Rating: 
Summary: This is a Great Book.
Review: The situation in this book, a couple in a canoe, could be used to understand a lot of situations, if all of the incite provided by Theodore Dreiser were applied. Most obviously to me, it seems that American policy in Vietnam was shaped by someone who thought that the map of Nam looked a lot like a canoe, without noticing that the American half looked a lot more like a canoe than the other half did. I also find that the book is related to philosophy. The guy in the book is not presented as knowing a lot of philosophy, but most of what most people would accept as good philosophy is like knowing that a guy has a choice between being happy that a woman is not pregnant, or happy that a woman is pregnant, but if he is unhappy that a woman is pregnant, he is more likely to fall back on something in his unconscious, like the man in this book kept thinking about her inability to swim. I think women would have been more likely to learn to swim back when this book was set if they didn't have to wear so many clothes. Some of my contacts with philosophy have led me to believe that philosophy is a lot like the clothes that the woman was wearing. The woman in the water might have been a lot closer to learning to swim if she had gotten out of her clothes, but she was at a public lake.The position that the guy finds himself in at the end of the book, being considered responsible for the woman's death, greatly resembles the failure of the American policy of Vietnamization in the 1970s. America had the ability to withdraw its forces from Vietnam by promising both sides that it would pay them to keep killing each other, but actually looking at it that way seemed like a bad deal to the US Congress, which was supposed to make it happen by providing the money. People who understand this book might know what I mean.
Rating:
Summary: The Classic All American Novel
Review: Dreiser has crafted an immmense, complex novel based on the life of Clyde Griffiths, a man who commmitted a famous murder out of desperation in 1906. Born of a poor Mid-western Salvation Army family, Griffiths becomes romantically involved with a woman of his own class, only to fall in love with a socialite just beyond his grasp. A series of miscalculations evolves and Griffiths finds himself lost in his own web of tragedy and panic. Occurring mostly in the resort of Big Moose Lake, N.Y. during the hey-day of Adirondacks, the mood and characters are all too believable and Dreiser paints a romantically painful picture of a man who cannot escape his roots and destiny. Don't be beset by the voluminous writing. The structure, narration and characterization is perfect. Dreiser truly has created the perfect All American novel. If you can pace your reading to prevent getting ahead of yourself, you will notice the careful style Dreiser has created that turns a neat full circle by the end. Made famous by the film, "A Place In The Sun" with Montgomery Clift, Shelley Winters and Elizabeth Taylor.
Rating:
Summary: Just Fabulous!
Review: An American Tragedy portrays the struggle and downfall of the young Clyde Griffiths as he tries to achieve social and societal success in industrial America. He is driven by his own desires for social status and wealth. The tragedies he encounters are not only a result of chance, but of his own thoughts and weaknesses. Although Dreiser's style is excess in detail, the novel is a work of genius. I recommend tackling this gargantuan novel because it will undoubtedly leave an impact.
Rating: 
Summary: America the Tragic
Review: Dreiser does a wonderful 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. Despite that, few will recognize Clyde as a classical "Tragic Hero." His problems don't come from some flaw in his noble nature - he doesn't seem to have a noble nature at all, and his worst flaw looks too much like a lack of a moral conscience to make him ever seem very heroic. The real tragic hero here is America herself. The nobility of Dreiser's America shines through his loving descriptions of her hardworking people, her natural beauty, and the dreams of success that people like Clyde pursue. But we also see the flaws manifest in the poor lives of people like Clyde's family, the terrible choices forced on Clyde and Roberta, and the travesty of justice at Clyde's trial. The book has a few flaws of its own. Some of the dialog is a bit odd - and not just because of idiom changes in the past century; there are some sections that might have been edited out to move the action along faster, and sometimes Clyde's flaws do make it difficult to sympathize with him. Nevertheless, the characters are interesting, the society they live in is interesting, and the book (for the most part) sucks you in and holds your attention. To make sense out of the money amounts, remember than inflation from then (~1900) to now (2001) amounts to about a factor of 20, so if you think of the $100 fur coat as a $2000 coat, you'll have about the right idea. And you'll understand why a $13 lunch seemed so extravagant.
Rating:
Summary: Pursuit of the American dream no matter the cost
Review: Dreiser's epic novel is rare as classics go since it contains all the elements of a novel that my 12th grade English teacher said should be present - a well defined plot and a central theme moral.The only reason I did not rate the novel as 5 star is that it was at least 300 pages too long. Dreiser leaves little to the reader's imagination as he explains every detail with percision. Clyde Griffiths is a young man with ambition who longs for a better life than that of his parents, who are street missionaries. First he flees his Kansas City home after getting into some minor trouble. By chance, Clyde meets his wealthy uncle by chance and secures a job in the family collar factory in New York State. 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. The affair with Roberta produces a pregnancy and the situation spins out of Clyde's control. Eventually Clyde's self interests outweigh his sense of right and wrong, resulting in tragedy. From the first few pages you get a sense that Clyde's ambitions will eventually be his undoing. Drieser leaves very little to the reader's imagination as he weaves you through 800 pages of intricate detail. At the end Clyde comes to terms with his deeds and confesses his sins to both GOD and himself.
Rating:
Summary: Brilliant
Review: Dreiser could get deep into his people. Every literary writer of today who writes nice shiny perfect sentences, and who has politically correct characters, and produces bland, bland books should read this book. This book has LIFE and DEPTH. It is a tremendous accomplishment. I love the classic movie they made from it, "A Place In the Sun." It's one of the best movies ever made. But I'd rank the book as even better.
