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    Babbitt
    Babbitt
    Babbitt
    Audiobook13 hours

    Babbitt

    Written by Sinclair Lewis

    Narrated by David Colacci

    3.5/5

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    About this audiobook

    In this sardonic portrait of the up-and-coming middle class during the prosperous 1920s, Sinclair Lewis perfectly captures the sound, the feel, and the attitudes of the generation that created the cult of consumerism. With a sharp eye for detail and keen powers of observation, Lewis tracks successful realtor George Babbitt's daily struggles to rise to the top of his profession while maintaining his reputation as an upstanding family man.

    On the surface, Babbitt appears to be the quintessential middle-class embodiment of conservative values and enthusiasm for the well-to-do lifestyle of the small entrepreneur. But beneath the complacent facade, he also experiences a rising, nameless discontent. These feelings eventually lead Babbitt into risky escapades that threaten his family and his standing in the community.

    Though published eighty years ago, this acerbic depiction of majority Americans, obsessed with success, material comfort, and midlife doubt, still rings true.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateDec 13, 2010
    ISBN9781452670218
    Author

    Sinclair Lewis

    Nobel Prize-winning writer Sinclair Lewis (1885-1951) is best known for novels like Main Street, Babbitt, Arrowsmith (for which he was awarded but declined the Pulitzer Prize), and Elmer Gantry. A writer from his youth, Lewis wrote for and edited the Yale Literary Magazine while a student, and started his literary career writing popular stories for magazines and selling plots to other writers like Jack London. Lewis’s talent for description and creating unique characters won him the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1930, making him the first American writer to win the prestigious award. Considered to be one of the “greats” of American literature, Lewis was honoured with a Great Americans series postage stamp, and his work has been adapted for both stage and screen.

