Michael Feingold wrote a long examination of the film in two parts before he passed away. He found Ferber's source novel "unreadably clotted". I haven't read any of Ferber's novels but have read her short stories which I found not only readable but effective depictions of society's outsiders. I would disagree with Feingold's judgement of Ferber's work as "a housewives’ fantasy of feminism".
