Still relevant - not just 1950s Hollywood
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Essentially, this autobiographical novel asks what is a man to do when he returns from traumatic experiences in the US paratroops in the second world war, having not expected to survive, and finds it difficult to face up to the challenges of economic responsibility and normality. Tom Rath has killed 17 men and is still reliving his wartime experiences. He finds it paradoxical he has been praised for killing but runs the risk of social disgrace for fathering a child in Italy. He has three children to support, a wife who is innocent of what he went through, and he finds the world is driving him to become a workaholic to support his family. This book verges on Hollywood sentimentality as he puts his life back together again, but its true to life accounts of wartime killing and survival, and of the struggle to reestablish a marriage, make this book a page turner as well as a zeitgeist novel of the 1950s.
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Man in the Gray Flannel Suit
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This is one of those good rainy afternoon reads. It won't save your soul, but it might help you slog through another cloudy day.
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the best 2005 read
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Sloan Wilson captures the essence of a suburban commuter's life-dilemma in this poignant 1950s portrait of a WWII vet who cannot balance his past with his present. It's a story that could easily be transferred to the early 20th century in its gripping realism and compelling dramatic arc as protagonist Tom Rath learns that building a rewarding future demands that he recognize the foundation of his past.
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One Of The Greatest Post WWII Tales Ever Written.
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What can I say? I was shocked, suprised and most of all, Comforted by this book. A real Roller-Coaster of a ride that is incredibly memorable. The fact that Mr Sloan Wilson is not better known is a tragedy of the first magnitude. This book stands against anything in all the ages of literature.
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