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Sep 25, 2011

Christopher rated it:

I've want to read this for years, so I'm happy I finally got around to it. Edna Ferber's sprawling epic concerns 25 years of married life between liberal-minded Leslie and conservative Jordan Benedict, and how as they watch the world changing around them, they find themselves changing too. And it all takes place on the overwhelming landscape of Texas, to which this book is both a condemnation and a love letter.

The novel explores the relationships of many things over the quarter-century time peri More...

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Mar 03, 2008

Jayne rated it:

This classic is slow starting read. Part of that is the thought of Texas itself, and part is the character development, which develops only through actions of the characters throughout the book.

The story is told by the actions and curious run on sentences of the characters. The main character, Leslie, is a strong minded woman brought up by her Doctor father to think for herself and do the right thing. When she meets her future Texas big money husband, the sparks fly, and oddly they More...

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Apr 01, 2010

Corinne rated it:

I finished this sweeping novel of Texas while on an airplane, bound for my first visit to that great state. I had earlier sent a call out to my friends, asking what one should read before one's first trip to Texas, and when I saw that this suggestion was written by the author of So Big, a novel I loved, I knew I'd found a winner.

I was right.

Giant is absolutely a tale of Texas in the earlier part of this century, shortly after the Great War. It's a tale of ranches and catt More...

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Aug 08, 2010

Adam rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

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Apr 21, 2011

Philip rated it:

Edna Ferber isn't particularly well-known today, although she enjoyed a long run as a popular novelist: SO BIG (winner of the Pulitzer Prize), SHOW BOAT (which became the basis of the famous and beloved musical, CIMARRON, upon which was based the 1931 Academy Award-winning Best Picture, SARATOGA TRUNK, GIANT, and ICE PALACE. She was also a successful playwright who collaborated on THE ROYAL FAMILY, DINNER AT EIGHT, and STAGE DOOR.

If Ferber's name means anything today, its probably due More...

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Aug 09, 2010

Jeanne rated it:

This is a good classic. It has drama, humor, romance, kept my interest. I read it when I was in high school. I learned some about prejudice, and overcoming of that; how money can hurt as well as help. The young woman falls for the sexy bad boy rich man, (who I wanted, too), but sees in the end that he doesn't have true strength of character and is not good for her. She also found that her parents were wiser than she thought.

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Jun 14, 2010

Kelly rated it:

I had no idea what to expect when I started this book, but I really didn't think it would be the kind of book that I would leave work and refuse to do anything, not even sleep, until I finished it (which is exactly what happened last night). So needless to say, this book was a pleasant surprise.

I think I spent so much of my college career lost in the Victorian period and European literature in general that I forgot how amazing American literature is too. Ferber's writing is certa More...

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Dec 04, 2010

Suzanne rated it:

In “Giant”, Leslie moves to the BIG state of Texas as a new bride. She is a Virginian, raised proper on an old plantation. The rancher’s lifestyle is certainly different than what she is used to. Leslie’s husband, Bick, is on a power trip and lives for hard work. His dream is to produce the finest stock of beef cattle ever. Although Leslie has periods of homesickness she never tires of learning about the history of Texas, and the people who live there. She sees many things wrong with the w More...

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Jul 25, 2011

Cheryl rated it:

I enjoyed this book a lot. The main characters were well-rounded and interesting, and their interactions, especially those between Leslie and Bick, were very believable--a deeply thought-through portrait of a longtime marriage. I also liked the structure of the plot, which circles back to the first chapter, essentially asking you to reread it knowing the characters' backstory. Having Leslie as the newcomer to Texas allows the reader who knows zip about Texas history (such as myself), get up to s More...

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Jun 09, 2010

Anna rated it:

This story is about TEXAS. Everything is big in TEXAS. In TEXAS we do things differently, and it's like a whole other country. TEXANS are like no other people. People not from TEXAS couldn't possibly understand what it means to be from TEXAS. Did I mention TEXAS? Okay, I'm done now. I did feel like I was being beaten over the head with it, though. I would actually give this two and a half stars. I enjoyed the book more than I would have thought possible at the beginning. The first fou More...

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Jul 25, 2009

D.A. rated it:

By the time Ferber wrote this, she had written a number of plays and had a number of novels adapted for the screen. Clearly, in Giant, she was envisioning the novel as a film, and she writes with a cinematic voice. In typical Ferber style, she starts the story near the climax. The novel is filled with Texas lore, and probably far too many characters to manage well. But it also--as with so many of Ferber's novels--plows head-on into issues of social justice, driven by a strong female character wh More...

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Jun 14, 2010

Lee Anne rated it:

Outstanding. I have a feeling there will be a few packages from www.abebooks.com heading to my house, with Edna Ferber books inside.

The film version of Giant has been one of my favorite movies since high school, when I was in my James Dean phase/TBS frequently showed it of a Sunday afternoon. I think I even read the book back then, but reading a book in high school and reading it as an adult are two very different experiences.

Edna Ferber's writing is so different from w More...

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Jul 11, 2011

Suzanne rated it:

Blows the movie out of the water. It's a much more cogent, penetrating, and pessimistic critique of Texas, and American, society and culture. One might almost call it cynical. The characters are much more sharply drawn, without the Hollywood softening to make them more acceptable to Peoria. The women aren't quite as beautiful and the men are not nearly as heroic.
The social critique of the founding of Texas is presented in greater detail and depth than in the film, and the treatment of the M More...

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Oct 11, 2009

Gretchen rated it:

Since I now live in Texas, I thought I'd read a Pulizer Prize novel about it. The essence of the story is really about the end of a patriarhchal society, where the ranch manager/owner provided housing, schooling, church and work in return for loyalty and obedience and money. Then oil was the giant and all the stuff that went before fell apart. That Texas is BIG, we know. That these rich ranches are also BIG and the distances traveled are BIG, and everyone was rich and sort of over the top, we More...

