Theodore Dreiser, 1925 Date Read: 1/1/23
The first novel completed of 2023 not only was very, very sad, but has a tie to where I live.
I didn't realize until I was part way through this novel, but it is based on a true story: the 1906 murder of Grace Brown in Big Moose Lake, New York. I live right on the outskirts of the Adirondack Park. Big Moose Lake is 74 miles away from where I live (per my Alexa). Part of the lake lies in Herkimer County, where my mom's family lived from the early 1700s until the 1920s. Therefore, this story had a lot of places in it with which I am very familiar, despite being 100 years old.
The novel begins with Clyde Griffiths as a teenager and follows him through the rest of his life, which is unfortunately not as long as it could have been. The author does a very good job of making you sympathize with a literal murderer. You can understand exactly why he did what he did. I found myself several times thinking, well if she hadn't done that... . As though the victim was responsible for her own murder.
In real life, the perpetrator was the nephew of the wealthy Gilettes - you know, the 'best a man can get'. However, the wealthy side of the family did not feel they could or should rescue him after he essentially murdered his pregnant girlfriend because he didn't want to marry her. And I think that was probably a really good decision on their parts.
The end of the novel focuses a lot of Clyde's mother and her struggle to help her son in what is basically the worst possible situation a mother can find her child in. That hurt to read, being the parent of two children the same age as Clyde and Roberta (the murdered girlfriend).
This novel is very long - I read it on Kindle but it was about 900 pages electronically - and it does drag in parts (particularly when Clyde is debating with himself what to do with Roberta, and when he is trying to convince himself not to kill her).
It is funny I read this so soon after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v Wade because literally none of this would have happened if Grace/Roberta could have just gotten an abortion or if either her or Clyde had literally any sex education or access to condoms. Like, the complete lack of knowledge about their own bodies and reproduction is just abhorrent. I, as a woman who became pregnant unexpectedly only 6 weeks after meeting the baby's father, am VERY VERY GRATEFUL I live after Women's Liberation and the Sexual Revolution. I'd not like to be in the bottom of Glen Lake or something .
Length: Read on Kindle
ReReadbility: no, it's long and sad as fuck
Classic: it is a very good read and essentially an historical fiction novel but based on a true crime event. I'm not sure what genre that would make it.
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