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Originally Posted by Victoria
I don’t think Roy was a bad person. He did care about a number of people. But every card was stacked against him, and he just didn’t have any insight at all into what drove him. I didn’t see his drive as lust - I thought he was trying to fill a deep terrifying personal emptiness.
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As exemplified by his gargantuan appetite! And his hospitalization for overeating was borrowed from a Babe Ruth incident.
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It did remind me a bit of The Grapes of Wrath. It was the author’s first book - I wonder if he was influenced by it at all.
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I like that comparison, too, but what are the odds that a book could be reminiscent of both
The Great Gatsby and The Grapes of Wrath?
You wouldn't think there'd be much overlap, but both comparisons work.
Malamud obviously borrowed heavily from baseball lore, even down to baseball lingo when describing games. (I admit it; I had to look up "bingle.") But for all that and other influences, I wouldn't describe the book as derivative.