This story takes place in 1762 and is about two college-aged men vying for the affections of a young woman. One of the men, Mr. Sudgeberry, the narrator, has a gift for gab. He is loquacious, priggish, self-righteous, and pedantic. His competitor, a happy-go-lucky and slightly dissipated man named William Fentriss. The title of the book comes about because the girl in question, Sylvia, wears cherry-colored ribbons in her hair. The narrator manages to become the cynosure of Sylvia's affections until William concocts a scheme to win her good graces. Mr. Sudgeberry discovers this and exposes him, however Sudgeberry's expsure has unintended results.

One of Tarkington's earlier works, I was a bit worried about its clarity. However, it was easy to read and understand. However, one's vocabulary must be able to match Sudgeberry's abilities. There were a ton of "tough" words in this book. I loved the simplicity of the story though and it worked well for me. Thoroughly enjoyable.

Tarkington manages to cram an East of Eden epic into 350 pages. The story begins with the sallow and sickly Bibbs coming home from a sanitarium. He has been placed there because of his nerves. His father, known as Sheridan, is the leading capitalist in the bustling Indiana town and his other two sons are at the helm of his money making machine. Sheridan despises his son for being weak. Bibbs, is a poet and dislikes work. He is very smart and not interested in making money. He'd rather write and think. The primary focus of the story is his rehabilitation. He discovers his next door neighbor, Mary, and falls in love with her (typical Tarkington romance). His father forces him into the company's "inner" works were he is forced to work at a noisy machine all day. He dislikes what capitalism and greed has done, noting the heavy smog in the air (ashes come down like snow) and the problems of capitalism. However he grows stronger and we find him to be a very capable man. The "turmoil" is Bibbs finding a balance between working and "living." Tarkington almost comes off as a Sinclair Lewis or Ellen Glasgow at times, but overall there is a LOT going on in this novel, which carries it along extremely well. I wasn't that happy with the ending, as I didn't think Bibbs had found a compromise but rather an acceptance of his fate. One of the best Tarkington books I've read, though.

Penrod Schofield is a very bad little boy. Well it is not even that he is a bad child it is just that he gets blamed for every thing that happens; for instance when his sisters dress disappears and ends up in dukes dog house and Penrod got blamed for it even though duke took it. He enjoys writing, and playing with his dog Duke who is almost always with him. Penrod thinks of himself as the class clown and tends not to be very truthful. Penrod has an unimportant role in the school production of The Round Table, but do not tell him that because he thinks if he dose not go the show will not go on with out him. Through out the book Penrod grows up a lot in my opinion for example he tell his father the truth at the end of the book which I did not think would happen. He does get in a lot of trouble whether it's eating too much candy or squealing on his sister.

I did not like Penrod because it was in my opinion aimed more for boys and not as much towards girls or maybe it was just me but I was not entertained through out the whole book. There were most definitely parts I liked for example parts were Penrod is in conversation; one part I did not like was the excerpts from Penrod's book about how Mr. Wilson is killed. I liked the conversational parts because through out the book you are kind of in Penrod's head, and I did not like that. But in conversation you sort of get both views from both people not just what Penrod thinks. Don't lie because no one will believe you even if you are right, that is the moral of this story. I hope my review helped.

The Penrod series of novels is one of the most effective evocations of the experience of being a child ever written. They deal with the daily life and trials of a boy of eleven and twelve in turn of the century (1900) Indiana. The humor is found in the petty hypocrisies of the adults and the naivete of the children and how those two things intertwine. If you have ever day-dreamed in school or yearned for the favor of the prettiest girl in your class, you will appreciate these stories. NB. They are period pieces of the purest kind, so you should expect terms and attitudes to reflect the age from which they come.

"Penrod" is a great novel -- interesting, enlightening, profound, grandiloquent and one of the most hilarious books ever written.

Aspects of the subject matter, however, while generally accepted in the early 1900s and treated kindly herein by the author, would simply not fly under today's political-correctness coercion. As far as popular literature is concerned, it is effectively a banned book. Consequently, "Penrod" eventually will fade from general literary consciousness, and linger only in the memories of those who truly appreciate a fine novel.

One of the better Tarkington tales I've read. An upbeat and at times humorous story about a middle class family and their two early 20-year-old children ( one boy and one girl ). The girl, Alice Adams, is the focus of the story, as she struggles to be liked by the town's society folks. She doesn't have the social prestige nor the money to attract many beaus.

This leads to turmoil, and Mrs. Adams tells her husband to leave the mediocre paying job he's had all his life to start his own company so they can be rich and pay their children "advantages". He does this, after many trepidations, but the basis of his newfound business is a stolen glue formula from his previous employer. This ultimately leads to his demise.

There is a bit more to this story, but all in all, it is a story of class envy, snobbery, and greed. Tarkington's main point, however, seems to be that every dark tunnel of life ultimately has some other exit that inevatibly lead to light -- as even in the Adams's darkest hour their was hope yet.

