain parts of the novel. I don't quite remember when I finished the book, but it was the summer of 2009 and I was probably returning home from Spain. Starting off my junior year of high school with this book made a lot of what we read over the course of the year drag on and on... I think if I could write fiction like anyone, I'd like to write like Warren does in this novel. A gorgeous read.
medium-paced