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18th out of 265 books
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86 voters
The Octopus: A Story of California (The Epic of the Wheat #1)
The Octopus is a story of corporate greed, power, and abuse. A group of wheat farmers agree to work a railway company's land in exchange for assurances that after a ten year period they will be able to purchase the land at a reasonable price. When it comes time for the purchase of the land the railway company decides to go back on its promise and brings all of their power...more
Paperback, 688 pages
Published
August 1st 1994
by Penguin Classics
(first published 1901)
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suspect this a roman a clef (and a well-written one at that) that takes a few potshots at the great benefactor Leland Stanford who founded my alma mater. The railroad magnate Shelgrim in this book bears the same initial L.S. and lives on Nob Hill.
Great imagery and allusions to the early days of California. This author died too young.
Great imagery and allusions to the early days of California. This author died too young.
The railroad is bad. Especially in the 1880s. It is the destroyer of souls, the devil's most exquisite instrument of torture. That's about all I got for getting through this slog. It was fine. It wasn't offensive. But that's about the best compliment I can give it.
"How long must it go on? How long must we suffer? Where is the end: what is the end? How long must the ironhearted monster feed on our life's blood? How long must this terror of steam and steel ride upon our necks? Will you never be satisfied, will you never relent, you, our masters, you, our kings, you, our taskmasters, you, our Pharaohs? Will you never listen to that commandment Let my people go?"
This book is an epic of Wheat in California. And I mean it - an EPIC of WHEAT. I enjoyed it more...more
This book is an epic of Wheat in California. And I mean it - an EPIC of WHEAT. I enjoyed it more...more
This is not a well written book, but historically it was important for getting people to hate the railroad barons um....more than they already did.
At one point a woman starves to death for something like twenty pages. That's almost all I can remember. This whole fucking book has little point other than RAILROAD BAD. The railroad expands and people go about their piddly lives and then a bunch of people get screwed over but it's sooo hamfisted. Norris was not a fan of subtlety. Too bad a great poi...more
At one point a woman starves to death for something like twenty pages. That's almost all I can remember. This whole fucking book has little point other than RAILROAD BAD. The railroad expands and people go about their piddly lives and then a bunch of people get screwed over but it's sooo hamfisted. Norris was not a fan of subtlety. Too bad a great poi...more
News stories about Occupy Wall Street and the 99% have dominated the headlines for the past year. These same themes also dominate this century-old book, which was a bestseller in 1901. Here, the Octopus is the Railroad, its tentacles suffocating and destroying the lives of hardworking ranchers and their families.
This book is also personal for me. It's based on real events that happened around 1880 in central California, only miles away from where I grew up a century later. The Southern Pacific l...more
This book is also personal for me. It's based on real events that happened around 1880 in central California, only miles away from where I grew up a century later. The Southern Pacific l...more
This book merits three stars based on historical interest alone. It's not Norris's best writing by a long shot, that honor belonging to "McTeague" (in this writer's never-humble opinion), and it's further evidence if any was needed that the loss to American letters that Norris's death at 32 was immense.
The imagination that Norris evidenced in his six-book career is sharp. He saw clearly the world around him, and wasn't about to let the Great Unwashed fail to see it with his clarity. His infelici...more
The imagination that Norris evidenced in his six-book career is sharp. He saw clearly the world around him, and wasn't about to let the Great Unwashed fail to see it with his clarity. His infelici...more
For quite some time i was going to give this 3 stars due to historical importance, but, my god, the Truth is this is an awesomely unpleasant reading experience. Seemingly endless pages of purple prose. There are bits and pieces of not quite greatness, but at least potential. The end of the first chapter, for example, was jaw droppingly good. I forgave quite a lot after that scene got it's hooks into me. But, after reading a bunch of creepy Annixter/Hilma scenes, I was done making allowances.
So,...more
So,...more
Jul 28, 2011
Patrick Sprunger
rated it
4 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
fiction,
read-in-2011
This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it,
click here.
The book is a great "Muckraker" book detailing the worst abuses of free-wheeling capitalism at the turn of the 20th century in America. The trust, in this cast a railroad in California, is an all-consuming heartless monster who's tentacles reach into the lives of all agriculturalists, large or small, and squeeze every last drop of life out of them, including their very lives in the end. The railroad magnate expresses to the narrator that the road is not to be blamed for the misfortunes that it a...more
Prior to beginning The Octopus, the only thing I knew about Frank Norris was that his novel The Pit inspired Upton Sinclair to write The Jungle (I don't know if this is true but the four years between the two books makes it seem plausible). Thus I went into The Octopus with a fairly open mind.
I loved it.
It is not an easy book to read; the events it is based upon are not happy ones. The Octopus covers a period in California history where the railroads wielded an enormous amount of power not only...more
I loved it.
