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The Late George Apley

3.67 of 5 stars 3.67 · rating details · 553 ratings · 33 reviews

A modern classic restored to print -- the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel that charts the diminishing fortunes of a distinguished Boston family in the early years of the 20th century. Sweeping us into the inner sanctum of Boston society, into the Beacon Hill town houses and exclusive private clubs where only the city's wealthiest and most powerful congregate, the novel gives...more

Paperback, 368 pages

Published March 9th 2004 by Back Bay Books (first published 1936)

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Apr 01, 2013 Jeremy Hickerson rated it 5 of 5 stars

This amazing book succeeds in taking you into the world of those born into privilege, getting you to appreciate their unique contribution to society, and making you actually feel sorry for them because of the life-long responsibility they cannot escape.

Marquand tells his story by presenting excerpts from the papers of the just-deceased title character; mostly in the form of correspondence. We are told about the powerful Yankee family he represents and learn quite a bit about his highly successfu...more This amazing book succeeds in taking you into the world of those born into privilege, getting you to appreciate their unique contribution to society, and making you actually feel sorry for them because of the life-long responsibility they cannot escape.

Marquand tells his story by presenting excerpts from the papers of the just-deceased title character; mostly in the form of correspondence. We are told about the powerful Yankee family he represents and learn quite a bit about his highly successful and authoritarian father. We find out that George does not have the family knack for business and trade, but he makes a name for himself among his Boston peers by compiling a short but detailed historical work about a local landmark.

Prior to becoming respectable, George has a brief episode of rebellion when he falls in love with a woman far below his social class. For about a year it seems that he will follow his heart and lose his place in society and the family. Then he comes to his senses (or maybe just gives in to family pressure) and instead marries a patrician woman. From this point on he grows in his role as head of the family and prominent leader in Boston society, becoming more and more like his father with each passing year.

We see George's children particularly his son John, also experiencing the pressure to step into the expected role, but resisting. At the end of the book we discover that John, too, is unable to escape his fate.

We are given the opportunity to see the world from the rich person's point of view - and notice both their prejudice and wisdom. We see all they are doing behind the scenes to maintain the arts, stability, and a certain standard in our culture. (This was more true in Marquand's day.) We also witness their rich family life and the value they place on friendship and good fellowship.

I heard about this book from another book, where it was described as a "conservative novel" - and it certainly is. Elitism is an essential part of conservatism, and here you have an argument for why it might be good and necessary.(less)

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Aug 16, 2011 Joy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Boy, did this book deserve the Pulitzer Prize (late 1930s). It is a picture of Boston society in the early 1900s. George Apley is the patriarch of an old family. The book is a social satire and written to picture society in transition -- but I was very sympathetic to George, liking him very much. His sense of duty was greater than his 'love of life,' but I see that as rather noble. I saw a wealthy class, very exclusive and ingrown, but they looked out for each other and also provided for the 're...more

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Aug 28, 2010 Agnes Mack rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: pulitzer

I've never been a huge fan of biographies. So it was to my extreme dismay (!) that I discovered The Late George Apley, winner of the 1938 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, was a fictionalized biography. Not to worry though, I ended up loving it!

The 'writer' (i.e. narrator) of this book is a man who was close friends with the late George Apley. When George dies, his children realize that they have never known him well, beyond the way they know him as a father. They asked the writer to prepare a biogra...more I've never been a huge fan of biographies. So it was to my extreme dismay (!) that I discovered The Late George Apley, winner of the 1938 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, was a fictionalized biography. Not to worry though, I ended up loving it!

The 'writer' (i.e. narrator) of this book is a man who was close friends with the late George Apley. When George dies, his children realize that they have never known him well, beyond the way they know him as a father. They asked the writer to prepare a biography, which was based on his own knowledge of Mr. Apley as well as interviews with his friends and family, and correspondence to and from Mr. Apley.

