Customer Reviews

Out Of This Furnace: A Novel of Immigrant Labor in America

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I read this book in a college class and found my own family history flying off the pages. My grandfather was a steel mill worker (before the fall) and my grandmother was a maid for a wealthy family (and named her son after their child). They wore the stories told in this book on their faces, Thomas Bell told the story that their faces were too proud to tell. My last name is Michals now, not Mihal. My father is a doctor, not a steel worker. My grandmother and grandfather are both deceased, but they got their children "OUT OF THIS FURNACE"

I was forced to read this book for a college class... but after a chapter or two, I was voraciously reading it, more than willingly!

This book effected me so deeply with its complex, engaging, and devastating portrayal of an immigrant family that spans over several generations. Nearly every person who calls themself an American will find interest in this amazing book, because all our ancestors came from somewhere else - this book will give you a glimpse into the hard work, heart ache, and life that your forefathers endured.

Without a doubt one of the top 5 best books i have ever read.

This is an amazing and moving novel, especially for those of us of the same ethnic background. My family discovered this book in my grandfather's collection following his death. We all read it and were very moved by it, our grandparents taught us the traditions of the Slovaks throughout our childhood. Being Slovak and all that went with it was a source of great pride for them that they instilled in us. As I read the book I was able to walk through the streets in my mind along with the author. Never before this book did I feel such pride in my family, and how they wokred lived and suffered to give their children and grandchildren a better life. I believe this book to be a MUST READ for anyone interested in the plight of the immigrant.

From steerage passage across the Atlantic from his native Slovakia, we follow George Kracha to Braddock, Pennsylvania, and share the lives of three generations of his family in the Mon Valley. Bell's narration is direct and graceful and his characters breathe. An integral piece in the American mosaic is presented here. This book will be of especial interest to those of Central European descent or familiarity with steelworking or the Pittsburgh area, but far beyond that it is a moving statement about being human and becoming American.

I think a great book is all in the details and the honesty. This book has both. The small details of life in a mill town over 100 years ago. Like Mary picking a piece of the straw from her broom to check the cake in the oven to see if it is done. I think little things like that are priceless in good story telling. The honesty of the author in telling not so flattering stories of his family members who weren't always nice to each other. A widowed father comes to live with his widowed daughter and her four children but treats her and the children terribly. He doens't pay enough money to cover his expenses, instead he spends it drinking and whoring. Later his own sister tries to kill him by giving him all the booze he wants.
I have always envied readers who pick up a book that I have read and loved. I envy you because you get to read this book for the first time.

Thomas Bell has made the small town of Braddock,PA and the people who lived there come alive for succeeding generations. I recognized my own family who settled there, even though my family was of another ethnic background. As I read, I felt the emotions of the characters, smelled the smoke, and experienced the grit of the people and the steel towns of Western Pennsylvania. I have read it twice and I am enjoying it as much, if not more than the first time. I strongly reccommend it!

Easy-to-read historical novel with strong autobiographical content, follows three generations of steelworkers from Saris region of NE Slovakia from 1881 into Depression. At work and in school the "hunkies" are taunted, frustrated, and angered with pig-sty housing and exhausting work conditions. Yet this sharp protest for social justice also rings with romance and a plea for understanding and human decency. Great book for the literature or sociology classroom: teaches well.

This text was required reading for a college course on immigration and, I must admit, I was not looking forward to reading it. I decided to read it before the semester started and fell in love with it immediately. The characters are well developed from Kracha, to Mike & Mary, to Johnny. A very moving tale of the development of unions, the plight of immigrants, and the dangers they faced everyday working in the steel mills. I highly recommend this to anyone, required reading or not.

Most people are familiar with the experiences in America of immigrants who were Irish, Italian, German, Polish, Russian, Swedish, and a few other groups, but you don't hear much of anything about the Slovakians who came to America. I was supposed to have read this book for a research paper my eighth grade social studies class was doing on our various immigrant ancestors, and while I got an A++ on that paper and much praise from the teacher, I abandoned the book before long. I was upset I couldn't do a paper on my more "interesting" ancestors from Germany, Italy, and Holland, instead of some group I didn't really care about, a group no one else would be doing. I recently finally read the book cover to cover and am really sorry I was so hasty in abandoning it before and how much of a brat I was about doing a paper on my ancestors. I grew misty-eyed at the parts where the mill bosses and even priests and ministers are insulting the Slovakians in nasty and slurring language, even preaching hatred and violence from the pulpit. They were treated like animals because they dared to want humane treatment and equal rights. I have always heard and used the word "Hunky" as a fond term of endearment in my family, not a harsh slur word and racial epithet. Altogether it's a very emotionally moving and real story, about how each generation improves upon the last, until finally the mills are unionised; we know the fourth generation will be just fine. The only complaint I have about the book is that it ends before Dobie and Julie have their baby; I wanted to find out if they had a boy or a girl!

Out of this Furnance is more than just a book about the labor struggles of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It is more than just a tale of an immigrant family struggling to survive in a new land. This book captures the essence of human struggles, hardship, joy, pleasure, companionship, and love. This book is wonderful. I recommended it to anyone who is interested in history, in politics, and interested in the American spirit