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Customer Reviews of The Turmoil

Solid Tarkington
Tarkington manages to cram an East of Eden epic into 350 pages. The story begins with the sallow and sickly Bibbs coming home from a sanitarium. He has been placed there because of his nerves. His father, known as Sheridan, is the leading capitalist in the bustling Indiana town and his other two sons are at the helm of his money making machine. Sheridan despises his son for being weak. Bibbs, is a poet and dislikes work. He is very smart and not interested in making money. He'd rather write and think. The primary focus of the story is his rehabilitation. He discovers his next door neighbor, Mary, and falls in love with her (typical Tarkington romance). His father forces him into the company's "inner" works were he is forced to work at a noisy machine all day. He dislikes what capitalism and greed has done, noting the heavy smog in the air (ashes come down like snow) and the problems of capitalism. However he grows stronger and we find him to be a very capable man. The "turmoil" is Bibbs finding a balance between working and "living." Tarkington almost comes off as a Sinclair Lewis or Ellen Glasgow at times, but overall there is a LOT going on in this novel, which carries it along extremely well. I wasn't that happy with the ending, as I didn't think Bibbs had found a compromise but rather an acceptance of his fate. One of the best Tarkington books I've read, though.