Tobacco Road
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1932
192
Novel • Fiction
Georgia • 1930s
1932
Adult
18+ years
Tobacco Road by Erskine Caldwell is set in rural Georgia and follows the Lester family, impoverished sharecroppers struggling during the Great Depression. The novel chronicles their attempts to improve their situation amid economic challenges worsened by industrial advances and urbanization. Characters, including Jeeter Lester, engage in reckless and brutal acts as they grapple with poverty. The book includes violence and exploitation.
Dark
Gritty
Unnerving
Melancholic
Contemplative
16,809 ratings
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Tobacco Road by Erskine Caldwell offers a gritty depiction of poverty in the rural South during the Great Depression. Critics praise its raw, unflinching narrative and vivid characterizations. Some, however, find the portrayal of Southern life and the use of grotesque humor controversial and potentially stereotypical. Overall, it remains a significant, though divisive, piece of American literature.
Readers who appreciate novels about the struggles of rural America during the Great Depression will enjoy Erskine Caldwell's Tobacco Road. Fans of John Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath and William Faulkner's works will find the social critique and vivid depiction of poverty compelling. This book appeals to those interested in gritty, realistic portrayals of destitution.
16,809 ratings
Loved it
Mixed feelings
Not a fan
192
Novel • Fiction
Georgia • 1930s
1932
Adult
18+ years
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