The resulting story was actually pretty interesting. Apley grew up as the son of a powerful New England family who were very concerned with convention and maintaining their place in society. In his teens and throughout the first few years of his 20s, Apley rebelled against his family's desires for him. However, in the end, he married the woman he was supposed to, and not the one he loved.

As time went on, Apley had children of his own and attempted to raise them the same way he was raised, apparently forgetting that he'd realized the class system was bullshit. Only in his later years did he begin to question his actions, and inactions, and to remember that he'd once felt the rules of his class to be dull, pointless, and no way to live your life.

Of course, his children also rebelled against his archaic ways and thought him to be a bit silly. And of course, his own son eventually embraced his responsibilities to his family and gave up on his own dreams.

I enjoyed the use of letters and news clippings and found this story to be told in a fairly unique and compelling way. I would have liked to know something more about the narrator though. There were hints throughout that made me think there would be some great unveiling at the end and we'd discover that it was actually his worst enemy writing it, or something equally interesting. In the end though, all we know is that a close friend to his family narrated the story of George Apley.

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May 01, 2012 KK rated it 2 of 5 stars

This book is meant to have us question our values, confront our traditions, and reexamine conventional views in an effort to sort out that which is still good and challenge that which is, classist, racist, elitist, or simply ignorant. It does this by revealing the life of the late George Apley, a Bostonian at the turn of the 19th/20th century. George believed himself to be a good and responsible man, a leading citizen, a philanthropist, a dutiful husband, and father. Within this fiction (both th...more

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Sep 26, 2010 Mrsgaskell rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 8-star, own

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. This fictional biography won the Pulitzer Prize in 1938. Shortly after the death of George Apley, his son John asks a writer friend of his father’s to write an honest and complete biography of his father and provides correspondence to be included. Born in 1866 to a wealthy Boston family, George’s life is one of privilege, one that does not move far beyond the neighborhood of Beacon Hill, the right clubs, and Harvard. Even on the few occasions when he travels elsewhere, Boston seems to go with hi...more This fictional biography won the Pulitzer Prize in 1938. Shortly after the death of George Apley, his son John asks a writer friend of his father’s to write an honest and complete biography of his father and provides correspondence to be included. Born in 1866 to a wealthy Boston family, George’s life is one of privilege, one that does not move far beyond the neighborhood of Beacon Hill, the right clubs, and Harvard. Even on the few occasions when he travels elsewhere, Boston seems to go with him. It’s an insular society where one is expected to conform, mingling with only the right people, keeping up appearances, and avoiding scandal. When George Apley falls in love with an Irish Catholic woman, his family sends him abroad. Eventually he marries a woman from a suitable background and fathers two children. As the years go by, George experiences a vague dissatisfaction with his life – he feels that he is always busy, busy but getting nowhere. And indeed it appears that while living in accordance with the strictures of Boston society, the important things have passed him by. In spite of his snobbishness and insularity, George is at heart a basically good, honest man, and one who has a keen sense of the duty which accompanies privilege. One can’t help feeling somewhat sorry for him, having so many advantages, he yet lacks the freedom or the courage to make the right choices for himself and his own happiness. He seems to recognize this on some level, and yet expects the same conformity from his children, although his son John makes choices that George would not have dared to, and yet comes to accept. This is an interesting portrayal of Boston Brahmin life in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. I read the book while visiting Boston, staying in Beacon Hill, and enjoyed the many references to places that I was visiting during my stay. This was a gentle satire, and while the narrator of the book looked only with admiration at George Apley’s life, its shortcomings were clear to the reader. (less)

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Mar 16, 2008 RJ rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Constance and Melanie

This was on the staff pick table at the library, and since it was about Boston, I picked it up.

Can't tell you how much I enjoyed it. The portrait of the persons, place, and times were of great interest to me, and the prose was both accessible and erudite.

I will look for the author's other books.

