Henry Blake Fuller (1857–1929)

This starts out very slow, but picks up after the middle of the book, where everything falls to pieces for the characters.

Taking place in Chicago at the end of the 19th century, it's about the lives of a handful of people who are ready to"clean up" capitalistic-wise. There're suckers to be had, so why not take them. They all do business in a"gigantic" (14-story) skyscraper called The Clifton.

I would have given this 2.5 stars, but I just love this type of storyline: where rich people claw their way over each other, even fooking over their own family members, to make money. And then they reap what they sowed. Hahaha. Does my heart good.

Here's a quote from an especially loathsome character; the owner of the bank at the base of the Clifton. One of his daughters is smitten with a gigolo-type singer in the choir of her church (he is actually paid for this), because he "sings like an angel." She tells her father she "will marry him." Her father forbids it, and when she goes ahead and marries the no-good bum, and ends up beaten, and abandoned, and pregnant, he refuses to even look at her. His other daughter, who is a living saint, implores him to help her:
P.122-3:
"The wretch had struck his daughter - a brutal, hateful thing as regarded his daughter or any daughter or any other woman; but his daughter had defied him, overridden him, and the man whom she had chosen for a master was now the instrument of her punishment. The accounts appeared to balance. However, figures do lie, and his own agitation indicated that the x of human emotion had not been completely eliminated from his problem.
He cleared his throat. 'she has made her bed, Abbie,' he said in a husky tone, 'and now she must lie on it.'

Hateful, hateful thing to do to your own child. But I had experience with this From my own mother.

The language is very old-fashioned and at times, laborious. This author had a big verbal lexicon.
… (mehr)

Bertram Cope is a young man who's gone off to study at college and quickly taken in by Medora Phillips, a wealthy society woman. Bertram falls into their world quickly and Mrs. Phillips tries her best to set him up with several of the eligible young women in her circle. But Bertram's focus is only on Arthur, his friend and eventual housemate. But not everyone is as enamored of Arthur as Bertram is, and that can prove to be a problem.

This book is definitely a product of its time, having been written in 1918. The humor here is a bit haughty and almost reminded me a bit of an Oscar Wilde comedy. There is no steamy scenes here and the romantic overtones are subtle, but for the early 1900s, I can't help wondering if this was a bit of a groundbreaking story for its time.… (mehr)

Bertram Cope spends a year to complete his master's degree, and his appearance at the small university town attracts the attention of the local society circle. Pursued by by the indomitable Mrs Medora Phillips and her young female charges who compete with now not so young Basil Randolph for the new student's attention, the hapless young Bertram tries to make the best of it and satisfy his admires, and along the way inadvertently becomes a little too attached to one or other of Medora's girls. Bertram's only hope is for the arrival of his very close friend Arthur to rescue him.

A charming read, a mild comedy of manners with the handsome slender Bertram the centre of attention for some and for those who know him less well more a topic for amusement or even annoyance. Set in the early C20th this is very much of its time, and the gay undercurrent while never openly addressed is more than apparent in both the relationship between Bertram and Arthur, and in Randolph's intense interest in the young man.… (mehr)