Alice Adams by Booth Tarkington - 1922

Booth Tarkington won a second time with Alice Adams in 1922.  Alice Adams is another highly class conscious tale in which the title character spends the entire novel clutching at her status as a gentlewoman.  Alice longs to be considered a high class ingenue with a wealthy father, but sadly, long suffering Dad just does not have the wherewithal to support her dreams.  Unlike Alice, her brother, Walter, has embraced the seedier side of life with gusto, and lacks any sympathy for her plight.

Poor Alice was popular with the right crowd when she first appeared on the scene, but that was a few years back.  Now she's decidedly wallflower material, despite all her clever sartorial hacks, like going far afield to pick the violets for her ensemble, instead of getting them from the florist.  Alice does make a good first impression though, and manages to attract the new fellow in town.  Mr. Arthur Russell is a genuinely nice wealthy young man, who takes a keen interest in Alice.

Alice does everything possible to maintain the fiction of her family's wealth and gentility during a disastrous "meet the folks" dinner for Arthur.  Later, she and her mother encourage (harass?) her poor, beleaguered father to branch out in a quasi-legal scheme in direct opposition to the actual rich folks in town.  Who actually owns the patent to the discovery her father made while working for the rich Lamb family?  It doesn't matter because the Lambs are rich and brother Walter has been embezzling from them too.  And so the dream collapses, and naturally, Arthur disappears when the Adam's family's complete lack of integrity is laid bare.

The family decides to take in borders to survive, and the future for Alice is now clear.  Her path down from gentility leads directly up the stairs to Frincke's Business College.  This reader cannot help but think that if Alice puts half the energy into becoming a career girl that she did in attempting to maintain her gentlewoman status, she should do very well.

The two Tarkington prize winners make for very similar reads.

Most Enjoyable
His Family - Ernest Poole

Alice Adams - Booth Tarkington
The Magnificent Ambersons - Booth Tarkington
The Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton

Easy to Read

The Magnificent Ambersons - Booth Tarkington

Alice Adams - Booth Tarkington
His Family - Ernest Poole
The Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton

Best Characters

His Family - Ernest Poole

The Magnificent Ambersons - Booth Tarkington
Alice Adams - Booth Tarkington
The Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton

Best Plot

His Family - Ernest Poole

The Magnificent Ambersons - Booth Tarkington
Alice Adams - Booth Tarkington
The Age of Innocence - Edith Wharton