Sloan Wilson has written a chronicle of two members of the upper-middle class, Dana Campbell and Caroline Stauffer, whose parents are part owners of a fashionable resort hotel on Lake George in the 1920s and 1930s. As he did in THE MAN IN THE GRAY FLANNEL SUIT, Wilson again explores the sensitive underbelly of American success. His descriptions of the frustrations of sex, from teenage petting to the vicissitudes of the marriage bed, are lush as well as relevant.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gray Suit to Upper Crust Life,
By Gregory L. Dolce (Illinois) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: All the best people (Mass Market Paperback)
Sometimes when I read Wilson's books I get the feeling of deja vu. All seem to be off the same boilerplate. All seem to follow the same plots, with the same protagonists and others. Why, then, do I like them? I guess I just enjoy Wilson's POV on life around him. Gray Suit was a classic, with an even better film effort. All The Best People (People) came out not too long after it and was rounded panned by critics. Its sales were way off Suit and A Summer Place prior. It was if the public said, 'Ok, we get it' and went about their business. Wilson never had a big hit book after Summer Place, and People was the start of that fall. Yet, his books continued to come out every few years or so. And, almost all seemed the same. Wilson does a good job with this book. He works the theme to death and then some but manages to keep your interest by making its hero a likable guy who you want to do good. Even though the people are all from the better class of life, old Eastern Money as we used to call it in Connecticut, it's easy to inject yourself into the story and even identify with it. This is Wilson's knack, making this kind of lifestyle interesting and something that, through his charactors, we would like to be a part of. Without his charactor guiding us through this different world of the elite we would be pressed, indeed, to even like them or their world. The world of Wilson's novels, that of Post WWII upper class, New England type folks, is pretty much still there but not nearly as important as it was then. To make it in that world, at that time, was a really big deal. While Wilson's charactor/protagonist is supposed to be based on his life, all always on the fringes of this class he was, nevertheless, letting us in on the secret. Back then this sort of lifestyle wasn't well known. Wilson had his run with this and other books on the topic. Played out, by 1970 he was focused on boats, the water and getting away from that lifestyle. This book is his last real attempt to connect to it. I really enjoy, heck, look forward to setting aside time to reading People. I think you'll feel the same. Finally, I recommend this book to younger folks trying to get an idea of what upper crust life was like then, and to see how those people walked the earth. It can give them some perspective on their own lives.
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Not what I expected,
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Although Wilson is an incredible writer. I personally enjoy his novels, because not many people are able to capture true human essence in it's raw state and not lose it's potency on paper. He also teaches life lessons in very discreet, but practical ways. However, I was disappointed with the characters in this book. After reading A Summer's Place, I was left with the impression his other novels would blatantly express the consequences and woes of man, but I didn't expect their actions to be so detailed in this novel. What I'm saying is that if you are married and live a morally clean life and expect fairly "clean" reading then beware of the promiscousness in this book (not much but it can be unnerving). I would like to note that his characters always pay or are punished in some form for their course and decisions in life. However, this was just a little too worldly from my point of view.
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