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A review by j_m_alexander
Young Lonigan by James T. Farrell
1.75
Mehhh.... it's a classic American social novel... blehh, wehhhh, bleating sheep... sorry, not particularly to this guy's taste.
The writing is fairly unadorned, but colorfully of the time and place - Chicago 1910's working class dialect. I am sure that at the time this was published it seemed startlingly ugly and real, but I guess for me this coming-of-age, drifting off in the wrong direction, story of the titular character doesn't seem to stand the test of time. Maybe it's just that I am too sensitive to the baked-in, but largely accurate, racism, antisemitism, and sexism that permeates the pages. It's a rough and tumble story that is obviously just the beginning of Stud's story, appearing to be the first steps towards a largely deserved decent. Perhaps I really am curmudgeonly old man, I just kept thinking things along the lines of, "Respect your elders, you little shit, and your peers, hell, respect yourself a bit too!". I am semi-curious about how Studs will further his degradation into what I can only suspect is a life of debauchery and criminality... I may even pick up [b:The Young Manhood of Studs Lonigan|1245710|The Young Manhood of Studs Lonigan|James T. Farrell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1405473332s/1245710.jpg|1234438] eventually, who knows. Not terrible, I think it's more of a stylistic issue for me than anything else, but the 'hard-boiled', adolescent slurs and bemoaning also wore thin, and this is a pretty darn short book to wear thin on ya.
The writing is fairly unadorned, but colorfully of the time and place - Chicago 1910's working class dialect. I am sure that at the time this was published it seemed startlingly ugly and real, but I guess for me this coming-of-age, drifting off in the wrong direction, story of the titular character doesn't seem to stand the test of time. Maybe it's just that I am too sensitive to the baked-in, but largely accurate, racism, antisemitism, and sexism that permeates the pages. It's a rough and tumble story that is obviously just the beginning of Stud's story, appearing to be the first steps towards a largely deserved decent. Perhaps I really am curmudgeonly old man, I just kept thinking things along the lines of, "Respect your elders, you little shit, and your peers, hell, respect yourself a bit too!". I am semi-curious about how Studs will further his degradation into what I can only suspect is a life of debauchery and criminality... I may even pick up [b:The Young Manhood of Studs Lonigan|1245710|The Young Manhood of Studs Lonigan|James T. Farrell|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1405473332s/1245710.jpg|1234438] eventually, who knows. Not terrible, I think it's more of a stylistic issue for me than anything else, but the 'hard-boiled', adolescent slurs and bemoaning also wore thin, and this is a pretty darn short book to wear thin on ya.