Super Short Summary

A Cool Million: The Dismantling of Lemuel Pitkin by Nathanael West follows Lemuel Pitkin, a young man whose pursuit of the American Dream leads him through a series of catastrophic and absurd misadventures. As Lemuel faces various hardships including theft, wrongful imprisonment, and exploitation, his unwavering optimism is met with relentless misfortune, ultimately critiquing the concept of eternal optimism and the American Dream. Contains themes of violence and exploitation.