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The Jungle
A compelling graphic novel adaptation of Upton Sinclair's seminal protest novel that brings to life the harsh conditions and exploited existences of immigrants in Chicago's meatpacking industry in the early twentieth century.
Long acclaimed around the world, Upton Sinclair's 1906 muckraking novel The Jungle remains a powerful book even today. Not many works of literature can boast that their publication brought about actual social and labor change, but that's just what The Jungle did, as it led to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. In today's society, where labor and safety of the food we eat remain key concerns for all, Sinclair's shocking story still resonates. Bringing new life and energy to this classic work, adapter and illustrator Kristina Gehrmann takes Sinclair's prose and transforms it through pen and ink, allowing you to discover (or rediscover) this book and see it from a whole new perspective.
Long acclaimed around the world, Upton Sinclair's 1906 muckraking novel The Jungle remains a powerful book even today. Not many works of literature can boast that their publication brought about actual social and labor change, but that's just what The Jungle did, as it led to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906. In today's society, where labor and safety of the food we eat remain key concerns for all, Sinclair's shocking story still resonates. Bringing new life and energy to this classic work, adapter and illustrator Kristina Gehrmann takes Sinclair's prose and transforms it through pen and ink, allowing you to discover (or rediscover) this book and see it from a whole new perspective.
384 pages, Paperback
First published March 20, 2018
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 93 reviews
October 4, 2023
Gritty GN that adapts this influential classic - really would encourage anyone reading The Jungle for the first time to read this wonderful adaptation at the same time - the work environment illustrations will add to your understanding of the book; helped me visual the story in a new and deeper way - highly recommended.
December 18, 2019
Guilt – more than enough for everyone. Come and get it, it's free!
For me, I feel the usual guilt when I whizz through a big graphic novel in just over an hour knowing full well that it probably took the artist two or three years hard labour to make it.
Then there’s the guilt in sitting in my leafy suburb reading about the grinding misery of the poor and downtrodden. And kind of making a mental calculation along the way – now, is this guy and his Lithuanian family toiling in the stockyards and factories of Chicago in the 1890s worse off or better off than the inhabitants of the workhouse in Oliver Twist or the Mexican street kids in Bunuel’s film Los Olvidados or the prisoners banged up in the gulag in One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich or the slum dwellers of Mumbai in Behind the Beautiful Forevers or the Okies in The Grapes of Wrath? How do they score on the miseryometer?
Then there’s the guilt of our main man here Jurgis Rudkus who can’t get a decent enough job to keep a roof over his family’s heads and when his foot gets injured by a rampaging steer in the section where he’s shovelling up intestines all day long it starts going downhill rapidly.
You can see this book is not a barrel of laughs. It’s a graphic novelisation of Upton Sinclair’s famously grim expose of American immigrant working experiences.
Typical quote :
It’s from the chemicals he stands in all day. They’ve eaten through his new boots and have now attacked his feet. The other workers say it’s a regular thing in that line of work.
Ugh!
I was shocked but not surprised to find the 1890 version of Harvey Weinstein in this story. There was a really chilling quote from one of Harvey's victims, who said that he asked her –
Why would you want to put your career at risk for five minutes of your time?
Same thing happens here to one of the young immigrant women, but in her case it was a bit more than five minutes of her time.
Ugh.
After finishing this it did strike me that the industrialisation phase of capitalism seems inevitably to include some decades of unfettered viciousness – and some countries are having their decades of misery right now, check out this Wall Street Journal headline from 9 days ago :
New Delhi Factory Fire Kills at Least 43
Many laborers died of smoke inhalation as they slept in a building where they worked; a lack of alarms
But capitalism cannot continue indefinitely like that, unions and political opposition and (we naively hope) some shreds of remaining humanity will gradually improve conditions for workers, at least from the absolutely unbearable to the just about tolerable. You may say that American and European capitalism has just learned how to outsource its sweatshops from the developing world now. As in this (one of many) headline from the Daily Mirror three months ago
Replica football shirts costing £107 made by sweatshop workers 'on 75p an hour'
EXCLUSIVE: Workers in Thailand making Manchester City shirts will be paid just £7.53 for a 10-hour day but the jerseys cost nearly £103
I knew the original Upton Sinclair novel would be too grim a read for me, so this graphic version was just what I wanted. The art is lovely – almost dissonantly, given its horrible subject matter.
Could be only the pre-ghost Scrooge would be giving this out as a Christmas present, but nevertheless, this graphic novel is
Recommended.
For me, I feel the usual guilt when I whizz through a big graphic novel in just over an hour knowing full well that it probably took the artist two or three years hard labour to make it.
Then there’s the guilt in sitting in my leafy suburb reading about the grinding misery of the poor and downtrodden. And kind of making a mental calculation along the way – now, is this guy and his Lithuanian family toiling in the stockyards and factories of Chicago in the 1890s worse off or better off than the inhabitants of the workhouse in Oliver Twist or the Mexican street kids in Bunuel’s film Los Olvidados or the prisoners banged up in the gulag in One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich or the slum dwellers of Mumbai in Behind the Beautiful Forevers or the Okies in The Grapes of Wrath? How do they score on the miseryometer?
Then there’s the guilt of our main man here Jurgis Rudkus who can’t get a decent enough job to keep a roof over his family’s heads and when his foot gets injured by a rampaging steer in the section where he’s shovelling up intestines all day long it starts going downhill rapidly.
You can see this book is not a barrel of laughs. It’s a graphic novelisation of Upton Sinclair’s famously grim expose of American immigrant working experiences.
Typical quote :
It’s from the chemicals he stands in all day. They’ve eaten through his new boots and have now attacked his feet. The other workers say it’s a regular thing in that line of work.
Ugh!
I was shocked but not surprised to find the 1890 version of Harvey Weinstein in this story. There was a really chilling quote from one of Harvey's victims, who said that he asked her –
Why would you want to put your career at risk for five minutes of your time?
Same thing happens here to one of the young immigrant women, but in her case it was a bit more than five minutes of her time.
Ugh.
