onemoreredknightmare's review against another edition
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
nnalla's review against another edition
4.0
Doting mothers be warned! A blinding love can be a great curse. George Amberson Minafer was an absolute nightmare. Like the rest of the town that eagerly waits for the day he gets his "comeuppance", you as the reader are on the edge of your seat anticipating his downfall. Seriously, a character in a book has never infuriated me quite as much as him. He's a dandy boy that think's he's better than everyone else, selfish, thinks he is too good to work for money and is downright unpleasant.
I really enjoyed the book overall though. George is fun to hate, and it's another interesting piece of literature that portrays how social-class dynamics shifted with the onset of American industrialization.
I really enjoyed the book overall though. George is fun to hate, and it's another interesting piece of literature that portrays how social-class dynamics shifted with the onset of American industrialization.
blondereader's review against another edition
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
The ending was quirky.
monicamjw's review against another edition
4.0
A wonderful read. A family drama and an insightful glimpse into the changing world of middle America at the turn of the century amidst the industrialization of the cities and the advent of the horseless carriage.
nick_jenkins's review against another edition
5.0
Like some of Tarkington's other novels from this period, Ambersons provides some surprisingly adroit social commentary about the massive social and economic changes of an industrializing Midwest. Held up to an epic like Buddenbrooks, Ambersons is slight, even juvenile, but it is worth remembering that it became a cultural touchstone for the passing of the fin-de-siecle era not only in the United States but in Europe as well.
However, part of the novel's success in the US and abroad was undoubtedly due to Tarkington's comic touch (I don't think anyone's ever made the comparison, but in some ways Tarkington should be considered the American Wodehouse). Much of the sparkle so well enjoyed by readers of Penrod or Seventeen remains in force here, deepened by the soberer aspects of its realism.
However, part of the novel's success in the US and abroad was undoubtedly due to Tarkington's comic touch (I don't think anyone's ever made the comparison, but in some ways Tarkington should be considered the American Wodehouse). Much of the sparkle so well enjoyed by readers of Penrod or Seventeen remains in force here, deepened by the soberer aspects of its realism.
waxingquixotic's review against another edition
4.0
[b:The Magnificent Ambersons|127028|The Magnificent Ambersons (The Growth Trilogy, #2)|Booth Tarkington|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1171925907s/127028.jpg|365539] barely made the Modern Library’s Top 100 list when they compiled their take on the greatest novels of the 20th century. It sneaks in at the bottom of the list which gives the initial impression that it’s good, but it’s not great. Well, if you consider there were a gazillion books written in the 20th century and the Modern Library chose 100 of those as the best, it’s really an accomplishment to be on the list. Being ranked at 100 still puts this book in the top 0.00001% of everything else written during the last century so that’s pretty amazing, at least according to the people behind the curtain of the Modern Library.
Admittedly, I would have never even heard of the book had I not made this irrational decision to plow through the Modern Library’s list. In fact, when I saw it was written almost a century ago and read the synopsis, I was ready to just throw in the towel and not even start. I was ready to move on to a different list to conquer that was a little less intimidating and, well, a little more modern. Luckily, Amazon had a Kindle version available for free so I had zero investment in the book so if I hated it I could just delete it and move on to bigger and better things.
But, as it turns out, this is a really good book.
George Amberson is the main protagonist of the novel and he’s easy to dislike. He grew up wealthy living luxuriously on his family’s money. He is ridiculously spoiled by his mother. He has no intentions of working a day in his life. George is in love with Lucy Morgan whose father, Eugene, has invented something amazing—a horseless carriage, or, put simply, a car. Yes, he’s doubled down on the automobile in the midst of the Industrial Revolution and plans to make them accessible enough to drive out (pardon the pun) the horses and carriages of the world and replace them with the gasoline-powered roaring engines of the automobile.
So there’s the contrast. George and his family are filthy rich off of family money and Eugene Morgan is building his wealth with his bare hands. There is an love story built around this giant, overarching theme of money and the changing times that eventually fades as other family and community members share the stage with George and Lucy. George wants to marry Lucy, but Lucy wants to marry someone like her father who has ambition, passion, and initiative. George, who is used to having everything he wants handed to him, struggles with this idea, and, subsequently, hates the idea of driving a car when he does just fine galloping around town on his horse, Pendennis (which is a really awful name for anything including a horse).
