TheGreatAmericanNovel

From the incredible @TheBookbabeblog84 : PBS will be airing a new series called The Great American Read in May....and I am always interested in what people believe is #TheGreatAmericanNovel?

It's really tough. Which best typifies excellent literature & the American experience?

Maybe it'll help if we break this down by time period. Which book is the best:

Pre-1800:
1800-1850:
1851-1900:
1901-1950:
1951-2000:
2001-Present:

#BookTalk

chuckstar158 My most recent favorite for the Great American Novel spans a few of those eras. The Son by Phillipp Meyer. It covered generations of a Southern Texas family. It felt like a realistic story that didn‘t rose colored glass the American success story.

The Son

(edited) 6y

DGRachel I hate these “what is the great American novel” things because Literature is subjective. I had an American Literature professor who claimed Moby Dick was “THE Great American Novel” and said every literature student owed it to themselves to read that book. IT IS AN AWFUL NOVEL! It was so tedious, it took me an entire summer to get through, but I refuse to believe I‘m not a real Lit student because I hated MD. *end rant* (sorry) 😔 6y

MrBook @chuckstar158 That's a great one! 6y

See All 20 Comments

Kimberlone All the way

The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: Abridged & Adapted Classics

MrBook @DGRachel Ahhh, no need to be sorry 🤗. I didn't much care for MD either. I don't think it can be THE Great American Novel since it captures only one very narrow bit of Americana--coastal New England 19th-Century whaling. I'm thinking broader representation needs to be considered for TGAN. MD deserves its respected status, but it's too...I don't know...distant maybe? It doesn't transcend eras well. 6y

MrBook @Kimberlone You're definitely not alone with that choice 😁. 6y

Ubookquitous I can‘t imagine picking one- to diverse a nation to say any captures the American experience. I think many on the list wonderfully shows a part of it for some people 6y

Schlinkles I think it‘s less about what the “great American novel” is and more about what the most beloved novel of the majority of Americans is. 6y

tracy.m.ng Ohhh this is an interesting question. I do love Catcher in the Rye and Of nice and men

Of Mice and Men

DGRachel @Kimberlone I love me some Mark Twain. 😂😍 6y

MrBook Here's my choices per time-period:

Pre-1800:
Diary (Samuel Seward)

1800-1850:
The Last of the Mohicans
The Scarlet Letter

1851-1900:
The Adventures of Huck Finn

1901-1950:
The Great Gatsby
The Grapes of Wrath

1951-2000:
To Kill A Mockingbird
The Killer Angels

2001-Present:
MiddleSex
The Goldfinch 6y

azulaco I love your choices @MrBook 6y

dsfisher The Killer Angels surprised me but I totally agree and To Kill a Mockingbird definitely belongs. I am not a fan of either The Great Gatsby or The Grapes of Wrath. These lists are always so subjective @DGRachel 6y

MrBook @azulaco Thank you ☺️?! @dsfisher They are! I think that makes it fun though ☺️?! I don't know if there can be a "right" answer. Same thing with the "100 Greatest Films" lists, lol. But...the original "The Twilight Zone" is the best tv series of all time, without question ???. I wound up reading TKA 5 different times for pleasure and then classes, lol, and getting so in-depth with it, I've been persuaded it's one of the seminal works. (edited) 6y

Graywacke Love your choices. Maybe could break up 1951-2000. I might slip in Beloved. Maybe Suttree or Infinite Jest too, or maybe not. MD needs some love. Definitely not a mainstream American novel then or ever, but a special forwarded thinking subversive book that handles atheism and homosexuality addressed to 1840‘s hyper conservative New England!! (edited) 6y

Bourriquet76 I‘m bad at years, but To Kill a Mockingbird should be near the top. Kurt Vonnegut needs an entry too, though my favorite of his is not his most popular (Slapstick). 6y

TheBookbabeblog84 Thanks for sharing ♥️ 6y

britt_brooke I‘m currently rereading To Kill a Mockingbird. It‘s one of my favorites and such an amazing and timeless piece. It gets my vote. 💚

To Kill a Mockingbird

(edited) 6y

britt_brooke @Bourriquet76 I completely agree with To Kill a Mockingbird. Also a Vonnegut fan here. 💚 His books are so timely. 6y

britt_brooke @MrBook I‘ve read a few of your choices, but not all. Great list! I plan to (finally, at the urging of my husband) read Killer Angels this year., (edited) 6y

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