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Rating: 
Summary: Different love story.....
Review: Ferber tells the story of a rancher, Bick Benedict. He owns a massive, wealthy, family ranch raising cattle in Texas during the early 1900's. During a horse buying trip he meets Leslie, a native Virginian who he eventually marries.Leslie, a smart and book learned woman, is the focal point of the story as she learns to adjust to Texas and its grandness. Ferber goes into detail about life on a ranch and the pride Texans have in their state and culture. Ferber also doesn't pull any punches about Texas as she shows some of the downsides to Texas -- the terrible racism against Mexican workers, for instance. Leslie often sees it as very similar to the treatment of the slaves in the 1800's. The story covers many years and as oil is discovered, Ferber shows how life affected them. The information contained about Texas is invaluable and insightful. Ferber has done her research. However, there wasn't much of a story. Any time there was a threat into the happiness of the Benedict's, it was circumvented or turned out not to be a threat. While interesting on some levels, as a whole, the book failed to deliver on an interesting story throughout. There were periods of interest, but generally I was happy when I was able to put it down.
Rating: 
Summary: A story as big as Texas
Review: For today's readers, the gushing language of Edna Ferber's classic, Giant, will read as a bit overblown. Even in the 50s, I don't believe intelligent young women from Virginia would have spoken as Leslie speaks to her husband or his friends and their wives. But for all its flaws, Giant is still a heck of a good story, and if you don't skim some of the wordy stretches, you'll find yourself getting a good lesson in Texas history and culture.
Cattle barons, instant oil millionaires, lavish entertaining, family intrigue, the Mexican immigrant situation - it's all here, seen through the eyes of a young and naive bride from the gentile state of Virginia.
And it's worth a read. Not great literature, but a great story.
Rating: 
Summary: Great satire of Texas life
Review: I loved the movie Giant, but was bowled over by the book. Ferber is a first-rate storyteller-- each character is appropriately developed and the language and phrasing are amazing. The landscape imagery is fantastic, but Ferber's genius is in describing--both visually and in the narrative--the delicate social structure that is the underpinning of the entire plot.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Escape
Review: The epic dimensions of the film do seem to dwarf the original text, but it is still a fun and interesting study of a unique place and time in American history, as well as a fast read. Ms. Ferber is a great late discovery for me. She has the ability to take one fully into the world she fashions. A great escape, indeed.
Rating:
Summary: A great story of Texas
Review: This is a book that describes life as a Texan (Texian respectively). For me it was a great book 1. I am a born Texan 2. it really did show the true history of Texas. I also know what the reality of Texas was during that time period and I know that it was basically the way that they described it in the book. I think that most people that enjoy history, romance, and even if you aren't a Texan (respectably of course), i am pretty sure that you will enjoy it. I know i enjoyed it. I hope you will enjoy it also.
Rating:
Summary: Shocked (respectfully) at mchenryed
Review: This is a classic book about Texas, with excellent character development and a good story. Sorry, big things take time to develop, and life in West Texas is not NYC fast. But the rhythms of the family are dead-on. And for once, the movie was very good. Hey, it had to be big, to star Rock Hudson, Liz Taylor and James Dean. Larry McMurtry, the Pulitzer-Prize winning author of Lonesome Dove (to say nothing of Last Picture Show) said Giant is one of the 5 best ever about Texas. Also, try "Sironia, Texas".
Rating:
Summary: One of Texas' greatest tales
Review: To be honest, I'm one of the guys, who watches a movie and reads the novel it is based on afterwards. In the case of "Giant" this turned out to be a terrible mistake. I was more than happy, when I finally reached the book's end. But the fact, that George Steven's screen adaptation is that big, should not take you away from reading this novel.
Ferber painstickingly tells the story of Texas, from its very beginnings to the oil boom. Altogether, the book spans about three decades,from the years after WW1 to the industrial boom of the 1950's, but several interludes give you an insight about the history of the state. I personally think, that you have to read this book to understand single details in the movie and get closer impressions about the characters. While watching the movie, one always wonders, why Uncle Bawley is so much different than the other Benedicts. The novel will answer you this one and many other questions.
In fact, one can only be surprised, how true the movie is to the novel. Although some scene settings have been changed to fit with the length of the movie, the film captures almost every single dialogue contained in the book. One can arguably say, that Ferber needs many pages to deal with a single problem (and she has already dealt with this one in other works like "Show Boat"), racism, but hey, it has taken a long time and it will take some time until this problem is finally solved.
The novel (and the film) do not always portray a sunny side of the Texian population of that period, but somehow the whole story got a landmark of the state and Dimtri Tiomkin's music for the movie is a kind of a Texian hymn. In my mind, this is one of the true highlights of 20TH century literature.
Rating:
Summary: A great story of Texas
Review: Unlike many adaptations, the movie Giant is far better than the book. I found nothing but flat characters and gross oversimplification of Texas history and culture. It was a quick read, but it certainly wasn't worth the time. I suspect that Ms. Ferber has written some excellent novels, but Giant is not one of them.
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