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I am not a socialist, but I sympathize and agree with may of the problems that socialists point out. The fact that this book led Teddy Roosevelt to break up the Beef Trust is a significant fact. but as a novel I can't rate it any higher than three stars. The spectacle of human cruelty and nihilism is one of the most brutal I have ever read. If you have a family this will read like a horror novel. I'd say it is worth a read as part of history, if you are prepared for it. I am glad to have read it, but I had to pace myself. It is not a good novel, but it wasn't really meant to be a good novel so much as an agent of change. It will make it hard for you to unsee the familiar patterns of greed that grind humans into meat for profit. We might not be doing it literally anymore (which is an improvement), but we're still doing it.

I hate to say it, but this is a rare case where the movie was better than the book for me. I did enjoy getting some of his Dad and more of Inigo and Fezzik's backstory, but despite the fact that Goldman says that he has "always thought of himself as a novelist," this just feels like a very weird novelized screenplay. It's fun, and perhaps my experience was ruined by seeing the movie first many times. I just felt that the fourth wall shtick got very old very fast, and that it wasn't that funny to begin with. He really overstayed his welcome at the end with the "second abridgement," and his inventing of super hot younger women who are totally into him has aged like milk. I guess if you are into snark then you will be into it, I just think the movie works better because it removes the narrator into the much more heartwarming character of his Dad/Grandad.

Favorite quote: "Fencing. Fighting. Torture. Poison. True love. Hate. Revenge. Giants. Hunters. Bad men. Good men. Beautifulest ladies. Snakes. Spiders. Beasts of all natures and descriptions. Pain. Death. Brave men. Coward men. Strongest men. Escapes. Lies. Truths. Passion. Miracles."

"Sounds okay I guess."