An oldie but goodie. ( )

i have not read the novel. tom who has read both says this is not as good ( )

Every once in a while, you read a book that makes you look back and reevaluate your life. For me, that book is The Jungle.

It was absolutely heart wrenching following Jurgis Rudkus, the main character, and his constant failed attempts to provide for his family. An immigrant from Lithuania, he came to America to strike it rich and marry Ona, the girl of his dreams. They, along with ten other members of their family, go to the stockyards of Chicago where they have heard that jobs are available for everyone.

What they didn't know is they would have to work fourteen hour days under horrible conditions to make enough to barely survive.

It's amazing how spoiled today's society is. I could never handle this type of work. The difference between now and a hundred years ago is staggering to behold. When reading The Jungle, it is obvious to the reader the luxuries available to them that were inconceivable back then.

And the losses that Jurgis had to cope with! He survived as he watched member after member of his family die. You see him at his strongest, his weakest, his cruelest. You are there, pitying him when he is forced to sleep under cars in the dead of winter and you are there, cursing him as he allows himself get sucked into the system, making his living off of the misery of others when he becomes a boss at one of the stockyards. You see how the misery finally trumps even the strongest soul. Every man has a breaking point, a point where he will do anything to survive.

Apart from being a real eye opener, Sinclair's prose is amazing. His descriptions of events and sights put you right in the middle of Chicago's stockyards. I didn't even notice when paragraphs went on for more than a page because I was so involved with every single sentence. The book opens with a wedding feast and you can smell the food and hear the laughter and music and see the couples dancing. When Jurgis first sees the inside of a stockyard, you are right there, witnessing the horrible sight. It's extremely powerful.

I usually never give a book five stars because so few are really, truly good. However, I don't think I could give The Jungle anything but five stars. This book makes me wish there was an option for a sixth star. ( )

The Jungle was meant to hit American's in the stomach over the food packing indstry and the regulations, or lack thereof. Sinclair's muckraking began an era of muckraking and investigative journalism (even though he wasn't a journalist). ( )

1365 The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair (read 2 Nov 1975) For years I thought I should read this, so I finally did. It reminds me a bit of Zola--its picture of the horrors of Chicago in 1904 is staggering and I hope a little exaggerated. Jurgis and his girl friend and her family come from Lithuania to Chicago. Everything goes wrong, all is evil, nothing but work under appalling conditions, really stark. The book ends with a Socialist harangue, after dire events and Jurgis is converted to Socialism. Worth reading, if dated. ( )