I'm now a big fan of Babbitt. It took me a few years to actually pick the book up and read it, but I'm glad I did. Poor Babbitt doesn't know what he wants from life. And while he may be incredibly narrow-minded and utterly conformed to the opinions of those around him, but he is also loyal, and fairly astute when he wants to be.

There have been many books that explore the banality of modernity, the repetitious slog of capitalist existence, the ennui and boredom that comes from living in such a comfortable environment of security and status quo. Usually they involve a mid-life crisis or a sweeping change in worldview. Well, this book covers all that ground but has the added distinction of being one of the first to address any of these issues. And what's more, Lewis also has the foresight to predict what's coming for the rest of us, the relentless march into a dull, poetry-less swamp of regurgitated consumption and numbness and the (dead behind the eyes) mediocrity of modern living.

That being said, he does all this with a rather whimsical and even comic tone. Had he gone for something a little more weighty and bleak I might have enjoyed it significantly more. As it is, the book always skirts around the edges of its own themes and plays things for laughs. Lewis gives us a mercurial man (George F. Babbitt) living a standard middle-class life and infuses the narrative with joviality and silliness. Admittedly, this is due to Babbitt's own personality and demeanour (so it makes sense) but the fact remains it reduces the story's impact a little and makes everything somewhat comical and trivial (too much for my tastes). George is married with three kids and works in real estate. He is a Republican and a member of various well-to-do clubs. It's only with his breakdown that he questions any of this and (briefly) descends into chasing girls and embracing (equally conformist and performative) radical politics. The fact that his friend Paul Reisling has experienced a similar (but more consequential) breakdown is also a triggering factor. He begins to question his life. He begins to feel the weight of a cold and empty modernity on his shoulders.

The book feels very contemporary. By which I mean it feels like it was written in the '50s. All of the capitalist trappings of that particular time, the kitchen appliances, cars, movies, fast food, and straight-laced culture. But this book was published in 1922 and you can see that Lewis is not only crticising that period but also (quite accurately) pointing out what is to come. This might be how upper middle-class Babbitt lives his life now but it's also how we will all live in the future. Yes, the torment of nothingness he endures will be everyone's in the future. We will all stare at our partners with boredom, grow tired of the repetition, wonder what any of it amounts to, and grapple in the dark for any kind of answer. We will ALL be so thoroughly bored by life.

Anyway, I feel sad now. So I'm off to McDonalds. Then work. Then blah blah blah blah.

A great book.

Oh Zenith - city of Zip, Zing and Zowie. Babbitt the Booster is a fairly stupid man going through his midlife crisis, as to some degree is Zenith, and by extension the nation. Am I reading too much into this? Anyway it's sparkling (despite the 90 years' distance) with gorgeously genuine 1920s detail - in fact it seems almost TOO modern for the period, but can't be as it was published in 1922.

Expertly put together too, in that Babbitt is a boor really, an unthinking hypocrite (except during his rather hilarious liberal phase), and still is sympathetic.

Takes a small leap of faith to see the 'gee' and 'he-man' references as contemporary language and not the cheesy shorthand that it might seem to be if this were a nostalgic novel - rather than one about flappers, unions, zip and pep written in the midst of it all.

Yes, I know it's considered an all-time classic, but to me it was only okay, maybe more like 3.5 stars. More interesting as a character study than as a story (which didn't really go anywhere), it's easy to grow to hate the title character, whose only real interests seem to be status, self indulgence,and betrayal (both of people and principles). The author certainly was successful in describing all-too-common character traits of too many people.

Successful businessman George Babbit has a mid-life crisis and struggles to express his individuality in a conformist society. Social hypocrisy and middle class mediocrities are skewered cleverly. Surprisingly modern as the themes of conformity, personal dissatisfaction, and the hollowness of material success continue to resonate today.

Another of the muckrackers series I read in highschool. Not bad.

Lewis' portrait of the striving middle class is just as appropriate for today's society as it was when he wrote it. His critique of the ideal citizen rings just as true now as then. The hypocracy is just as obvious, and the reward for 'virtue' just as strong. When one of the good fellows starts to think through his position and criticize it, he is ostracized for his unorthodox thoughts, for becoming a red, even though he's nothing close to it. The worst of the red-baiting was yet to come when Lewis wrote Babbitt, but he captures the idea of it pretty well, and the modern parallel seems to be anti-muslim sentiment.

One of the more interesting recurring themes in the book is discussing the benefit of Prohibition while flouting. In good society, one must always discuss the virutes of Prohibition, especially for the lower classes who need it, so as not to exceed in their imbibing. "Congress didn't understand the right system. Now, if I'd been running the thing, I'd have arranged it so that the drinker himself was licensed, and then we could have taken care of the shiftless workman - kept him from drinking - and yet not 've interfered with the rights - with the personal liberty - of fellows like ourselves." The sentiment of this statement seems to be expressed constantly by various groups still today. Let's take away the rights that these people certainly cannot be trusted with, but make sure we still get to exercise them. It seems preposterous to say who can and cannot have a drink, based on another man's opinion of him, but yet we seem to think it's alright for a number of other activities...

In Babbitt's world, the Good Citizen is the ideal citizen, the man who knows what's best for society and does it, without complaining. He enjoys what he is supposed to enjoy (the modest benefits of a modern, consumerist society), and loathes what he's supposed to loathe (anyone that business leaders tell you is threatening the current situation). They all strive to have the same marks of good taste and mild affluence - "These standard advertised wares - toothpastes, socks, tires, cameras, instantaneous hot-water heaters - were his symbols and proofs of excellence." But most importantly, it's important to remember that that which is an ideal in the Good Citizen is a fault when it is in someone else, especially if it is a vice and they are poorer than you or the good thing is too exclusive for you to take part in it and they are of a higher class.

If you like Sinclair Lewis, you'll like Babbit.