I found this ex-library hardcover on the charity-sale shelves at a local Hannaford's, and picked it up for another release copy. (I enjoyed the 1936 film version; there's also a TV Tropes page on the film and book.)

A rather odd story, focusing on a man's vague discontent - could be called a mid-life crisis, I suppose. The title character is a well-off businessman with what he thinks is a happy marriage, but when he decides to retire and see the world, he finds that his idea of enjoyable travel doesn't match that of his wife. [The scenes in which they argue are painfully realistic, and even though the reader is put on the side of Dodsworth for the most part, it's clear that he's not the only baffled, exasperated person in the family.]

Since they wind up staying among fellow Americans wherever they go, it's doubtful whether they can be said to be traveling at all, and Dodsworth soon becomes weary of the same conversations and identical daily activities. [The film, as I recall, sketched his change of mood more clearly; in the book he waffles quite a bit.] Fran, his wife, seemed to prefer staying among her own kind, and resisted most attempts to go out and actually experience the places they traveled to, and as the book depicted their different views, it reminded me how hellish a trip can be if you're with someone who has such different ideas on everything. [Since I like traveling by myself it was all I could do to scream at him to take off on his own, but he's not the kind of person who's happy by himself. Cue a new plot development!]

The film condenses all this very much, but basically, Dodsworth and his wife drift apart, she meets congenial and flirtatious men and likes being flattered, he gets more and more lonely and meets a congenial woman. And he begins to see how much he enjoys learning things, seeing new places, changing... [OK, he doesn't like all the new places; an acquaintance takes him to a gay bar in, I think, Austria, and he doesn't care for that at all. Oh, well.]

I appreciated the book, but found it overlong and more than a little repetitive - there's only so much waffling I can take. The film did wind up over-simplifying a few things and pulling some punches, but I enjoyed it more.

I plan to leave this book on the book-swap shelf in the Tyngsboro post office lobby; hope the finder enjoys it!

[See other recent releases in MA here.]

*** Released for the 2017 D for December release challenge. ***

*** Released for the 2017 Movie release challenge. ***