Vandover and the Brute

"Vandover and the Brute" by Frank Norris is a story set in the early 1900s, and it follows Vandover whose past haunts him as he tries to understand himself and what he wants while growing up. The book starts with Vandover's scattered memories of important times, like when his mother died on a trip and when he went through a difficult adolescence. Norris shows San Francisco during the time and his father's struggles with his business. As Vandover gets older, he deals with different things that pull him in different directions, like wanting to be an artist alongside what people expect from him, and his growing animal side, hinting at the trouble he will face later.