On a recent trip to the library, I grabbed Upton Sinclair's Oil!, knowing only that it was the basis for Paul Thomas Anderson's movie There Will be Blood. Seriously, that's it- I hadn't even seen the movie, nor had I read any previous Sinclair novels (although at some point I would like to give The Jungle a spin). I admit, I was surprised by the book. Given Sinclair's reputation as a muckraker, I expected most of the text to go in depth about how evil the oil industry is, or maybe the evils of corrupt businessmen, all with a loose plot to tie all the exposition together. Instead, I got about 100-150 pages of how the business works, and then another 400 of a pretty decent story. For those who have seen the movie, here are some of the differences- the son's name is Bunny, and he is the main character of the book; the father never goes insane; and the book deals much more with socialism than it does with oil. Most of the plot comes from Bunny's refusal to carry on with the life of luxury his father has set for him. While at college, Bunny learns about Socialism and becomes so infatuated with it that he becomes an essential piece in a Socialist movement in Southern California. He struggles to deal with his contrasting double-life- is he a rich oil baron's heir, or is he a compassionate leader of the revolution? I don't usually study politics, so a lot of the ideas here definitely went over my head, but I feel that Sinclair did a good enough job of detailing the facts about Socialism and Communism without pushing an agenda. The story comes first, and the reader is allowed to draw his own conclusions- that is until the last page when Upton randomly claims that two good people (some main characters) died because of the cruel oil industry. Way to stay neutral, man. I can't complain too much about the abrupt shift in the ending though, because the rest of the book was a decent enough read. I wouldn't recommend it unless you were really interested in the subject though. Or maybe if you're some hardcore fan of the movie.
October 8, 2009
Oil!
On a recent trip to the library, I grabbed Upton Sinclair's Oil!, knowing only that it was the basis for Paul Thomas Anderson's movie There Will be Blood. Seriously, that's it- I hadn't even seen the movie, nor had I read any previous Sinclair novels (although at some point I would like to give The Jungle a spin). I admit, I was surprised by the book. Given Sinclair's reputation as a muckraker, I expected most of the text to go in depth about how evil the oil industry is, or maybe the evils of corrupt businessmen, all with a loose plot to tie all the exposition together. Instead, I got about 100-150 pages of how the business works, and then another 400 of a pretty decent story. For those who have seen the movie, here are some of the differences- the son's name is Bunny, and he is the main character of the book; the father never goes insane; and the book deals much more with socialism than it does with oil. Most of the plot comes from Bunny's refusal to carry on with the life of luxury his father has set for him. While at college, Bunny learns about Socialism and becomes so infatuated with it that he becomes an essential piece in a Socialist movement in Southern California. He struggles to deal with his contrasting double-life- is he a rich oil baron's heir, or is he a compassionate leader of the revolution? I don't usually study politics, so a lot of the ideas here definitely went over my head, but I feel that Sinclair did a good enough job of detailing the facts about Socialism and Communism without pushing an agenda. The story comes first, and the reader is allowed to draw his own conclusions- that is until the last page when Upton randomly claims that two good people (some main characters) died because of the cruel oil industry. Way to stay neutral, man. I can't complain too much about the abrupt shift in the ending though, because the rest of the book was a decent enough read. I wouldn't recommend it unless you were really interested in the subject though. Or maybe if you're some hardcore fan of the movie.
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