SOURCE: "A Rich Lusty Story of a Family and a City," in New York Herald Tribune Weekly Book Review, January 28, 1945, p. 3.

In the following mixed review of Great Son, Feld applauds the plotline as "a lavish and prodigious feast," but contends that the characters are not well-defined.

In a two-page introduction to her novel Great Son, Edna Ferber makes what she calls "an inadequate excuse for a slim book on a Gargantuan subject." No excuses, no apologies are necessary for this volume for, however lacking it may be in its creator's eyes, this story of Seattle comes alive with the spirit of its intention. The strokes are broad, but never wasteful; the story sprawls but never without radius from a central core.

One paragraph from Miss Ferber's foreword might well be quoted as an ideological review of the book. Here it is: "Everything in and about Seattle—its...