A review by catbrigand
The Jungle: The Uncensored Original Edition by Upton Sinclair

4.0

This is where I write an objective review. Did I like The Jungle? It's hard to say. It's not a great work of literature that revolutionized the way people use the English language-but it never was intended to be. The Jungle is great at what Sinclair wanted it to be. It is so saturated with human suffering and misery that you find yourself scoffing at other immigrant stories like A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. The Nolans know nothing compared to Jurgis and his family. In fact, short of having family experience or being a historical scholar, there is so much misery to befall one family as to beggar belief. But that's precisely the point (and the main character's salvation via some 50 pages of socialist agitprop). By somehow managing to pour all the horrors and tragedies of the aggregate immigrant experience into one family that wouldn't be able to catch a break if it were presented to them on a silver platter by Phillip Armour himself, Sinclair fosters an indelible sense of sadness and responsibility--and yes, rage--in readers. A common complaint I hear with political or protest fiction is that it's not literature, and that's probably fair to say. But Sinclair sought to inspire a feeling (and probably a socialist revolution) in his readers, and for many, he succeeded.

Oh, and he sufficiently horrified people that America now has real laws to prevent us from eating adulterated milk and tuberculated beef, for which I am EVER so grateful, if I can stomach the thought of meat products any time soon.