This was Sinclair Lewis’ first published book for grown-ups. It was about a milquetoast kind of guy who lives not far from where I grew up in NYC who quits his job and travels to Europe looking for adventure. But he’s actually a pretty bourgeois guy so he doesn’t want too much adventure. He meets a young bohemian woman who seemed just like the kind of unreliable bright young thing you would still meet today. She was probably my favorite part of the book because she was so vivid and realistic. But when Mr. Wrenn gets back to NYC it seems to him that he’d be better off with a more normal young lady—like this nice girl he’s just met. The downfall of this book: racism. I did enjoy it when I read it but it was strangely forgettable. I brought it on a trip with me thinking I hadn’t read it yet and I was dumbfounded when I opened it up and realized I’d just read it a few weeks earlier. But what’s to blame here, the book? Or the lack of cover art? Or my demented mind? ( )

This was sweet (un-PC word choices aside). I love the idea that you can take control of a bland existence and reshape your life at any age.

Also the librivox recording is pretty okay. ( )

Subtitled: The Romantic Adventures of a Gentleman. Published in 1914 This was Sinclair Lewis’ first novel and it owes an awful lot to H G Well’s the History of Mr Polly, although Mr Wrenn is set mainly in New York. Mr Wrenn is in his late thirties when we take up his story; he is working for the Souvenir company pushing forward ideas for new products it is an undemanding job and Mr Wrenn lives in fear of his manager as do most of his colleagues. He is a bachelor and his life revolves around his job, the Moving Picture Palace that he visits most days and his dreams of visiting far off places. He reads all he can about exotic travel locations and his head is filled with adventure stories, all his spare money is saved for his travelling fund, but it looks certain that he will never get to spend it, until one day he inherits enough money to become independent.

Mr Wrenn is a kind gentle man who is also lonely and he craves friendship, his inheritance changes everything for him because now he can live his dreams if he can dare himself to do so. He books a working passage on a cattle steamer heading for England and learns more about people and friendship than he ever did working for the Souvenir company. In England he travels to London where he meets Istra a wilful independent redhead. He is both fascinated and frightened of her artsy lifestyle, but she needs a kindly friend and sees in the innocent but brash American an ideal companion in her times of need. They embark on a foolhardy walking tour because Istra wants a little adventure and when she bails out and escapes to Paris, Mr Wrenn finds he is homesick for his previous life and returns to America. He gets his old job back, but now with added confidence he is able to make real progress and in addition he has discovered enough about himself to venture into making friends with other individuals. He finds new lodgings in a friendly household and romance is in the air with one of his fellow residents, but then unexpectedly Istra comes to New York and bursts back into his life.

The novel contains a well rounded portrait of a lonely bachelor clinging to a hum drum life in a big city, there must have been thousands of people like him and the book evokes this state of being very well. The readers sympathy is always with Billy Wrenn and although we might cringe at his unworldliness we are pleased at his hesitant progress. Other characters are also successfully drawn in what turns out to be a rather slight novel. There is very little humour and absolutely no satire and it lacks the depth that H G Wells achieved in his History of Mr Polly. A novel of its time that was content to break no new ground and today has an antiquated feel but is entertaining nonetheless if you are in the mood for a light read. A harmless three stars. ( )

Our Mr. Wrenn is a Caspar Milquetoast of a man who finally breaks out of his timid life and travels to England to find love and adventure. He succeeds in both, and returns to his old job and life with renewed strength and confidence. A minor novel, but Mr. Wrenn is a well-written and sympathetic character. ( )