This was my first experience reading Sinclair Lewis and I will certainly be reading more of him. This novel tells the story of Fascism taking hold in the U.S.A. A lot of the progression of events is told in textbook-like exposition, almost to get the events out of the way quickly to allow the story to unfold. This seems almost necessary as Lewis has to build a world where a Nazi-like fascist dictatorship gains power in the US, so a lot changes as far as the way our government is run and the lifestyles of our citizens over the course of the book. He gives just enough details for thew world to be fleshed out and believable and spaces the exposition well between character arcs and plot development. The writing has a similarly sarcastic and curmudgeoned tone as Twain's writing. The main character is also a curmudgeon and although the book is written in the third person you get the feeling the main character and the narrator would be great friends, or just despise each other as much as they despise everyone else. Every character in this book is well fleshed out and interesting, and the story goes far beyond the technical and bureaucratic side of things and deep into the personal connections and emotions of it's characters. Although the story is told in a funny and comically dark kind of way it also gets very brutally dark and hard to read at times. This book is a great read for any American especially being that many of us grew up after fascism started to die off around the world. The book is a great warning to all of us that it really could happen here.