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Feb 16, 2010

Kate rated it:

Brilliant. What amazes me about this is that it was written by a sheltered young woman from the midwest, and yet it addressed so many levels of sociological and economical prejudices in the southwest. Way before its time, it discussed issues of race, gender, & class/society. The strength of it is that it unfolds through generations so that we not only see the changes, but we see how the changes affect the older generations. So well written I used it as the subject for a paper I'd written for a c More...

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Mar 21, 2010

Jenny rated it:

I found this book with 2 minutes to sprare at the closing of a library book sale. I had just finished her autobiography and wanted to read anything by her. It is a portrait of a time and place. She says she "Nothing ever really happens in my novels." Yet, she draws a picture of people and places. This is about a young woman who marries into a huge Texas cattle owning family. The portrait is of hugely wealthy white folks and the secondary but truly first culture mexican community. It's More...

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Dec 14, 2011

Medlibrarian rated it:

After getting sucked into the movie for the umpteenth time, I decided to read the book. I'm not sure how the novel was perceived when it first made its debut, but parts of it read very badly today. The characters are big and broad as the setting. It also helped me understand a few things that were vague in the film. That said, this is one of those cases where the film is an improvement on the book. I'm giving it 3 stars, because while it is by no means great literature, it's quite entertaining. More...

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Mar 23, 2011

Jana rated it:

Giant is a book that ages well. (This is my second time to read it and it's better now than then.) I don't doubt the outrage that Texans felt when it was published in 1952. The racism was (and in many places still is) an accepted institution and we didn't want to have anyone, much less a Yankee, point that out. Oh well... times change. Or not. I know that the culture of Giant didn't really exist, but there's enough truth in the details to make it valuable for anyone who is curious about the coun More...

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May 05, 2011

Adela rated it:

At first I thought it was borderline soap-opera but I soon realized there's a lot more to this book than Leslie, Bick, and Jett. There's Texas-- Texas from the late 1920s to early 1950s. Everything is in relation to Texas.
The characters undergo little development but that does not hinder the book, it only enhances the views regarding all the changes that Texas undergoes. From the cattle ranches to oil boom the book sparkles as a vivid painting of a time that was and won't ever be again More...

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Aug 04, 2011

Heather rated it:

Giant is a great book about the hard life of a Texas Cattle rancher. Leslie marries Bic and leaves behind Virginia to come to his native Texas only to find mesquite trees, and miles of sand. There are hard times for Leslie, and for Bic and his family. Out of the dust comes oil and Reata Ranch is booming, but controversy follows. Ferber wrote this book after spending time in Texas, and while I believe it is a true depiction of eccentric Texans (I'm a native Texan) it infuriated Texans at the time More...

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Jun 05, 2010

carl rated it:

This is a good story and the movie does it pretty well too.

I was a little wary hearing Ferber was too main stream in
her day, but I enjoyed the tale. You do learn about every
Spanish word for the different categories of cowboys.

I found an ancient paperback copy that's not even
on the goodreads list, have to fix that someday, 1962.

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Feb 01, 2011

Amy rated it:

Edna Ferber has such a fantastic way of capturing and conveying characters and giving them a rich and developed background. I felt bad for Leslie. She really didn't know what she was getting into. There were a lot of things about this book that reinforced a lot about what I dislike about Texas, and just that mindset put me on edge, but Ferber writes in such a way that it kept me reading.

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Oct 23, 2009

Jayna rated it:

I was intrigued by this epic story, and overall I liked it. At the heart of the story, it is about how the two main characters weather marriage, and the texas ranch they work. I read that this was made into a rather famous movie with Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson, and James Dean....and I will definitely rent it soon.

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Aug 19, 2010

Allie rated it:

Truly amazing and exactly the kind of book that I love -- sprawling and epic. I did have some trouble with getting a frame of reference for the time period though. I couldn't get my head around the fact that things were taking place during the 50's and 60's. But then again, maybe that was the point.

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Jun 07, 2009

Rose rated it:

One of my favorite books of all time! Incredible language style. Ferber is not as well-known as she deserves! Yet again, I recommend reading the book before watching the movie, but the movie was actually well-casted. Ferber is great at getting into a culture with its people and its food and its atmosphere.

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Jun 28, 2011

Emily rated it:

Don't take my 2 stars as an insult! The book is beautifully written, but I felt like nothing happened. I was disappointed with the pace of the book and the lack of resolution at the end. Leslie was such a strong and wonderful character, as were most of the characters, but I feel that Ferber did not take them as far as she could have. I wanted more of Leslie's children, more of Jett Rink, more of Texas.

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Jun 01, 2011

Teresa rated it:

It was interesting to read about how the ranch culture and growth of Texas in the 30s-50s, and to see one take on the problems of prejudice at the time. The movie of this book came out when I was a kid and I remember it was a big deal because my dad knew the owner of the Texas ranch where it was filmed. I'll have to rent the movie to see how well it follows the book.

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Feb 10, 2012

Lindsay rated it:

I recently went to the opening of the musical production of Giant and received a free a copy of the book. I had never heard of the author and later read that she was considered one of the best female writers of her generation. Compared to the dark novels I normally read, this was breath of fresh air. A little Texas history mixed with love, life, wealth and ranching.

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Jan 22, 2009

James rated it:

Ferber creates a fictional world that is as great as the state of Texas with larger than life characters. The story is surprisingly relevant to us decades later with the impact of immigrant workers playing a key role.

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Jan 26, 2009

Rachel rated it:

A book about Texas - and the thoughts of a Virginiabride coming to live on a ranch during the 1920's while Texas boomed and changed. I learned a lot, but thought it could have used some serious editing.

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