There is an interesting allegory toward the end of the novel where Uncle George Amberson is describing a new type of headlight to Aunt Fanny. He describes how the car has to be accelerating to at least 50 miles per hour to get the headlights to shine enough to see well at night. The slower the car is travelling, the dimmer the headlight. I saw this small explanation as the story of the Ambersons. Accelerating at full speed, spending money, living extravagantly, but as the novel progresses the lights start to fade on the Ambersons. The world around them starts to develop and they can’t keep up.
There’s an overview of the rise of the Ambersons at the beginning with wonderful descriptions of the empire they created, but the novel spends most of its pages unraveling the slow decline of a family that was once on top of the world and ultimately forgotten in the town they once ruled. “There are no old times,” the author writes, “When times are gone they’re not old, they’re dead! There aren’t any times but new times.” That’s the bitter pill young George is forced to swallow at the end of this underrated classic.
Admittedly, I would have never even heard of the book had I not made this irrational decision to plow through the Modern Library’s list. In fact, when I saw it was written almost a century ago and read the synopsis, I was ready to just throw in the towel and not even start. I was ready to move on to a different list to conquer that was a little less intimidating and, well, a little more modern. Luckily, Amazon had a Kindle version available for free so I had zero investment in the book so if I hated it I could just delete it and move on to bigger and better things.
But, as it turns out, this is a really good book.
George Amberson is the main protagonist of the novel and he’s easy to dislike. He grew up wealthy living luxuriously on his family’s money. He is ridiculously spoiled by his mother. He has no intentions of working a day in his life. George is in love with Lucy Morgan whose father, Eugene, has invented something amazing—a horseless carriage, or, put simply, a car. Yes, he’s doubled down on the automobile in the midst of the Industrial Revolution and plans to make them accessible enough to drive out (pardon the pun) the horses and carriages of the world and replace them with the gasoline-powered roaring engines of the automobile.
So there’s the contrast. George and his family are filthy rich off of family money and Eugene Morgan is building his wealth with his bare hands. There is an love story built around this giant, overarching theme of money and the changing times that eventually fades as other family and community members share the stage with George and Lucy. George wants to marry Lucy, but Lucy wants to marry someone like her father who has ambition, passion, and initiative. George, who is used to having everything he wants handed to him, struggles with this idea, and, subsequently, hates the idea of driving a car when he does just fine galloping around town on his horse, Pendennis (which is a really awful name for anything including a horse).
There is an interesting allegory toward the end of the novel where Uncle George Amberson is describing a new type of headlight to Aunt Fanny. He describes how the car has to be accelerating to at least 50 miles per hour to get the headlights to shine enough to see well at night. The slower the car is travelling, the dimmer the headlight. I saw this small explanation as the story of the Ambersons. Accelerating at full speed, spending money, living extravagantly, but as the novel progresses the lights start to fade on the Ambersons. The world around them starts to develop and they can’t keep up.
There’s an overview of the rise of the Ambersons at the beginning with wonderful descriptions of the empire they created, but the novel spends most of its pages unraveling the slow decline of a family that was once on top of the world and ultimately forgotten in the town they once ruled. “There are no old times,” the author writes, “When times are gone they’re not old, they’re dead! There aren’t any times but new times.” That’s the bitter pill young George is forced to swallow at the end of this underrated classic.
transitionaljoint's review against another edition
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
amies808's review against another edition
5.0
Third or fourth reread of this book and it still holds up. Set in a time of immense change with the industrialization of the Midwest and the introduction of the automobile, George Amberson Minafer's clinging to the way things were - plus his general young brattiness - will never not be fascinating to me, especially with Tarkington's relatively straightforward Midwestern style; you can see his playwriting skills throughout, as his dialogue and scene-setting is really strong. There are, of course, a few places here and there where he gets a little Victorian, but it makes sense with the time period of the novel. This is and forever will be one of my Top 5, and it's soothing whenever life feels tumultuous from the outside.
urikastov's review against another edition
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0