The Vertical City

by Fannie Hurst

The Vertical City By Fannie Hurst

118 pages, Paperback

Published December 9, 2017

About the author

Fannie Hurst was born in Ohio, grew up in St. Louis and spent her adult life in New York City. She is the author of 17 novels and more than 250 short stories, as well as plays, screenplays, memoirs, essays and articles. Her best-remembered works are those turned into films, including: Imitation of Life, Back Street, Humoresque, The Younger Generation, and Young at Heart. She was active in a variety of progressive Jewish, social justice, labor, peace and women’s organizations. A lifelong philanthropist, Hurst willed her considerable estate to her alma mater Washington University and to Brandeis University.

Reviews

[Tara · Rating 4 out of 5]

The overarching theme of women facing social and economic discrimination has many minor themes contained within, but women facing and being unable to conquer madness is one that was referenced over and over which I found to be fascinating. Considering that Hurst was clearly showing the discrimination against women, she also showed them to be generally powerless against the system. I suppose I'm more used to women subverting the system, but while on the top these stories seemed light, the content was very heavy. I'm not entirely sure how I feel about everything, what with the heavy-handed stereotypes, among other things, but I'm definitely glad I read it and will look forward to reading some of her better-known pieces.

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really appreciated the variety of these stories. Ms. Hurst creates memorable characters and situations and uses them to show the many sides of the Vertical City. This was the first book I've read by this author--I'm more familiar with the movie versions of her novels--but I hope to find others.

[Benjamin Stahl · Rating 2 out of 5]

A bunch of random short stories, very dated in some ways but not altogether bad. Just very average, and mostly around the same theme of unhappy marriages. OK overall, just not entirely my cup of tea.

[Martha Alami · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have never read Fannie Hurst, but trying to read more American best seller authors from various eras. I also recently read Zora Neale Hurston’s autobiography in which she detailed her relationship with Fannie Hurst. This book is a collection of stories, not one novel, but I felt it was a good example of her writing style and topics. The stories include various stereotypes of the time period and the situation of their lifestyles. Hurst gives descriptions of their situations including descriptions of clothing, interior design and foods eaten. Her details give the reader insight to the time period, along with the societal standards and norms. For this reason I found the stories interesting. The stories are written in a somewhat archaic, antiquated style so a reader should not expect contemporary writing but this is part of what I enjoy about classic authors.

[Dee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic short stories. Gripping. Surprising.

[Benjamin Stahl · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a short story within a larger book called The Vertical City. That's all I can remember of it.