It is not an easy book to read; the events it is based upon are not happy ones. The Octopus covers a period in California history where the railroads wielded an enormous amount of power not only...more
A beautiful book, florid, descriptive, literary, the main character has a lyrical and poetic spirit, works really well for recounting such grim events. The Central California / San Joaquin Valley setting and the San Francisco passages give it an unfair advantage, it's such a beautiful part of the world. Interesting to read about parts and streets of San Francisco that had substantially the same energy in 1902 that they do today. The pre-antitrust law portrayal of the railroad operators' greed an...more
"The Octopus" is mentioned several times in the last book I read, "The Inventor and the Tycoon". Since I was a big fan of Norris' "McTeague", I decided to tackle this sweeping drama. Although the book is painfully slow in the beginning, it is well worth completing. Norris must have been inspired by Victor Hugo's "Les Miserables", as "The Octopus" delves into the lives of the Northern California farmers whose lives are held in the balance by the greedy railroad tycoons. The characters are extreme...more
I marked "The Octopus" as 'finished' but I quit at page 335. I knew this to be a famous work that was a factor in inspiring lawmakers to break the monopoly of the railroad, the octopus in the title. But I found the book to be a maudlin exercise in purple prose that had more historic than literary interest for me.
There was an interesting sub-plot surrounding 'Vanamee' a wandering prophet-like character who is mourning the mysterious death of his young lover, Angele Varian, a tragedy that happened...more
There was an interesting sub-plot surrounding 'Vanamee' a wandering prophet-like character who is mourning the mysterious death of his young lover, Angele Varian, a tragedy that happened...more
Jun 26, 2012
Spiros
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
anyone seeking a handle on California's economic history
Shelves:
california,
used
Well, that's over...there were times when I felt sure that the ending of the book was getting farther and farther away as I was reading. Long-winded? Yes. Norris has his protagonist, the somewhat effete poet Presley, reading Homer, and much of the prose is self-consciously epic in tone. But once you get well into it, the story develops its own momentum which carries you through at a brisk pace to the shambolic end, and that even starts before Dyke's frantic locomotive chase scene.
I have a vague...more
I have a vague...more
This was an interesting novel - and I was able to research it somewhat in that it was based upon a real incident in 1880 - Mussel Slough Tragedy - and the book was written in 1901. Norris, who was young and died soon afterward had been a journalist and I think that very possibly the news stories from only 20 years before he published the book were likely very helpful
He develops a variety of characters with an interesting variety of roles and histories and problems and fates.
This is a book very m...more
He develops a variety of characters with an interesting variety of roles and histories and problems and fates.
This is a book very m...more
Inspired by the events of the Mussel Slough tragedy.
"The Octopus" is ultimately a story about the lives of the characters during the conflict between the RR and the wheat farmers and not so much a story about the conflict itself. For me, it was a little disappointing; I wanted to learn more about the interworkings, politics and corruption of the RR and the conflict between the farmers and the RR. Mr. Norris uses the conflict as his inspiration, but seems to be more interested in writing an epic...more
"The Octopus" is ultimately a story about the lives of the characters during the conflict between the RR and the wheat farmers and not so much a story about the conflict itself. For me, it was a little disappointing; I wanted to learn more about the interworkings, politics and corruption of the RR and the conflict between the farmers and the RR. Mr. Norris uses the conflict as his inspiration, but seems to be more interested in writing an epic...more
This novel recounts the struggle between the Southern Pacific Railroad (The Octopus), which had been given generous grants of land by the U. S. Government to encourage development, and wealthy wheat growers in the central valley of California around the end of the 19th century. It is a young man’s book, Norris died at 32 (of appendicitis), grand in scope, running to purple in prose, and steeped in unresolved political ideals. The plot is forceful and compelling. There is a fairly complex intrigu...more
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Aug 23, 2007
Cat
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
Readers of Emile Zola
Shelves:
20thcenturyamericanliterature
Certainly a novel with a capital "N", from a time when authors wrote grand, sweeping, "epics of the soil and those who work the soil". Norris was inspired by the work of French novelist Zola, which is funny because some of his harshest writing takes to task San Francisco society matrons attempting to appreciate French style landscape art.
I read this book after reading Kevin Starr's "Californians and the American Dream". While this novel does culminate in a retelling of the infamous "Mussel Sloug...more
I read this book after reading Kevin Starr's "Californians and the American Dream". While this novel does culminate in a retelling of the infamous "Mussel Sloug...more
I read this for my 8th grade US History class.
And let me tell you, it is fucking Epic with a capital E. Sure it's slow and dry at times (want better/worse, go read Steinbeck). But I can't tell you how absolutely monstrous this thing is. How much you begin to fear and realize the magnitude of the "Californian Dream", how merciless it is in scope, that it will crush a man and *his* dreams, to make it real.
It comes full circle at the end, in a case of crazy-perfect justice.