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Feb 14, 2010 Ed Coker rated it 5 of 5 stars

This book won the Pulitzer Prize for Novel (1938). I read it in my early 30s and remembered it as a favorite for years often citing it in conversations as the epitome of a first person narrative in which the reader sees something that the narrator is unaware of. I recalled that the narrator eulogized his late Boston Brahman friend in the most positive terms whereas the reader perceived the deceased quite differently. Thirty years later, I insisted that my wife read it and was surprised to learn...more

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Mar 21, 2012 Richard Kramer rated it 4 of 5 stars

Or LIFE AMONG THE GOYIM. That being said, Marquand seems to have really known what he was talking about. I remember this book in my very proper grandmother's bookcase. It follows the life and career of the late Mr Apley himself, a very regular and unexciting member of the New England aristocracy whose soul, as exposed here in the form of remembrances gathered by a lifelong friend, turns out to be more complex than one would ever have guessed. This is a little masterpiece of irony, but for me it...more

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May 26, 2011 Janellyn51 rated it 4 of 5 stars

I really did enjoy this book. I've lived in and around Boston for a long long time now. George...George is a guy who can't decide whether he's beleguered by his place in society or whether he thinks there really is something to being born into priveledge, and the responsibility you have to have to carry yourself in a manner representative of that privelege. More than that, George is raising his children at a time when things, social mores, are changing fast and furiously. I think that George try...more

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Aug 04, 2011 Terry rated it 5 of 5 stars

I have really enjoyed every book of Marquand

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Sep 29, 2010 Tim rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I had been wanting to read this from many years ago when I remember that there was a movie by the same name (Ronald Coleman in the title role) and I thought the title was intriguing. WELL. ran across this book (1944 edition, hardbound) at a book sale several years ago, just now got around to reading it. This tells the life story of an upper-class Boston family around the turn of the (20th) Century, in the person of George, heir to a wealthy mills works in Boston. The book shows what Society Bost...more

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Apr 23, 2013 Paul rated it 5 of 5 stars

I tried to read this when I was in my twenties, thought it was the most boring thing I'd ever read. Now, in my eighties, I give it five stars. (Should be four and a half, but Goodreads doesn't seem to do things in halves) Does this book venerate the upper classes (esp Bostonian), or does it mock them? A little of each? I'd have to read more Marquand before I could check in on that. I laughed. Almost every page, I laughed. Surely this is an exercise in reading between the lines. And yet, the pass...more

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Jan 20, 2013 Roxanne Russell rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: pulitzer-fiction

The title character of this Pulitzer winner is a Boston Brahmin in the waning days of the tradition. His sadly complex struggle to be the proper heir of the wealth and scholarly gifts of his family is told through his personal correspondence and occasional commentary by a boyhood friend. This bildungsroman is particularly effective because of the author's sly humor at the expense of his main character that doesn't only ridicule him but also sympathizes with his well-intentioned self repression....more

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Sep 19, 2012 Bill Baer rated it 5 of 5 stars

The story of a Boston Brahman living in Boston at the beginning of the 20th century
and his struggle with overcoming his life as it is,as part of the stifled Boston privileged
society. He realizes this culture is sterile,restricted, and closed to the rest of what life
"has to offer" he is dealing with what life could be if he could only "break free" from the chains of his mind and the culture is is trapped in. Excellent story of a man trying to break free and transcend his past and become the perso...more

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Apr 10, 2012 Debbie rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, pulitzer-fiction, prize-winner, 2012, biography, culture, family, coming-of-age, politics, social-commentary

The structure of the book, a series of letters interspersed with comments by a fictional editor is certainly unique. The picture of George Apley is painted with a brush partially filled with various colors of paint, giving an imperfect image. One has the sense that much is not known about George Apley as he tried rebelling against what was expected of him and how he was pulled around to "do the right" thing in late 1800's Boston.

