The Jungle

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Summary: RoCky's Review
Review: Title: The Jungle Author: Upton Sinclair

Summary: This book is about one African American who came to Chicago to start a family. He struggled through diseases and most important is racist. He was put into jail and was taken away a several times to work like a slave. He finally got a job to afford his family with food and shelter. Will he live happy or will he be taken away again.? Only he can find out.

I would recommend this book to a friend because this story shows a lot on racist and how blacks were treated. So this would be a very interesting and exciting book for someone to read.

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Summary: Annotation
Review: Written in 1906, this Replica Classic depicts the plight of the workingman and the chaos of urban life at the turn of the century. Sinclair, a champion of political and social reform, tells a story so shocking that it led to a government investigation and the eventual implementation of regulations on the food industry.

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Summary: BORING
Review: The book is too detailed and it is too long

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Summary: The Jungle- Although gruesome, signifigant
Review: Upton Sinclair's The Jungle was a rather gruesome, depressing and dreary book that seem to drag on and on. The morbid descriptions of the meat packing industry often made me cringe; however, when you consider the politcal and social implications that this book had on American society, it is worth another consideration. Although not pleasurable reading, this book still served as a rewarding reading experience for me. I recomend The Jungle because of its thematic implications and discussion of moral issues.

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Summary: Disgusting but so awesome!
Review: I thought this book was extremely disgusting the way he described all the little details from sawdust on the floor to people actually getting killed and put into the meat. I think this book is recommended for anyone who really wants a gross out and for anyone who actually wants to fully understand the meat packign industry and the conditions of a very unhealthy working environment!

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Summary: InTerEsTinG...but...technically....boRinG toOOoo...
Review: I find sinclair to be real redundant and descriptive. maybe a little too descriptive...to the point where i find myself nearly falling deep deep asleep. on the other hand, his main objective of the book really got throught to society. his books was a motivation for political action. and i find that worth the praise of anyone. but really, must it take 349pages to get the message through! consider the poor illirate teenagers who are forced to read this book. its a type of torment. but then again, thanks to sinclair, there was a reform to all this injustice. getting to da point, personally, i detest this book with my upmost passion....

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Summary: The Most Boring Book
Review: I dislike reading and if you do too...please do not attempt to pick up this book. It describes about meat and capitalism/socialism the entired book. I guess its supposed to make us for sympathy for immigrants which we should....

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Summary: Great Beginning. Terrible Ending
Review: The Jungle starts out as a compelling story about Jurgis his family and their struggle for the "American Dream". Sinclair does a wonderful job conveying just how horrible life was in Packingtown. Sadly the last third of the book falls into a sermon about the glories of socialism. Sinclair had a great story going. We can only wish that he had finished it.

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Summary: You may become a vegetarian.
Review: This is nearly a must read for those interested in the history of capitalism in the United States. Sinclair makes it very obvious that we need to at least have governmental control of industries because a lack of control leads to conditions that are painfully explicated in this novel. Moreover, Sinclair's descriptions of the practices at a meat packing plant bring into full view the barbarism involved in turning living flesh into products that you can put on a shelf. That said, Sinclair's literary style is weak at times because it tends toward direct statement rather than artistic expression. Sinclair also tends toward preachiness about alcohol consumption. This does not detract value of reading this work, and I fully intend to read more of his exposes.

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Summary: Obviously still a necessary book!
Review: Yes, this book is relentlessly depressing and falls apart at the end. So why are my students reading it in our class "In Search of the American Dream"? Because Jurgis and Ona and their families could be any of us whose grandparents came over from Europe (though it's true that Sinclair lumped together the horrific experiences of many individuals and visited them upon one fictional family in this novel). Because Sinclair, who was proud to be a muckraker, witnessed an ocean of human degradation and suffering, not to mention appalling food prep conditions, in his time in the stockyards, and it was important to him that readers who thought themselves worlds away from "those immigrants in Packingtown" realized how closely their lives were connected. Because in America, despite our country's problems, including dismissive, privileged ignorance such as the previous reviewer's, we can tell the truth that we are free to speak, and when people actually listen, all kinds of change become possible. (Sinclair knew his ending didn't do justice to the rest of the work, by the way ... a consequence of trying to change a novel into a Socialist pamphlet at the last minute.) But in terms of historical influence as well as its contemporary relevance, The Jungle deserves our attention.