Rating: 
Summary: A magnificent book
Review: "Magnificent" is the word to describe this book. Epic in scope, it follows the rise and fall of the Ambersons as the spoiled and arrogant George Minafer grows up. I enjoyed the somewhat melodramatic story and found many parallels between these times and the world of today. The plot is emotional and powerful, and it is easy to see why Orson Welles would have wanted so much to make it a film.What makes the book especially interesting, however, is Booth Tarkington's ability to understand and describe the changes going through America at the time. The setting is more than just a "character;" it dictates the circumstances of its inhabitants. It provides the foundation for the way of life they must live. This is not only a tale of George and his family falling from great heights, but also a record of how a small town grew into a city, how automobiles changed the landscape in which we live, how people were forced to adapt to this unsympathetic setting between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He writes mainly from George's point of view, so there is a romantic, nostalgic vision of how things once were, but Tarkington is not fooled into believing that technological and social change has not made some things better, just as he isn't fooled into thinking they haven't made some things worse. What the Ambersons saw as tragedy and loss, others saw as opportunity. I percieved no moral lesson or message; this book is about the tragedy and loss of a proud clan unable to comprehend that in an industrial age, life was no longer static. (There is also a good lesson in here on the risks of not diversifying your investments!)
Rating:
Summary: Horatio Alger in reverse
Review: Booth Tarkington can be considered one of the best commentators on life in the Midwest (Indiana, specifically) in the late nineteenth to early twentieth century; he observes with insight and humor and is a consummate storyteller. "The Magnificent Ambersons" is the story of the decline and fall of a wealthy family and its selfish last scion; its subject matter is a long way from the comic material of "Seventeen" and the "Penrod" tales, but it exhibits the same stylistic qualities. The dynasty is begun by Civil War hero Major Amberson, who, having amassed a fortune by means the novel does not disclose, builds a vast estate, including an opulent mansion and diverse statuary, on the edge of his small Midwestern town. His daughter Isabel marries a local man, Wilbur Minafer; their son George (named after his carefree, jovial uncle, who is never fazed by disappointments) proceeds to become the novel's central character. An only child, and the Major's only grandchild, George Amberson Minafer is, not surprisingly, spoiled rotten by his parents and grandparents, who condone his misbehavior and refuse him nothing. He grows up conceited, arrogant, pugnacious, rude, and demanding -- in other words, he is perfectly poised to inherit the executive responsibilities of whatever his grandfather's business is, except that he has no interest in business, nor any professional aspirations at all. He expects to spend the rest of his life as a proud member of the idle rich, and has no qualms about provoking the envy and animosity of the townspeople, whom he terms "riffraff." The novel's drama is augmented by the introduction of a widowed automotive pioneer named Eugene Morgan, who was once Isabel Amberson's suitor and attracts George's naive, fragile aunt Fanny. George doesn't like the guy from first sight and scoffs at his entrepreneurial efforts, even while he is going out with his pretty daughter, Lucy. While Morgan turns his dreams of a lucrative automobile business into reality, George and the Ambersons discover that their finances are depleting as the changing industrial and commercial trends gradually expel them from the elite of the growing city. However, Tarkington saves the novel from becoming a Dreiseresque descent into despair and misery by offering a sympathetic reprieve to his beleaguered protagonist at the end. This is the kind of story that could have been expanded into a massive multi-volume epic, but Tarkington wisely avoids unnecessary detail, minor characters, and subplots, retains the core elements that define the personalities of the main characters, and yields a succinct novel that feels complete and comprehensive. It is a novel with a formula, to be sure: a sort of Horatio Alger in reverse; but Tarkington measures the impact carefully with taste and restraint.
