Mormegil@bookwyrm.social reviewed The Jungle by Upton Sinclair
The Primal Scream of Socialism
3 stars
I am not a socialist, but I sympathize and agree with may of the problems that socialists point out. The fact that this book led Teddy Roosevelt to break up the Beef Trust is a significant fact. but as a novel I can't rate it any higher than three stars. The spectacle of human cruelty and nihilism is one of the most brutal I have ever read. If you have a family this will read like a horror novel. I'd say it is worth a read as part of history, if you are prepared for it. I am glad to have read it, but I had to pace myself. It is not a good novel, but it wasn't really meant to be a good novel so much as an agent of change. It will make it hard for you to unsee the familiar patterns of greed that grind humans into …
I am not a socialist, but I sympathize and agree with may of the problems that socialists point out. The fact that this book led Teddy Roosevelt to break up the Beef Trust is a significant fact. but as a novel I can't rate it any higher than three stars. The spectacle of human cruelty and nihilism is one of the most brutal I have ever read. If you have a family this will read like a horror novel. I'd say it is worth a read as part of history, if you are prepared for it. I am glad to have read it, but I had to pace myself. It is not a good novel, but it wasn't really meant to be a good novel so much as an agent of change. It will make it hard for you to unsee the familiar patterns of greed that grind humans into meat for profit. We might not be doing it literally anymore (which is an improvement), but we're still doing it.