After finishing this it did strike me that the industrialisation phase of capitalism seems inevitably to include some decades of unfettered viciousness – and some countries are having their decades of misery right now, check out this Wall Street Journal headline from 9 days ago :
New Delhi Factory Fire Kills at Least 43
Many laborers died of smoke inhalation as they slept in a building where they worked; a lack of alarms
But capitalism cannot continue indefinitely like that, unions and political opposition and (we naively hope) some shreds of remaining humanity will gradually improve conditions for workers, at least from the absolutely unbearable to the just about tolerable. You may say that American and European capitalism has just learned how to outsource its sweatshops from the developing world now. As in this (one of many) headline from the Daily Mirror three months ago
Replica football shirts costing £107 made by sweatshop workers 'on 75p an hour'
EXCLUSIVE: Workers in Thailand making Manchester City shirts will be paid just £7.53 for a 10-hour day but the jerseys cost nearly £103
I knew the original Upton Sinclair novel would be too grim a read for me, so this graphic version was just what I wanted. The art is lovely – almost dissonantly, given its horrible subject matter.
Could be only the pre-ghost Scrooge would be giving this out as a Christmas present, but nevertheless, this graphic novel is
Recommended.
January 29, 2020
An interesting interpretation of Upton Sinclair’s classic novel. For the most part, the storyline stays true to the original source material. A few details are missing for the sake of pacing, but, all in all an acceptable substitute if you are looking for another option because you don’t feel like taking on the novel.
You may note that my review of Sinclair’s novel is only 3 stars and this one has 4, and that may surprise you. So, I will clarify. I think that both of them are very interesting, it is just that this version is likely more accessible and would be more interesting to a wider audience. The novel is very heavy and it could be hard for some to stay interested in it. So, I think giving this graphic novel one more star makes sense, but, overall, I would rate them fairly even in the story they share.
I did enjoy the art in this book, but I do have one big complaint: in my opinion, the art made everything look too clean. While reading the novel I was picturing horrible and dirty working conditions. People covered in filth and, even though they might be young, looking way beyond their years. In this version, even after going through much pain and suffering, the characters didn’t look all that bad. So, it kind of took away from the direness of their situation.
Finally – why not 5 stars? Much like the ending of the novel, I just don’t care much for the way the story ends. I appreciate the story and the struggle that is being shared, but instead of any real resolution, it just turns into a commercial for Socialism. I suppose I can describe how it feels in my mind this way:
- What if the book The Stand ended with an advertisement for Flu Medication?
- What if the Star Wars saga ended with an advertisement for family counseling?
- What if Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ended with advertisements for candy?
Instead of being a subtle commentary, it is in your face. You get a really great and moving story and it ends with an advertisement.
(I guess with how bad product placement is getting, this isn’t far from what is really happening!)
You may note that my review of Sinclair’s novel is only 3 stars and this one has 4, and that may surprise you. So, I will clarify. I think that both of them are very interesting, it is just that this version is likely more accessible and would be more interesting to a wider audience. The novel is very heavy and it could be hard for some to stay interested in it. So, I think giving this graphic novel one more star makes sense, but, overall, I would rate them fairly even in the story they share.
I did enjoy the art in this book, but I do have one big complaint: in my opinion, the art made everything look too clean. While reading the novel I was picturing horrible and dirty working conditions. People covered in filth and, even though they might be young, looking way beyond their years. In this version, even after going through much pain and suffering, the characters didn’t look all that bad. So, it kind of took away from the direness of their situation.
Finally – why not 5 stars? Much like the ending of the novel, I just don’t care much for the way the story ends. I appreciate the story and the struggle that is being shared, but instead of any real resolution, it just turns into a commercial for Socialism. I suppose I can describe how it feels in my mind this way:
- What if the book The Stand ended with an advertisement for Flu Medication?
- What if the Star Wars saga ended with an advertisement for family counseling?
- What if Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ended with advertisements for candy?
Instead of being a subtle commentary, it is in your face. You get a really great and moving story and it ends with an advertisement.
(I guess with how bad product placement is getting, this isn’t far from what is really happening!)
September 24, 2019
This was going to be five stars, but to be honest, the ending ruined it for me. Without giving too much away, it felt way too uplifting and redemptive; despite the fact that I have yet to read Sinclair's original (though I intend to start soon), I had a feeling the conclusion wasn't supposed to be so, well, cheery. I went against my better judgement and Googled it, and to be honest, I feel a little cheated. I understand making alterations in adaptations, but I think the revisions in the conclusion here take away from Sinclair's point in his novel; that the American Dream is just a sham, unobtainable for most (unless you're upper class), and there is no chance of upward mobility without socialism and unionization.
If you are curious about the differences/spoilers, I will nestle them here:
Otherwise, though, this graphic novel adaptation was amazing. The artwork was fantastic; I can't imagine how long it took the illustrator to draw everything. The pop of red on articles of clothing and the sky and rooftops in most of the frames was really effective juxtaposed against the black and white scenes, and I thought that was so clever. And even though I may not be thrilled with some of the alterations, I am so glad that this will reach a wider, more mainstream audience, because this story is so important. I know it is often lauded for the way it inspired the Food and Drug Act of 1906, but it's so much more than that; it's also a commentary on how the American Dream is impossible, available only to a select elite in the upper, upper class, and those people will do whatever it takes to keep the hierarchy that way, forever. Sinclair's novel, to me, really speaks to why America needed socialism and unions then, but I think so much of that is lost in the disturbing images/descriptions of the factories and the meat.
Furthermore, this book had so much staying power for me; I only read it in two sittings, and when I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about the ideas and the characters and themes tied up with the novel. I don't feel remiss for beginning with the graphic novel and moving onto the original from here, but I am really intrigued to read the original now; if the graphic novel was this powerful, I can only imagine the impact of the original.
If you are curious about the differences/spoilers, I will nestle them here:
Otherwise, though, this graphic novel adaptation was amazing. The artwork was fantastic; I can't imagine how long it took the illustrator to draw everything. The pop of red on articles of clothing and the sky and rooftops in most of the frames was really effective juxtaposed against the black and white scenes, and I thought that was so clever. And even though I may not be thrilled with some of the alterations, I am so glad that this will reach a wider, more mainstream audience, because this story is so important. I know it is often lauded for the way it inspired the Food and Drug Act of 1906, but it's so much more than that; it's also a commentary on how the American Dream is impossible, available only to a select elite in the upper, upper class, and those people will do whatever it takes to keep the hierarchy that way, forever. Sinclair's novel, to me, really speaks to why America needed socialism and unions then, but I think so much of that is lost in the disturbing images/descriptions of the factories and the meat.
