Man in the Gray Flannel Suit »

Universally acclaimed when first published in 1955, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit captured the mood of a generation. Its title — like Catch-22 and Fahrenheit 451 — has become a part of America’s cultural vocabulary. Tom Rath doesn’t want anything extraordinary out of life: just a decent home, enough money to support his family, and a career that won’t crush his spirit. After returning from World War II, he takes a PR job at a television network. It is inane, dehumanizing work. But when a series of personal crises force him to reexamine his priorities — and take responsibility for his past — he is finally moved to carve out an identity for himself. This is Sloan Wilson’s searing indictment of a society that had just begun to lose touch with its citizens. The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit is a classic of American literature and the basis of the award-winning film starring Gregory Peck. “A consequential novel.” — Saturday Review

Publishers Weekly

Patrick Lawlor evokes the mood of post-WWII America in this audio version of Wilson's classic novel. After returning from the war, Tom Rath attempts to reenter civilian life, while struggling financially and personally and working a dreary desk job at a television network. Lawlor's narration is well-paced, steady, and captures both the blunted emotion and plodding pace of bourgeois life in 1950s Southport, Conn. Lawlor produces a range of memorable voices for Wilson's characters--his version of the strident Mrs. Manter is particularly entertaining, while his energetic portrayal of network executive Ralph Hopkins and spot-on rendering of the devious family caretaker and the sagacious Judge Bernstein will delight listeners as the tension mounts and Rath's well-ordered life threatens to spiral out of control. A Da Capo paperback. (Aug.)