His Family

For everyone who thinks that women had no choices in 1918, here is a novel that begs to differ. In fact, the choices Roger Gale’s three daughters make drive him quite crazy in this, the first ever Pulitzer Prize winner. He finds himself widowed and trying to understand and really get to know his three grown daughters. They are very different people, one a dedicated homemaker, one a passionate career woman/reformer, and the third a vacuous party girl who thinks more of money and position than anything else. During the course of the novel, he does forge an understanding of his family, and also a knowledge that their lives are their own and not his to manage anymore.

One of the major themes addressed is whether we live on after death in show more another realm, or whether our living on is something we do through our children and their children. To live on solely through our progeny is a bit of a depressing idea for me. In truth, our memory only survives, on average, two generations. There is not a single person on the face of this earth who ever knew my great-grandmother, and while she lives on in me genetically, I do not find that that is enough. And what of those who die young or have no children? In the end, I think Roger Gale discovers that it isn’t an either/or proposition, and I agree with that.

While this book is a bit dated, it does open a door into the attitudes and thoughts of the middle class of the early 1900s. I found myself confronting a few stereotypes and misconceptions I have had about how men might have viewed their daughters in this time period. In the upper class, they were still items to be traded to keep money concentrated; in the poorer classes, they were drudges perhaps, enslaved to trying to keep families fed and afloat, but I found Roger’s attitudes toward his daughters were very much in line with what someone of the 1950s middle class might have felt.

I felt there was a bit of unnecessary repetition toward the end and that the novel could, in fact, have been wound up sooner than it was. However, that did not detract appreciably from the experience of reading it and I exited with something significant gained from the read. In my quest to read all the Pulitzer prize winners, I have discovered that this first winner was far from the least worthy. show less

His Family by Ernest Poole is a story about an aging widower as he navigates life at the cusp of modernity. The trials of family life, feminism, classism, war, and the clash between conservative and liberal values, all set in the rapidly changing environment of early 20th-century New York City, make this a poignant portrayal of a man whose life is much closer to the end than any new beginnings. Although set in the early 20th century, the story of Roger Gale and his family could easily take place in the 21st century. While reading this novel the profound similarities between then and now are not lost. As they say, "the more things change, the more they stay the same."

fairly quick read (short chapters are the best with a busy lifestyle!) of this, the very first winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction! This is not a commonly found book, and i had to put forth effort to locate one. ( I am nearing a complete set of PP winners....)
So, this is the story of Roger and his 3 daughters, who are about as different from each other as possible, and how Roger struggles to adapt to the changing world, clinging to his traditional values, yet trying desperately to support and understand his girls. I had to keep reminding myself that this was written in 1917.....not a modern piece of fiction set in 1917, but written then. It had a remarkably easy feel and modern style to it, not to mention very strong forward show more thinking, several very strong women characters, and a probing look into the migrant tenement neighborhoods in NYC and their struggles before and during WWI. I for the most part enjoyed Roger's journey as he worked to support his family, but was slightly annoyed that he always seemed to need to have one of them to be upset with and disappointed in...and they all took their turns. A thoughtful look at what it means to be a family. show less

His Family received the first Pulitzer for fiction (then called "novels") in 1918. It traces a middle-class New York family through their ups and downs from the early 1910's to 1917. The family consists of a widower (who wants to be close to his children but doesn't feel he is and whose response to any kind of conflict is to try to smooth it over, anything for peace), his oldest daughter (the traditional wife), her husband and 5 children, his middle daughter (a career woman/feminist), and his youngest daughter (party girl). It's an interesting story of family life in the early 20th century but, deeper than that, it seems to me to be an interesting portrayal of the conflicts and changes going on in American society and the world at that show more time. That the author was active in working for social reform is reflected in the book. It was also interesting to see the expectations for the future which are reflected in the book. I found it to be a most enjoyable read. show less

1916. Roger Gale runs a news clipping business. He has three grown daughters and his wife is dead. Edith, the eldest, has four children and a baby on the way. Her husband is a developer, but he dies in a car crash. Then she goes back to the village in New Hampshire where Mr. Gale grew up. Deborah, the middle daughter, is a great education reformer, in the public schools on the Lower East Side. She won’t get married at first, because she thinks a family of her own will interfere with her work, but finally she does. The youngest daughter, Laura, is terribly gay, always dashing of to parties and dances. She marries a rich man. The eschew children and religion, and have affairs instead. Then she shockingly gets a divorce, and marries the show more man she was having the affair with. She dares to be happy and go unpunished, though none of the family really approve.

Most of the book is a sentimental meditation on life and death. We go on in our children’s lives. It’s about the bewildering scale of life and how little of it we can really know in our short stay here, but, ah, isn’t it grand? I enjoyed it. Can’t say it was gripping. Took me several months to finish. First novel to win the Pulitzer Prize. show less

This warm family saga takes place in New York City just prior to WWI.

Roger Gale is a 60 year old with three daughters. His wife, Judith, has died and he doesn't see much meaning to life although he remembers Judith's words. "Our lives go on in the lives of our children."

His eldest, Ethel, is expecting her 5th child, Deborah, at 29 is a school principle and Laura is the youngest. Her zest for life amazes him. "She even danced in restaurants."

