Synopses & Reviews
Universally acclaimed when first published in 1955, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit captured the mood of a generation. It was a national best-seller that was made into an award-winning film, it was translated into twenty-six languages, and its title has become a permanent part of our cultural vocabulary. Today, it is more relevant than ever.
Here is the story of Tom and Betsy Rath, a young couple with everything going for them: three healthy children, a nice home, a steady income. They have every reason to be happy, but for some reason they are not. Like so many young men of the day, Tom finds himself caught up in the corporate rat race-what he encounters there propels him on a voyage of self-discovery that will turn his world inside out. At once a searing indictment of corporate culture, a story of a young man confronting his past and future with honesty, and a testament to the enduring power of family, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit is a deeply rewarding novel about the importance of taking responsibility for one's own life.
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"A consequential novel...by a mature writer who knows unwaveringly what he is about." Saturday Review
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"Masterful." Detroit News
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"Excellent... sure, bright, and alive." Chicago Tribune
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"A thoughtful, searching novel." New York Herald Tribune
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"Delightful...beautifully plotted." Boston Herald
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"[An] excellent novel." Kansas City Star
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"Exact in its account of the pressures, problems and tribal customs of the men in gray flannel suits....Wilson is an observer, a sympathetic one....He has written an entertaining social comedy." New York Times
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"Wilson has something to say." Time
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"Wilson is an expert....His dialogue could have been piped from any of thousands of offices or living rooms....he has done more than take a trip to Brooks Brothers to find out what makes a gray flannel suit. He knows much of what makes the men who wear them." Christian Science Monitor
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"[a]n entertaining drama of domestic as well as corporate conflict, and provides a pop-historical look at the manners and morals of that now comparatively innocent era....a sharp and accurate critique of 'the way we lived then.'" Dan Wakefield, Boston Globe, 11/3/2002
Synopsis
Universally acclaimed when first published in 1955, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit captured the mood of a generation. Its title like Catch-22 and Fahrenheit 451 has become a part of America's cultural vocabulary. Tom Rath doesn't want anything extraordinary out of life: just a decent home, enough money to support his family, and a career that won't crush his spirit. After returning from World War II, he takes a PR job at a television network. It is inane, dehumanizing work. But when a series of personal crises force him to reexamine his priorities and take responsibility for his past he is finally moved to carve out an identity for himself. This is Sloan Wilson's searing indictment of a society that had just begun to lose touch with its citizens. The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit is a classic of American literature and the basis of the award-winning film starring Gregory Peck. "A consequential novel." Saturday Review