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    Reviews for Babbitt

    3.5/5

    53 ratings48 reviews

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    • 3/5
      This book created one of the author's most enduring characters, who's name has become synonymous with a certain type of small town businessman. The story is slow moving, and written in Lewis's typical rather turgid prose, but there are some very good moments.
    • 5/5
      Excellent writing and witty mocking of the "good ole boy" network.
    • 1/5
      A big DNF for me! I stuck with it for 105 pages of 464, but it was so dry and boring that I'm not going to waste any more time with this book. It is a satire on 1920's American life and the main character is such an egoist and narcissist that there just isn't anything to draw me to the book.
    • 3/5
      For Christmas, I ordered an mp3 player (Library of Classics) that was pre-loaded with 100 works of classic literature in an audio format. Each work is in the public domain and is read by amateurs, so the quality of the presentation is hit or miss. After sampling about a dozen more well-known offerings, I was left to select those with which I was less familiar. That is how I came across Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis.George Babbitt is a middle aged real estate broker, living in the fictional city of Zenith, somewhere in the Midwest in the year 1920. George is upper middle class, conservative, a pillar of the community, if just a notch below the upper crust. He belongs to a variety of service organizations and men’s clubs. He has a wife of 25 years and three children at home. The first three quarters of the book is taken up with explaining just how “normal” and “routine” George’s life actually is. Were it not for the insight into 1920s everyday life, it would be hopelessly boring. As it is, it is only bearable. It is only near the end of the story that George begins to wander from the straight and narrow, undergoing a mid-life crisis of sorts. The consequences of George’s “walk on the wild side” are moderately entertaining.
    • 4/5
      If you're looking for a book that make you critically examine the everyday life of a period, look no further. If you're looking for a typical plot line, look elsewhere. The basic premise of this book is that a middle aged, established man begins to question societal norms in a gradual and non-philosophical way. Babbitt doesn't start reading Marx, declare himself a communist and set out to consciously change his life. Instead, he decides to have a third glass of whiskey one night, spend another with a racy crowd, skip Elk's Club once in awhile if he feels like it. Interestingly, even as he does this, his ideas remain somewhat stationary. Though he drinks an extra glass of whiskey, he doesn't begin to condone excessive drinking, etc etc. He begins to act on isolated urges without altering his principles to do so. This makes for a realistic transition, and Babbitt is believable throughout. It provides an answer to the question I have asked myself about someone's actions time and time again, "why would this person change in this way?"
    • 5/5
      I see a lot of myself in Babbitt. He's a man trapped within himself and his limitations; he wants to be free, but he's not sure exactly what he wants to be free from, or how to go about his release from the pressures of society and relationships. His rebellion is fascinating though short-lived.The novel itself is more of an account of America in the early 1920s - the rampant growth of the economy, the nascent anti-communism leanings that would reach their zenith with McCarthy, the standardisation and normalisation of everything and everybody, and the rise of 'science' - though this being America and business, a very unscientific science.
    • 3/5
      This is the story of a man who does everything he thinks he is supposed to to be successful and yet comes to a point of believing he is an empty soul. Where to go from there? You have to read the book! I will say that the plot drags a bit in the middle, but otherwise moves right along. Much of the story made me think of the "Man in the Gray Flannel Suit" concept. A timeless theme!
    • 4/5
      This book is everything I dislike about literary fiction, and yet it's so darn well written I'm giving it four stars, even though I never would have finished the thing if it wasn't for research purposes. Lewis can WRITE. There's a reason he's remembered as one of the great writers of the 20th century.Here's the thing about Babbit. He's a horrible person, but he's like people all of us know. The book really centers around a catastrophic mid-life crisis. Babbit is sanctimonious, loud-mouthed, a sexual harrasser, desperate to climb the social ladder. He's largely spineless--he follows whatever crowd holds sway over him. Most of all, we are never intended to like him, but we relate to him in small ways all the same. It was only by the power of Lewis's writing that I stuck with the book, because this really hit on so many tropes that I loathe, especially when it comes to spousal abuse (though Babbit's sin in this regard is mostly in supporting his best friend's abuse/near-murder of his wife) and Babbit's extramarital affair. I mean, I HATED this guy, but I kept reading, and on the last page I genuinely pitied him. This book is an exercise is incredible character development.One of the reasons I braved this book was due to the social impact it had in the 1920s. In several books from that period, I have come across mentions of people being considered "like Babbit." The book was a bestseller, and since we all know people like Babbit, it's no wonder the name entered popular culture.
    • 3/5