The Wheat of course, Win...more
And let me tell you, it is fucking Epic with a capital E. Sure it's slow and dry at times (want better/worse, go read Steinbeck). But I can't tell you how absolutely monstrous this thing is. How much you begin to fear and realize the magnitude of the "Californian Dream", how merciless it is in scope, that it will crush a man and *his* dreams, to make it real.
It comes full circle at the end, in a case of crazy-perfect justice.
The Wheat of course, Win...more
I read this book for school. My attention was captured in the beginning, but my focus wavered as I hit the middle. If the end had not been so profound an ending with Vanamee's connection to "Angele," I would not like this book. But I love how Norris ended the novel with the juxtaposition of Mrs. Hooven/Hilda starving and Presley at the dinner party. Great read. Provided a lot of different ways of thinking about good, evil, and humanity.
Great turn-of-the-previous-century read. A study of capitalism's paradigm of warring twins, i.e. greed and beneficence, the individual and the common, is as vital today as it was 100 plus years ago. The events of this tale reflect the author's conflicted feelings about the rise of national corporations and also predicts today's reality of the international corporation. In addition, great history of early (now long gone) California.
While more than a great read, I cannot pretend to agree with the dire determinism of the author, Frank Norris. This novel of California wheat farmers versus the Railroad (the 'Octopus' of the title) is in the naturalistic tradition of Zola. In fact I was reminded of my reading of Germinal at times while rereading this classic, yet flawed, novel. Norris tends toward hyperbole at times and the prose can be somewhat melodramatic, yet it is a lucidly written novel with fascinating characters. The po...more
I would have laughed and rolled my eyes if someone told me a month ago, that there is a book about the feud between wheat farmers and the railroad companies in late 1800's Tulare County, California. I would even had thrown down money betting that it wouldn't be one of my favorite reading experiences. Well after reading The Octopus by Frank Norris, a novel on the subject, I am happy to say I would've lost that bet. The Octopus is a complex and amazing tale that I would rank in my top 5 books that...more
Wheat famers. Bakersfield, CA. Railroad. These three factors made me think I was going to hate this book. I was wrong. I could not put this book (all 500+ pages) down. My eyes literally turned red from reading. It's the classic railroad v. farmers story, but written in such a way that it's actually interesting. A lovely surprise.
Great historical novel (loosely) based on The Mussel Slough tragedy. A bit Manichean, yet a fascinating insight into the history of Central California as well as the class struggle and conflict between Central Valley wheat farmers and the railroads. A must read for fans of California history & literature.
This is a long book--635 pages. It is more floridly written and melodramatic than modern tastes admit. But no matter. It is a great book, a wonderful polemic in the tradition of The Jungle. You will hate S. Behrman. You will ache for Vanamee. You will be appalled by the heartless manipulation of other people for gain. Despite the book's bleakness, it is full of redemption, and there is page after page of lyrical writing. The struggle persists today. It's just that the power in the land is no lon...more
Excellent story about the development of early California - particularly the San Juaquin Valley and the vast wheat fields which spanned the valley. I enjoyed the conflict between the wheat farmers and the railroad monopoly which dominated this period. The characters are believable, too.
Not a very well written book, but very relevant to the current corrupt marriage of corporations, politicians, media conglomerates, etc. Interesting to see this problem as it played at the turn of the last century and that it is by new means a new issue.
I read this 23 years ago in college and loved it, so I thought I'd give it another go and see how time has changed my taste. While all the underlined text in my beat-up college-edition paperback is annoying, the novel has pulled me in once again. Norris grasps the contradictions inherent in American life and creates a slew of well-realized characters. Though it was published in 1901, its theme of corporate corruption tainting even the most pure seems downright timely and modern (which is pretty...more
I a big Frank Norris fan so this may not be for everyone. I was a little worried that it might be boring, but as it turns out I read this doorstop in less than a week! Couldn't put it down.
Somewhat over-the-top drama, somewhat repetitious, somewhat sentimental, Norris died far too soon to develop to his full potential.
Somewhat over-the-top drama, somewhat repetitious, somewhat sentimental, Norris died far too soon to develop to his full potential.
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Benjamin Franklin Norris, Jr. was an American novelist, during the Progressive Era, writing predominantly in the naturalist genre. His notable works include McTeague (1899), The Octopus: A California Story (1901), and The Pit (1903). Although he did not openly support socialism as a political system, his work nevertheless evinces a socialist mentality and influenced socialist/progressive writers s...more
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“Always blame conditions, not men”
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5 people liked it
“Wait till you see-at the same time that your family is dying for lack of bread-a hundred thousand acres of wheat-millions of bushels of food-grabbed and gobbled by the Railroad Trust, and then talk of moderation. That talk is just what the Trust wants to hear. It ain't frightened of that. There's one thing only it does listen to, one things it is frightened of-the people with dynamite in their hands,-six inches of plugged gaspipe. That talks.”
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