The Rise of Silas Lapham

Book Review 3 of 5 stars to The Rise of Silas Lapham by William Dean Howells. Most of the works of literature that made up the canon during the late nineteenth century were classified as realistic literature. These realistic works resembled life as realistically as possible, ranging from......more

Ξεκίνησα το παρόν βιβλίο όπως κάθε άλλο της σειράς Orbis Literae, χωρίς δηλαδή να διαβάσω το οπισθόφυλλο και με τυφλή εμπιστοσύνη στους επιμελητές της σειράς. Διάβασα τις πρώτες 100+ σελίδες σε διάστημα μιας εβδομάδας χωρίς να βρω κάτι το ιδιαίτερο και χωρίς να καταλάβω πού ακριβώς το πάει ο συγγραφ......more

Recently, I was looking over some of my old notes on classics that I've read; that list isn't as long as I'd like, but it was also startling to note how few of the books on it I've actually reviewed on Goodreads. I try to make time to do a book review roughly every week, and if I'm not reviewing a b......more

This is a good American novel which is well shy of greatness because the author's characters read with a few exceptions more like simple archetypes of the American Dream. The novel concerns the eponymous Silas who has discovered a paint mine and brought his high quality paint to market. His business......more

From the very first paragraph, this felt as comfortable as putting on old comfy clothes and stretching out in the recliner. I read this in Complete Works of William Dean Howells where there is a very short introduction. I was reminded that Howells is among those of a group of realist writers. My fav......more