The Titan
The Titan
Book Excerpt
hree weeks, or I'll send for you. I'd take you now, only I don't know how that country is out there. We'll fix on some place, and then you watch me settle this fortune question. We'll not live under a cloud always. I'll get a divorce, and we'll marry, and things will come right with a bang. Money will do that."
He looked at her with his large, cool, penetrating eyes, and she clasped his cheeks between her hands.
"Oh, Frank," she exclaimed, "I'll miss you so! You're all I have."
"In two weeks," he smiled, as the train began to move, "I'll wire or be back. Be good, sweet."
She followed him with adoring eyes--a fool of love, a spoiled child, a family pet, amorous, eager, affectionate, the type so strong a man would naturally like--she tossed her pretty red gold head and waved him a kiss. Then she walked away with rich, sinuous, healthy strides--the type that men turn to look after.
"That's her--that's that Butler girl," observed one railroad clerk to another. "Gee! a man wouldn
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Although it has lengths, I still rate this as excellent, not only because of the superb writing, but also for the clarity with which the protagonist mocks all the then existing conservatism and bigotry. I'm not sorry for Aileen, she had all but didn't use it to her advantage. I'm however not sure if Berenice is better. The women of that time were overpriviledged anyway.
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The Titan is the second book in Dreiser's Trilogy of Desire - the first book being The Financier.
I was disappointed in this book compared to The Financier which I rated 5 stars. In The Titan Frank Cowperwood continues to build his financial empire, stopping at nothing, including bribery of elected officials to further his goals. He engages in multiple love affairs, discarding women at whim, mindless of the effects his reckless behavior has on his wife and marriage. The financial schemes drone on endlessly. He survives all sorts of plots to demolish him and his riches, and starts life anew with a young wife, after discarding the old Aileen. I was bored and could barely finish this book. Still, it merits a 3 rating for Dreiser's superb writing style, but not for the plot.
I was disappointed in this book compared to The Financier which I rated 5 stars. In The Titan Frank Cowperwood continues to build his financial empire, stopping at nothing, including bribery of elected officials to further his goals. He engages in multiple love affairs, discarding women at whim, mindless of the effects his reckless behavior has on his wife and marriage. The financial schemes drone on endlessly. He survives all sorts of plots to demolish him and his riches, and starts life anew with a young wife, after discarding the old Aileen. I was bored and could barely finish this book. Still, it merits a 3 rating for Dreiser's superb writing style, but not for the plot.
07/02/2009