Alice Adams was funny and definitely some good quality writing. At first I thought it might be too old-fashioned since it was written in the early 1900's, but when I read it I was able to compare Alice's desire to be popular to teenage girls today. My only negative thought about this book is that some characters especially the mother, repeated things a lot. The mother had several lines that she said at least 5 times throughout the book, and that was somewhat annoying. Otherwise the book was great!

Booth Tarkington is one of my favorite authors. Noone captures the spirit of the person better than he does. The way he makes Alice Adams come alive makes me want to be there and meet this wonderful young lady. If an author can make me want to do that, he is excellent in my book.
The movie ending is the opposite of the book ending, which disappointed me, because I wanted it to be true to the book. Nevertheless, I also wanted Alice to have her dreams come true. If you really absorb yourself in the book, however, you will see that her dream DOES come true, just not necessarily the way you want it to.
There is also the beautiful way he paints the whole family into the book. I won't give it away, but you will see the intricacies woven in.
I found myself totally absorbed in the story and couldn't stop reading it.
Please read this book! You will love it!

Not quite up to "Penrod," but still a lot of fun. The ending lacks the satisfaction of that of its predecessor--but there's no way it could match THAT.

Another collection of tales about Penrod Schofield and his playmate Sam. Together, the two of them get into more trouble than Dennis the Menace and the Little Rascals combined.

The tales contained weren't as interesting as the original Penrod however I was laughing out loud a time or two. Tarkington has the mannerisms down pat for a twelve year-old boy living around the WW1 area.

This book is listed as a juvenile book, however, I wouldn't recommend it for children unless they weren't afraid of dictionaries and some politically incorrect references to African-Americans. There is also a chilling tale about Penrod and Sam finding an old gun in Sam's father's drawer and what occurred with it. Too real in today's world, however the result of the tale was sobering.

This is a fine story about young boys growing up. There is a great deal of humor in it, much that is common to little boys. I think that is what makes a book like this so funny. I can relate to it.
However, the electronic version needs to be proofread to remove the countless spelling and punctuation errors. It is a shame that nowadays with all the tools available that editing of this kind is done. Whoever put the e-book together should be ashamed of their lousy work.

I hate to admit it, but if this novel had not been included in the Modern Library's Top 100, I probably would have never picked it up. I have never been a fan of socially conscious literature, and I anticipated a novel in the style of William Dean Howells - full of cardboard characters, most of whom would be down trodden and hopeless, or rich and ruthless, and enough moral pronouncements to make me feel guilty for at least a day or two. Thankfully, I let the Modern Library editors convince me that the book was worth reading.

The novel is set during the dawning of the twentieth century and concerns itself with the impact of mechanical innovation on the bucolic life styles of a midwestern town. As the novel opens, the gulf between prominent families and their aristocratic lives are contrasted with those in society whose main purpose it is to support this luxurious and frivolous existence. The aristocracy is personified by the Amberson family, wealthy and prominent, and particularly by George Amberson Minafer, the spoiled grandson of the family's founder. He is unable to understand that a great revolution is taking place around him, that the lifestyle he has always known is soon to become anachronistic as those people with talent, luck and a little capital will soon surpass him in wealth and prestige. Although he has the talent to join this new mechanical age, he prefers to be and to remain a gentleman and to believe that "being things" is far superior to "doing things."

As the midwestern town grows and expands and becomes more and more industrial, and even as the Amberson family compound becomes surrounded by apartment buildings and factories, George is unable to accept the fact that he and his family are becoming irrelevant. As the town quickly turns into a dirty and depressing city and the Amberson fortune begins to crumble, he still dresses for dinner, still drives a horse and cart, and still holds to his standards "as a gentleman." Tarkington weaves in subplots involving the love story of George's widowed mother and the Henry Ford-like Eugene Morgan as well as George's own romantic involvement with Morgan's daughter. These stories add a subtle ironic twist to the narrative as well as allowing the author to delve deeper into the consciouness of his spoiled (but sympathetic) antagonist.

Although there is some of Howells influence in this book, Tarkington does not succumb to the artistic sterility of his mentor. This author is able to tell an interesting story and to develop characters that are not only realistic, but invoke an emotional response from the reader. And although the ending seems to me a little contrived and more in keeping with some of the "realist" writers of the early twentieth century, Tarkington's novel is, in the end, successful and offers an enjoyable reading experience.

This epic story is about the ducal Ambersons -- a rich family in the midwest ( probably Indiana ). George, the grandson of the rich and famous Major Amberson and his mother are the primary characters.

George's mother worships him. There is not a thing she will not do for him. Her love for George, ultimately spells her own disaster. George, on the other hand, is very spoiled, superior, snobbish and self-centered.

As the story unfolds, the reader watches the Amberson estate slowly fall. The unsuspecting Ambersons, do not realize this until it is too late. George, who has refused to learn a trade ( that is for common folks ) must learn to survive through his own earnings near the end of the tale. However he has been ruined through his own actions and winds up nearly friendless.

