Rating: 
Summary: The great American novel
Review: I first read this novel in a high school literature class, and it immediately became one of my all-time favorite books.
In a nutshell: the main character, Clyde, seems to be a relatively decent person, but once his moral fiber is tested, it fails! Miserably! He just wants to be loved...but it has to be by the right social group. Hence the tragedy. Dreiser is an absolute genius, and this is probably his greatest novel. Everyone in America should read this book, and remember that selfishness and heartlessness will get you nowhere, at least nowhere you would really want to be. Highly recommended-I just cannot stress how amazing this book is. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Painful, but touching
Review: Not an easy reading, definitely. The more I read, the more of Griffiths' features I found in myself which of course was a painful experience. This lust for wealth and recognition, a habit of blaming everyone except oneself are unfortunately common traits of human beings. Like a surgeuon cutting your skin to cure your innards, Dreiser shows you these.
Rating:
Summary: An American Tragedy
Review: This being my first encounter with a classic novel, I was at first very skeptical. How would I like it? Would it drone on an on as classics are so infamous for doing? To my surprise and delight, I came to adore the book and its main character, Clyde Griffiths. The novel follows Clyde on his personal journey through life and its struggles. Coming from a very humble background, Clyde encountered many conflicts regarding his financial and social standings. He aspired to be like his wealthy relatives who displayed all the ideals of the American dream. Clyde's journey came with its peaks and valleys. At times, it seemed as if he was moving forward and being accepted. Though, it can be said that Clyde's seemingly endless pursuit was an unsuccessful one. All it succeeded at doing was corrupting and creating a shallow, selfish, mis-guided man. All in all, the novel was inticately and effectively written with wonderful detail and foreshadowing. The way Theodore Dreiser described the characters made me feel like I knew themor people like them. That and the plot twists has made this one of my favortie novels. The only complaint I have is that it was terribly long; with over 200 characters and 800+ pages. This high schooler would highly recommend AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY to anyone who likes a good, thought provoking story.
Rating: 
Summary: A True American Tragedy
Review: In An American Tragedy Dreiser captures the essence of tragedy. This, quite possibly, was the most painful reading experience I have ever been cursed with. Not only is his imagery redundant and style convoluted, but he obviously had no knowledge of the utter pain caused by his excess verbiage. Through all 828 pages (though how would I really know, I'm not stupid enough to finish it--but I did read 300 for those of you who are thinking of bashing my opinion because of a possible lack of experience) Dresier drags out his bleak narrative of little consequence in a thoroughly anti-climactic manner. In any case there is no reason that any sane person should waste his time, valuable or invaluable, on this tragic blight on the face of literature. Avoid this book like the plague.
Rating: 
Summary: The tradgedy of many americans
Review: Dreiser does a very nice job in this novel of recreating early 20th Century America from the perspective of an ambitious young man, Clyde Griffiths. Through Clyde, we get a taste of what it's like to be poor, to be middle class, and even to be wealthy. Despite Clyde's weaknesses, we rather like him, and we genuinely care what happens to him, for the most part. Naturally, bad things happen to Clyde, mostly due to his own fault. It is a tragedy, after all. Clyde, thanks to the family name, is quickly brought into the social scene of his new hometown. He develops a relationship with a co-worker (Roberta) but as soon as a young lady of wealth and social status (Sondra)shows favor to him, Clyde looses interest in Roberta. He and Roberta produce a baby and the situation spins out of Clyde's control. Eventually Clyde's self interests outweigh his sense of right and wrong, resulting in tragedy. The Characters are pretty easy to relate to and the plot is very realistic. I liked this book mainly because it was easier for me to understand Drieser's style of writing. I read this book faster than most other books that I read. I think it's because I didn't always procrastinate reading it. most books I read I will put off reading until I really have too, this book was a breeze to read. I enjoyed it and recommend it to anyone who enjoys a big plot line with twists.
Rating:
Summary: An astonishing and deeply moving masterwork
Review: This is truly an amazing book, well deserving to be on the list of all time great novels, and should be at its head. Like many people, I saw the movie "A Place in the Sun," first, so there weren't such huge surprises in the book for me, but even so, I could hardly put it down. So compelling and fascinating it is, at each and every turn of the page, it took me a week to read, but was worth every second I spent on it. The character development and pacing of the story are absolutely incredible. There were moments I was shaking my head in awe. I didn't find anything at all about it boring or dull or "wordy." Just a powerful, heartbreaking, treasure of a book. I truly doubt I will ever read a better, more well-written, or thought-provoking novel (and I've already read many classics.) Simply put, this is by far the most entertaining novel I've ever read. That being said, let me address all those one or two-star ratings this novel has unjustly earned. I hardly know what to say about that, except - don't believe them! I seriously doubt that anyone who actually read this whole book (and I mean word for word, not skimming as so many people do nowadays) and made any attempt to understand what they were reading (easy to do) could honestly give it less than five stars. The other explanation would be the many youths who are required to read this for school assignments or what not, and end up hating the task so much they are immediately prejudiced and blinded to the book's fine merits. But again, everyone is entitled to an opinion, no matter how unfair or dishonest it may be. Some of the harsh criticism leveled at this masterpiece refer to Dreiser's writing style and his slow, deliberate, pacing. It's true that Dreiser's writing style may seem a little old fashioned (at least at first) but remember that it was written in 1925, way, way, before people's attention spans got so short. At the time it was published, no one thought that his style or choice of words or phrasing was unusual or difficult, although the novel's length was criticized then as it is now. Those who immorally say that Dreiser "can't write" are simply too ignorant to make such a bold statement, plain and simple. For if such a statement is true, then we had better say that Shakespeare couldn't write, nor Defoe, Stevenson, Hudson, or Hawthorne, for that matter. Dreiser's prose is smooth-as-silk compared to Dickens, for example, although not quite as clever as Nabokov - but nearly so. Criticism aimed at "wordiness" and excessive length, are just completely baseless and unworthy of this classic. And comparing "An American Tragedy" to "Crime and Punishment" as many readers have done is senseless also, as Dreiser's novel is the better of the two, by far. It has much more depth, substance, detail, life, humanity, and realism than Dostoyevsky could have ever hoped for. That's just my opinion, but I read these back to back with a balanced viewpoint. At least Dreiser didn't name every third character "Petrovich." (Talk about confusing the reader!) But anyway, for those who actually prefer the movie version, "A Place in the Sun," all I can say is that I agree that it's a fine film, but in no way does it come close to the depth, power, and substance, of the novel - not even close! It's a mere shadow of what "An American Tragedy" is really about. It just scrapes the surface, and leaves many important aspects of the story untouched. And the characters seem stiff and unrealistic or even cliché at times as a result. None of that comes from the novel. So how anyone can prefer the move is a bit of a mystery, unless it has to do with the Montgomery Clift / Liz Taylor chemistry, but then again, it could just be those short attention spans at work. People can say whatever they want about "An American Tragedy," but they can never diminish its distinguished place in American literature. It will always remain, nestled comfortably in a lofty spot, because between its covers lies a story as precious as pure gold. Dreiser has given us something timeless and enduring, beautiful, meaningful, and truly heartbreaking and deeply sad. He knew exactly what he was doing when he composed this masterpiece - each and every word! Thank goodness there are still readers who can appreciate him.