Rating:
Summary: THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERSONS
Review: GEORGE MINAFER IS THE GRANDSON OF THE PATRIARCH OF A SMALL MIDWESTERN TOWN THAT BLOSSOMS INTO A CITY JUST AFTER THE TURN OF THE CENTURY. GEORGE IS ARROGANT AND CONDESCENDING AND PICTURES HIMSELF AS A GENTLEMAN AND DANDY WITH NO NEED FOR ANY MEANINGFUL OCCUPATION;
AFETR ALL HIS UNCLE IS A US SENATOR, HIS MOTHER IS THE BELLE OF THE TOWN, AND HIS GRANDFATHER'S ESTATE IS THE CENTERPEICE OF THE COMMUNITY. EVERYTHING COMES UNRAVELLED WITH THE ARRIVAL OF EUGENE MORGAN AND HIS DAUGHTER LUCY. EUGENE IT SEEMS IS GEORGE'S MOTHER, ISOBEL'S, EX SWEETHEART AND GEORGE IS IMMEDIATELY ENCHANTED BY LUCY. GEORGE'S LOVE FOR LUCY IS IN CONFLICT WITH HIS HATRED OF EUGENE, WHO GEORGE PERCEIVES AS A RIVAL FOR HIS MOTHER'S DEVOTION. OF EQUAL IMPORTANCE, GEORGE ALSO RESENTS EUGENE FOR THE PERCEPTION THAT BY OPENING AN AUTOMOBILE ASSEMBLY PLANT, EUGENE REPRESENTS CHANGE THAT GEORGE IS TOTALLY OPPOSED TO. THE DEATH OF GEORGE'S FATHER INTENSIFIES GEORGE'S JEALOUSY OF EUGENE. THE JEALOUSY IS FUELED BY GEORGE'S OLD MAID AUNT FANNY, WHO HAS SECRET PASSION FOR EUGENE. GEORGE'S PRIDE CAUSES HIM TO FOREGO HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH LUCY AND HE DEMANDS THAT ISOBEL CHOOSE BETWEEN HIM AND EUGENE. AS SHE HAS DONE HER ENTTIRE LIFE, ISOBEL GIVES INTO TO GEORGE AND ACCOMPANY'S HIM TO EUROPE EVEN THOUGH SHE IS ILL. MEANWHILE BAD INVESTMENTS AND CHANGING TIMES CAUSE THE AMBERSON WEALTH AND POWER TO FADE. GEORGE'S UNCLE RETIRES FROM THE SENATE AND MOVES AWAY AND HIS GRANDFATHER DIES. ISOBEL ALSO COMES BACK HOME DEATHLY ILL AND GEORGE PREVENTS HER FROM SEEING EUGENE BEFORE SHE DIES. THROUGH A MISHANDLING OF THE GRANDFATHER'S ESTATE, GEORGE AND HIS AUNT FANNY LOSE THEIR HOME. GEORGE FINALLY STARTS MAKING RESPONSIBLE CHOICES TO TAKE CARE OF HIS AUNT AND TAKES ON A DANGEROUS JOB TRANSPORTING MUNITIONS. THROUGH IT ALL GEORGE MAINTAINS HIS ARROGANCE AND HAS FEW FRIENDS. AFTER AN INJURY EUGENE AND LUCY COME TO HIS SIDE AND HE FINALLY COMES TO GRIPS WITH THE EMOTIONAL DAMAGE HE HAS CAUSED. 'THE MAGNIFICENT AMBERFSONS' IS A VERY READABLE CLASSIC AND PRESENTS A WONDERFUL PICTURE OF MIDDLE AMERICA COMING TO TREM WITH THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION.
Rating:
Summary: feeling sorry when bad things happen to awful people:
Review: Here is a fascinating book. We start off essentially empathizing with the scornful people who look on at the main character, root root rooting for his demise. As the story progresses it is difficult to not go on truly hating George Amberson Minifer, if only because of a natural distaste for the self-important and the snobs that roam around unenchanted but clearly not aware of this. However, as the story reaches its end, I found it impossible to not actual feel something for this jerk, for his oblivious family and more all the mistakes they made that were obvious to everyone except for themselves. Perhaps this is the truest merit of this wonderful book: such a capable and compassionate understanding of even the worst people (to my mind) that we cannot help but humanize the villains and grow to understand some part of their desperation and yearning for what could never be. A wonderful, truly affecting novel that will linger for a very long time--
Rating:
Summary: Magnificent Novel
Review: Here is a story about true love. Not the cliched love of two youngsters stuggling to prove to the rest of the world that they deserve to be together, but the enduring and unbreakable love of mother and son. Spoiled brat George Amberson Minafer slips from the opulent heir to the Amberson fortune to the impoverished protector of the Amberson name. Though young George makes numerous mistakes leading to much heartache for those he encounters inside and outside of his family, he ultimately finds redemption, buoyed by the undying and unyielding love of his mother. A beautiful story and a joy to read.