A good book describing the rise and fall of families -- who are the center of attention one day and then forgotten in the next generation. The message of the book is that life is like sand hand in one's hands. For a while you have it but it slowly slips through one's fingers.

This Pulitzer Prize winning novel tells the story of the decline of the once magnificent Amberson family, the leading family of a Midwestern city at the turn of the century.

George Amberson Minafer is the spoiled young heir to the Amberson fortune, but America is now entering the automobile age & the conservative Ambersons are ill equiped to deal with the rapid changes.

Tarkington intertwines two tragic love stories with the theme of the Ambersons decline and produces one of the really great forgotten novels that I've ever read. Perhaps the book got lost because of the great screen version that Orson Welles produced, but whatever the reason, this is a book that deserves a wider audience and Modern Library is to be applauded for including it on the list.

GRADE: A

Writing novels about adolescence is difficult; either because the writer in intimately involved in the business of being an adolescent and has not as yet acquired the narrative skills, or because the adult writing about that developmental stage retrospectively colors his memories of how things were. (Françoise Sagan's BONJOUR TRISTESSE is a happy example of a book written by an adolescent that effectively addresses that period.)

Newton Booth Tarkington had produced the PENROD series of juvenile novels before writing SEVENTEEN. In this work, he narrates the summer of love (lower cased letters then) of William Sylvanus Baxter, who is smitten with Miss Lola Pratt, also known as "the Baby Talk Girl" because of her talking baby talk, endearing to William, but grating on the father of the girl whom she is visiting for the summer. I read this book when I was an early teen; and years later read it to my then pre-teen daughter. On both occasions I found it to be amusing and insightful.

William is a typical young boy who goes through a series of pratfalls and misadventures. Like many of his status, he is clueless. He tries to write, um, poetry. A sure sign that his is smitten. Tarkington is able to straddle the fence of finding humor in William's behavior without being unduly condescending.

A young reviewer commented earlier that the emotions and behaviors of his characters where more like fourteen- or fifteen-year old adolescents. I would have to agree with that perspective: from the standpoint of today's teens, if Tarkington's book were written recently, it would probably merit the title "FOURTEEN." Nevertheless, I think that SEVENTEEN was an accurate depiction of middle adolescents of that upper middle social class in that era in history. Certainly, the average mid-teen is more worldly nowadays than back in the early part of the twentieth century (or even back in the 1960's).

Readers fond of esoterica might find it interesting that Lola is based on Rose O'Neill, who later on developed the Kewpie dolls that were so popular in the early part of the twentieth century.

A caution should be made at this time: there are some passages in this book in which African-Americans are depicted cruelly and in an unnecessarily unflattering light. We maybe should regard this book as reflecting too-typical of attitudes prevalent in that time, but not encourage the emulation of these attitudes.

I did find the device of the omniscent narrator to be intrusive at times, and Tarkington's way of tying things up at the end to be unconvincing, but still this is a great book. I can truly say that it offers something for both the young reader and the adult.

A warm and witty look at turn of the century middle America with the central character a self focused teen aged boy and his first summer love, a "ditsy blonde" from down the street. He IS a classic, self absorbed, rediculous teen aged boy, but that is his charm. You feel pity for him but you'll laugh as the author gently makes him the butt of all his jokes. Only problem is the predjudiced view of African Americans (which was probably the norm in Tarkington's time). Other than that, this book is a great, funny read. Don't miss it (and don't take it so seriously, William)!

This is the best Tarkington book I've read yet. Booth captures the essence of the 17-year-old youth in love in this fictional account of a group of 17-year-old boys mooning over the neighborhood girl. He's got the emotions, the irascibility and the hormones all in one story. This book is a stitch as well -- humor similar to The Little Rascals is also included that had me chuckling from time to time. In addition, it gives the reader a view of what dating was back in that era. Attitudes, liberties and customs have certainly changed... Easy to read, light-hearted, and fun...

This book was a bit difficult to read. It is set before the Civil War -- President Polk's era ( mid 1800's ) however this wasn't revealed until almost 3/4th's through the book. In addition, the location ( state ) of the book was never revealed. At first I thought it was Indiana ( where Tarkington is from ) and then thought perhaps Louisiana.

At any rate, this is a typical Tarkington love story involving mistaken identity. A beautiful, rich girl ( Betty Carewe ) comes back from a convent at the age of 18. She runs into Tom Vanrevel -- the town saint and winsomest man. She also encounters Criley, the town love-maker / partier. Both Tom and Criley are best friends and are partners in a law firm.

Her dad warns her not to see either of them as Tom is an ardent abolitionist and her dad hates those sorts. Criley is too much of a scoundrel.

However, she confuses the two and throughout the book thinks that Criley is Tom and that Tom is Criley. She falls for Criley thinking that he is Tom. Criley can only turn on his charms and take advantage of the situation.

By the end of the book and after several misadventures, Betty ( the girl ) figures out who is who. However tragedy does strike.