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A review by derbit
An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser
3.0
Clyde Griffiths reminds me a lot of a roommate I used to have--just kind of ignorantly self-absorbed. I was very torn about how I felt about Clyde. On the one hand, he's just a victim of society and you can't help but feel a little sorry for him. He's not actually a malicious human being. He's just ignorant. And self-absorbed. On the other hand, you're going to hate him.
I struggled a lot with this book. It's definitely an intricately woven masterpiece in its own right, but oh my god, it is looooong, and I don't just mean in the sense that it packs in a lot of pages. It tends to get a little wordy and tedious at times. The unraveling of Clyde Griffiths is a seriously drawn out process. It took me about 6 weeks to finish this guy, partly because life, but also because I frequently had to make a conscious effort to pick the book up and read it, especially as I got closer to the end. That being said, I do think it's a book everyone should take the time to tackle in their life. The story is a timeless portrayal of American society (timeless, that is, with the exception of the distinctly 1920s dialogue) and is definitely worth the commitment.
I struggled a lot with this book. It's definitely an intricately woven masterpiece in its own right, but oh my god, it is looooong, and I don't just mean in the sense that it packs in a lot of pages. It tends to get a little wordy and tedious at times. The unraveling of Clyde Griffiths is a seriously drawn out process. It took me about 6 weeks to finish this guy, partly because life, but also because I frequently had to make a conscious effort to pick the book up and read it, especially as I got closer to the end. That being said, I do think it's a book everyone should take the time to tackle in their life. The story is a timeless portrayal of American society (timeless, that is, with the exception of the distinctly 1920s dialogue) and is definitely worth the commitment.