Brewster's Millions (The Library of Indiana Classics) [Hardcover]

George Barr McCutcheon (Author), George Barr McCutcheon (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1999 | Series: Library of Indiana Classics

Would you be able to spend a million dollars in cash and leave yourself penniless, if it meant you would then be given many more millions? That's poor Monty Brewster's dilemma in this charming 1903 tale which has been made into a movie six times, the most recent starring Richard Pryor and John Candy.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

George Barr McCutcheon's novels made him a millionaire. Devoted fans inundated him with mail, and his obituary ran on the front pages of most American and British newspapers. He published stories in McClures, Good Housekeeping, and the Saturday Evening Post. The mythical Alpine principality he created for Graustark, his first novel, inspired a rush of disappointed tourists. Broadway and Hollywood produced successful adaptations of his work. Wrote his brother Ben, "I think that if he wrote a treatise on hydraulic engineering it would sell over 300,000 copies." Moreover, he once shared a stage with fellow Indiana writers George Ade, Booth Tarkington, Lew Wallace and James Whitcomb Riley. Despite the great popularity accorded him during his lifetime, however, most of today's readers are wholly unfamiliar with the name and writings of George Barr McCutcheon (1866-1928). Indiana University Press is proud to reintroduce him to a new generation.

McCutcheon represented the middle-America everyman who had "come up from a benighted Midwestern town," as one reviewer wrote, and made it in the big city. A native of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, McCutcheon studied at the Ford School and Purdue Preparatory Academy. He attended Purdue University, playing shortstop for the baseball team, until an overindulgence in unassigned writing caused him to fail his sophomore exams. He reported for the Lafeyette Journal (which allowed him the use of a typewriter for his literary endeavors), and later served as city editor for the Courier before moving to Chicago to seek his fortune.

An extremely prolific author, McCutcheon not only produced over forty novels, but wrote several plays, short stories, and essays as well. The theater, in fact, was his chief creative focus. His plays took a realist, progressive stance, satirizing Victorian mores, religious hypocrisy, and--in the age of Theodore Roosevelt--the gratuitous slaughter of wild animals. They also dealt with far-sighted compassion toward topics like euthanasia and alcoholism. When the Frohman theater monopoly of the time refused to produce such controversial work, McCutcheon found an outlet for his energies in fiction, even converting several of his plays into novel form. He invested his novels with a good deal of humor and with a warm humanity which charmed his audiences and made George Barr McCutcheon one of the most popular writers of his time.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Indiana University Press (September 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0253336325
• ISBN-13: 978-0253336323
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #4,771,374 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Nothing like the movie...and for once I'm glad to say that, September 20, 2004

By 

A reader (Yorkfield, IL) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Brewster's Millions (Hardcover)

Since it was originally written in the early 1900s, I don't imagine too many people nowadays have read this book without having heard of it through the 1985 Richard Pryor movie adaptation. But if you enjoy the film, as I do, then I'd recommend the novel if you can find it.

About all I'll say in comparing the 2 versions is this: the one and only similarity is they both center around a man named Montgomery Brewster having to dispose of a certain sum of willed money within a specified time period, without telling anyone why, in order to be eligible for a larger fortune. That's it. The novel's amounts are different, Mr. Brewster's profession and friends are different, and even the reason for the whole game is totally different - more complex and interesting in the novel, I thought. So it follows that Monty's methods of spending his money and the adventures, setbacks, and romances he experiences along the way make the novel a completely different story. Without giving away the book's ending, I will say that's different too, but equally satisfying.

Basically, if you're hesitant about tackling the novel because you're afraid it's just an outdated version of a story you already know, don't be. Read the book and I don't think you'll be disappointed.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Better than the movie, November 24, 2002

By 

goosefish (Durham, NC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Brewster's Millions (Library of Indiana Classics) (Paperback)

The 1985 movie was great, but Brewster's methods are far more diverse and humorous in the book. Notable highlights:

-Brewster befriends a pair of muggers by insisting they steal everything, even the $300 they overlooked in his right pocket.

-He hosts a luxury cruise for 50 to Europe, and the guests stage a mutiny to curb Brewster's inexplicable generosity.

-An Arab sheik tries to steal Brewster's fiance in Egypt, but is shot in the head while absconding.

A possible detractor: the book has far more dramatic content than the movie. This is not simply a comedic vehicle. It is thoroughly absorbing, nevertheless.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Brewster Millions, the book, August 12, 2011

By 

Liz Toombs "pansyliz" (Albuquerque, NM USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Brewster's Millions, (Paperback)

George Barr McCutcheon wrote a book called Brewster's Million in 1902 under the name of Richard Greaves. It has been made into a movie multiple times. There is a 1985 movie with Richard Pryor as Brewster and his side kick was played by John Candy. The book is a 306 page story of how a person in the 1900's spends a million dollar inheritance so that he might receive an inheritance of multiple millions. The twist of families in disagreement with each other spurs this quagmire. The friends play the role of restraint due to the fact that part of the spending required Brewster to share that fact with no one. The other twist in the story is that Brewster must spend this money in a manner in which he will be a pauper, a man with no material wealth except the clothes on his back.

If you like to dream of how you could spend that million so you can inherit more, this is your book to read. If you have friends who do and those who do not stand by you no matter what, this is a book to read to find how loyalty can pay off. If you have a Kindle and want a fun, though time period influenced read then this is a great book since it is free.

This book is recommended.