by John P. Marquand
When I first picked this up, I had my doubts. The title page advertises it as "A novel in the form of a memoir." I thought it would be slow, one of those books you're forced to read in school and then you'll never read it again. But I actually enjoyed this novel. Published in 1937 it is ultimately a satire of the upper echelons of Boston society beginning with George Apley's birth in 1866 and ending with his death in 1933. It was a bestseller and won the Pulitzer Prize in 1938.
The novel's main point is that we cannot escape our place in life no matter how hard we may try. George Apley, the main character, speaks of this throughout the book; during his childhood and throughout his adult life he always mentions that he feels as though he is never really away from Boston. Whenever he takes a trip he feels as though he takes Boston with him because he travels with a group. As he says after taking a tour of England and France, "...I have been impressed by a similarity existing between almost every scene, the reason for which I think I chanced upon today. It seems to me that all this time a part of Boston has been with me. I am a raisin in a slice of pie which has been conveyed from one plate to another. I have moved; I have seen plate after plate; but all the other raisins have been around me in the same relation to me as they were when we were all baked."
Is it true that we can't escape our position in life? George Apley seems to realize this, but does not try to fight it. When he has his own son, John, he tells him the same thing he has realized; you can't run away from where you come from.
It's amusing to read abut George Apley's struggle with changing conventions during the 1920s. He is forced to adapt to changing ways, especially with regards to young people. "You and I know that all this idea of sex is largely 'bosh.' I can frankly say that sex has not played a dominant part in my own life, and I trust that it has not in yours. No right-thinking man permits his mind to dwell upon such things, and the same must be true of women."
Apley also mentions Hemingway's 'The Sun Also Rises'. "This Hemingway is obviously not a gentleman nor are his characters gentlemen or ladies, yet I am broad-minded enough to admit that the man has a certain startling and crude power, although I feel he resorts to artistically unfair sensational and mechanical tricks."
At 354 pages this novel is actually a quick read, styled through letters and with chapters lasting no longer than eighteen pages, you'll be through this in no time. Although you may not agree with the main themes and questions the novel presents, it's still thought provoking and worth the time to sit down and enjoy.
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