American Tragedy (Signet Classics (Paperback))

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Summary: Truly An American Tragedy
Review: An American Tragedy, by Theodore Dreiser is a compelling novel about a boy's struggle with himself and his position in society. Born into a poor, religious family, he desires to live among the upper class socialites. He almost achieves this when he moves out to live with his rich uncle. But his lust for money and women brings about a trial for murder and an execution in the electric chair.
Although this may sound like an incredible novel, it is indeed "An American Tragedy." I would not recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a page turner and being kept on the edge of their seat. Dreiser's use of foreshadowing and symbolism are excellent, yet the details are endless. This book could have easily been compacted into 300 pages rather than 856 if it weren't for the neverending details Dreiser wrote into every paragraph. Besides the details, there were also nearly 200 characters. This made it very difficult to keep up with who was who and which one was important. In the end, for the reasons I stated above, if you have a lot of time on your hands, you might enjoy this book.

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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.

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Summary: a memorable book
Review: I read this book over 35 years ago when I was in my early teens. It was the first large novel that I tried to tackle and I have been grateful ever since that I gave it a try. The author, Theodore Dreiser, led me through the early life of the main character, Clyde Griffiths. We see him focussing on becoming a moderate success in life. He discovers the benefits of hard work and a little luck. In time he finds himself with a nice job in up-state New York. He seems to be set and starts dating one of his fellow factory workers. Their romance seems headed in the right direction but gets ahead of schedule as she becomes pregnant. Bad timing, because Clyde has just caught the eye of the bosses beautiful daughter. This is the 1920's so current relaxed standards and current debatable solutions were not in vogue at the time. Clyde sees a bright future that will evaporate with the birth of his first-born. What to do? Well, certainly not what Clyde chose to do.

The question is, what IS the American Tragedy? I believe that Dreiser meant it to be the pitfalls of Capitalism. I believe that he was a Socialist at heart and probably in practice. Many a reader will come away with this sentiment as well. However, the irony to me is that it is a uniquely American tragedy because Clyde was a kid from nowhere who had the opportunity to rise to the upper levels. I realize that there were family contacts and that his next boost was going to come from marrying the bosses daughter. However, in European society of his time, neither of these options were even possible. The problem for Clyde is that he focussed more on what he could become than on who he should be. This is a story about avarice and how it can blind an otherwise reasonable person. It is a message that is worldwide in a setting that IS very American.

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Summary: Does this plot sound familiar? Laci Peterson......
Review: Laci Peterson you are not alone... In the beginning of the 20th century, in up-state New York, a very real and tragic event occurred and became the basis for Dreisser's novel, An American Tragedy. Clyde Griffiths, the central character of this novel, fell out of love with a co-worker, Roberta Alden, but not before she became pregnant with his child. Clyde fell madly, hopelessly in love with a younger, captivating and much wealthier woman, Sondra. So, Roberta and baby drown, initially mysteriously. The boat is recovered and found to have been rented to Clyde. Later, of course, Mr. Griffiths is charged with the crime, and his affair with Sondra is disclosed, though the media refer to Sondra as Miss X. Nothing but circumstantial evidence connects him to the crime.
What is "American" about this tragedy? I think the answer resides in Clyde's aspirations, their impact on all he touches, and the impact of the his past on the drive to dream fulfillment. Once Roberta has drown, Clyde swims to the shore of the lake, a new immigrant, a young man on the verge of what he hopes will be a new and glamorous world. It is, as one critic described, a vapid world, but it is what he wants nonethless. Behind him, at the bottom of that lake, rests his past -- a world of poverty, a world without opportunity, the world of his childhood. He came to that Lake with the intention of killing Roberta, but was spared the trouble. She fell overboard and all he had to do was nothing, simply let mom and baby sink, while he swims quietly to shore. But the past is not so easily shed. It sticks to him and ultimately brings him to trial for his actions, or his failure to act, and his intent to kill. Readers of this book might benefit from reading Elizabeth Hardwick's provocative, essay, "Seduction and Betrayal," though I think she errs in her contention that "the whole drive of the novel is to make us feel Clyde's loss..." Rather the whole drive of the novel is to make us feel that Clyde and everyone he touched lost. Drawn to a new world, but unable to shed the old, he drags everyone and everything down with him.
Trust me: no one will every say, "Gee, I wish An American Tragedy had been a bit longer." The novel is exhausting, unpredicatable and at times almost amateurish in its flow. Still, it has an infectious quality about it and, most unfortunately, continues to resonate.

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Summary: A Simple Plan
Review: The film "A Simple Plan" could have easily been called "An American Tragedy," and the book "An American Tragedy" could have just as easily been called "A Simple Plan." The plan at the book's center seems so simple indeed. The novel's protagonist, Clyde Griffiths, impregnates a girl below his social station, and he's so terrified by the idea of being exposed and ruining his chances at a life as part of the social elite (and losing the local well-to-do beauty to whom he's hitched himself) that he actually finds himself driven to kill her as his only escape. But Clyde has a simple mind, and his efforts to claw his way out of a desperate situation that inexorably suffocates him is compelling fiction.

Theodore Dreiser has been called one of the worst great writers in the history of literature, and that claim is justified. He can hardly compose a sentence that doesn't drop like lead from the tongue. He's especially fond of the double negative, which can become pretty tedious in a 900+ page novel. And in retrospect, the amount of plot on display in his novel does not seem to warrant its length, but somehow, I was able to overcome these two factors and find myself engrossed in it anyway. It doesn't for one second become boring or slow. And it offers some especially candid and frank ideas about the nature of guilt and the culpability of those who take lives, whether they're working on the side of crime or the law. Most fascinating for me were the novel's final pages, when Clyde tries to turn to religion for solace when he's at his loneliest, but can't get around the notion that there's really nothing to turn to.

Dreiser pulls off quite a feat by making all of his characters sympathetic. I didn't want Clyde to get away scot-free with what he'd done, but my heart couldn't help but go out to him. Likewise, Roberta, the girl he wrongs, could have come across as shrewish in another author's hands (she does in the film version, "A Place in the Sun," if you're interested in a literature to film comparison) but she doesn't here. Even Sondra, who could have been so unlikeably spoiled, comes across as essentially a warm character.

1925 was the literary year for deconstructing the American Dream. Both "An American Tragedy" and "The Great Gatsby" came out that year, and while I have to admit that "Gatsby" is a better written book, "Tragedy" just has a visceral appeal for me, and it's the one I enjoyed more.