      Blindly delving into old classics is always kind of interesting: has it aged well? What makes it a classic? Babbit started out really promising: very funny in an old fashioned, observational humour kind of way. I knew I had some sort of meaningful story ahead of me (it's a classic, after all), and having read the first chapter I really looked forward to reading a timeless story delivered in an entertaining manner. Unfortunately a lot of the humour dabbed off rather quickly, leaving "only" a good story.And there can be no doubt, the story is inarguably very good. It's about a man, Mr. Babbit, who is relatively rich, and has a relatively high standing in society. Most of his life consists of hustling to become richer and achieve an even higher standing. The motivation behind him living this way isn't entirely clear: is he doing what he wants to do, or is he just doing what society expects of him? How badly does he want society to approve of him? Even if it does lead to esteem, money, power, and positions, does that make it worth living your life after a template, following the path everyone expects you to follow? Do you have a choice?Thoughts like these had never really occurred to Mr. Babbit until a few events leads to him down a path where he has to face up to a few of these questions. For me the book is at its best when we see Babbit struggling with these questions, and the ways in which he confronts them feels believable. The story also feels like it ended up where the characters made it end up, rather than being a pre-determined chain of events in which the characters were just… well, characters.Having said all of the above, there is quite a bit of fluff around everything. The fluff wasn't all that interesting to me, and there also seemed to be a "the role of the man in society"-thread that, while I could appreciate, I couldn't really relate to. Some of the fluff is rather good satire, and most of it serves a purpose. Still, there is a little too much of it, and unfortunately the story does drag along at times. It's still an interesting book, and it is easy to see why it is significant. As always, it is also fun to see how some things never change ("the youth today" were as hopeless in 1922 as they are now), and while Babbit is not a page-turner, nor especially exciting, it's worth the time spent reading it.
    • 4/5
      "He was thinking. It was coming to him that perhaps all life as he knew it and vigorously practiced [sic] it was futile; that heaven as portrayed by the Reverend Dr. John Jennison Drew was neither probable nor very interesting; that he hadn't much pleasure out of making money; that it was of doubtful worth to rear children merely that they might rear children who would rear children. What was it all about? What did he want?"This portrait of a stodgy conformist in the early part of the 20th century holds up well in today's world. More character study than plot-driven adventure, the novel follows George F. Babbitt through what might be considered a mid-life crisis. Motivated almost exclusively by his desire to be liked, respected, and successful, Babbitt is steeped in the class judgments of upper class America. He is absolutely blind to the imbedded paradoxes: his disdain for those with less money or prestige and his resentment and longing for the attention of those with more are beautifully rendered by Lewis. The reader can see the tongue planted firmly within the author's cheek. I would no more desire to spend an evening with George F. Babbitt than I would desire to have a root canal, but reading the novel about his foray into self-determination was oddly enjoyable.
    • 3/5
      I read this book long before I lived in Minnesota, or visited Duluth ("Zenith" in the book). I was glad to see this book on the 1000 Novels list, along with Main Street, which I was never able to finish (maybe someday!) I think the difference is in the point of view -- in Babbitt, you see things from Babbitt's point of view and even though he's being judged by the author, there is a certain charm to him. In Main Street, Carol just seems like a whiner to me. But maybe I should give her another chance.
    • 3/5
      I read this in Grade 10 and hated it with a purple passion. I read it again years later. I still hated it. Perhaps I am not enlightened enough. In any case, I can appreciate the message and all that, but the administration of said message is painful. When the box of books from back home arrives here, I will add the review that I wrote when I was 14. My opinion hasn't changed much.
    • 4/5
      Despite the fact that this book was written way back when, I found a lot of relevance to our current world between these covers and I liked it! George F. Babbitt is a real estate agent in Zenith, a Midwestern city of of "towers of steel and cement and limestone" where the population has grown to "practically 362,000." While anyone visiting its business center would be hard pressed to distinguish it from other major cities, George finds every inch of it "individual and stirring." He is married, has two children, and is above all wrapped up in his community standing. He belongs to a number of civic organizations, most prominently, the Zenith Boosters’ Club, where his like-minded, middle-class associates bow to the gods of business, money and progress and work to keep out any elements that they believe might possibly upset their collective and lucrative apple carts. George lives in a modern house with the latest technologies, belongs to a church, plays golf, and his opinions are shaped by the institutions and people with whom he associates and his political party. Underneath his public persona, however, he's starting to think that perhaps there's something missing, that he's not "entirely satisfied." George has an ongoing and secret dream fantasy of a "fairy child" who will help him to escape to places “more romantic than scarlet pagodas by a silver sea,” but the dreams are short lived; when daybreak comes it's back to more practical things. One of his old college buds and best friend, Paul Riesling, dreamed of becoming a concert violinist, but he too has jettisoned his dreams and has become a member of Zenith's middle-class business community. Unlike Babbitt, however, he is not afraid to confide his personal dissatisfaction: he's bored, his wife Zilla is a constant nag who makes him unhappy enough to have affairs, and he has come to the realization that in the