An American Dream Paperback | Pages: 288 pages

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Original Title:	An American Dream
ISBN:	0375700706 (ISBN13: 9780375700705)
Edition Language:	English

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In this wild battering ram of a novel, which was originally published to vast controversy in 1965, Norman Mailer creates a character who might be a fictional precursor of the philosopher-killer he would later profile in The Executioner’s Song. As Stephen Rojack, a decorated war hero and former congressman who murders his wife in a fashionable New York City high-rise, runs amok through the city in which he was once a privileged citizen, Mailer peels away the layers of our social norms to reveal a world of pure appetite and relentless cruelty. One part Nietzsche, one part de Sade, and one part Charlie Parker, An American Dream grabs the reader by the throat and refuses to let go.

Praise for An American Dream

“Perhaps the only serious New York novel since The Great Gatsby.”—Joan Didion, National Review

“A devil’s encyclopedia of our secret visions and desires . . . the expression of a devastatingly alive and original creative mind.”—Life

“A work of fierce concentration . . . perfectly, and often brilliantly, realistic [with] a pattern of remarkable imaginative coherence and intensity.”—Harper’s

“At once violent, educated, and cool . . . This is our history as Hawthorne might have written it.”—Commentary

Praise for Norman Mailer

“[Norman Mailer] loomed over American letters longer and larger than any other writer of his generation.”—The New York Times

“A writer of the greatest and most reckless talent.”—The New Yorker

“Mailer is indispensable, an American treasure.”—The Washington Post

“A devastatingly alive and original creative mind.”—Life

“Mailer is fierce, courageous, and reckless and nearly everything he writes has sections of headlong brilliance.”—The New York Review of Books

“The largest mind and imagination [in modern] American literature . . . Unlike just about every American writer since Henry James, Mailer has managed to grow and become richer in wisdom with each new book.”—Chicago Tribune

“Mailer is a master of his craft. His language carries you through the story like a leaf on a stream.”—The Cincinnati Post (less)

Itemize Based On Books An American Dream

Title	:	An American Dream
Author	:	Norman Mailer
Book Format	:	Paperback
Book Edition	:	Special Edition
Pages	:	Pages: 288 pages
Published	:	1999 by Vintage (first published 1965)
Categories	:	Fiction. Literature. Classics. Novels. American. 20th Century. Mystery. Crime

Rating Based On Books An American Dream

Ratings: 3.46 From 3226 Users | 236 Reviews

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Searing, incantatory, manic, surreal, tawdry, wild, exhilerating, vivid, nightmarish, offensive, slightly demented....impressive!

just started....i love his twisted characters. We all need a little unsettling fiction in our lives :) reminds us how 'normal' we really are. (have not picked this one back up in a while. I have been booked out with School books.

This is the first Norman Mailer I've read. It took me a short while to get into it, but once the character really kicks in then the book takes off at a fast and realistic pace. Stephen Rojack is surface-successful, but underneath burns disatisfaction and disgust. After impulsively killing his estranged wife, he is plunged into a couple of limbo days, where casual connections and the promise of a new love mix his emotions into a potential cocktail of sex and violence. The book blurb suggests

Mailer is a transcendent writer, and challenged societal conventions in his day. While this book is beautifully written, (a PTSD flashback of war here is movingly and horrifyingly scripted), it's a prime example of a writer resting on his laurels. Violent, profane and banal, this is quite simply shock literature that was made a classic because of the sheer fact it challenged the limits of free speech in its day. There's not much here of substance; Mailer is a great writer - this is a terrible

A writing style that at first seems like a good easy read, but upon closer study, shows a unique voice in its rhythm and imagery. The story was simplistic, but at times quite engaging.

The human capacity for violence and depravity is intertwined with the toxic effect certain people can have on one another. The result is a psychological thriller with complex themes. What effect does incest have on the victim over time? Does it increase their capacity for utter cruelty? Are we all capable of unspeakable acts of violence if pushed far enough? This book was met with great controversy when it was written. Mailer was not exactly known as Mr. Nice Guy and his reputation with women

p.151 "I could feel mysteries revolving into mysteries like galaxies forming themselves, and knew with some sort of defeated woe that I would never learn a tenth of what had really happened, not ever."