A Cavity of the Soul that had me by the Crown

The first part of this novel was slow. I was frustrated enough (almost) to just pull the bookmark out and walk away. But soon Norris had me by the crown. Look people, if you are going to only read one literary work on Mammon's folly, on the parsimonious middle-child of the Seven Deadly Sins, THIS should to be the one. It focuses on McTeague and his wife Trina, but several other characters play almost equally important roles in examining avarice's many, obsessive faces. There are scavengers, hoarders, manipulators, thieves, etc.

Inserted into the novel, however, is one of the most beautiful and sad love stories in literature. Miss Baker and Mister Grannis, two older boarders and neighbors of the McTeagues, live in adjoining rooms in a boarding house. Each room has the same wallpaper, suggesting that the rooms used to be just one room. Mister Grannis spends his nights binding periodicals while Miss Baker makes tea and rocks near their shared wall. Each, silently, spends the evening sharing their divided space. Barely separated, each is comforted by the others presence. It is beautiful, a modern Pyramus and Thisbē, and a nice counterweight to all the gold lust and penny pinching. I don't know if I would have been able to survive the hardcore, step-by-step, drop of the McTeagues and their ilk into Dante's fourth circle without the uplifting, kind, and selfless older couple that shoots one warm ray into this novel's cold, dead roots.

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A Long-Awaited Audio Book

I first bought McTeague as a used book around 1980 because I had read that a great silent film that I had yet to see, Greed, was based on it. It took me a while to get around to reading it, but when I did it grabbed me from the first page to the last. The movie based on it is also great, by the way, which is especially surprising considering how severely cut it was by the studio. I had checked off and on all these years for an audio version of the book, so needless to say I was pleased to see that one had finally been recorded.

As expected, I thoroughly enjoyed it. The story is very dark but frequently very funny. It added to the experience that I listened to most of it in San Francisco, which is where the novel takes place about ten years before the big earthquake of 1906. I was already somewhat familiar with the narrator, Wolfram Kandinsky, and always thought he was pretty good. At the beginning, I found myself wishing that a reader with a more spellbinding voice had been chosen for this book. However, that thought soon went away because Mr Kandinsky is an excellent actor. He's great with all the various characters and the variety of accents. He is also impressive at depicting emotion. Don't miss the wonderful scenery-chewing moment he gives Trina in the latter part of the book. You'll see what I mean when you get to it.

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Ruined in narration

I enjoyed this book years ago; was fortunate enough to have seen the silent movie; and had been looking forward to having it read to me. I have listened for less than 20 minutes so far and find that it has been absolutely ruined by the narrator to the point where I'm just going to go find a print edition. I can take a so-so narrator if a book is good, and even an over-the-top one. I could probably even put up with this reader's grating voice and missed emphasis on words and punctuation, but I just can't deal with his weirdly sarcastic tone. Frank Norris wrote this as social satire; his characters let you know that as they emerge; it doesn't need someone's heavy-handed interpretation. Be warned.

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brutal realism

I don't know when I've spent 14 hours with such unpleasant characters (probably not since I listened to Zola's _Nana_, q.v.). It took me halfway through the first part to get used to Kandinsky's style. Though I appreciated that he has the vocal range to do women's voices expressively, his rendition of McTeague reminded me of Ed Brown of Flumdiddle fame. The book picks up with a change of scene halfway through the second (last) part, and I hadn't expected the gut-wrenching ending, so Norris gets points there both for structure and emotion. (I was walking the dog as I listened to the end, and I do believe it made me "vociferate" aloud.) I live in the San Francisco bay area, so I enjoyed the description of the dogs sleeping on the sanded floor of the Cliff House while McTeague and Marcus enjoy their beers, and I could picture Trina taking a break from housework, leaning out the bay window of her flat to talk to a neighbor on Polk Street below. BTW, this is NOT a bedtime book, and as I listened, I thought "*this* will never be a screenplay," but I've since learned that Erich von Stroheim adapted the book for his 1924 "Greed," starring Gibson Gowland and Zasu Pitts, one of the most famous "lost films" of cinematic history.

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Coaster Ride of One Man's Life

If you could sum up McTeague in three words, what would they be?

money corrupts all

Who was your favorite character and why?

McTeague's wife. Kept hoping she would do the right thing.

Which scene was your favorite?

When wife would not give McTeague any money, leaving him to walk the streets.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

There were a lot of twists and turns I did not expect. I liked that.

Any additional comments?

This is not a book you will play over and over in your mind. However, a good read none the less. Basically, a journey of one man's life....money....and choices.

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Not able to finish the book!!!

Oration stopped mid 15 th chapter, just when I got really hooked.
Unable to finish the book.

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Great narrator!

Kandinsky did a great job narrating this book with multiple voices for each character. Highly recommend!

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I like it

I like it. I read this decades ago. I think the narrator’s performance adds the the pleasure of the book this time.

Mediocre

I kept hoping that this story would get better, but ended up disappointed. The narrator was excellent though

You Won't Make Small of McTeague

"Gold is where you find it." --McTeague

Oh Naturalism, how you speak to this card-carrying member of Generation X. How wildly important it is for us to make conscious, deliberate decisions for ourselves. How tragic is the alternative that human nature provides.

Sure: Norris' dialogs are long-winded, but this is offset by Kandinsky's lovely period narration. There's no in between with Kandinsky in this title: you will either love him or hate him.

Spoiler pocket notes (tl;dr) below.


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<SPOILERS>
Dentist - Sheltered from society. Giant. Simple minded.
Friend - Ebullient, drinking buddy. Half baked opinions.
dressmaker - sheltered.
Trina - unlocking his manhood in the dentist chair. Cousin of friend. Kissed by McTeague while under ether.
Rivalry with Friend for Trina.
Zirkov - gold gold gold!
Markus lets McT have Trina. Good friends. Dogs fight in backyard.
"The man desiring the woman only for what she withholds, the woman worshipping the man for that what she yields up to him."
"Er... I don't know what I want!" (at the ticket booth).
Enjoying projections of themselves at the theater.
"...the lottery was a great charity, the friend of the people, a vast beneficent machine that recognized neither rank nor wealth nor station."
Pole jealous of winnings. Marcus jealous that he isn't with Trina and the (more important!?) money.
Trina economical. Falling deeper in love.
Marcus pissed. Mac content with tooth gift. Starts losing the ability to sleep.
"An immense joy seized upon him: the joy of possession"
"Yielding all at once to that stage desire of being conquered and subdued."
"Trians affection for her old bear grew in spite of herself. She began to love him more and more, not for what he was but for what she had given up to him."
Mac and marcus fight. Mac breaks marcus' arm.
Maria and Zirkov marry. Baby born and died. There are no gold plates, Zirkov gets violent. Marcus protects Maria, takes Zs knife away.
Marcus moves away. Life is happy with Trina. Served quack notice, probably via Marcus. Trina wished Mac would have killed him.
Moved into flat. Keeps tooth, wedding photo and bouquet. Trina hordes money and lies. Mac took manufacturers job, but gets fired in hard times.
Trina takes his comp. Trina thinks hes hounding money. Mac outraged, soaking wet with whiskey from friend. It's all Trina's fault from Macs perspective.
Trina loves her money. Commiserate with Maria, both are abused. Maria now murdered, Zirkov apparent suicide.
Old neighbor crying over selling out book binding, but finds love with dressmaker.
Trina traumatized by nightmares, Mac hits her to fall asleep.
Mac walks alone all day, eats fish that he catches.
Murders Trina. Goes roaming to the coal mine, train south to ranch.
Death valley. Rattlesnake. Going mad in total silence.
</SPOILERS>