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Jan 04, 2011

Paul rated it:

I remember reading this one, years ago, in a really bad flat in Mapperley Park. It was so horribly dusty all the time. That was because I never dusted. And when I looked out of my window I saw a wall. And when I looked out of my other window, I saw a different wall.

Much like the hero of this brilliant novel - metaphorically speaking. And then, one day, in the wall, he notices a door. And he wants to open it and pass through to somewhere better. The very thing that other reviewers di More...

11 comments like (33 people liked it)

Mar 22, 2011

Matt rated it:

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

1 comment like (10 people liked it)

Jul 19, 2008

Lori rated it:

Yes, I know this is Dreiser and I have heard all the caveats against reading him...His mundane style and his need of an editor...the pounding over the reader's head with his points...

I was unprepared for the power of this prose to be sure.

But the story overwhelmed me. The character of Clyde became real for me. I have known so many people like him...young, vaccilating, dreaming of better things, chafing at the position in life to which they have been placed by an acciden More...

0 comments like (10 people liked it)

Jun 24, 2008

Ann rated it:

This book is a wide-ranging indictment of American values, circa 1910s or 1920s. Written by Theodore Dreiser in 1925, it presents his view that class distinctions, inherited wealth, and stringent social restrictions make a mockery of the so-called American Dream of a meritocracy. Other topics that Dreiser takes on are the not-so-just justice system, organized and independent religions, the shallow lives of the wealthy, the press and many more.

The novel begins with a look at the const More...

2 comments like (6 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Kelly rated it:

Wow! Dreiser is no joke. Make no mistake; An American Tragedy is long and often times obsessive in its detail. There are approximately 500 pages of exposition leading up to the climatic moment! In truth it took everything in me to finish this book and not because I wasn't enjoying the story. It just seemed like it would never end. Yet in my moments of weakness, when I felt like I just couldn't go on, the story of Clyde Griffiths and his struggle to claw his way up the American social lad More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Wendolyn rated it:

Yes this book is long, yes this book takes 50 words to tell the reader one idea. But for the time it was written (1920's) this book touches on taboo topics that still stir emotions in many Americans in our current time such as abortion and capital punishment. It is an amazing social study of the lengths that people will go to to achieve the American Dream.

If you really can't get through it then go to your local video store and rent "A Place in the Sun" for the cliff note More...

2 comments like (3 people liked it)

Nov 18, 2007

Jonny rated it:

A story based on a real-life death/murder in the Adirondacks in New York State. It is about class, scandal, the legal system, hypocrisy, and social climbing. Kind of long, dated, but rather compelling. It tackles taboo subjects of premarital sex, abortion, and the stark contrasts between wealth and poverty--rather daring for the times. No one comes out unscathed, really, in this social commentary in the form of a novel.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 02, 2008

Sarah rated it:

The tragedy is having to have read those 930 pages....

0 comments like (9 people liked it)

May 15, 2009

Saxon rated it:

Undoubtedly, this is a great story. Dreiser methodically, and often painstakenly, examines the condition of America through the life of the young and impressionable Clyde Griffiths. As we follow Clyde from his humble upbringing as the son of street preachers in Kansas City to Chicago to upstate New York in pursuit of altering his lot in life, Dreiser seemingly leaves no aspect of society untouched by his prodding, examination and questioning of its legitimacy, foundations and effect on us as hum More...

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

Oct 22, 2011

Emily rated it:

**some spoilers**

There are some classics you read because you know they’re classics - they’ve stood the test of time, even though some might not have been well-received upon first publication. How much does this weigh on us from the outset? Does the fact of it being classified as literary canon persuade us that we should like a book?

Recently, I came across a novel called An American Tragedy by Theodore Dreiser in my local Borders. It had been a case of random selection, a More...

3 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jul 22, 2011

Amanda rated it:

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

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Nov 03, 2011

Sergey rated it:

This is serious psychoanalysis of common-type individual - "a moral coward", who, born in poor conditions and suddenly risen to high social classes, drifts along conditions and walks round troubles, finally trying to solve his socioemotional conflict in a tragic way. The talent of Drieser reveals itself in making the reader to look in the psychology and motivations of the characters and leaving the verdict to the reader. The essential messages of this book as I see them are the followi More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 29, 2009

Racheal rated it:

The obsessive level of detail leaves nothing to the imagination, and indeed, I think that the main power of this book is its ability to sear through the social constructs of morality, to surgically examine the failings of both cultural and individual traits that could lead to a gruesome murder and subsequent remorse.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 30, 2012

Marvin rated it:

An American Tragedy is one of the sort-listers in the never-ending competition for the honor of Great American Novel. Yes, I know some say Moby Dick has it wrapped up but I just can't identify with psychotic captains obsessing with big fish. Dreiser's massive novel resonates with me. Even though its morals may be dated, the themes of class conflict and the struggle of desire over conscience still speak loud and clear. Clyde Griffiths is not very admirable but he is understandable. The only reas More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 03, 2008

Mike rated it:

Almost journalistic in its descriptions, this is a great story of a young man ashamed of his origins and his aspiring to accede to high society. Clyde Griffiths is a tragic character and should serve as an example for all who aspire to shed their humble beginnings.

I'm a great fan of all literature that offers a glimpse of the society of any given time period. All the Dreiser novels I've read do justice to the times they describe. Very engaging to see the United States at a time wh More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 26, 2011

David rated it:

I'm sort of in two minds about this book myself. While it is a tragedy in the traditional sense, it does not really stand up to the great tragedies of Shakespeare and the other writers of that period. It is about the downfall of the main character, who is the tragic hero in all senses of the word, but it does not involve an intricate and complicate plot that the tragedies of Hamlet and King Lear supposed, nor is the character of Clyde torn and haunted in the same way that Macbeth and Dr Faustus More...

