The Turmoil

I read The Turmoil because it's the first in a three book series, the second of which is [b:The Magnificent Ambersons 127028 The Magnificent Ambersons Booth Tarkington http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171925907s/127028.jpg 365539], a Pulitzer winner. I'd also previously read Tarkington's [b:Penrod 601107 Penrod (Penguin Classics) Booth Tarkington http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1176173780s/601107.jpg 587698] which became one of my all-time favorites. So, how did The Turmoil stack up? It's not hilarious as Penrod, though there are some really funny parts. It's also not as much of a vocabulary lesson, but it definitely stands on its own as a book worth reading. It took some time to grow on me, but grow on me it did, and by the end I, who have maybe cried at the ending of three books in my entire life, couldn't hold back a tear or two. The Turmoil was written well into the Industrial Revolution and as such, the story revolves heavily around business and industry. In some ways this book reminded me of Garrett's [b:The Driver 4495288 The Driver Garet Garrett http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/31RtrJbXVLL.SL75.jpg 4544232]. The themes are similar and both have love stories intertwined. Only The Driver is clearly a pro-capitalism, pro-business and anti-intervention book. The Turmoil seems to take the opposite stance, but is more subtle. It heavily criticizes the downsides of the constant striving for “bigness,” both on the land and on those who are wrapped up in the struggle, but it's not an out and out disparagement of business and growth. The theme of the book is actually more about work versus art, love and beauty, or perhaps to state it more concisely, the role of work in life.The main character is Bibbs, the sickly son of the recently made, rich and powerful businessman Mr. Sheridan. Bibbs is a poet at heart and has no natural inclination for business, preferring instead to sit, think and write. In his own words, “The rooster and the prosperous worker: they are born, they grub, they love; they grub and love grubbing; they grub and they die. Neither knows beauty; neither knows knowledge.” Bibb's character is almost cartoonish in his unflinching aversion for work and his love of poetry. His father is the opposite. He can't see any purpose for having children other than as heirs to his business. Work is his god, his greatest goal and highest virtue is “to make two blades o' grass grow where one grew before!” Bibbs to him is “a mighty funny boy, and some ways I reckon he's pretty near as hard to understand as the [b:Bible 7244 The Poisonwood Bible Barbara Kingsolver http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165609814s/7244.jpg 810663].” The book is the complex interplay between these two characters, Sheridan's other children, and their, now poor, old-money neighbors, particularly their daughter, Mary.It's a beautiful and relevant story. Despite the focus on business, it is a story about humanity; our need to provide, our innate desire for growth and the value of the precious series of moments that we call life.“Ugly I am but never forget that I AM a god! The highest should serve, but so long as you worship me for my own sake I will not serve you. It is man who makes me ugly, by his worship of me. If man would let me serve him, I should be beautiful!”