Rating: 
Summary: White gloves and riffraff
Review: I hate to admit it, but if this novel had not been included in the Modern Library's Top 100, I probably would have never picked it up. I have never been a fan of socially conscious literature, and I anticipated a novel in the style of William Dean Howells - full of cardboard characters, most of whom would be down trodden and hopeless, or rich and ruthless, and enough moral pronouncements to make me feel guilty for at least a day or two. Thankfully, I let the Modern Library editors convince me that the book was worth reading. The novel is set during the dawning of the twentieth century and concerns itself with the impact of mechanical innovation on the bucolic life styles of a midwestern town. As the novel opens, the gulf between prominent families and their aristocratic lives are contrasted with those in society whose main purpose it is to support this luxurious and frivolous existence. The aristocracy is personified by the Amberson family, wealthy and prominent, and particularly by George Amberson Minafer, the spoiled grandson of the family's founder. He is unable to understand that a great revolution is taking place around him, that the lifestyle he has always known is soon to become anachronistic as those people with talent, luck and a little capital will soon surpass him in wealth and prestige. Although he has the talent to join this new mechanical age, he prefers to be and to remain a gentleman and to believe that "being things" is far superior to "doing things." As the midwestern town grows and expands and becomes more and more industrial, and even as the Amberson family compound becomes surrounded by apartment buildings and factories, George is unable to accept the fact that he and his family are becoming irrelevant. As the town quickly turns into a dirty and depressing city and the Amberson fortune begins to crumble, he still dresses for dinner, still drives a horse and cart, and still holds to his standards "as a gentleman." Tarkington weaves in subplots involving the love story of George's widowed mother and the Henry Ford-like Eugene Morgan as well as George's own romantic involvement with Morgan's daughter. These stories add a subtle ironic twist to the narrative as well as allowing the author to delve deeper into the consciouness of his spoiled (but sympathetic) antagonist. Although there is some of Howells influence in this book, Tarkington does not succumb to the artistic sterility of his mentor. This author is able to tell an interesting story and to develop characters that are not only realistic, but invoke an emotional response from the reader. And although the ending seems to me a little contrived and more in keeping with some of the "realist" writers of the early twentieth century, Tarkington's novel is, in the end, successful and offers an enjoyable reading experience.
Rating:
Summary: Just as Good Today
Review: One should view this book in a different light from the movie. They are both magnificent on their own terms. Orson Welles captured it in a way we will never forget - but we should never forget the book from where it came. Booth Tarkington created a book that could be read at any time anywhere. What would it be like today with the advent of the computer age? Who would be the riff raff? This is more than a story about the oncoming Industrial Age, it is the story about the comeuppance of George Amberson Minafer or the story of the downfall of his family in an age that had no room for them. I had seen both movies - the Orson Welles masterpiece and the Arts and Entertainment version. They are good, but one needs to read the book to get the full flavor of Booth Tarkington and then see the movies. Read this book. It is modern - even today.
Rating:
Summary: American soap opera
Review: Set in the early 20th century, this is Booth Tarkington's classic novel about the decline of an American family. The novel won the 1919 Pulitzer Prize in fiction.
Major Amberson had established a family fortune by buying and selling land. His children become social drones. One son (unmarried) goes into politics. One daughter and son-in-law wait around for their inheritance. The other daughter marries Mr. Minafer, who has some success in business, but loses his money to bad investments. The main story is about George Amberson Minafer, the only grandchild, who is spoiled as a child and grows up arrogant with the assumption that he is from an upper class family and will never have to work.
The family are large frogs in a small puddle and, alas, fail to keep up with a changing society. They are left behind in the dust. The people George Minafer looked down upon become successful in the new industrial climate, while George's family fortunes decline. Eventually George finds he has to (gasp) find a job to support himself and an aunt.
The novel is slow reading, but is worth the effort. Many students, unfortunately, are like George, and would probably not like to make the effort. As a moral lesson, be careful who you insult. If your fortunes decline, you may end up working for them.
Rating: 
Summary: Minus
Review: This is trash. Badly written, melodramatic, utterly silly. My copy is already in the recycle (not: re-use) bin.
Rating:
Summary: A tack in the balloon
Review: This magnificent, humorous and fanciful book -- a precurser to Gatsby -- is timeless in its central meaning: parents spoil their children and children eventually must learn to unspoil themselves. Set in the midwest around the turn of the century, Tarkington introduces the reader into a world ruled by the richest family in town: the Ambersons. A portrait of victorian excess, the Amberson's have everything and then more. Their house is the town's feudal castle. People on the street discuss their every move. Born into this world is Georgie Minafer, Tarkington's cartoon monster of spoiled and ego-ridden pomposity, who head is as swollen and vacuous as a balloon. Georgie not only possesses every material item he could ever desire: he also is surrounded by remarkble women: his stunning and angelic mother who would sacrifice anything for his happiness and his wise and beautiful girlfriend Lucy who loves him despite knowing better. Things change, the town becomes a city and absorbs the Amberson palace in a cloud of soot. One by one Georgie's protectors disapear and the magificence of the Amerbersons and everything he took for granted vaporizes like a dream. This leaves Georgie to ponder what he had, and those who knew him in the good days to observe from afar. Tarkington masterfully weaves humor, history and gripping emotion in this book. It remains a rewarding book after more than 80 years in print, largely because its meaning is eternal.
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