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ac_lytle's review against another edition
4.25
Vividly written, and very compelling. Suffers a bit in the following ways:
There isn't a conventional story structure so much as a series of tragedies that befall the characters. This really wore me down at points.
This was obviously written as an anti-capitalist polemic and for the most part that is fine. But in the last 20 or so pages the main character is kind of just there as other characters monologue about the horrors of capitalism and the wonderful world of a future governed by socialism. Whatever you may think of socialism, that is a very sloppy and tedious way to end your book.
There isn't a conventional story structure so much as a series of tragedies that befall the characters. This really wore me down at points.
This was obviously written as an anti-capitalist polemic and for the most part that is fine. But in the last 20 or so pages the main character is kind of just there as other characters monologue about the horrors of capitalism and the wonderful world of a future governed by socialism. Whatever you may think of socialism, that is a very sloppy and tedious way to end your book.
georgia_lk's review against another edition
4.0
A very powerful and thought-provoking book, I would recommend but be warned that it is very serious and has zero laughs.
theag7's review against another edition
This was...interesting. It's definitely going to help me always remember the Gilded Age, but I'm not a girl who adores reading about how dirt got mixed into canned meat...yeah, no.
yellowswagger's review against another edition
5.0
I wouldn’t call the prose poetic, but the story feels so relevant today. Jurgis is so relatable with his mindset that he is healthy and if he just works harder he can make ends meet. Things have definitely gotten better for many since this book was published, but in so many ways things haven’t changed. It is the image of the exploitation of the working class from a birds eye view. I highly recommend this book.
daja57's review against another edition
4.0
Jurgis emigrates from Lithuania with his family and the family of his bride-to-be near the start of the 1900s. They seek work in the meat-packing district of Chicago and are easy prey to the robber-baron capitalist practices of the time. Those who are lucky enough to find employment (including underage children) are forced to work in appalling conditions, for little better than zero-hours contracts. They are repeatedly cheated by mortgage brokers. Every sickness is a calamity, there being no health insurance and no sick pay. Misery after misery is inflicted upon them. Hunger, starvation, illness and death attend them Just when you think that things might be looking up a little, another hammer blow knocks them down.
If you want misery fiction, this is it. I naively expected that the book would pivot at the half-way mark when Jurgis goes to jail but there is still plenty of misery yet to come.
It is hugely realistic. The style is mostly objective reportage (the author worked for seven weeks undercover in the meat-processing industry). The final section of the book becomes a socialist tract. There are moments of Victorian melodrama ("she lay cold and still - she was gone - she was gone!"; Ch 19). In some ways it is in the tradition of Dickens's early novels such as Oliver Twist which exposed workhouses and Nicholas Nickleby which exposed private schools but this book is much harder-hitting and has correspondingly less romantic story-line.
It reminded me in many ways of The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists, a much less visceral novel set in the building trade in England; it too has socialist tracts at the end.
Warning: The Jungle contains anti-Semitic and racist remarks; its casual assumption of racist attitudes is typical of its time.
If you want misery fiction, this is it. I naively expected that the book would pivot at the half-way mark when Jurgis goes to jail but there is still plenty of misery yet to come.
It is hugely realistic. The style is mostly objective reportage (the author worked for seven weeks undercover in the meat-processing industry). The final section of the book becomes a socialist tract. There are moments of Victorian melodrama ("she lay cold and still - she was gone - she was gone!"; Ch 19). In some ways it is in the tradition of Dickens's early novels such as Oliver Twist which exposed workhouses and Nicholas Nickleby which exposed private schools but this book is much harder-hitting and has correspondingly less romantic story-line.
It reminded me in many ways of The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists, a much less visceral novel set in the building trade in England; it too has socialist tracts at the end.
Warning: The Jungle contains anti-Semitic and racist remarks; its casual assumption of racist attitudes is typical of its time.
vex97's review against another edition
1.0
DNF. I believe Sinclair seriously erred by writing a fictional story instead of an investigative journalism piece à la, for example, Karl Marx's description of horrible working conditions of 20th century English laborers. While Sinclair's descriptions of the inhumane working conditions and horrors of the meat packing plants were well-detailed and harrowing, the overall narrative story is not written well. Sinclair untactfully throws the protaganist Jurgis into every possible misfortune that a workingman of the early 1900's could experience. Over the course of the book, Jurgis' ordeals reach the point of ridiculousness and disbelief. The result is that instead of emphasizing with Jurgis and being emotionally moved by his suffering (and thereby more open to Socialist ideas), I was left thinking after each chapter: "Seriously? How hasn't Jurgis killed himself yet?" Furthermore, the book is too long—having the reader slog through 300+ pages of Jurgis falling into one tragedy into another with no respite makes for bad reading and diminishes the intended effect of the book as socialist propaganda. (And I provide this critique as someone who is quite open to socialist ideas.)
sincerelycalla's review against another edition
4.0
was NOT expecting this total venture into socialism
carsongomas's review against another edition
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5