The Jungle

For all the dislike I have of Chicago, I must say that at least I wasn't here in the early 1900s.  Compared to that, I'm living the life of a queen.  Jurgis Rudkus' life is, plainly stated, shit.  I would have gone mad and killed myself long ago in his situation, which I must admit, I wish he had done so that the book would have stopped much sooner.  But while we're on the topic of dislike -- I'm just going to come out and say it -- I have no desire to read any more Sinclair ever again.

I don't even know how to organize my thoughts, so I will keep it brief.  Here is a list of rants in order of my beef (hardy har har) with them:

1.  What is the point of the last two chapters!?  I am aware, thanks to the notes at the end of the book, that the audience for this story was Socialists.  But for the sake of modern times, all of the goddamn speeches should have been cut.  Jesus, the only thing I could think the whole time was that I could not wait for it to end.  It stopped even being about Jurgis at all, since he didn't even speak for almost the entire part of the last 50 pages or more.

2.  When the book was revolving around Jurgis, it was ludicrous.  Okay, I understand times were tough and people keeled over and died all the time and were dirty and poor etc etc but each chapter LITERALLY ended with a new dramatic calamity that befell the main character.  Out of a job?  One up that, all your money is taken.  Oh, your house got foreclosed?  Welp, now your wife is dead.  At least you still have that ray of sunshine in your life that's your son.  Oh wait, now he's randomly dead too even though he was super healthy two pages ago.

3.  There is absolutely no humanizing any of the women.  Sure, Jurgis loved Ona but she was a flat character who was an idiot.  Elzbieta and Marija seemed so strong and had so much potential but instead, they ended up just being little puppet vessels for the sake of Jurgis who became incredibly dull as soon as he left his family.  And then once Jurgis does come crawling back after betraying them, they take him in without any questions because they are so wonderful and kind.  What the heck.  Feminism!

4.  Prior to starting this book I kept hearing how great it was.  All of these comments came from men, naturally, and I can see why they may say that because it's all rough around the edges and masculine and all about hard work and all that.  Honestly, I don't need beautiful images and emotion and puppies and marshmallows if the content is good, and I truly sincerely would appreciate a story about someone working through hardship and trying their best.  But I cannot handle this book.  It is just too much whining and self loathing, and nothing is even resolved in the end.

At least this book taught me why there are so many Lithuanians in Chicago (yes, I have lived here for over 5 years and do not know any history about the city).  It also taught me that Lakeshore Drive was lined with mansions, which seems obvious, but it's nice to see that all of those old buildings over there that I used to drive by on the bus daily actually are historical.  Guess that much really hasn't changed.  Well, you know, class and society-wise...not people-melting-in-lard-vats-and-getting-eaten-alive-by-rats-at-work-wise.