I bought The Carpetbaggers in a shop down the street selling used books. The funny part is that I had never noticed that shop, nor am I famous for buying used books (I prefer to have my own personal copy rather than someone else's old one). However as I was walking minding my own business this book caught my eye. I don't know how it managed to do it, but I was compelled to pick it up and read a few pages. Also it was only 2euros. So there I was, trying to decide whether to buy it or not. Obviously in the end The Carpetbaggers won the battle. Was there ever a time where I managed to win over a book? Yeah, thought so.So anyways, buying this book turned out to be probably the best decision I made that day. It's not life-changing book, mind you (well maybe it is, depending on the person), but it keeps you so freaking hooked and I couldn't stop reading. I loved every second of it, and Jonas Cord officially entered my top ten of favorite characters ever.Basically The Carpetbaggers centers on Jonas Cord's story, but as more characters start chiming in we get flashbacks and backstories for each one of them, so that the original storyline actually becomes one big net of different stories all somehow related to each other.The six-hundred-pages brick covers about 20/25 years of history, from 1920 to 1945 circa, so the background of the plot is the ending of World War I and the unraveling of World War II.Our main character, Jonas Cord Junior, is a seemingly selfish, charming, rich young man who suddenly finds himself with one of America's biggest companies in his hands and no experience in how to direct it. During the next twenty years, we follow the growth of the company as Jonas meets several new characters and the plot gets more and more twisted. The Carpetbaggers was published at the onset of the Sexual Revolution. It contains a lot of sexual references and also several sex scenes (including an episode of rape). I actually like this aspect because it somehow represents a need to rebel from society's standards and rules on Robbins' part, and I can't dislike that.My favorite characters were Geraldine Marlowe and Tom Denton. I know, I know, they had nearly no part in the big scheme of things, but I seriously loved them. Geraldine was an amazing woman and a beautiful mother. Tom Denton was a splendid father and really believed in what he said. So although they only had marginal importance in the plot, I found these two were the purest and most beautiful characters of the whole book.Well, those two and Jonas of course. He wasn't perfect, far from that. But he was a genius and everything he did was a success. Plus he wasn't a bad person, he just hadn't found anyone worth being good for. The only woman he ever really cared about was Rina, and look what she did to him. I absolutely loathed her. She was so fucked up. Which, in itself, is no reason to hate somebody, however I hated how she never tried to make amend for the bad things she did, or how she treated other people. She was a really bad person, and I hated how she always told Jonas that he wasn't capable of truly loving somebody, because the only incapable one was her.TC is also full of death scenes. Well, I mean, covering about 25 years of history makes it a little hard not to kill off anybody, but this book was really something. I had never witnessed so many deaths in a book, seriously. It left me somehow shocked. And also quite aware that's how things really go in life, so cheers to death.One thing I have to say though: since I bought this book in Italian, the title was different. (I hate the need they have to change titles to books. I mean, what the heck? If the author gave it that name there must be a freaking reason, you idiot!) In English it would be: "The Man Who Couldn't/Wasn't Able To Love". So you can see how I would be a bit disoriented when I found out the actual name of the book. They are so different. And I don't know about you, but for me a title is fundamental to give a sincere rating to a book. The title is the key, it's what gives you an idea of what you're going to read about. Titles are serious stuff, you can't play around with them. I mean it changes the whole meaning of a book, you know? So when I found out it had been changed, I didn't know what to think. In the end, though, I decided to stick to my previous opinion of the book because I had really liked it. BUT, my dear editors, you should never, ever, EVER change a title. NEVER. It's a very bad thing to do. Understood?So all in all, this is a four-stars book. At first I was skeptical whether to give it a high rating because of some too lucky coincidences (Nevada becoming famous out of the blue? Seriously?) but then settled on four stars because that's how much I liked it. It's a personal opinion though.
