Pulitzer Prize winning novel, 1938.
This book is a gentle satire of Boston high society at the turn of century from the 1800s to the 1900s. It is written in the form of a biography of the fictional character, George Apley, presented through the letters and other papers written by George and his friends.
George was born with a gold spoon in his mouth. His father was a very successful businessman, with his finger in many pies. But the Apleys are a conservative family who did not approve of extravagance or ostentation and George never realized how very wealthy his father was until after his father died.
George's family were strict conformists, devoted to their place in Boston society. They really didn't care to associate with anyone who wasn't of their class. In fact, members of their society who dared to live just a little differently were ostracized and their names never mentioned again.
It's a good thing that George was born to money because he was really just an average guy. If he had been born to a lower class family he would have ended up a shoe salesman like Al Bundy.
About the most shocking thing George ever did was fall in love with an Irish girl. His parents were so upset by this that they packed him off to Europe to get him away from her influence. George just went along with their plan even though by this time he was a young man in college.
George always did what he felt was expected of him. Yet he always felt that somehow he was missing out. Towards the end of his life, he looked back and thought that he had never really accomplished anything. He never actually had to work at anything, and although he served on lots of committees and belonged to all the best clubs, he still felt unfulfilled.
George's kids grew up in the 1920s and they were not buying into George's ideals.
At one point he advised his son to undertake the same activities that have left George feeling so empty, because it is what is expected of an Apley. But his son headed off to New York and then ended up marrying a divorcee, oh, the disgrace! Even worse the daughter married a penniless newspaper man and moved out West.
I guess that George's man problem was that he was not a man, he was a mouse. He never learned to stand on his own two feet, even after his parents died. He never tried to live life on his own terms. By the time he is an old man, he thought that maybe his kids were right to refuse to conform to the Boston standard. And he hoped that they find life happier because of their freedom, freedom he never allowed himself to experience.
I didn't really care for this book. It was boring. Just like old George.
Review by Martha Spaulding in The Atlantic: https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2004/05/-martini-age-victorian/302954/.
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