In a large part, I found the work boring. I kept waiting for some...more

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Nov 18, 2008 Liz rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: only some

Recommended to Liz by: book store owner

This book was recommended to me by a used book store owner in Manchester, Massachusetts. I had asked him for some books to read about Boston and the life in New England, and he pulled this one off the shelves. It won the Pullitzer prize for literature in 1938. Although somewhat stilted in language, and therefore not too easy to keep the reader's attention (at least mine), the book gave a great insight into the life of a certain type of Bostonian at the turn of the century. There is satire betwee...more

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Sep 28, 2008 Tamara rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Pretty much everyone.

Recommended to Tamara by: Pulitzer

Shelves: pulitzer-winners

This was a really good book. I loved the beginning,but as George got a little older, his snobbishness (which he and his friends defiantly refused to acknowledge, and to quote Shakespeare, they protested too much)was annoying and overwhelming. The "do what is best for the family" attitude and don't try to be different advice he gave to his children was amusing, even though it was annoying as well, but integral to the portrait of George Apley. Keeping all gossip in the closet (which according to M...more

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Tamara I am not very far into this book, but the writing style is really beautiful. This is a "novel in the form of a memoir," so far it has been a series of...more I am not very far into this book, but the writing style is really beautiful. This is a "novel in the form of a memoir," so far it has been a series of letters from George Apley to his children, giving them an understanding of their heritage. I found these passages particularly interesting, moving, touching, or otherwise quotable:

"From the time of the Roman Empire down, indulgence in the externals of wealth has never benefited a community. Your uncle realizes that there are more important things than modern plumbing."

Also, I LOVED this description of his mother (maybe because it made me think of my mother...) :
"I shall not speak at length of my mother, not because I could not but because of the tenderness of my memories and my admiration for her. These make me shy and self-conscious even with my children. Beneath the discipline of my father the routine of our family life was very strict, but I do not think too strict. Through it all my mother was a cheerful, loving wife and a kind friend to everyone who knew her, firm in her convictions, but charitable to weakness. Her love of literature and music and of painting was very great, but she did not over-indulge herself in any of these directions. I think that she feared that such an interest would overbalance her responsibility to her home."

The mother was a poet, and here is a BEAUTIFUL description of one of her poems:
"'Blue Hill at Eventide'is the description of Blue Hill in that hour just before the twilight of cool October. It speaks of that clarity of air and of the local perfection of silence through which the faintest noises of the southern-going bird come so distinctly to the ear. The simplicity and finality of her last line is peculiarly effective: 'And may our voices, too, rise up so true to God."

And here is a quote from a letter to a little boy who asked his father for ten cents (this one made me think of MY dad):
"My dear little man, here is your ten cent piece and do not forget that this is a good deal of money. Think of it this way: it can buy ten lead pencils or two tops and a string, or enough candy to make you very ill. Please try to think carefully exactly what you want before you spend it, because there is no satisfaction as great as spending wisely, and few annoyances as great as feeling that money has been wasted."

I think I will have to buy the book, or I will end up re-writing it here with all the quotes I love!(less)
Sep 09, 2008 08:07pm

Dec 21, 2007 Kelly rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: pulitzer-project

The Late George Apley won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1938. I'd never heard of it utnil I saw it a complete list of books that have won the Pulizter Prize for Fiction. The story tells the life of a n upper-class Bostonion George Apley who is so trapped and steeped in his aristocratic Boston environment, he can never get away from it. Even when he travels abroad - he's always staying at places or traveling with other people from Boston. He compares the monuments of Rome to what he knows in...more

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May 10, 2011 Edward rated it 4 of 5 stars

This novel won the Pulitzer Prize in 1938. It is a terrific book about a fictional Boston upper class, Beacon Hill aristocrat with a Puritan background. It is a great story about a life. It was humorous, sad, funny, all the things that is in everyone's life. It is a bit of a satire about the somewhat close minded upper class with a pure bred background and family. Having grown up in New England I have seen some of this and reading about it was interesting. Simply, this was a great book.

