The Jungle (1906)

I read this book while working as a bike messenger, often at the time delivering in what was historically the meat packing district of Chicago, now the west-loop. A location for expensive apartments, mixed used office spaces and very expensive dining. And there is still a few places that chop up dead animals. I think feeling the historical connection to space added a since of depth to this book for me. One of my favorite books of all time. ( )

Como novelista, Upton Sinclair se adscribe al hiperrealismo naturalista americano. Esta novela es tan descarnada y describe de tal modo la industria cárnica de la época, que a los seis meses de ser publicada cambiaron las leyes alimentarias en Estados Unidos, por lo cual se la considera una de las obras de narrativa más social y políticamente influyentes del siglo XX en la literatura norteamericana. ( )

I feel the need to review this book in two ways: as an impactful literary work, and as a pleasurable read. Clearly The Jungle had an enormous impact on food safety in America. (Perhaps less immediate impact on worker rights and Socialist politics than Sinclair intended.) I did learn a lot about the state of factories, living conditions, and immigration during the early 1900s. Truly awful! Definitely a cautionary tale of the evils of unbridled Capitalism. Though the purist Socialist dogma at the end didn't really speak to me either. Perhaps this is due to hindsight and my own bias as a child of the Cold War Era.

I found the writing and narrative of The Jungle to be decidedly old fashioned. Could have used a heavy edit and cut by >100 pages. (I think it was published serially in a newspaper?) The episodic adventures of Jurgis got a little tired by the end. I had some sympathy for him, but not as much as I feel I should have. I found myself skimming over long passages of woe and preaching.

Definitely a worthwhile read to appreciate how far the U.S. has come, and still see a glimmer of how easily we could go backward! Not a pleasure read for a vacation though. (Note: Not an easy read if you have a weak stomach). ( )

I thought of a couple of subtitles to this work: American Horror Story and the Flip side of the American Dream. The working conditions of the early Twentieth-Century were truly horrific makes one thankful of the social safety net among other things. ( )

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