I was forced to read this book for a combination honors English, History class. We were studying the Guilded Age and the teachers felt this novel would help to portray exactly what people went through. Needless to say I was very bored. The descriptions are so intense and Dreiser's style of writing was not enough to keep me awake. There were certain aspects that I enjoyed, however the majority of this novel was comprised of verbose sections. This book did not really meet my expectations and I was not very satisfied. However, I was told that you might need to read it 5 times before all of the meaning would come through. I wouldn't give it the time.

i felt the story was long and borin