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Hello Froggies. . . It is 18 April 2026 and I just finished reading "McTeague" by Frank Norris. This one is set in California in the late 1800s. and was first published in 1899. First it starts in San Francisco and then moves onto the mining towns and the desert. At its root it is a story about how money will literally drive people to do crazy things and literally drive them mad. It was a great story and the character development, the characters generally were great. I say that because the characters are made very unique and eccentric. McTeague is this big burly former miner turned dentist who will simply grab ahold of your front tooth if it needs to be extracted and pull it out with his index finger and thumb! Done! Imagine going to a dentist like that! There is a rivalry between him and his best friend for the pretty girl, Trina. Who gets her I am not going to spoil. But that rivalry between them plays out through the entire story. It is also a story about a marraige and how money issues play into that and the role of money between husband and wife. I am hoping that none of the readers have such a situation as they do! It is a story also about the ups and downs of financial situations and how it impacts a relationship. At the heart though is the money issue and how it drives people literally mad or even murderous! Speaking of the characters, there are two in there that I really thought heart warming. In an apartment building were these two old people on opposite sides of the wall (an old lady and an old man). They were so shy and affraid to interact with one another but they loved one another. How that little story within a story developed was very good. There also was a side story about an immigrant lady who was crazy, literally crazy and a jewish guy who was taken by her wild story of riches and literally driven mad as well. The characters were all well done and very interesting; these four stood out to me. The ending was kind of a cliff-hanger; although not much. I did like the ending. My only real criticism of the book is that authors need to really take care not to repeat words over and over again. If I could do a word count on this one I would like it because the word "VERITABLE" almost appeared in every chapter I think. A Veritable this, a Veritable that. It was enough to drive a guy mad!! It almost became comical. When is it going to come up next...oh! there it is! Authors, careful of that! Here is a quote for it for thought: "When it is night and dark and one is awake and alone, one's thoughts take the color of the surroundings, become gloomy, somber, and very dismal." Is that true? Not putting it into my favorites of all time but it was a great book and if the above interests you you probably will enjoy it as well. Next up reading for me is "The Dubliners" by James Joyce. Now I DNF'd Finnegan's Wake and read but didn't much care for Ulysses, so let's see how this one goes. |
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