Harold Robbins wrote many bestsellers over his long career and this one was the #4 bestseller in 1961. It was also made into a movie. Robbins hits all the tropes of a big fat trashy page turner. I read tons of books like this when I was in my thirties, raising my sons and dreaming of adventure. It was kind of fun to read one again now that I am such a literary fiction reader.Jonas Cord, a motherless kid with a Native American cowboy named Nevada Smith as his male nanny, was raised in the Nevada desert on his father's ranch. Mr Cord Sr was a fabulously wealthy, hard bitten tycoon whose tough love left Jonas feeling unloved. When his father keels over from a stroke, Jonas inherits the business at age 20. He does his best to become his father, even trying to marry his father's wife. Within a few weeks he suddenly develops business savvy, though he loses out with the wife. He is already a pilot, a womanizer, a hard drinking fearless dude. On it goes through WWI, WWII, the rise of Hollywood, airplanes, and modern life as it was known in the late 1950s.The women are all beautiful and sexy, the men ruthless and violent, and everyone has something in the past making them act the way they do. Very entertaining, especially the Hollywood parts. I suppose most men wanted to be tycoons and most women wanted to be movie stars in 1961; heck, many still do!How satisfying to read that the rich and famous also have hard times. Reading it today with all its sex and glamor and business high jinks, I saw that business ethics and Hollywood's methods have always been on the shady side, that human nature craves such stories, and that women are only a couple generations beyond the objectification and exploitation that was simply taken for granted in 1961.But I never did figure out why the book was called The Carpetbaggers.
What do You think about The Carpetbaggers (2007)?
Văn hóa Mỹ luôn có cái gì đó vừa sâu sắc vừa hời hợt, vừa nông cạn nhưng lại rất quyến rũ. Chính thế nên văn học và điện ảnh Mỹ luôn có sức mê hoặc kì lạ cho những ai thích phiêu lưu, thích những gì hơi cổ điện nhưng đầy hiện đại, thích sự táo bạo và không bỏ qua sự mơ mộng cố hữu của con người. Thật thú vị khi dạo này tranh thủ xem lại phim noir thì đọc được quyển sách này, nó hợp với nhau vô cùng, nó là sức mạnh, tiền bạc, tham vọng, sự lãng tử, sự gợi tình và chất Mỹ thấm đẫm.đọc quyển này như thể vừa dạo qua một vòng lịch sử nước Mỹ hiện đại kể từ sau chiến tranh thế giới thứ nhất với dầu mỏ, điện ảnh, nền công nghiệp nặng, người da đen, người da đỏ, Do Thái... một biên niên sử bằng tiểu thuyết vô cùng hấp dẫn và sinh động. đọc nó là một cái gì đó vô cùng thư giãn, giải trí cũng như kích thích trí tưởng tượng nhiều đến mức ta đọc hăng say mà không biết rằng thời gian đã qua, mặt trời của bình minh đã ló dạng, hay cái bụng cồn cào của ta kêu réo vì đã quá bữa tối từ lâu rồi.
—Lalarme23
I have been doing this thing where I watch old movies and read their corresponding novels. The movie Carpetbaggers starring the hot guy from Breakfast at Tiffany's was very lifetime original...and this book reads like a Sweet Valley High Novel circa 1930's. Jonas Cord (sort of a Bruce Patman 1.0) has some daddy issues. He grew up with a ruthless snake of father who barely had time for him. In addition, Jonas meets his dream girl (Rina) takes her home to meet his father and his father ends up mar
—Denise Cornelius
The Carpetbaggers by Harold RobbinsThe book is divided into nine sections detailing many different characters that dovetail into a sprawling epic of a story covering 1930-1945. One man, Jonas Cord a fictional rendition of Howard Hughes, brings them all together. Robbins knows all the Hollywood stories, all the rumors of the rich and not so rich, the famous and infamous. His characterizations are detailed, richly empathic and reach to the heart of the matter. The characters range from a Harlow-like actress to a half Kiowa, half white cowboy that has seen Hell and came back from it. Recommended.
—Cateline