business world, "all we do is cut each other's throats and make the public pay for it." Paul is the only one of Babbitt's associates that recognizes the need for responsibility -- something that Babbitt and his other cronies don't get. When Paul's problems with Zilla come to a head and he literally can no longer take it, he snaps -- and his actions and their consequences send Babbitt into introspective mode where he comes to realize that his way of life has been "incredibly mechanical:" "Mechanical business -- a brisk selling of badly built houses. Mechanical religion -- a dry, hard church, shut off from the real life of the streets, inhumanly respectable as a top-hat. Mechanical golf and dinner-parties and bridge and conversation. Save with Paul Riesling, mechanical friendships -- back-slapping and jocular, never daring to essay the test of quietness." prodding George into full-on rebellion.I won't say any more -- the novel is an excellent piece of satire on conformity and middle-class culture, business or otherwise. It is set in a time when unions, Socialism and any other form of organization among workers constituted a perceived threat to the American way of life; a time when the "American way of settling labor-troubles was for workmen to trust and love their employers." As Lewis remarks on a Zenith organization called the Good Citizens' League, the members of this group believed that "the working-classes must be kept in their place ... that American Democracy did not imply any equality of wealth, but did demand a wholesome sameness of thought, dress, painting, morals and vocabulary." hmmm.... let's think about that for a moment, shall we? Democracy?There is also a very purposeful delineation of class in this novel, and Lewis has a way of juxtaposing one against the other in some rather well-crafted scenes. Obviously there's much more to it, and there are some hefty critiques and reviews to be found where perhaps more can be gleaned. It is rather difficult to read, I suspect, under the best of conditions, so if you are contemplating it as a reading choice, my advice is not to give up. The book is constructed as a series of vignettes that eventually all come together in an ending which was not so predictable yet powerfully sad, at least for me. Recommended -- but take your time with it.
    • 4/5
      The book starts slowly and the main character George Babbit is fairly repulsive in his conservatism and prejudice, not unlike many people in our current society. His general ignorance and hippocracy are almost laughable, if it were not reflective of the sad state of affairs of many people. The story becomes more intersting after George's friend is sent to jail. His changes in behavior are in stark contrast to his earlier behavior. After his wife's illness it appears that George has compromised but I find that he is not much improved. The satire of the story is its stenght but I still find it shallow.
    • 4/5
      Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis is a satirical novel about American culture and society that explores the dullness of middle class American life as well as the social pressures there are toward conformity. Written and set in the early 1920’s, many of Lewis’ observations are still valid today. The novel is set in the fictional Midwestern town of Zenith where George F Babbitt, a 46 year old prosperous real estate broker is on the verge of a mid-life crisis. Babbitt ‘s family consists of his devoted wife, Myra, and his three children, Verona, Ted and Tinka. The social status of the Babbitt family is important to George and they constantly are on the lookout to improve their status in the community. Yet, there is a bit of a rebel inside George and when his best friend ends up going to prison and his wife goes away to nurse her sister, George mounts his own small rebellion, but eventually realizes that it is too late for him to change and retreats back into the security of conformity. He does however, encourage his son, to explore his possibilities and not just settle into life.I thought Babbitt was a very interesting read. Instead of the glamour and glitz of the 1920’s, this book gives us a glimpse of middle class American life in ways that are both insightful and humorous. The middle class became a recognizable force during this decade and this book helps us to understand it’s place and importance in society. My opinion of George Babbitt went through a number of changes during the course of the story for which I credit the author for developing such a well rounded character. And although the slang and much of the dialogue was dated to it’s time, in many ways this was a timeless story.
    • 4/5
      Considering the length of time it took me to read this book, I must have found it boring. Yet I acknowledge that Lewis wrote a provocative book for its time, and well deserves its place in the historic canon.Throughout the book, Babbitt faced the truth that life is absurd to the degree one thinks their actions have importance. He also recognized that running away from one's circumstances is impossible as one can never escape oneself. Lewis also dealt well with the theme of friendship among men, while also showing that without nurturance, friendship cannot survive. Nothing new in this, perhaps, but it seems more of a feminine story line and it was nice to encounter it here. So, another unread classic is crossed off the list!
    • 1/5
      Just couldn't get into this and didn't feel inclined to try particularly hard to endure. Language distant from me and dull story.
    • 3/5
      Very sardonic, satirical, and amusing
    • 4/5
      I knew that Babbitt was a satire but I didn't expect it to be so sharp or so applicable to today's world. What saves it from being just ugly and biting is that Babbitt is oddly sympathetic. He's also infuriating and obnoxious at times, but Lewis seems to be telling us he's a product of his time and we can't expect much. It's a harsh indictment of American society, especially the upwardly mobile middle class and the already entrenched upper class, and it hits uncomfortably close to home in certain ways. While dated to some extent, Babbitt still manages to have something important to say, even 90+ years later.
