McTeague by Frank Norris

I didn't like this book.  I found it interesting at the beginning but then it got long and kind of boring.  And then it ended in a very unpleasant manner!  It tells the story a small-town dentist who is happy with his simple life.  He marries a miserly wife and they struggle financially.  Everything just goes downhill.  McTeague ends up beating his wife to death.  At the end of the book, McTeague is handcuffed to the dead body of the man who was a rival for his wife's affections.  He is in the middle of the desert without any water and no way to escape.

It took me a very long time to read, partly because for a large part of it, I didn't want to read it.  It is a sad story as McTeague degenerates from the dull-witted but simple man he was into a criminal.  This book isn't worth the large amount of time it takes to read it.