Furthermore, this book had so much staying power for me; I only read it in two sittings, and when I wasn't reading it, I was thinking about the ideas and the characters and themes tied up with the novel. I don't feel remiss for beginning with the graphic novel and moving onto the original from here, but I am really intrigued to read the original now; if the graphic novel was this powerful, I can only imagine the impact of the original.
February 1, 2024
Upton Sinclair was a "muckracking" journalist. Writing for a socialist newspaper (the more things change, the more they stay the same) spent some time doing research about the Meat Packing industry in Chicago. While, Sinclair expected people to be upset over the conditions of wage-slaves working in factories, as usual, no one cared. But, they did raise a hue and cry over the health and hygienic standards of the time and this led to huge changes in the way things were run.
Kristina Gehrmann takes the story told in "The Jungle" and creates a GN about the Rudkis family. None of these family members, from Lithuania, have won the intelligence lottery and their introduction to factory worker life in Chicago is harsh and brutal. On top of the conditions, the system is not designed for the slow and stupid and they become mere cogs in whatever company they do manual labor for.
Thus this GN traces the lives and tragedies of these poor immigrants. The material inside is actually quite real and the setting, design, and even the events are firmly grounded in historical fact. The art style is decent and the muted coloring, with hints of red, is also quite appropriate. I enjoyed it.
I think this GN is an excellent rendition of Sinclair's work. A very good GN version of a classic book that changed the way food was processed throughout America.
Kristina Gehrmann takes the story told in "The Jungle" and creates a GN about the Rudkis family. None of these family members, from Lithuania, have won the intelligence lottery and their introduction to factory worker life in Chicago is harsh and brutal. On top of the conditions, the system is not designed for the slow and stupid and they become mere cogs in whatever company they do manual labor for.
Thus this GN traces the lives and tragedies of these poor immigrants. The material inside is actually quite real and the setting, design, and even the events are firmly grounded in historical fact. The art style is decent and the muted coloring, with hints of red, is also quite appropriate. I enjoyed it.
I think this GN is an excellent rendition of Sinclair's work. A very good GN version of a classic book that changed the way food was processed throughout America.
June 13, 2019
Such beautiful art, such potent matter.
May 27, 2022
Poor working conditions, immigrant exploitation, lack of good housing… these and more are things we read about nearly every day. Upton Sinclair’s “The Jungle”, a story that centers around the meat-packing industry in the US remains ever-relevant because of that. The people, faces, ethnicity, country, and other variables may have changed but the issues remain more or less the same.
In the graphic novel adaptation of The Jungle, which talks about a Lithuanian family who migrates to the US in pursuit of the American Dream, Jurgis Rudkus and his family move to Chicago’s meat-packing district. At first, Jurgis is enthusiastic and eager, driven by his vision of making it in the country. But life wears them out slowly – the family gets swindled, and every day becomes a battle to keep themselves out of debt, illness, and poverty.
It's not an easy read in that sense. The workers are treated miserably with many often falling sick and working at great risk to their lives. When the novel first came out in the 1800s it instantly reached wide acclaim for its deeply affecting prose and detailed reporting. The book offered a never-before-seen picture of the deplorable situation of workers in the meat-packing industry.
I read that most of the plot points from the original novel is reproduced in the graphic novel adaptation. And I didn’t feel there was anything amiss when I read. It was a quick read although bleak.
There is light at the end of the tunnel and at the end of the book, though. After all that the family goes through things do take a turn for the better for them. And that’s worth reading the book for.
In the graphic novel adaptation of The Jungle, which talks about a Lithuanian family who migrates to the US in pursuit of the American Dream, Jurgis Rudkus and his family move to Chicago’s meat-packing district. At first, Jurgis is enthusiastic and eager, driven by his vision of making it in the country. But life wears them out slowly – the family gets swindled, and every day becomes a battle to keep themselves out of debt, illness, and poverty.
It's not an easy read in that sense. The workers are treated miserably with many often falling sick and working at great risk to their lives. When the novel first came out in the 1800s it instantly reached wide acclaim for its deeply affecting prose and detailed reporting. The book offered a never-before-seen picture of the deplorable situation of workers in the meat-packing industry.
I read that most of the plot points from the original novel is reproduced in the graphic novel adaptation. And I didn’t feel there was anything amiss when I read. It was a quick read although bleak.
There is light at the end of the tunnel and at the end of the book, though. After all that the family goes through things do take a turn for the better for them. And that’s worth reading the book for.
March 7, 2020
I have yet to read the original, but couldn't resist picking up this graphic novel adaptation from my library. The illustration style works well - albeit everything seemed a tad too clean. Sinclair wrote about the hardships of immigrant lives in the late 1890s/early 1900s in Chicago. He was nonplussed that his book, which he hoped would change minds about human suffering and socialism, in fact changed hearts about the meat packing industry. This is so good that I plan to move the OG up my TBR list.
The US has had waves of immigrants reaching our shores, and each group faces unique, yet similar, challenges. In the midst of the current immigration diatribe, it might behoove us to remember that we all, or our ancestors, once arrived as immigrants, and conditions have never been easy for those starting over in a new land with strange ways. Highly recommend it.
The US has had waves of immigrants reaching our shores, and each group faces unique, yet similar, challenges. In the midst of the current immigration diatribe, it might behoove us to remember that we all, or our ancestors, once arrived as immigrants, and conditions have never been easy for those starting over in a new land with strange ways. Highly recommend it.
April 13, 2021
I read this in German and have never read the original Upton Sinclair book, so it was admittedly an odd way to come at the material. This graphic novel was enjoyably thought-provoking even though Gehrmann has apparently elided some of the piled-on tragedies at the end of the story.
Usually I'm good at putting my finger on why I enjoyed a book, but with her books it's harder. I think it's the combination of the energetic drawings and easy-to-read German text with accurate historical material. The books achieve simplicity without being dumbed down.
