Modern Library Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century (100)
This Pulitzer Prize winning novel tells the story of the decline of
the once magnificent Amberson family, the leading family of a Midwestern
city at the turn of the century.
George Amberson Minafer is the spoiled young heir to the Amberson fortune,
but America is now entering the automobile age & the conservative Ambersons
are ill equiped to deal with the rapid changes.
Tarkington intertwines two tragic love stories with the theme of the
Ambersons decline and produces one of the really great forgotten novels
that I've ever read. Perhaps the book got lost because of the great
screen version that Orson Welles produced, but whatever the reason, this
is a book that deserves a wider audience and Modern Library is to be applauded
for including it on the list.
(Reviewed:)
Grade: (A)
Websites:
Newton Tarkington Links:
-ETEXT: Magnificent Ambersons
-ETEXT: Penrod
-Booth Tarkington (1869-1946) (American Literature on the Web)
-Booth Tarkington (Wikipedia)
-Tarkington, Booth (The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001)
-Booth Tarkington
Hoosiers, (The Lost World of Booth Tarkington) (Thomas Mallon, May 2004, Atlantic Monthly)
-ESSAY: Booth Tarkington and Penrod (Robert S. Sargent, Jr., June 14, 2004, Enter Stage Right)
Book-related and General Links:
Newton
Booth Tarkington: Hoosier Novelist
Comments:
Orrin welcomes reader comments on his reviews.
Add yours here.
This was a charming read. The characters were charming. The setting was charming. The story lines were charming.
- Kelly
- Feb-05-2007, 13:39
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