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A review by reinhardt
The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit by Sloan Wilson
5.0
Tom Rath, the protagonist in Sloan Wilson's The Man in The Gray Flannel Suit is not the automaton of the cliche. One wonders how the cliche of conformity came to be associated with this title. It is a story of searching for meaning after Tom's morally inverse experience of WWII. We learn that Tom killed his best friend, Mahoney, with an overly eager toss of a hand grenade. That was only one of the 17 men he killed, including a teenaged German soldier with a slice to the neck. His only reprieve from the horror of war was a fling with an Italian woman. They lived as man and wife for several months as Tom waited for his next assignment. It was a reprieve from the gruesome horror of war.
One can't help but think of TV's Mad Men when reading this book. Don Draper has many similarities to Tom Rath: the shameful military past, the cynicism, the words business, and cheating on a wife named Betty - similar enough to Betsy, Tom's wife. The big network boss bears more than a passing resemblance to Mr. Cooper and Roger Sterling. Clearly, the book was an inspiration for the TV series.
For most of the book, Tom is cynical and bitter about his place in life. Stuck in a dead-end PR job, not making the money he wants, and distant from his wife Betsy, Tom contemplates leaving it all. At no point is Tom an organization man who cheerfully plays his role as a cog in the wheels of corporate bureaucracy. Tom has learned to say the expected words, but he does not think the accepted thoughts. The demand for disingenuous talk violates the honest reality of the war, both the good and bad. The war years strained his mental health, but at least they were lived honestly and with courage. Now he is running from his past and hiding his true thoughts feelings from his peers and from his wife. He nearly slips into alcoholism. His courage evaporated, his masculine emasculated. Bitterness at his own failure to live up to his ideals nearly destroys him.
But in contrast to Mad Men, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit is not a tragedy, it is a love story. A story of redemption. Courage to face life with honestly comes only with the prodding and support of his wife. Tom cynicism and anger melts as he faces life honestly and reveals his vulnerability to his wife, just as earlier he revealed his physical nakedness to his Italian mistress. He chooses to live for the future rather than in the past. He confesses his wartime affair to wife, and she, while hurt and confused, eventually comes to his support.
You can make the case that the ending is too sentimental. He achieves recognition at work with the offer of a new position but chooses a life with family as his priority. His inheritance comes through and his wife has more respect for him than ever. In short, he gets the money, he gets the recognition, and he gets the girls. It is a romance for men, and a good one.
One can't help but think of TV's Mad Men when reading this book. Don Draper has many similarities to Tom Rath: the shameful military past, the cynicism, the words business, and cheating on a wife named Betty - similar enough to Betsy, Tom's wife. The big network boss bears more than a passing resemblance to Mr. Cooper and Roger Sterling. Clearly, the book was an inspiration for the TV series.
For most of the book, Tom is cynical and bitter about his place in life. Stuck in a dead-end PR job, not making the money he wants, and distant from his wife Betsy, Tom contemplates leaving it all. At no point is Tom an organization man who cheerfully plays his role as a cog in the wheels of corporate bureaucracy. Tom has learned to say the expected words, but he does not think the accepted thoughts. The demand for disingenuous talk violates the honest reality of the war, both the good and bad. The war years strained his mental health, but at least they were lived honestly and with courage. Now he is running from his past and hiding his true thoughts feelings from his peers and from his wife. He nearly slips into alcoholism. His courage evaporated, his masculine emasculated. Bitterness at his own failure to live up to his ideals nearly destroys him.
But in contrast to Mad Men, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit is not a tragedy, it is a love story. A story of redemption. Courage to face life with honestly comes only with the prodding and support of his wife. Tom cynicism and anger melts as he faces life honestly and reveals his vulnerability to his wife, just as earlier he revealed his physical nakedness to his Italian mistress. He chooses to live for the future rather than in the past. He confesses his wartime affair to wife, and she, while hurt and confused, eventually comes to his support.
You can make the case that the ending is too sentimental. He achieves recognition at work with the offer of a new position but chooses a life with family as his priority. His inheritance comes through and his wife has more respect for him than ever. In short, he gets the money, he gets the recognition, and he gets the girls. It is a romance for men, and a good one.