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Oil!: A Novel Audiobook
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(3.13) - 16 listener ratings
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Publisher Description
This book is the inspiration for the Academy Award-nominated film, There Will Be Blood, starring Daniel Day-Lewis.
As he did so masterfully in The Jungle, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Upton Sinclair interweaves social criticism with human tragedy to create an unforgettable portrait of Southern California’s early oil industry.
Enraged by the oil scandals of the Harding administration in the 1920s, Sinclair tells a gripping tale of avarice, corruption, and class warfare, featuring a cavalcade of characters, including senators, oil magnates, Hollywood film starlets, and a crusading evangelist. At the center of the novel are an oil developer and his son. As the story moves forward, the divide between father and son grows until the young man is fighting the very industry that brought his father great success.
Sinclair’s glorious 1927 epic endures as one of our most powerful American novels of social injustice.
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"Read it back in junior year of high school. Remember it was pretty eye-opening to the plight of immigrant workers in industrial cities. Opens with a scene of a Polish wedding, I believe.Enjoyed it but don't remember too many specifics of it. "
— Brian (4 out of 5 stars)
Quotes
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“Grover Gardner does a superb job narrating, always conveying the humanity of the main characters while capturing the humor of the many caricatured stereotypes.”
— SoundCommentary.com -
“A solid and believable performance that will engage listeners with its simplicity and earnestness…This is perhaps an even more remarkable feat considering the length of the production. Through thick and thin, Gardner never fails to deliver with passion and vigor
— AudioFile -
“A tremendous piece of work.”
— The Nation -
“He does his little bit of muckraking…but the glorious story of the oil man and his son rushes on. It is a marvelous panorama of Southern California life. It is storytelling with an edge on it.”
— New Republic -
“Sinclair’s 1927 novel did for California’s oil industry what The Jungle did for Chicago’s meat-packing factories.”
— Library Journal
Awards
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A New York Times Book Review pick of Best Books Now in Paperback
Oil! Listener Reviews
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" Sinclair describes Chicago in March so well I felt cold and shiverred when I read the pages, looking for a warm place to hide. "
— Pascal, 5/20/2011 -
" Plot summary: Meat-packing and capitalism suck, and everything goes wrong. I only got halfway through before giving up. "
— Zach, 5/10/2011 -
" Without question, the most depressing book I've ever read. I enjoyed most of it, but the last 20-30 pages strayed so far from the narrative that it sort of ruined it for me. "
— Chris, 4/28/2011 -
" This was really informational and a great read. However, it takes an abundance of concentration to read due to Sinclair's deep descriptions. Other than that, I definitly recommend this book! "
— Kayla, 4/27/2011 -
" I read this many years ago and decided to read it again. I understand it alot more now than I did back then. Very informative and I really learned alot the second time around. "
— Rosie, 4/23/2011 -
" The grossness of this book made it hard for me to read. However I did finish it. It was memorable but for all of the wrong reasons. "
— Rayna, 4/22/2011 -
" Loved it! Great story and kind of eye opening about the food industry and labor in the early 1900's. Didn't care for the ending so much but overall really enjoyed the book. "
— Brittany, 4/19/2011
About Upton Sinclair
Upton Sinclair (1878–1968) was a journalist, a prominent social and political activist, and the author of over two dozen books, including the novel Dragon’s Teeth, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1943. He is perhaps best known for The Jungle, the dramatic exposé of the Chicago meat-packing industry that prompted the investigation by Theodore Roosevelt that culminated in the pure-food legislation of 1906.
About Grover Gardner
Grover Gardner (a.k.a. Tom Parker) is an award-winning narrator with over a thousand titles to his credit. Named one of the “Best Voices of the Century” and a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine, he has won three prestigious Audie Awards, was chosen Narrator of the Year for 2005 by Publishers Weekly, and has earned more than thirty Earphones Awards.