Rating:
Summary: An American Tragedy
Review: I guess I'll come right out and say it: I really enjoyed An American Tragedy (Wow, doesn't that sound *goth*?). Maybe it's just because I spent two entire months of my life reading it, but there are other reasons too.
I saw the sometimes overwhelming detail as an outlet of just how very much Dreiser was living and feeling his story. The naturalistic philosophy of the plot made me think for a long time-Dreiser himself never judged Clyde; indeed, the long set-up and details were necessary to present the crime in a way such that it seemed totally random, so that Clyde was just a pawn of his own uncontrollable biological motives (which is a big feature of naturalistic writers-that people have little or no control). It was the other, naturalistic characters in the book who, in turn, judged Clyde & condemned him-other pawns of this unfair, naturalistic world.
Dreiser, stylistically, is not a fantastic writer. Nobody's arguing about that. His dialogue is stilted and ridden with vernacular that immediately dates itself; his prose is full of clichés. However, I think this may explain his popularity in his own time. Plenty of awful writers are popular now. His work, though, is so epic, and his ideas are so grandly conceived (to paraphrase Irving Howe, who wrote the afterward to my edition) that at least I forgave him. I guess he's more of an "idea person" than an a "well-constructed sentence" person.
However, I think for what he did-creating pathos for a killer, criticizing the American system, getting so far inside the minds of his characters-Dreiser deserves a lot more praise than he gets.
At times during this book, I really was on the edge of my seat, breathless with excitement, furiously reading each page so that I could find out what happened to Clyde. Despite all the story's flaws and the writer's imperfections, I really cared. And that, to me, is what makes it a great book as opposed to a mediocre or even a good one. So even if you're predisposed to dislike long books or have read the negative reviews, I'd urge you to at least give An American Tragedy a try.
Rating:
Summary: In the Ether
Review: Mainly want to make a couple points:
1. Totally agree that this is one of the great novels of all time.
2. The person who claims it is too long totally misses the point. First, you will not end up dragging yourself through this book, the reverse will happen. If you enter in good faith, you will be promptly nailed to this book, not thinking for a minute that any part of it is labored or boring. Secondly, the scope of this novel is very unique. Rather than the typical epic which uses time and history to spread things out and increase drama, this novel uses setting in a wonderful and tragic way, spinning together three frames, the urban, the suburban, and the wild. One of the most fascinating aspects of the book is the way the author is able to show the character's path, through transgression, without moralizing or being overly allegorical. Without giving it away, this book is one of fate driving to a climax of inaction, but guilt nonetheless. It's ironic that the summary mentions that Dreiser is unclassifiable, because I've found that most people: a. have never read this book (even very well-read people) and b. have dismissed Dreiser in their mind as a bookish also-ran who played an archaic tune unaware of the newly emerged modern cacophany. While Gatsby still garners respect (hell it's thinner, even intellectuals are lazy), one wonders if it is because it tips its hat, with the eyes of TJ Eckleberg (seen across the Wasteland) and the Jazz references, to the new age. Nevermind all that. This is a truly unique epic that by turns reads like Greek tragedy and seems visionary in its depiction of human beings' falling out with nature, and the base nature of the fundamental criminal betrayal at the heart of it. Trivia: this was based on a story Dreiser followed in the papers when he was young about an actual case that occurred in Courtland, NY. I saw a documentary about that case that was extremely disturbing; it seemed from the photographs and the handling of the case that the killer was insane, but the state (with no real notion of that in the law at the time ~1905?) electrocuted him nonetheless.... Summary: read this book!
Rating:
Summary: A+
Review: Excellent! Received my order in just 3 1/2 days; just in time for the test!
Rating:
Summary: GREATEST NOVEL EVER WRITTEN, HANDS DOWN
Review: I would give Drieser's masterpiece 100 stars if I could. While reading this novel I experienced that (relatively rare) thought, "My God, how could anyone have written anything this tremendous?" Only experienced said "thought" a few times before, while reading the new translation of Brothers Karamazov and Dicken's Bleak House. As an inner exploration of personality, the consequences of mistakes, and downright nasty love affairs American Tragedy takes the cake. Reading on the grand old scale.
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