Point of No Return
by John P. Marquand
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A #1 New York Times bestseller by a Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist: A successful Manhattan banker is haunted by his humble New England roots. Raised in the small town of Clyde, Massachusetts, Charles Gray has worked long and hard to become a vice president at the privately owned Stuyvesant Bank in Manhattan. But at the most crucial moment of his career, when his focus should be on reading his boss's intentions and competing with his chief rival for promotion, Charles finds himself show more hopelessly distracted by the past. Years ago, the Gray family was featured in a sociological study of their hometown. Charles, his sister, and their parents were classified as members of the "lower-upper class," the unspoken strains of their tenuous social status cast in stark black and white. A chance encounter with the author of the study fills Charles's head with memories--and when a business matter compels him to return to Clyde, it seems as if fate is intent on turning back the clock. As he reflects on the defining moments of his youth, Charles contends with one of the central mysteries of existence: how our lives can feel both predetermined and random at the same time. Published in 1949, Point of No Return is a brilliant study of character and place heralded by the New York Times as "further proof that its author is one of the most important living American novelists." show lessTags
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Member Reviews
4697. Point of No Return, by John P. Marquand (read 18 Apr 2010) This book traces Charley Gray's life from about 1912 to 1947, telling of his romance with a richer girl and of his effort to gain a position as a bank officer. It also is funny in depicting a sociology professor making a survey of Clyde, Mass. It is intricately and plausibly plotted, though I found it seemed long--it is 566 pages--but the climactic scene is well-done, though one feels sorry for the social pressure which is depicted. since Charley Gray is a sympathetic figure. At the end I was thinking the book was enjoyable reading, though in about the middle of the book it seemed "long."
The meaning of life, you can't go home again, etc. Like the portrait of life in Boston area before & after WWII.
Quite good.
I could have done with more parts 1 and 3 and a little less part 2.
I could have done with more parts 1 and 3 and a little less part 2.
Here's what I wrote in 2015 about this read (which I have difficulty recalling here in 2024): "Good New England read, following fall, 2015 New England driving tour. Clive, MA is Newburyport, which we loved! Wow, what a small environment is a small, historical New England town." Quotations in the comments section are my exact kindle highlights.
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ThingScore 75
...John P. Marquand wrote "Point of No Return," a lost masterpiece that shines a bright light on the mind-set of that species of Banker Americanus that helped to build the modern financial-services edifice and that colonized suburbia.
added by bongiovi
Lists
Publisher's Weekly Bestsellers - Part II - 1940 - 1979
355 works; 5 members
Author Information
67+ Works 2,872 Members
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Has the adaptation
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- Members
- 171
- Popularity
- 191,459
- Reviews
- 4
- Rating
- (3.87)
- Languages
- English, Finnish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 6
- ASINs
- 10
