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soniapage's review against another edition
1.0
Some reviewers thought this was funny but I failed to find any humor in poverty, starvation, physical deformities, elder abuse....and the list goes on. It was like the author was looking at these miserable wretches through the bars at a zoo and writing about them like they were not human.
Maybe I missed the point but, after years working for social service agencies, I have met people like the characters in this book and they are too real to me to laugh at.
Maybe I missed the point but, after years working for social service agencies, I have met people like the characters in this book and they are too real to me to laugh at.
ecleirs23's review
5.0
Penned in 1932! Brutal read (yet it can be classified as tragicomedy too). Depicts the lives of the absolutely poor people in Great Depression era. A critical social study of the basic necessities like food, shelter and human charecristics like morality. No wonder it was banned and used to be publically burned as then too we as a society were pretentious and hypocrite. Must read if you are fan of Lord of the Flies, Of Mice and Men or the Grapes of Wrath.
jehibdon82's review
4.0
You start reading and you get this sense that the book is very depressing. However Caldwell just has a way of telling this harsh story in a very soft light. At the end of the book I only felt sorry for the new car, not one of the characters really had a redeeming quality, except maybe Dude.
katzreads's review
3.0
Definitely descriptive with a harsh realism, but hard to imagine why it's on any list of top 100 books in American literature. The repetitiveness gets old quickly, and you have difficulty believing the behavior of some of the characters, especially their treatment of the new car!
brb_reads's review
2.0
If this book was not for book club, I would not have finished it. This book actually makes me think I could write a book and I have absolutely no experience in writing. I understand it's written during a different time but I could have slapped all the characters. Would never recommend this book to anyone. The extra star is for me actually being able to finish it.
ajreader's review
4.0
Read my full thoughts on this book and hundreds more over at Read.Write.Repeat.
Equally entertaining and mournful, I greatly enjoyed Erskine Caldwell's look into Depression-era life. I think this is one of the 100 Best that will land solidly in the middle of the pack for me. It was a pleasant surprise and I definitely enjoyed it, particularly more than others of its ilk. Still, I did not see anything monumentally fantastic about it.
Equally entertaining and mournful, I greatly enjoyed Erskine Caldwell's look into Depression-era life. I think this is one of the 100 Best that will land solidly in the middle of the pack for me. It was a pleasant surprise and I definitely enjoyed it, particularly more than others of its ilk. Still, I did not see anything monumentally fantastic about it.
brdgtc's review against another edition
2.0
Like and episode of COPS meets Faulkner - you feel guilty for laughing about the misery of people.
iamlaura's review
1.0
Awful... I only read about 50 pages. It was about as exciting as eating a turnip. Turnips... The object the author was using to depict the extreme poverty the characters face daily. Zzzzzzzzzzzzz
shortsaga's review
4.0
This book portrays a form of moral depravity that is not caused by scheming or greed, but by childlike ignorance. It is more shocking than the more common forms.