The Titan

by Fred Mustard Stewart

The paradoxical protagonist of Fred M. Stewart's compelling novel is at once a hero and an anti-hero. He can afford anything and has the power of making others submit to his will, but no wealth can evade guilt and fear as no anti-hero can escape his punishment dealt by the one he adores.

Genres: Fiction, Historical Fiction

509 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1985

About the author

American popular novelist, several of whose books were filmed.

Stewart came to be best known for his intercontinental sagas. Year in, year out, the 600-page mark didn't daunt him, a far cry as this was from early hopes as life as a concert pianist, something which had inspired his 1st novel The Mephisto Waltz (1968) which also began his lucrative connection with the film industry. Born in Anderson, IN, he was the son of a banker &, after the Lawrenceville school, near Princeton, NJ, he studied history at Princeton University & later piano at the Juilliard School in Manhattan. By the 1960s, he realised he wasn't going to succeed as a pianist & with marriage to a literary agent, Joan Richardson, in 1967, he began to write, & found immediate success with The Mephisto Waltz.

With The Methuselah Enzyme, Stewart showed wit, but it was clear that it wasn't Henry James. There was, however, a certain charm to Six Weeks (1976), told by a married aspirant for a Democratic senatorial nomination who becomes infatuated with a cold-cream heiress, largely at the behest of her 11-year-old, would-be nymphet daughter who, beset by cancer, has less than two months to live. Nabokov it isn't, but certainly better than the 1982 film with Dudley Moore & Mary Tyler Moore.

Reviews

[Ioanna Xristodoyloy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ηταν πραγματικά πολύ αστείο, 250 σελιδες διαβασα ολες και ολες . απο νοθος εγινε μεγιστάνας οπλων μετα του χολιγουντ ,πηγε στη ρωσια τσάρους κακο ιστορίες. ρασπουτιν , κεμαλ ατατουρκ, ρε πατε καλα?τι διάβασα ρε φιλε

[Joann Maurer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. Read it about 10 years ago. It's on my top 10 list.

[Kurtis West · Rating 4 out of 5]

they should have made this into a T.V movie. It was a good book

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this book when I was about 12 or 13 thinking that it was the book "Wreck of the Titan", which is almost exactly the story of the Titanic, only written 14 years before it's maiden voyage. This however, was not that book, and the librarian shouldn't have let someone that young check out a book like this one. It has some rather graphic scenes.

[Donn Lorber · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderfully complex story that covers 1900 to 1965. The world wars are woven into the storyline. This somewhat confusing story line was intriguing. I am looking forward to reading more from Stewart, he’s. A new author for me.

[Jerome · Rating 5 out of 5]

#2 on my all-time favorites list. I've read it three times already and will again once I get back stateside.

[Sheryl · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this story and the family empire of the rich. A little rough getting through the European names and places but well worth it as the drama never left the novel.

[Simona Trembitsky · Rating 2 out of 5]

Good book and easy read. Not very realistic

[Adam Zakeriya · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ambitious in scope and intent, this novel reaches for large ideas about power, intelligence, and human evolution, and it does so with complete confidence in its own importance. The premise is intellectually curious and clearly the result of extensive research, which gives the book a sense of scale and seriousness from the outset.

The writing places heavy emphasis on explanation and conceptual detail, often taking precedence over momentum. The narrative moves carefully, with scenes serving as containers for ideas rather than engines for story.

Character work exists largely in service of the concepts being explored. Personal motivations and emotional development are present, but they rarely take center stage, which can make engagement feel distant.

Plot progression unfolds slowly, with extended passages devoted to context and clarification. Readers who enjoy methodical world building and intellectual exploration may appreciate this approach, while others may find the pacing demanding.

Overall, this is a novel driven by ideas more than experience. Its strengths lie in ambition and conceptual reach, but its execution favors exposition over immersion. It reads as a thoughtful exploration of big questions, even if the storytelling itself struggles to fully carry their weight.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I chose The Titan, a book from the 1980s, to bring with me on a beach vacation, and it was a perfect choice. It is a 1980s soap-opera-y tale of the life of Nick Fleming, born in extreme poverty and his rise to being one of the world's richest and most powerful men. It is a tale full of love, hate, sex, violence, murder, incest and over-the-top characters.

However; amid all this I learned a little history - WWI and WWII and European history in general. All this soap opera fun had a serious theme beneath of man's unending violence, gun control and the responsibilities of a gun manufacturer.

This was a book that I really enjoyed and thought about giving the fifth star to. I always hesitate over that "amazing" description and try to save it for all-time favorites.

[Scott Wison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Worth a read if you like this sort of thing, business tycoon, spy--set around the 40s