One day, Laura surprises Roger, announcing she's getting married. It saddens him to think of his baby, his favorite, leaving the house. At the same time, he feels she hasn't given marriage much consideration.

Poole describes New York at this time in its growth, from going to concerts at Carnegie Hall show more to Roger's enjoyment of horseriding in Central Park on his own horse.

We also see the changes in the world in the last 90 years when Laura's suitor, Harold Sloane tells Roger that he can make Laura happy. He boasts. "Twenty two thousand this year...we can live on that..."

The writing is supurb. The story flows nicely as we follow the family's progress. It's also enjoyable to read the descriptions of the carefree time prior to the horrors of WWI. Poole has a talent for making the reader think as when Roger discusses Laura's wedding and tells Deborah, "Queer how a man can neglect his children...when the thing he wants most in life is to see each one...happy."

Laura's wedding comes and goes, Ethel has her child and Roger and Deborah have the house to themselves, each wondering how lonely things will be without Laura's energetic presence.

Another interesting fact comes out. To become more involved in her life, Roger goes to Debora's school, He meets an 18 year old, Johnny Geer, who is somewhat crippeled. Roger is impressed at Johnny's bravery and ambition and gives him a job. He asks Deborah's suitor, Dr Allain Baird, if anything can be done for Johnny and learns that it is too late and that Johnny only has a few years to live. Then the doctor comments, the time will be coming when people will have to guard their children even before they are born. (So an early evidence of the need for prenatal care).

Roger continues to support Johnny, Laura returns from Europe, Deborah begins planning marriage but without a plot spoiler, something happens to a member of the family.

WWI begins and Roger's business faces difficult times. The children ask for financial assistence but Roger has to admit he is poor.

The last quarter of the novel, things become sentimental, Johnny has a business idea that helps Roger's business.

Johnny's ascendence from a poor cripple 18 year old to a successful businessman adds a Dickensonian aspect to the novel.

The ending leaves the reader fulfilled.

Highly Recommended. show less

Early 20th century New York City is the setting and in a way the main protagonist of His Family, the winner of the first--1918--Pulitzer Prize for fiction.

Roger Gale is the head of a well-to-do family of three daughters; all four are very different not only in character but also in the way each embraces or rejects the changes that are occurring so rapidly, particularly as a result of the waves of immigration that crowd the city and change its physical, moral, and social landscape.

Roger, now in his late 50s, is a New Englander who moved to the city as a young man and threw himself into its life. He owns a successful small business. A widower, his life revolves around his three daughters; he views himself as something of their show more protector and patriarch, even though all three are all of age. He is uncertain about the changes that he sees in New York, a city he loves. He raised his family in a traditional fashion, in a large home he owns. Now, all around him he feels pressed in by the apartment buildings that not only tower over his home but also seem to be populated with hundreds if not thousands of pairs of eyes of stranger, people whom he does not know—not really neighbors in the sense to which he is accustomed.

Edith, his oldest daughter, is married and the mother of 4, expecting a 5th child. She represents in the novel the traditional ways of ‘old’ New York—the pre-immigrant, slower way of life where the wife stayed at home, raised the children, and provided a comfortable, smooth-running home for her husband. Raised in privilege, used to servants, she views the newcomers with disdain, considering them undesirable. At one point in the book, she dismisses the idea of sending them to anything other than private schools for fear that her children will be forced to associate with “them”. She stands for tradition, for what is known and cherished, and all the values, both good and bad, that are associated with a woman’s traditional role in a family.

Deborah, the middle daughter, is of a totally different cut of cloth. A career woman and idealistic reformer, she heads a radically modern (for that day) school, coming into daily and intimate contact with immigrant children and their families. She sees at first hand their struggles and identifies strongly with them. She gives herself tirelessly to her work which is her life. Terrified of marriage and motherhood for fear that she will be then trapped and unable to continue her life’s work, she continually puts off marriage to Allan, a young doctor equally as idealistic as Deborah.

The third daughter, Laura, might as well have arrived from a different galaxy. She is the party girl, the forerunner of the flapper, whose gaiety fills the house and charms each of her family. Suddenly engaged and then married to an up-and-coming wealthy young businessman, Laura is the frivolous one, the grasshopper to Deborah’s and Edith’s hard-working ants.

World War I disrupts this family as it did so many others. Roger’s business falls on hard times, and the family is forced to cope in ways it has never imagined. Life changes irrevocably; each of the Gales adapts and grows in accordance with their characters.

This is another novel that really has no plot to speak of, but rather in its own way is a documentary of a white, upper middle-class family caught in overwhelming changes they can neither foresee nor prevent from impacting their lives no matter what their outlook. The story is told from Roger’s point of view, as he observes and reflects on the actions of his family and tries to reconcile it all. It is his book.

Of all the early Pulitzer Prize winners, I found Poole’s writing style the most dated. That doesn’t mean that the book was difficult, but it was slow-going in a way that, for example, The Magnificent Ambersons, published two years later, was not. Still, I found the story interesting, if not absorbing, from a historical perspective, since it documents in such detail the type of changes that were taking place and what was probably a common reaction to them among the more privileged classes. The daughters, although stereotypes, are still interesting figures, because Poole neither judges them nor paints them as all good or all bad; each of their viewpoints has merit. Clearly, though, Poole has the most affinity for Roger, a good man who did his best to raise and nurture his family.

Highly recommended. show less