This one has a lot of reviews on Goodreads because it was translated into English, and it's too bad her first series Im Eisland hasn't been translated because that has more space to develop (three volumes) and a lot of cinematic scenes.
Usually I'm good at putting my finger on why I enjoyed a book, but with her books it's harder. I think it's the combination of the energetic drawings and easy-to-read German text with accurate historical material. The books achieve simplicity without being dumbed down.
This one has a lot of reviews on Goodreads because it was translated into English, and it's too bad her first series Im Eisland hasn't been translated because that has more space to develop (three volumes) and a lot of cinematic scenes.
July 14, 2019
Brutal. Difficult to progress one page to the next, but true to Sinclair’s vision. Unifying the entire narrative of unfit working conditions of the inhuman meat industry is an art style which tells a tale all on its own. Red is blood, gore, savagery, naivety, love, loss...it’s all these same things yet different.
September 15, 2018
WARUM WOLLTE ICH ES LESEN? Kristina Gehrmanns zweite Graphic Novel ist eine künstlerische Adaption von Upton Sinclairs gleichnamigen Roman, der das Schicksal vieler Migrationsfamilien in Amerika Ende des 19. Jahrhunderts beschreibt. Ein sehr interessantes Thema und auch das Cover sah bereits mehr als toll aus.
HAT ES MEINE ERWARTUNGEN ERFÜLLT? Ich bin tatsächlich ohne Erwartungen, dafür aber mit ganz viel Vorfreude an das Buch gegangen. Deshalb kann ich zwar nicht davon sprechen, dass Erwartungen erfüllt wurden, ich hatte aber eine Menge Spaß und tolle Lesestunden.
WAS HAT MIR GUT GEFALLEN? Ich mochte wirklich alles an dem Buch! Der Zeichenstil – vollständig in schwarz-weiß gehalten – war passend und dennoch nicht öde. Die Geschichte mit ihrer historischen Genauigkeit und dem Schrecken war spannend, lehrreich und man wollte immer mehr lesen. Der Aufbau und die gesamte Gestaltung rissen den Leser sofort zurück ins 19. Jahrhundert und so war überall die Atmosphäre förmlich greifbar.
WAS HAT MICH GESTÖRT? Ich habe lange gebraucht, um mir Gedanken über diesen Punkt zu machen und kam zu dem Resultat, dass ich einfach nichts gefunden habe, was mich gestört hat. Der Dschungel ist eine durch und durch gelungene Graphic Novel.
FAZIT. Der Dschungel ist eine großartige Graphic Novel, die viel mehr Aufmerksamkeit bekommen sollte. Kristina Gehrmann schafft es perfekt, die Atmosphäre und die Schrecken dieser Zeit einzufangen und schonungslos darzustellen. Man möchte gar nicht mehr aufhören, zu lesen. | ★★★★★
HAT ES MEINE ERWARTUNGEN ERFÜLLT? Ich bin tatsächlich ohne Erwartungen, dafür aber mit ganz viel Vorfreude an das Buch gegangen. Deshalb kann ich zwar nicht davon sprechen, dass Erwartungen erfüllt wurden, ich hatte aber eine Menge Spaß und tolle Lesestunden.
WAS HAT MIR GUT GEFALLEN? Ich mochte wirklich alles an dem Buch! Der Zeichenstil – vollständig in schwarz-weiß gehalten – war passend und dennoch nicht öde. Die Geschichte mit ihrer historischen Genauigkeit und dem Schrecken war spannend, lehrreich und man wollte immer mehr lesen. Der Aufbau und die gesamte Gestaltung rissen den Leser sofort zurück ins 19. Jahrhundert und so war überall die Atmosphäre förmlich greifbar.
WAS HAT MICH GESTÖRT? Ich habe lange gebraucht, um mir Gedanken über diesen Punkt zu machen und kam zu dem Resultat, dass ich einfach nichts gefunden habe, was mich gestört hat. Der Dschungel ist eine durch und durch gelungene Graphic Novel.
FAZIT. Der Dschungel ist eine großartige Graphic Novel, die viel mehr Aufmerksamkeit bekommen sollte. Kristina Gehrmann schafft es perfekt, die Atmosphäre und die Schrecken dieser Zeit einzufangen und schonungslos darzustellen. Man möchte gar nicht mehr aufhören, zu lesen. | ★★★★★
October 27, 2019
If I’d had this in high school, I may have actually gone back and read the book. Great adaptation.
March 6, 2022
The Jungle [1906/2018] – ★★★★★
“The opposite of poverty is not wealth, the opposite of poverty is enough” (Dr. Wess Stafford).
“Sometimes even to live is an act of courage” (Seneca).
This graphic novel is based on a classic novel by Upton Sinclair The Jungle [1906] that tells of a Lithuanian family of immigrants who arrive to Chicago, Illinois in 1899 and find their hopes slowly turning to dust as they all take jobs exploiting them and their desperate need to survive in the foreign country. Jurgis Rudkus is a twenty-one year old man eager to work at any job in America and soon finds himself in a meat-processing factory, working in very unhygienic and even horrifying environment. His fiancée Ona starts working in packaging, while her cousin Marija begins painting cans, and even Jurgis’s elderly father tries to land some job in order not to be dependent on others, among other family members. This family comprising of three generations is soon hit very hard by the “hidden costs” of their American Dream, which becomes very hard to bear, especially when most factories close in winter and the mercilessness of the family’s employers and landlords leads to traumatic experiences. Though I have not yet read the original novel by Sinclair, I found this graphic adaptation deeply moving, offering an uncomfortable, yet valuable insight into Sinclair’s vision and the conditions of blue-collar workers in early twentieth-century Chicago.
The Jungle details the immigrants’ life in a foreign country from a perspective which is only too intimate and thus, later, quite shocking, making the readers care about one family from Lithuania who sacrificed a lot by fleeing their impoverished native land and now see America as their hope and future, a progressive and rich country with lots of land and opportunities. Rudkus’s family is kind, friendly, hard-working and flexible and, though prepared to embrace the American life-style, still wants to retain their culture and traditions, including having an expensive wedding. There are children in the family and, obviously, parents want the best for them. This is an ordinary family, maybe not too educated and a bit naïve, but not prone to vices, and one would think – “what could go wrong?”
