OIL! by Upton Sinclair

 I bought this on Kindle ($9.00) after watching the film 'THERE WILL BE BLOOD' by Paul Thomas Anderson. Guardian voted this film The Best Film of The 21st Century. It's a brilliant film, but only the very basic themes of the book.

The book is actually a semi-fictional account of the Teapot Dome Scandal of the early 1920's under the Harding administration. 

Link to a site about the novel:

https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v46/n01/edmund-gordon/how-to-hate-oil

It was a long novel and very engaging. I loved it and the novel had a sly, almost humorous tone.

If the choice is between Predatory Capitalism and Socialism, then Socialism is the way to go. The corruption that is inherent in Capitalism will cause social and economic damage and the poor will suffer.

It is remarkable that the Warren Harding administration and the Trump Years are so very similar. Privatize everything in sight and then drain off profits to you and your friends. "Free Market" means that the government has no oversight and you are motivated only by what delivers the most profit. If you want to sell cigarettes to seven year olds that's just fine...A.H. Dory. Although the novel highlights the excesses of Evangelicals in the radio era, the message is the same as today.... "I love Jesus, and Jesus loves me, and fuck you".

The relationship between the father and son is completely different from the movie. 

The novel is a look at the differences between Capitalism and Socialism, but the movie highlights Evangelical Christianity and Free Market Capitalism. 

Paul Thomas Anderson's film is a completely different slant than Sinclair's novel. I loved both works and it's kind of eye opening to realize that one hundred years ago these economic theories (Capitalism vs. Socialism) were butting heads, just like they still are today...and Free Market Capitalism is only getting stronger. 

'DO WITH ME WHAT YOU WILL' Joyce Carol Oates

 Finished Mo 9/28/26

This was one of my ancient harbacks that I had never read. It doesn't even have a 'date purchased', however it was on the lamp bookcase in the living room and turned out to be one of my favorite reads in a long time.

It's a profile of a young woman who struggles to become more than a bit player in other peoples' lives. The book has many unforgettable characters and probably one of the vilest examples of 'motherhood' ever written. 

Many storylines that weave in and out of the novel. Although, the ending was a little weak. It's really only a few words telling us that the couple 'are happy ever after'. Did Elena really find her assertiveness and would Love last?

From 'themodernovel.org':

"Aah, the parents! As in her previous novels, Oates has the two main characters carry the burden of their parents. Elena Ross is kidnapped from her mother by her divorced father when she is seven. She withdraws into herself and, when she is finally rescued, can barely speak. While growing up, her mother does, indeed, do with her what she wills, finally marrying her off, when she is seventeen, to a successful criminal lawyer, Marvin Howe. At the end of the first section, about Elena’s growing up, she is in some sort of trance, staring at a statue. Everything has come to rest, in perfection it comes to rest, permanent. Then a hand touches her.

The second part is about Jack Morrissey. He too has parental issues, as his father murders a rich man but he is defended by Marvin Howe and gets off on temporary insanity. This inspires Jack to become a lawyer himself, though he does not become a successful criminal lawyer like Howe but rather works to help the poor and weak, working for the American Civil Liberties Union. He meets and marries Rachel but, at the end we realise that his is the hand that has touched Elena.

The third part is, of course, the love affair between Jack and Elena. She is awakened out of her twenty year trance but is scared by the feelings she now has. She flees from him and returns to Howe. The final part, however, has Jack and Elena getting back together, leaving their respective spouses, and gaining one of Oates’ little victories as they now have the life they want. It sounds mawkish but, in the hands of such an accomplished writer as Oates, it works, both as regards the legal background (which plays a bigger part than I have mentioned here) and the relationship issues. It may be less violent and less harrowing for the reader than some of its predecessors but it is just as readable."