Martin Dressler by Steven Millhauser Outstanding, 10 out of 10

 Martin Dressler by Steven Millhauser

Outstanding, 10 out of 10

 

 

This is a fabulous novel.

It probably proves that my taste in literature is conservative and I do not have a stomach for modern output.

I had started a Visit from the Goon Squad before Martin Dressler and although it had a dizzying start, it was abandoned after a few chapters.

Martin Dressler is a classic coming of age story of an American hero, as opposed to the yuppie Goon Squad.

At least that is my view of the contrasting novels, even if I am a bit disappointed at my limited range of favorites.

Martin Dressler starts as an assistant in his father’s shop, who sells cigars, in the second half of the nineteen century.

As a young boy, the future entrepreneur shows a talent for improving the family shop and he changes the display.

Hard work is the secret of success, for Martin Dressler has three jobs at the same time, at least for a period.

He works in his father’s shop, but is offered a job in the hotel where he was promoting his cigars and made a good impression.

As a bell boy, Martin is quick to learn and gain the sympathy of the guests, in particular of a married woman.

Needless to say he gets promoted, but his energy and vision make him want and obtain more and more.

First, he expands his father’s cigar business, by renting the previous tobacco shop from the hotel premises.

Then, after a visit to a nearby museum that would soon be closed, he comes up with a business idea that he shares with a colleague.

Together they open a restaurant and a billiard room, on the premises of the disaffected, but now refurbished building.

Since this first enterprise is a success, another restaurant is opened in another area of the city of New York.

Meanwhile, Martin Dressler meets a group of three women, a mother with her very different daughters.

Martin builds up a romantic interest in the younger sister, Caroline, although he would get closer to the older Emmeline.

After building and developing a very successful chain of restaurants, Martin Dressler sells it to move back to the hotel business.

He buys the Vanderlynn hotel which he refurbishes and changes from top to bottom, turning it into a new concept of “accommodation”.

This is where the novel became somewhat strange for me and if I empathized completely with the hero for the first half of the book, in the second I started having qualms over his construction of weird buildings.

Martin Dressler builds a new “hotel” but very different from the classic model and then creates a monster.

In my view, the idea of putting a whole world inside a building from which one never needs to walk out is outrageous.

But apart from that, the novel is amazing and it gives a lesson about the rat race we are all in and which means that we keep longing for more, no matter what we have and we never stop to appreciate the life we have

Martin Dressler is on Hedonic treadmill, where he keeps building and possessing ever more, only to want…everything.

Fabulous book.