Seventeen (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)

By Booth Tarkington

Subtitled, “A Tale of Youth and Summer Time and the Baxter Family Especially William,” this novel is exactly that. In Tarkington’s noted style, this book follows the ventures of a boy, William Baxter, as he falls in love with his beautiful new neighbor, Lola, to the point of obsession.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Barnes & Noble
• Release date: Feb 8, 2011
• ISBN: 9781411435247

Booth Tarkington

Booth Tarkington (1869 - 1946) was an American novelist and dramatist, known for most of his career as “The Midwesterner.” Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, Tarkington was a personable and charming student who studied at both Purdue and Princeton University. Earning no degrees, the young author cemented his memory and place in the society of higher education on his popularity alone—being familiar with several clubs, the college theater and voted “most popular” in the class of 1893. His writing career began just six years later with his debut novel, The Gentleman from Indiana and from there, Tarkington would enjoy two decades of critical and commercial acclaim. Coming to be known for his romanticized and picturesque depiction of the Midwest, he would become one of only four authors to win the Pulitzer Prize more than once for The Magnificent Ambersons (1918) and Alice Adams (1921), at one point being considered America’s greatest living author, comparable only to Mark Twain. While in the later half of the twentieth century Tarkington’s work fell into obscurity, it is undeniable that at the height of his career, Tarkington’s literary work and reputation were untouchable.

Reviews for Seventeen (Barnes & Noble Digital Library)

[strogan_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Received from Member Giveaways.While I had heard of Mr. Tarkington prior to reading Seventeen, I had not read any of his works prior to receiving this book.Reading it, Mr. Tarkington's writing style certainly evokes being that age again. Some of the wording may not "translate" well into the current time period, but fits within the era it was written.Really enjoyed reading the book and would recommend it to others.

[jennya1062 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I read this with wincing recognition of being seventeen and blindly in love with someone completely inappropriate. In this novel, the Beloved Object is particularly amusing; her complete mastery of baby talk is astoundingly irritating, yet Tarkington gives her just enough depth to make you want to read on. William, our lovelorn hero, suffers through tribulations related to his clothing, the machinations of his little sister (who fails to give him the respect that his advanced age and status deserve) and competition with his peers for the affection of the Beloved Object. Funny, charming and true to life, even a century later. The only caveat: it is a product of its time, so there is some stereotyping and dialect that will make most modern readers a little uncomfortable.

[jeffome · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I absolutely loved this book, rather unexpectedly, I might add. The absolute hopelessness of being a 17-year-old teenage boy in love for the first time, with competitors amongst friends for her attention, along with your pesky younger sister that is totally onto you, not to mention parents who do not know exactly what to do is brilliantly captured in a remarkably humorous way in this early 1900s' story of good ole middle class mid-America. With so many of these coming-of-age books from this era written from the female perspective, this was a delightful change of voice, especially since i can so vividly remember those frustrating and awkward aspects of my own teenage years. I know there are some occasionally jarring racial references that could lead one to toss this on the junk discard pile with disgust....but i seem to see these things in a slightly different light than some others. The references are merely a record of how these things were viewed and talked about in the time of this book's writing, and while there may be some stereotypical depictions of race, they are no more stereotypical than that of a lovesick ranting & raving teenage boy and the puff-ball that is his love interest.....all positively ridiculous. And to me, the good news is that those moments are startling and jarring....a potent reminder as to how far we have come.....by no means the end of the journey, but amazing progress....for which we should all be grateful. I have enjoyed practically every Tarkington i have read thus far, but I feel that the comedy of this will stay with me...thank you Mr. Tarkington.

[saeriellyn · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of my all-time favorite books, this light-hearted story is sadly hard-to-find now, being a tad dated and, as a result, too un-politically correct for the modern critic's taste. If you can overlook a minor bit of racial characterization that was not, at the time, intended to offend, what you find is a delightful period comedy, superbly told in a meaning-laden, wink-and-nudge style. Young William, the protagonist, is seventeen years old, and it becomes immediatley clear that seventeen, even at the turn of the century, suffered the same overbearing self-importance, irrational mood-swinging, and inflated melodrama that it does today. William is an everyboy in middle America, and the book follows his misadventures the fateful summer when he falls, for the first time, helplessly in love. A neighbor's visiting friend: glamorous, coquettish, flirtatious, and an incessant spouter of charming "baby-talk" turns his life upside-down, to the consternation of his family and the amusement of us all. Hindered in his romantic pursuits by a bevy of like-minded lads, his flawlessly characterized little sister, and his long-suffering parents, he flounders from joy to heartache and back again with a believability that will set teens blushing in sympathy and adults chuckling, if they remember anything about their first crush.Characters are delightfully drawn, and the writing is first rate, with phrases and sentences deliciously crafted to draw out every nuance. People just don't write this way anymore.