    • 1/5
      Babbitt is a characterization of a capitalist drawn by a socialist. The author calls Babbitt a conservative, but gives him the feelings and vices of an elitist liberal. Since all good humor must have it’s base in truth, this book is totally humorless and extremely boring. I believe most of the passages were stolen from advertisements.
    • 4/5
      As I was reading this book I kept thinking, I know this man! Actually, I've met a couple that would come very close to this guy. The way Lewis presented him was very clever. It was hard to like Babbitt very much, but I couldn't hate him either. Just when he got truly unlikeable, he would do something goofy and utterly human or have a moment of relative clarity. His self righteousness as well as his doubts are shown with equal distinction. The satire is fabulous and I laughed out loud many times. Read this book.
    • 1/5
      A big DNF for me! I stuck with it for 105 pages of 464, but it was so dry and boring that I'm not going to waste any more time with this book. It is a satire on 1920's American life and the main character is such an egoist and narcissist that there just isn't anything to draw me to the book.
    • 4/5
      Babbitt is the paragon of the middle aged, successful American businessman and petty bourgeois. Everything is going well until midlife crisis knocking on his door. Neither he nor his family or colleagues are unable to handle the situation... for a while. After that of course everything goes like it was before. The Hungarian translation is very old fashioned unfortunately.
    • 3/5
      It has been more than forty years since I read this book, so it is probably a good time to return; but I'm not sure what to expect from rereading this classic from the pen of Sinclair Lewis. More recently I've read Main Street which I enjoyed. However, Babbitt, while demonstrating the signature Sinclair Lewis satirical style, lingers in my memory as a different sort of book. Carol Kennicot, was endearing in her earnest innocence, while Babbitt has the reputation of a brash booster who gives urban business a bad name. There must be more to the novel than this simple-sounding approach to character. Yet, the character lives through this image. The opening of the novel suggests that Babbitt is living in a world of "grotesqueries" that make up the city of Zenith. This portends what is to come and is in itself a sign of the thought the author has put into his work. The towers of skyscrapers are contrasted with the lowness of tenements. All culminating in the comment that this is "a city built - it seemed - for giants." Enter the lilliputian booster in the person of George F. Babbitt. This reader is confident the style will carry him over and beyond the drudgery of the naturalistic philosophy that underlies this "classic" of the nineteen-twenties.
    • 4/5
      I did like the writing, however the story just made me sad. There was no time that I could cheer for Babbit.... not when he is in his plastic life at the top of the social hierarchy, and not when he is rebelling with parties and women. It's most crushing when he decides to go back to where he was in the beginning.
    • 4/5
      A bit slow but still worthwhile as the author definitely is a good writer and has Made Babbitt an interesting character that even moves you in the End.
    • 4/5
      George Babbitt is a middle-aged real-estate broker living in the fictional Midwestern town of Zenith in the 1920s. He has done everything “right” in life and lives with his kids and wife in a nice little town. He’s well respected in the community and is successful in business. He loves to think about his superiority over others and “subtly” brag about his material possessions. When a crisis with his best friend sends him spiraling into a midlife crisis we learn just how unhappy Babbitt truly is. He’s built a perfect world, based on what he’s been told means success, yet he feels empty. “Every Saturday afternoon he hustled out to his country club and hustled through nine holes of golf, as a rest after the week’s hustle.” Babbitt reminded me quite a bit of The Corrections, except I hated that book and I didn’t hate this one. It has a similar concept, looking at the average American family and the dysfunction within it, but this one was published about 80 years earlier. I think Babbitt touched on issues that were completely new and hadn’t been discussed yet, like ambition and success vs. family values, the “American Dream” of bigger cars and bigger paychecks vs. happiness. Even though I liked this book, I struggled to feel attached to it because I disliked the characters so much. There’s not a likeable one in the bunch. Babbitt is a self-important fool, his kids are spoiled brats, and even his wife is a bit of a simpleton. I was impressed with what Lewis said about American society in the early 20th century, before everyone else was saying it, but I didn’t love the book itself. This was my first experience with Sinclair Lewis (who I have always confused with Upton Sinclair) and I’m looking forward to seeing if some of his other famous books, like Main Street, have the same tone.  
    • 4/5
      All about status seekers and social climbing. Bleh.
    • 3/5
      This book created one of the author's most enduring characters, who's name has become synonymous with a certain type of small town businessman. The story is slow moving, and written in Lewis's typical rather turgid prose, but there are some very good moments.
    • 4/5
      I read the book over 32 years ago. Although I no longer remember all of it, I do remember enough of it to recommend the book to almost anyone. If you're going on a long plane flight or need a book for your vacation, leave Clancy, Kellerman, et al at home and take this or any of Lewis' other works with you. You will enjoy the book and your trip much more than you would have had you taken some other work of popular fiction along.