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair is a book that contributed greatly to the American government passing the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906, and that is because the book exposed the unsanitary conditions prevalent at that time in the meat-packing industry, all seen and experienced first-hand by Sinclair, who worked undercover. Similarly, Jurgis Rudkus in the story gets a job at Durham Co. in Chicago, a firm that prides itself in “processing about 250.000 heads in ten hours”, and is at first only too pleased that he is finally able to work and feed his family. However, the hours are too long, the work is too hard, the pay is too low, and the working conditions are both unhealthy and dangerous. His family members experience similar circumstances in their workplaces (together with their employers’ cheating and sexual assaults), and, to top it all off, the home that the family thought they “bought” transpired to have “hidden costs”, including interest rates and insurance. “Desperate times call for desperate measures”, and we see Jurgis’s family struggle against the current of abuse, exploitation, indifference and injustice, sinking deeper and deeper into their poverty. There are sometimes happy moments for the family, for example, during the feast celebrating Jurgis and Ona’s marriage and the birth of their son, but even these are overshadowed by the relentless despair fed by their “dog eat dog” environment.
“It appeared as if the whole world was one elaborate system, opposed to justice and kindness, and set to making cruelty and pain ”, once said Upton Sinclair, and in The Jungle, he undoubtedly attacks what he sees as the greed, corruption and ruthlessness of American capitalism in the early twentieth century. This is a system that takes advantage of the most vulnerable, defenceless, ignorant, needy and the poorest, and all with the goal of making a dollar. And, what is the fate of those who refuse to make others, including their neighbours and friends and even family members in some cases, their competitors? Starvation. A co-worker explains to Jurgis Rudkus the workings of his new employer: “…it starts at the top, where Old Man Durham, who owns the place…tries to make as much money as he can in any way he can. Underneath him, ranging in ranks and grades like an army, are managers and superintendents and foreman…each one driving the man immediately below him and trying to squeeze out of him as much work as possible. And all the men of the same rank are pitted against one another. The accounts of each are kept separately…and every man lives in terror of losing his job, if another has a better record than he! The place is a seething cauldron of jealousies and hatreds. There is no loyalty, decency, or honesty anywhere. You’ll find out for yourself that nobody rises in Packingtown by doing good work.” [Sinclair/Gehrmann, Carlsen Verlag/Ten Speed Press: 1906/2018/19: 107].
Kristina Gehrmann first published her adapted novel in German in 2018, and her illustrations, though appearing rather sketchy, are still impactful and easy to follow. They do bring the feeling of immediacy to every action of the characters. The black-and-white illustrations signal the importance and historical significance of the events told, and some of the objects in the story are also coloured in bright red which puts a symbolic emphasis on either people or their living/working conditions, for example, on the blood in slaughter-houses or the hens in rented accommodations. I cannot judge the narrative details of the graphic novel because I have not read the original novel, but I must also add that I did find it rather puzzling that certain narrative threads followed (such as the unsanitary conditions at Durham or painting cans at Marija’s work) did not result in certain expected resolutions (for example, illnesses due to the mentioned unsanitary conditions or workplace toxicity). That is, of course, not to say that this astonishing novel needed any more grimness that is already there.
Once you have finished reading it, The Jungle is impossible to forget. It is a powerful take on the life of immigrants in America, a painful overview of the conditions of low-wage workers in Chicago, an unflinching look at capitalism and a moving statement on the resilience of the human spirit facing the ultimate disillusionment.
“The opposite of poverty is not wealth, the opposite of poverty is enough” (Dr. Wess Stafford).
“Sometimes even to live is an act of courage” (Seneca).
This graphic novel is based on a classic novel by Upton Sinclair The Jungle [1906] that tells of a Lithuanian family of immigrants who arrive to Chicago, Illinois in 1899 and find their hopes slowly turning to dust as they all take jobs exploiting them and their desperate need to survive in the foreign country. Jurgis Rudkus is a twenty-one year old man eager to work at any job in America and soon finds himself in a meat-processing factory, working in very unhygienic and even horrifying environment. His fiancée Ona starts working in packaging, while her cousin Marija begins painting cans, and even Jurgis’s elderly father tries to land some job in order not to be dependent on others, among other family members. This family comprising of three generations is soon hit very hard by the “hidden costs” of their American Dream, which becomes very hard to bear, especially when most factories close in winter and the mercilessness of the family’s employers and landlords leads to traumatic experiences. Though I have not yet read the original novel by Sinclair, I found this graphic adaptation deeply moving, offering an uncomfortable, yet valuable insight into Sinclair’s vision and the conditions of blue-collar workers in early twentieth-century Chicago.
The Jungle details the immigrants’ life in a foreign country from a perspective which is only too intimate and thus, later, quite shocking, making the readers care about one family from Lithuania who sacrificed a lot by fleeing their impoverished native land and now see America as their hope and future, a progressive and rich country with lots of land and opportunities. Rudkus’s family is kind, friendly, hard-working and flexible and, though prepared to embrace the American life-style, still wants to retain their culture and traditions, including having an expensive wedding. There are children in the family and, obviously, parents want the best for them. This is an ordinary family, maybe not too educated and a bit naïve, but not prone to vices, and one would think – “what could go wrong?”
The Jungle by Upton Sinclair is a book that contributed greatly to the American government passing the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906, and that is because the book exposed the unsanitary conditions prevalent at that time in the meat-packing industry, all seen and experienced first-hand by Sinclair, who worked undercover. Similarly, Jurgis Rudkus in the story gets a job at Durham Co. in Chicago, a firm that prides itself in “processing about 250.000 heads in ten hours”, and is at first only too pleased that he is finally able to work and feed his family. However, the hours are too long, the work is too hard, the pay is too low, and the working conditions are both unhealthy and dangerous. His family members experience similar circumstances in their workplaces (together with their employers’ cheating and sexual assaults), and, to top it all off, the home that the family thought they “bought” transpired to have “hidden costs”, including interest rates and insurance. “Desperate times call for desperate measures”, and we see Jurgis’s family struggle against the current of abuse, exploitation, indifference and injustice, sinking deeper and deeper into their poverty. There are sometimes happy moments for the family, for example, during the feast celebrating Jurgis and Ona’s marriage and the birth of their son, but even these are overshadowed by the relentless despair fed by their “dog eat dog” environment.
