Oil, A Novel

I am half-way through the novel, Oil, by Upton Sinclair, a novel from which the movie "There Will Be Blood," was taken. Although I was an English major and certainly knew of Sinclair and his muckracking books, I had never read him. Always sounded too much like sermons.

This is (so far) a wonderful novel, and I am enjoying it so much, with great characters, a compelling portrait of California in the 1910-1918 (so far) time period, and what a treatise of the discovery and drilling for oil. I wonder if Sinclair spent time as a roustabout in his early years. It's really interesting, as I am inclined to like learning about something when I read, even in fiction, maybe especially in fiction. Why, otherwise, do we read?

So far the book isn't too muckracky, although now I see that coming on. Something that amazed me was that Sinclair knew early on (1925 or before) that the peace treaty concluding World War I would lead to another World War. You have to respect someone with that kind of knowledge and foresight. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upton_Sinclair

I'm reading the book for insight into California in the early years of this century, and that it has in spades. Now I feel obliged to read The Jungle, his most famous book about the meat packing industry in Chicago. We lived there when they still had the "Stockyards" and there was a neighborhood called "back of the yards." For years The Cattlemen's Cafe was the place to eat. All long gone, now.

Au Revoir,

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