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Nov 01, 2010 Becky rated it 3 of 5 stars

He dies in the end. Meanwhile, it made me feel like a voyeuristic Jew reading the life of a Bostonian aristocrat: I have always been faced from childhood by the obligation of convention, and all of these conventions have been made bu others, formed from the fabric of the past. In some way these have stepped in between me and life. I had to realize that they were designed to do just that...to promote stability and inheritance.

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Jul 01, 2012 Michael Thimsen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: award-winning-fiction

This was one of my top ten books of all time. I can't believe that his writer has mostly been forgotten. His sardonic wit and damning satirical viewpoint was remarkable. I feel like I have been the recipient of Mr. Apley's letters and I feel the same sort of pity that many characters in the book felt. It was brilliant. I loved it.

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Sep 21, 2009 Bmchales rated it 2 of 5 stars

Why this ever won a Pulitzer I don't know. Humor so subtle and out of my sphere of reference as to pass right by this midwesterner. There was a movie made in the 1940's and the reviews of that are great -- I recommend renting it instead of reading the book.

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Dec 18, 2011 Mowena Glunch rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: fiction, read-in-high-school-college

Raed as a teenager in boarding school and again as an adult in my fifties. Has been a good navigational beacon for me of a certain class of society and the rules for passing through. Depressing but useful.

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Jan 07, 2012 Dean rated it 5 of 5 stars

I tried reading this as a young man, many years ago. In discussing it with a friend, he suggested that since I was more mature, I might now enjoy it. He was right.

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Sep 06, 2007 Kyle rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: boston, literary-fiction

This Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of 1938 was pretty dry. It is mostly epistolary. A faked-up memoir of Apley, a Boston Blueblood. He's got old money and family connections and that's all that matters to him. Mostly takes place on the water side of Beacon Street, in Milton and at Harvard. And at his men's clubs. Apley was born in 1866 and died in 1933. His life was singularly dull in between except when he briefly fell in love with a girl beneath his station and when he came into political confl...more

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Mar 25, 2013 Marian Ferguson rated it 5 of 5 stars

Great portrait of Boston in brilliantly constructed novel.

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Jan 04, 2009 Chris rated it 3 of 5 stars

Very enjoyable read. Nice satire.

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Jul 06, 2012 Robert Fleming rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: pulitzer

I didn't much care about Mr. Apley

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Jan 20, 2011 Maureen Flatley rated it 5 of 5 stars

A classic

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Sep 18, 2011 Jamie marked it as to-read

Shelves: abandoned, read-in-2011

I ended up setting this book aside after reading for two weeks and only making it to page 75. I liked it, and I enjoyed reading about Boston society. The timing is just wrong. The book moves very slowly and although I liked where it was heading, I don't have the time right now to read it in a couple of sittings. I want to try this one again when my schedule calms down.

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About John P. Marquand

Pulitzer Prize for Novel in 1938 for The Late George Apley

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Quotes from The Late George Apley

“The mood is on me to-night only becuase I have listened to several hours of intelligent conversation and I am not a very brilliant person. Sometimes here on Pequod Island and back again on Beacon Street, I have the most curious delusion that our world may be a little narrow. I cannot avoid the impression that something has gone out of it (what, I do not know), and that our little world moves in an orbit of its own, a gain one of those confounded circles, or possibly an ellipse. Do you suppose that it moves without any relation to anything else? That it is broken off from some greater planet like the moon? We talk of life, we talk of art, but do we actually know anything about either? Have any of us really lived? Sometimes I am not entirely sure; sometimes I am afraid that we are all amazing people, placed in an ancestral mould. There is no spring, there is no force. Of course you know better than this, you who plunge every day in the operating room of the Massachusetts General, into life itself. Come up here and tell me I am wrong.” — 2 people liked it

“If George Apley failed to meet certain challenges, let us admit that we all have failed in some respects, and let us remember that we stand together peculiarly as one large family. Collectively, in habits and ideals, our group is a family group where kinship, however distant, stretches into the oddest corners.” — 2 people liked it

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