“It appeared as if the whole world was one elaborate system, opposed to justice and kindness, and set to making cruelty and pain ”, once said Upton Sinclair, and in The Jungle, he undoubtedly attacks what he sees as the greed, corruption and ruthlessness of American capitalism in the early twentieth century. This is a system that takes advantage of the most vulnerable, defenceless, ignorant, needy and the poorest, and all with the goal of making a dollar. And, what is the fate of those who refuse to make others, including their neighbours and friends and even family members in some cases, their competitors? Starvation. A co-worker explains to Jurgis Rudkus the workings of his new employer: “…it starts at the top, where Old Man Durham, who owns the place…tries to make as much money as he can in any way he can. Underneath him, ranging in ranks and grades like an army, are managers and superintendents and foreman…each one driving the man immediately below him and trying to squeeze out of him as much work as possible. And all the men of the same rank are pitted against one another. The accounts of each are kept separately…and every man lives in terror of losing his job, if another has a better record than he! The place is a seething cauldron of jealousies and hatreds. There is no loyalty, decency, or honesty anywhere. You’ll find out for yourself that nobody rises in Packingtown by doing good work.” [Sinclair/Gehrmann, Carlsen Verlag/Ten Speed Press: 1906/2018/19: 107].
Kristina Gehrmann first published her adapted novel in German in 2018, and her illustrations, though appearing rather sketchy, are still impactful and easy to follow. They do bring the feeling of immediacy to every action of the characters. The black-and-white illustrations signal the importance and historical significance of the events told, and some of the objects in the story are also coloured in bright red which puts a symbolic emphasis on either people or their living/working conditions, for example, on the blood in slaughter-houses or the hens in rented accommodations. I cannot judge the narrative details of the graphic novel because I have not read the original novel, but I must also add that I did find it rather puzzling that certain narrative threads followed (such as the unsanitary conditions at Durham or painting cans at Marija’s work) did not result in certain expected resolutions (for example, illnesses due to the mentioned unsanitary conditions or workplace toxicity). That is, of course, not to say that this astonishing novel needed any more grimness that is already there.
Once you have finished reading it, The Jungle is impossible to forget. It is a powerful take on the life of immigrants in America, a painful overview of the conditions of low-wage workers in Chicago, an unflinching look at capitalism and a moving statement on the resilience of the human spirit facing the ultimate disillusionment.
August 18, 2019
Interesting read set in a graphic novel. I was not aware of this era and what was accomplished with the Pure Food and Drug Act.
Enjoyable read.
Enjoyable read.
December 15, 2020
In 1905 an outspoken Socialist, and later Democrat, and an all around progressive thinker and activist and author Upton Sinclair published his novel The Jungle as a serial in a socialist newspaper Appeal to Reason. It was a culmination of his undercover investigations into the working conditions in the meat packing sector and in fact it is a resound condemnation of the industry and its exploitation of its workers. It was brutally honest in a way that rakes mud, makes people uncomfortable and eventually leads to changes…in this case a public outcry and soon after a Meat Inspection Act.
And yet it took some doing to get it published in a book form, with no less than five rejections based on the general unpleasantness of the subject, until Doubleday stepped up to the plate and literature found the way.
So how dated is a story of an immigrant family coming to America to make their dreams come true and working themselves to the bone for it only to get screwed over at every turn by the brutality of the working conditions and bosses, extortionist estate agents, lack of employee protections, gender pay divides, etc.? Oh…you’d be surprised.
Sinclair would probably be appalled. For all the changes instituted since, there are still too many things depicted in the book that are uncomfortably familiar in this day and age.
And sure, Socialism isn’t the answer, historical and sociopolitical events of the global past have proven it all too well, but it’s possible that neither is the mockery of democracy that US has going for it. Maybe it’s all about slow and steady climb upward, incremental improvements, etc…in which case we need Upton Sinclairs more than ever to decry the injustices and inspire the change. Or maybe the ship has sailed. At any rate, what he was able to accomplish is very inspiring and he’s done so, while also creating a compelling narrative story. The Jungle is actually a very good book by any literary standard, whether you appreciate its message or find it incendiary. I like immigrant experience stories, though somehow the nation built on immigrants has managed to turn it into a dirty word. The optimism and perseverance alone are very inspiring as is demonstrated so generously by the Lithuanian family in this book.
And of course, since this is a graphic adaptation, some words must be said about that. Mainly, about how well done it was. The Jungle is a large book, and while the graphic novel maintains pretty much the same page count, it uses art is such a way that it tells a story concurrent with the words. I know that is the actual goal and definition of a graphic novel, but some don’t manage to hit it, going too text heavy. This novel managed the perfect balance. It very effectively uses a limited color palette of white, black and greys, accenting it with occasional reds for contrast. It’s perfect for the story and for the time it takes place. The portraiture is kind of minimalistic, but very good, the characters are distinct and their emotions are plain to behold. The rest of the art has terrific detail, the factories, etc. The book reads quickly for 400 pages and engages completely.
All in all, a success, an excellent adaptation of an important classic, a way to bring it to a new audience in a time where it is still all too tragically relevant. Well done, author, bravo. Recommended.
And yet it took some doing to get it published in a book form, with no less than five rejections based on the general unpleasantness of the subject, until Doubleday stepped up to the plate and literature found the way.
So how dated is a story of an immigrant family coming to America to make their dreams come true and working themselves to the bone for it only to get screwed over at every turn by the brutality of the working conditions and bosses, extortionist estate agents, lack of employee protections, gender pay divides, etc.? Oh…you’d be surprised.
Sinclair would probably be appalled. For all the changes instituted since, there are still too many things depicted in the book that are uncomfortably familiar in this day and age.