Rating:
Summary: An American Masterpiece
Review: Brilliantly subtle, An American Tragedy is the harrowing tale of one young man's struggle with life's uncompromising reality. A poor boy from Kansas City, Clyde Griffiths is disconcerted by his parents' naïve religiosity and dreams of transcending his abstemious upbringing. He takes to the streets to start a life of his own, and is immediately enthralled by the grandeur of lavish hotels and clubs, worshipping their wealthy patrons. Working as a bellhop for a luxurious hotel, all seems to go well until he gets caught in a group of careless kids-trouble. He eventually flees Kansas City, his hometown, after a little girl is killed in a car accident with which he was involved. He takes up a job in a fancy Chicago club, where me meets his rich and successful Uncle, Samuel Griffiths, who owns a collar business in New York-more trouble. Clyde finds work in his uncle's factory, where he falls in love with and impregnates a girl, Roberta Alden, who works for him, despite the rule that no supervisor is permitted to become involved with his workers. This is when the real trouble begins for Clyde, as he falls in love with another girl, Sondra Finchley, just after he gets the news of Roberta's pregnancy. Sondra is certainly no worker, she is the daughter of a rich family in the wealthy town of Lycurgus, new York. Sondra, who becomes infatuated with Clyde despite her mother's advice not to become involved with a poor boy, represents the world of success, happiness, freedom and wealth to which Clyde desperately aspires. Sondra is the answer to Clyde's dreams, she is, as Dreiser puts it, a girl with everything asking Clyde for nothing, and Roberta is a girl with nothing asking Clyde for everything-not least among these things is marriage. The only solution Clyde's young mind concocts is murder-yes, murder. He takes Roberta out on a boat and causes her to drown, but he leaves a trail of suspicious clues behind, and after an emotional and perhaps unfair trial, he is sentenced to death at 21 years of age. Thus, Clyde is so star-struck by the attraction of Sondra and her comfortable world that he sacrifices his life in pursuit of it. An American Tragedy is as emotionally difficult to endure as King Lear or Othello. Dreiser is not kidding; this is most certainly a tragedy in its most severe and harrowing form. An American tragedy stands as an American masterpiece along with such epics as Grapes of Wrath, Patterson or Howl. It is difficult to think that even one reader would not come away from this book without a more compassionate heart
Rating:
Summary: An English reader's thoughts
Review: What intrigued me most was just how modern the world portrayed in AT is. I always find it fascinating just how little has changed since the beginning of the century - still the same basic need for love and sex obscured as ever by a smog of class and religious hypocrisy. The book is a wonderful example of sustained stroytelling and although Dreiser does trip over his own sentences, it is never sufficient to break the flow. The only weakness, if you can call it a weakness, is that you know what is going to happen. The moralist in Dreiser is never going to let Clyde off, and the book is such an oil tanker that once arrested you just know he hasn't got a chance - it'd take at least 200 pages to change direction. Read it and weep (sic) and Sister Carrie.
Rating:
Summary: A worthy pursuit for the serious reader
Review: Dreiser unfortunately catches a lot of bad press, especially from readers of my generation. He gets coupled with Dickens and James as being one of those tedious, unaffecting, verbally inflated novelists. I will grant that this label is partially deserved on Dreiser's part, but I found _An American Tragedy_ to be truly compelling in so many more ways than those other hogs of the English language. This specific novel addresses self-delusion and the personal struggle to be someone whom you think you're supposed to be. Though it admittedly sounds trite, there is a little Clyde Griffiths in all of us, and the reader's potential to identify with such a revolting character should drive anyone to finish this immense tome with ease. In the very least, stick around for the chilling and compelling execution scene, which to me tops Capote's rendition in _In Cold Blood_, though they are similar in a variety of respects. This is no doubt a book to settle into, but I believe it will surprise any reader who thinks that contemporary issues of sex and violence didn't appear in blunt terms in early twentieth-century novels.
Rating:
Summary: Time Well Spent
Review: This masterpiece by Theodore Dreiser depicts the story of ClydeGriffiths, a youth in 1900s America who wishes only to achieve what hebelieves to be the American dream; high social standing andpriviledge. He grows up in many varied cities in the United States due to his parents religious self-employed missionary work, but finds the beginnings of his life in Kansas City, Missouri. Introduced into a new concept, the working world, and friends he never knew he could have, Clyde is launched into a whirpool of social acceptance. A dream come true, maybe, but this gives him his first taste of "the good life", which he soon develops a ravenous hunger for. Clyde's weakness and eventual downfall is women, and this is realized very early in the text. His outright lust for the female sex is relevant to the time in which Dreiser wrote the book (1925), and cannot be taken offense to; it is presented tastefully by Mr. Dreiser. From Kansas City, MO to Chicago, IL to Lycurgus, NY, Clyde is on a quest to attain what he desires. And seemingly enough, morals are out of the question. Nothing will be able to stand in his way. Trouble does eventually befall Mr. Clyde Griffiths though, in the form of an illicit relationship... This is only the early stage of his troubles. The novel actually got its basis from transcripts of the 1906 Gillette-Brown murder case in Moose Lake, N.Y.... An all-too-true view of life in early America and a young man's hunger for wealth, An American Tragedy is a novel that will remain in a reader's mind long after the last words are read. Dreiser's characters are easily related to, the plot is realistic and the novel is incredibly well-written. Any time spent reading this piece is most definitely time well spent.
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