Plot Summary

Tobacco Road

Erskine Caldwell
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Tobacco Road

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1932

Book Brief

Erskine Caldwell

Tobacco Road

Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 1932
Book Details
Pages

192

Format

Novel • Fiction

Setting

Georgia • 1930s

Publication Year

1932

Audience

Adult

Recommended Reading Age

18+ years

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Super Short Summary

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

Reviews & Readership

3.8

16,809 ratings

62%

Loved it

25%

Mixed feelings

13%

Not a fan

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Review Roundup

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.

Who should read this

Who Should Read Tobacco Road?

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.

3.8

16,809 ratings

62%

Loved it

25%

Mixed feelings

13%

Not a fan

Book Details
Pages

192

Format

Novel • Fiction

Setting

Georgia • 1930s

Publication Year

1932

Audience

Adult

Recommended Reading Age

18+ years

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