And sure, Socialism isn’t the answer, historical and sociopolitical events of the global past have proven it all too well, but it’s possible that neither is the mockery of democracy that US has going for it. Maybe it’s all about slow and steady climb upward, incremental improvements, etc…in which case we need Upton Sinclairs more than ever to decry the injustices and inspire the change. Or maybe the ship has sailed. At any rate, what he was able to accomplish is very inspiring and he’s done so, while also creating a compelling narrative story. The Jungle is actually a very good book by any literary standard, whether you appreciate its message or find it incendiary. I like immigrant experience stories, though somehow the nation built on immigrants has managed to turn it into a dirty word. The optimism and perseverance alone are very inspiring as is demonstrated so generously by the Lithuanian family in this book.
And of course, since this is a graphic adaptation, some words must be said about that. Mainly, about how well done it was. The Jungle is a large book, and while the graphic novel maintains pretty much the same page count, it uses art is such a way that it tells a story concurrent with the words. I know that is the actual goal and definition of a graphic novel, but some don’t manage to hit it, going too text heavy. This novel managed the perfect balance. It very effectively uses a limited color palette of white, black and greys, accenting it with occasional reds for contrast. It’s perfect for the story and for the time it takes place. The portraiture is kind of minimalistic, but very good, the characters are distinct and their emotions are plain to behold. The rest of the art has terrific detail, the factories, etc. The book reads quickly for 400 pages and engages completely.
All in all, a success, an excellent adaptation of an important classic, a way to bring it to a new audience in a time where it is still all too tragically relevant. Well done, author, bravo. Recommended.
May 11, 2023
Beautifully illustrated and captures the dazzling ethos of Sinclair’s seminal work.
Even 100 years after its publication, “The Jungle” offers a prognostication of a socialist future that still slips through our fingers.
Just this past week “60 Minutes” ran an expose on the the use of child labor in slaughterhouses and chemical plants across the nation (~200 identified children across 8 states, though the Labor Department believes this number to be drastically underestimated). These children are working overnight shifts in chemically toxic work environments that leave them with chemical burns and not enough energy to stay awake in their classes the next day. It’s “The Jungle” in the 21st Century and there’s not enough muckrakers shouting the injustices from the rooftops.
“The Jungle” is in the Top 10 books of my middle school curriculum that I still think about to this day. I remember my B&N copy of “The Jungle” with highlights and sticky notes across its innards- each drawing parallels from the immigrant experience and the meatpacking industry of the early 1900s (heck- that was almost my thesis!). Immigrants, much like the cattle in the slaughterhouses, were given limited mobility, trapped in structures that forced compliance, and ultimately met a death that was anything but the American Dream.
I devoured this version of the novel in a single sitting. Even though I knew the plot well, I still felt visceral emotions for Jurgis’ plight and that of his Lithuanian family. (I will also never be able to remove the image of a slaughterhouse worker accidentally falling into a giant vat and being made into lard for hand soap and cosmetics.)
Even 100 years after its publication, “The Jungle” offers a prognostication of a socialist future that still slips through our fingers.
Just this past week “60 Minutes” ran an expose on the the use of child labor in slaughterhouses and chemical plants across the nation (~200 identified children across 8 states, though the Labor Department believes this number to be drastically underestimated). These children are working overnight shifts in chemically toxic work environments that leave them with chemical burns and not enough energy to stay awake in their classes the next day. It’s “The Jungle” in the 21st Century and there’s not enough muckrakers shouting the injustices from the rooftops.
“The Jungle” is in the Top 10 books of my middle school curriculum that I still think about to this day. I remember my B&N copy of “The Jungle” with highlights and sticky notes across its innards- each drawing parallels from the immigrant experience and the meatpacking industry of the early 1900s (heck- that was almost my thesis!). Immigrants, much like the cattle in the slaughterhouses, were given limited mobility, trapped in structures that forced compliance, and ultimately met a death that was anything but the American Dream.
I devoured this version of the novel in a single sitting. Even though I knew the plot well, I still felt visceral emotions for Jurgis’ plight and that of his Lithuanian family. (I will also never be able to remove the image of a slaughterhouse worker accidentally falling into a giant vat and being made into lard for hand soap and cosmetics.)
July 16, 2021
The Jungle ya da Türkçe'de çevrildiği adıyla Chicago Mezbahaları, sosyalist yazar Upton Sinclair’in yazdığı ve 1900'lü yılların başında ABD'de özellikle göçmenlerden oluşan işçi sınıfının yaşadığı sıkıntıları gözler önüne seren bir roman.
Gehrmann'ın romandan uyarladığı grafik roman, neredeyse mangalar gibi narin ve sakin çizimler ve özellikle araya katılmış kırmızı rengin kullanımı ile dikkat çeken, çok çarpıcı, çok yalın ve bir o kadar da sert bir anlatıma sahip.
Hikaye romandakinden biraz farklı başlıyor, gidişat oldukça benzer, bazı karakterlerin başına gelenler ve kahramanımızın yaşadıkları ufak tefek değişikliklere uğramış durumda. Üstelik finali de romandan oldukça farklı. Ancak Sinclair'in yazdıklarına ihanet edilmeden, romanda anlatılanları tüm şiddeti ile yansıtıyor Gehrmann.
Gehrmann'ın romandan uyarladığı grafik roman, neredeyse mangalar gibi narin ve sakin çizimler ve özellikle araya katılmış kırmızı rengin kullanımı ile dikkat çeken, çok çarpıcı, çok yalın ve bir o kadar da sert bir anlatıma sahip.
Hikaye romandakinden biraz farklı başlıyor, gidişat oldukça benzer, bazı karakterlerin başına gelenler ve kahramanımızın yaşadıkları ufak tefek değişikliklere uğramış durumda. Üstelik finali de romandan oldukça farklı. Ancak Sinclair'in yazdıklarına ihanet edilmeden, romanda anlatılanları tüm şiddeti ile yansıtıyor Gehrmann.
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January 6, 2023I enjoy that this book, a graphic novel adaptation of a quintessentially American story, was originally published in German before being translated back into English, creating an interesting moment of looking back at one's own culture from a distance. Gehrmann did a phenomenal job of keeping the story moving and shifting the reader's focus back to the plight of the workers, as was Sinclair's intent. The story remains too heartbreaking and too familiar.
