George Mills

By Stanley Elkin

Book Overview

An ambitious, digressive, and endlessly entertaining account of the thousand-year history of the George Millses, George Mills is the antithesis to the typical Horatio Alger story. Since the First Crusade, there has always been a George Mills, who--despite his best efforts--is unable to improve his position in life or that of his descendants. Instead, all the George Millses are forced to accept their lot as true blue-collar workers, serving important personages in a series of odd jobs ranging from horse talker in a salt mine to working as a furniture mover in contemporary St. Louis. But the latest in the long line of George Millses may also be the last, as he obsesses about his family's history and determines that he will be the one to break this doomed cycle of servitude.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0525241418
• ISBN13: 9780525241416
• Release Date: October 1982
• Publisher: Dutton Books
• Length: 508 Pages
• Weight: 1.56 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Dazzling

Elkin is about as good as it gets when it comes to fiction (modern, postmodern, classical or otherwise), and GM, while not his best (as he claimed) is awfully good. In reading his novels and stories, one needs to simply go with it: there's a kind of quote/unquote dao that's a prerequisite, and you'll need it with GM more than the others. But once you're in the groove of his prose and story you'll be ... well, enchanted is not quite the word for it. Enhanced is probably a better one. While I'd recommend this book highly, I'd also recommend picking up The Franchiser or The Magic Kingdom first. Elkin was one of our very, very best, so you can't really go wrong with any of his titles.