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The Magnificent Ambersons Booth Tarkington 9781406935738 Books

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The Magnificent Ambersons Booth Tarkington 9781406935738 Books

I was inspired to read this after watching the Orson Welles film adaptation. This is a great book, worth reading. In my mind. I had always connected Booth Tarkington with books for turn of the century boys, sort of early 20th century versions of Aesop's fables with morals strewn throughout. You might say the same of this, in that the main character got his comeuppance for his past egregious behavior, but the book is so much more than that. Characters are beautifully drawn, and the description of the changes wrought in a Midwestern city over a fifty year period is a snapshot of America during that time. I read it in a couple of days, and was unable to put it down.


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The Magnificent Ambersons Booth Tarkington 9781406935738 Books Reviews

This book is a Pulitzer Prize winner in 1918 (I believe-maybe it was 1919). I enjoyed the book, which basically depicts the rise and fall of an American family around the turn-of-the-century. The Ambersons were high society, and came from a creative and sharp grandfather whose business acumen built their fortune. But as time moved inexorably forward, things changed and their fortune and their prestige deteriorated. I really enjoyed some of the descriptions of turn-of-the-century living and expectations that were noted in the book. I recommend this book if you enjoy period literature.
It seems odd that this is a largely forgotten or ignored book, especially because many American novels maintain some greater popularity and are frequently taught, not because they are especially great books, but because they offer a revealing portrait of their time. In the case of The Magnificent Ambersons, it is hard to think of many American novels that create a more fascinating portrait of their time (in this case, America around the turn of the century) and are equally well written.
The book primarily traces the fortunes of the Amberson family as Midwestern America transitions from a rural, small-town society with certain seemingly permanent social distinctions based on land, tradition and "cultivation" (a society based on who you are, i.e., "being"), to an urban society based on money and industry, where the social "ground" is subject to swift, seismic shifts (a society based on "doing"). The Ambersons are the embodiment of the "old" American aristocracy and, at least at the outset, their world and their position in it both seem solid, secure and permanent. The book does a marvelous job of depicting this older society, both in its heyday and as it rapidly disappears, including its elegance, its foibles and its arrogance. It does so not only through an on-going account of the city itself (which is a character in its own right), but through the Amberson family and the character of George Amberson Minafer, seeming scion of the most prominent local family, and cursed with the presumptions and arrogance of his position. Through the book, the family in general, and George in particular, experience a precipitous fall, as we see the old regime give way to money, industry, and, as George would say, "riff-raff."
In addition to the brilliant depiction of the transition of American society, Tarkington creates some truly memorable characters George, his mother, old Major Amberson, the Morgans (the new generation of successful industrial inventor and manufacturer), and George's Aunt Fanny. On the Amberson side, it would be easy for Tarkington to make some of the characters thoroughly despicable, and we certainly have little enough sympathy at times for George and Fanny. (George is often absolutely hateful, and rather funny in his presumptions; Fanny is a work of art.)But it is one of the exceptional qualities of the book that we never entirely despise even these flawed and unlikable characters. We understand them and ultimately empathize with them, and we not only believe in but also celebrate their ultimate "redemption."
Similarly, it would be easy for Tarkington to too easily dismiss the presumptions of the "old" society or, for that matter, to damn the corruption and the dirt and the grasping nature of the new. Again, however, Tarkington does a marvelous job in creating a kind of nostalgia for things lost, and also offering some promise (dark though it may be) for the future to come, combining both "progress" and, just possibly, some of the more enduring values of the past.
Perhaps the greatest thing about the novel is the author's tone. He is an ironic observer and accurate reporter throughout, but the book and his prose is infused with a certain humor, warmth, understanding and compassion that makes this a tender portrait, even at its most critical. Further, at the close of the book, Tarkington accomplishes something remarkable. Through the almost transcendent powers of love and forgiveness (the supernatural is rather amusingly invoked), the remaining characters are brought together and reconciled, and we do believe that they have come through and may have been redeemed.
Overall, this is a fine book that deserves to be more widely read. It is an impressive portrait of America in transition and the American character in the early 20th century.
One comment as to the edition. I bought the paperback that I believe is advertised here and it is one of the strangest editions I have ever seen. It appears it is virtually printed to order, includes no publishing history, and consists of some of the smallest and hardest to read print imaginable. Honestly, it is incredibly hard on the eyes so that you are really pleased to see pages of dialogue that at least break up the print. The proofreading or typesetting jobs also leave something to be desired. Rather than buying this funky paperback, I would try to find an older, used hardback edition. It could only be an improvement.
Despite an unbelievably fatuous protagonist and an unconvincing plot twist, this is a great book. It is utterly absorbing and even moving. You are brought back to a christmas card town in old times, when everybody had time and knew everybody else and there were no cars. The descent into the grime and crowdedness and anomie of city life is well recorded. The ordon welles movie is not as wrecked as it is said to be and quite faithful to this classic. Beware of the reconstituted repaired version. It is digitally remastered and too loud for theater showing. Might. E able to tune it down at home.
I have loved the 'Alice Adams' book for many years, and just found out that this one is just as good with a few similarities. I had tried to watch the Orson Welles film version on cable a few times, but gave up out of boredom every single time. As with 'Alice,' I am sure the book is better, by far. One can assume that young people 100 years ago were very different; they would not be completely correct in that assumption. Now I will look for more books of this era to devour.
I had read "The Magnificent Ambersons" years ago, as a young adult. I could only remember a few highlights (the great family declining as automobile industrialization rose, Lucy on the sleigh ride, the falling out between the two young lovers and the desolation of the once-beautiful estate) so wanted to read it again. I am so glad that I did. The subtleties of the story are definitely worth a periodic re-read. The characters are much more multi-dimensional than I remembered, and as a person of more years than I was when I first read the book, I could see plainly how often their own quirks and traits impelled them to change the course of their lives in a less favourable way than they would have chosen . Also, the story is of historic interest because of the crossroads in modern civilization that impacts the characters and the background.
I was inspired to read this after watching the Orson Welles film adaptation. This is a great book, worth reading. In my mind. I had always connected Booth Tarkington with books for turn of the century boys, sort of early 20th century versions of Aesop's fables with morals strewn throughout. You might say the same of this, in that the main character got his comeuppance for his past egregious behavior, but the book is so much more than that. Characters are beautifully drawn, and the description of the changes wrought in a Midwestern city over a fifty year period is a snapshot of America during that time. I read it in a couple of days, and was unable to put it down.