This is the story of brothers Rudolph and Thomas Jordache and their sister, Gretchen. The Jordaches are German-American, their father a 1920s immigrant who fought on the wrong side in the First World War and now in 1945 works in a down-beat bakery selling stale cherry pie in New York. Embittered, brutal and miserly, Axel Jordache holds little charm for his defeatist wife or their disaffected offspring. Rudy, the dutiful son, is smart, diligent and quiet, working hard at school because he sees education as a passport to the better life he wants. He is the good guy. Tom is wild, indolent, aggressive, sees nothing beyond today and wants only to use his fists. He is the bad guy. As for Gretchen: naive, beautiful and restless, Gretchen just wants a guy. Three young people, all in their individual ways bright kids and all, in their individual ways, wanting out. But this is post-war America. Nothing is going to come easy. Who will make their fortune and how? It's the premise for a novel the like of which hasn't been seen in 30 years. And it doesn't disappoint today. Covering two decades while it whisks the reader from coast to coast in the States and over to the South of France, this is one of the original blockbusters to achieve - justifiably - the status of a classic. In some ways a take on the American Dream, Shaw's heroically written book found immediate relevance when it was first published in 1971, becoming one of the first enormously successful television mini-series. It was in the wake of Vietnam so maybe hope in adversity and success through single-minded endeavour struck a chord. Irwin Shaw died in 1984. This great sprawling saga, his best-known work, recalls just how good a good read used to be. (Kirkus UK)
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Like Fine Wine..........,
By
This review is from: Rich Man, Poor Man (Hardcover)
How often does one ever reread "popular" fiction? This novel has remained firmly ensconced in my memory, and, consequently, I decided to revisit it some thirty-five years later. Very quickly it became clear why I had never forgotten the book as it contains all the elements that can make "popular" fiction such an enjoyable experience: well written prose, a captivating plot, unexpected twists, and, ahem, scenes of substantial sensuality. I cannot recommend it too highly!
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very engrossing and absorbing,
By
This review is from: Rich Man, Poor Man (Hardcover)
I find it hard these days to really get into a book, so I put down about 10 in the past year. But this one is VERY ABSORBING, you keep wondering what the characters are going to do next. It is interesting (I'm writing in August 2004) about the hobbies/words used/way they think in the years beginning in 1940 and ending 1968. For those of us born after those years, we tend to think of those years in black and white and that THEY were VERY OLD FASHIONED, however, they're the same as us, just in a different time in the world.
This is pretty light reading, some parts contrived - a little Danielle Steel'ish (which I hate), but I'm saying some parts are a little too...well...perfect. Not real life. Very long book too. But you will stay absorbed till the end - kind of a surprise ending too.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A page-turner, hard to put down,
By SusieQ (New York) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Rich Man, Poor Man (Mass Market Paperback)
This novel's plot takes the reader through the highs and lows of the Jordache family, from 1945 to 1968, through the lives of its cleverly drawn and vigorous characters.
Most of the plot is propelled by Rudy Jordache's rise from a slummy district of a small upstate New York town to wealth and the beginnings of a political career, but for me the most sympathetic character is Tom Jordache. Tom, after a life of being knocked around and ending up in trouble, finally wins out over his unloved beginning; wins out over his "whole rotten life" (as he calls it, in a conversation with his uncle), and finds a measure of peace. Gretchen and Rudy, his sister and brother, are less admirable, but somehow the reader doesn't despise these characters; all the siblings are ably and realistically drawn, and their stories are consistently interesting. I don't look for deeply profound 'meanings' and revelations in bestselling books like Rich Man, Poor Man; just a good story well told. It's a big, robust, multi-generational family saga, and Irwin Shaw tells it excellently.
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