saw the movie; very good adaptation; stronger racial angle in book and questionable legality of Texas whites to steal land. ( )

A tension of two cultures within the United States drives through the entire book. Makes me think about assimilation and understanding vs rigidly being right. Well written and brings out the least likeable personalities of either culture to give the reader is view behind stereotypes. ( )

On the surface, Giant is twenty-five years in the life of a Texas family from 1925 to 1950. In reality, Giant is a social commentary on the wealthy. Ferber writes, "We know about champagne and caviar but we talk hog and hominy" (p 17). Ferber's book was controversial because it revealed a stark truth about society in early twentieth century Texas. Take for example, Vashti Hake. As a daughter to a wealthy rancher, Vashti was shunned because she married a lowly cowhand, Pinky Snyth. There was class and there was Class.
The story opens with a group of wealthy and influential people coming together for the celebration of Jett Rink's new airport. This is a bitter pill to swallow for cattle owner Jordan "Bick" Benedict. Bick sold Jett a seemingly worthless sliver of land on his sprawling Reata Ranch. The meager land just happened to sit on an untapped oil field. Suddenly, there is competition. Who is the richest? But, the competition runs much deeper. In order to understand these important characters and their significance the story needs to first take a detour. We go twenty five years in the past to explain how Leslie the society girl from Virginia ended up marrying ruggedly handsome Bick, moving to big ole Texas, and creating drama with Mr. Rink. Using the differences between Leslie and Bick Ferber does a good job laying out the different conflicts within Giant:
Geographically - the west versus the northeast. Texas being sprawling, dry and much hotter than lush and green Virginia.
Racially - the treatment of people of color. Virginia's inclusion of African Americans while Mexicans in Texas are treated as invisible slaves.
Gender - a woman's role in the household. For example, Leslie doesn't understand why Bick wants his sister, Luz, to run the household while Leslie thinks, as woman of the house, she should assume the responsibility.
Economically - with the border of Mexico so close the socio-economic borders were bound to clash and blur.

As an aside, I really liked Leslie. She's smart, funny, and adventurous. In all aspects she truly is a fish out of water but she perseveres.
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It was interesting to read about how the ranch culture and growth of Texas in the 30s-50s, and to see one take on the problems of prejudice at the time. The movie of this book came out when I was a kid and I remember it was a big deal because my dad knew the owner of the Texas ranch where it was filmed. I'll have to rent the movie to see how well it follows the book. ( )