December 4, 2022
Ich liebe einfach Kristina Gehrmanns Zeichenstil! So klar und präzise, die Menschen ausdrucksstark und individuell. Stark, wie sie die Zeit im die Jahrhundertwende (19./20. Jhd.) und die schwierigen Lebensbedingungen für Einwandernde und Arbeitende mit allen atmosphärischen Details einfängt. Ein großartiger Graphic Novel!
February 11, 2022
powerful graphic novel about the exploitation of immigrants in Chicago at the beginning of the 20th century.
A family arrive in the US from Lithuania, seeking the american dream and prepared to work hard or a prosperous future. Instead, each member of the family is forced to work in slaughterhouses, fertilizer plants... Heart-wrenching as each realizes they are being used and falling further behind each day.
Based in the Upton Sinclair novel Jungle that helped lead to the passage of the pure food and drug act in 1906.
fantastic artwork as well.
A family arrive in the US from Lithuania, seeking the american dream and prepared to work hard or a prosperous future. Instead, each member of the family is forced to work in slaughterhouses, fertilizer plants... Heart-wrenching as each realizes they are being used and falling further behind each day.
Based in the Upton Sinclair novel Jungle that helped lead to the passage of the pure food and drug act in 1906.
fantastic artwork as well.
April 1, 2023
What an incredible adaptation of Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle in graphic novel form!
May 22, 2022
It's odd. Reading this can go quickly because of the format, but slowly because it's so grimdark.
I admire this and what it accomplished more than i enjoyed it.
I admire this and what it accomplished more than i enjoyed it.
November 27, 2021
This graphic novel adaptation of Upton Sinclair's the Jungle profiles the severe abuses of immigrants in the meatpacking industry of Chicago at the turn of the century. It pairs nicely with the original classic and I loved the illustrator's use of greyscale and black and white suffused with the color red similar to Spielberg's use of the little girl's red coat in Schindler's List.
May 31, 2020
wow.
this is going to stay with me for a while.
this is going to stay with me for a while.
February 21, 2022
Five stars. The author did an amazing job of capturing the feel of the original. When I read the original text in college, the focus seemed to be on the sanitation and other issues in the meat packing houses. I like how this version really forced the focus to be on the working/living conditions for immigrants at the time. The entire time I was reading, I thought about my great-grandparents who came over from Poland just a few years after this book was set. Made me want to dig deeper into their stories.
I loved this artist’s style so much. Wonderful facial expressions, and the use of color was amazing.
I loved this artist’s style so much. Wonderful facial expressions, and the use of color was amazing.
November 11, 2019
When you are adapting one of the most important literary works of the 20th century there is pressure to do it justice and Kristina Gehrmann does just that by capturing the essence of what made the original book have such a societal impact.
It helps that we once again find ourselves in a time and place that learning the story of The Jungle is vital to see how far we have come but also how we are now regressing back to a time where a harsh unforgiving life was the way of the world.
Gehrmann cartooning is strong with clean expressions and the selective use of red may be an obvious choice but it still works. Well-paced as well as it never fell into the trap of relying too heavily on the written word. Images told the story and told it well.
It helps that we once again find ourselves in a time and place that learning the story of The Jungle is vital to see how far we have come but also how we are now regressing back to a time where a harsh unforgiving life was the way of the world.
Gehrmann cartooning is strong with clean expressions and the selective use of red may be an obvious choice but it still works. Well-paced as well as it never fell into the trap of relying too heavily on the written word. Images told the story and told it well.
November 2, 2019
"Time magazine called [Sinclair] 'a man with every gift except humor and silence.'"
That quote made me laugh a lot because it rings entirely true. This is an interesting graphic novel adaptation of The Jungle, a book I'd always been intimidated away from reading because of its reputation for gut-churning imagery and for being more propaganda than fiction. As fiction, it's fine--very much in the 'people crushed under circumstances' vein. Obvious echoes of Thomas Hardy and Jack London, which works well.
I do think this adaptation loses something from not using any of Sinclair's famous descriptions, especially ‘One could not stand and watch very long without becoming philosophical, without beginning to deal in symbols and similes, and to hear the hog-squeal of the universe.’ But the artwork carries a lot of the drama along well and I'm glad I have, at last, sort of read The Jungle.
That quote made me laugh a lot because it rings entirely true. This is an interesting graphic novel adaptation of The Jungle, a book I'd always been intimidated away from reading because of its reputation for gut-churning imagery and for being more propaganda than fiction. As fiction, it's fine--very much in the 'people crushed under circumstances' vein. Obvious echoes of Thomas Hardy and Jack London, which works well.
I do think this adaptation loses something from not using any of Sinclair's famous descriptions, especially ‘One could not stand and watch very long without becoming philosophical, without beginning to deal in symbols and similes, and to hear the hog-squeal of the universe.’ But the artwork carries a lot of the drama along well and I'm glad I have, at last, sort of read The Jungle.
December 18, 2019
Upton Sinclair's 'The Jungle' stands as one of my all-time favorite novels. So when I heard about this new graphic adaptation, I immediately wanted to read it. I finished it in less than 3 hours. Through most of it, I was less than impressed. Kristina Gehrmann's illustrations were fine, but the story was significantly and inexplicably softened from Sinclair's original work. The end, though, sort of makes up for this shortcoming. And by 'the end', I mean the last page...an interesting twist which somewhat explains the discrepancies between the two distinctly different works. I would almost call this adaptation more of an "inspired by". Side note: I still do not understand why (outside of a 1914 version) this book has not been adapted into a feature film...the content and messages remain stunningly relevant.
February 11, 2022
Powerful graphic novel about the exploitation of immigrants in Chicago at the start of the 20th century. Family members arrive in the United States from Lithuania seeking the American dream and prepared to work hard for a prosperous future. Instead, each member of the family is forced to work in slaughterhouses, fertilizer plants or factories and pitted against other poor people for a chance to survive. Heart-wrenching as each realizes they are being used and falling further behind each day. Based on the Upton Sinclair novel Jungle that helped lead to the passage of the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906. If I have a criticism, it's that the images seem too clean: not as grimy and disgusting as the subject matter suggests.
August 23, 2019
For me, The Jungle is always a 5-star book. This comic adaptation did a great job of capturing the reality of the story and the rarity of color was a smart approach. The chapter change-overs with advertisements of the era adds some nice flavor.
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