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Dec 16, 2010

Rachael rated it:

The first book I picked off my list was Theodore Dresier’s An American Tragedy. For the most part, I plan to read the book in alphabetical order, but this book I ended up buying for my Kindle, so I started reading it right away. I think technically the book is actually 3 books, at least that’s how it is divided on my Kindle. According to the Amazon description it’s over 800 pages in length, so I began with a big book.

Written in the mid-1920′s the book highlights the life of Clyde Griff More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 28, 2010

Mark rated it:

Though the prose was at times insufferable, I wonder if perhaps that's just my perception given that the style of writing has changed in the last 90 years. In much the same way that Les Miserables is way longer than it needs to be, but that's just the way they wrote then.

One of the things I really liked about this is part of what makes it such a long book. The author really takes the third-person universal perspective to an extreme, often jumping between thoughts of characters, and wha More...

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May 04, 2010

Heather rated it:

"An American Tragedy" is based on the murder of Grace Brown by Chester Gillette on Big Moose Lake, New York, in 1906. What is so fascinating about "An American Tragedy" is the way Dresier takes the murder of Grace Brown and turns it into a commentary on the effects of American capitalism, social status, and greed during 1920s America.

Dreiser portrays two young people who have an illicit affair; a young, naive farm girl away from home for the first time, working in More...

0 comments like

Aug 16, 2009

Chad rated it:

In the tragedies that I studied as a high school student the unfortunate protagonist was always a very important person such as a king or noble. Clyde Griffiths is no such thing, but I believe I see why this makes sense. In the United States our heroes are not statesmen or warriors, but the mythical “self-made” men who are born into poverty but rise financially and socially by their own skills, effort, and luck. Clyde is precisely this, and thus the perfect American tragic hero.

But w More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 12, 2009

Trena rated it:

I beg of you, do not start this book. It is too damn long. At one of my book clubs we were deciding what classic to read next. We had all enjoyed Sister Carrie when we'd read it in high school or college, so we decided to try out another Dreiser and chose this one.

At the beginning, I was digging it. The slangy writing was fun--it was interesting to think back to a time when "golly gee" was the cutting edge way the cool kids talked. I enjoyed the informal, stream-of-con More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 06, 2011

Paul rated it:

I don't like the style of the book that much: way too long and everything is said two or three times. Often Dreiser uses 3 or 4 adjectives which nearly mean the same for describing people or other stuff. Also the story itself could be told in, I guess, 200-300 pages instead of in over 800 pages. For, example: The letters of Roberta are printed there several times. I don't see why he needed to put them in there several times. Furthermore, the whole part in front of the jury is in many parts just More...

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Sep 26, 2011

Rhonda rated it:

Prompted by my love of the movie A Place In The Sun, I researched the true events from which the film was adapted. So happens that the movie was moreso adapted from this book by Theodore Dreiser, An American Tragedy, which itself was based heavily on the actual events that happened in 1906, in upstate New York at Big Moose Lake when Grace Brown was killed by Chester Gillette, apparently because she was pregnant and trying to force him to marry her against his romantic and wistful desires. (That More...

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Oct 12, 2010

Veronica rated it:

What a phenomenal book. Dresier managed to truly capture the adolescent pathos and yearnings with marvelous dialog and flawless descriptives throughout.

Based on actual events that occurred in 1906, Dreiser sketches out the life of the fictional Clyde Griffiths (based on the real-life Chester Gillette) from his early boyhood days as the son of street preachers, his exposure and awe of the upper class, his sexual encounters and eventually to his spiraling downfall when torn between the More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Chrissie rated it:

i couldn't decide between three and four stars on this puppy.

parts of it were real real good, and i loved the overall story, but it could also be a bit repetitively slow. one of the few books i've read that really pushes the reader inexorably towards the ending while still keeping him fighting.

ultimately pushing it into the four category was dreiser's random yet totally awesome use of SUPER-obscure words.

4 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jul 19, 2010

Jason rated it:

Okay folks, only my second 5 star rating in the last 54 novels! Read this book...

Theodore Dreiser’s 900 page tome moves slowly--but inexorably--like constellations at night--slow, but grand and beautiful, and holding all types of matter in the sky. This is not an epic of sweeping proportions. Instead it’s a complex, penetrating and fulfilling investigation of the human condition, a psychological chamber, a ground cave with depths to the devil. It’s the rise and fall of a man. Ba More...

28 comments like (24 people liked it)

Dec 23, 2009

Grace rated it:

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0 comments like

Sep 12, 2010

Lydia rated it:

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0 comments like

Oct 31, 2011

Samantha rated it:

Dreiser writing a book composed almost entirely of participle phrases. And starting as many sentences as possible with conjunctions. And using that word – and – as many times per sentence as possible – 14 times in one sentence, maybe more. And being overall an unoriginal story, taken in all details, practically, from true crime accounts – even down to the initials C.G., and the use of those initials in the false names given. And he, Dreiser, beating the reader over the head with the circumst More...

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Dec 31, 2010

Sarah rated it:

I read this book so many years ago- over a decade- and yet there are images and phrases which maintain a dark hold over me. I hated this book; at least, I hated all the emotions I had reading this book. I hated the characters. I hated their motivations. But none of that changes what a well written, powerful exploration of the dark side of a changing American social and moral landscape in the 1910s and 20s- a time when industrialization and the rapid increase of wealth and capital increased More...

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