theme. The continuation turns Tom's wife, Betsy, into a minor character, using her more as a springboard for events rather than following her life and her emotions. Rath's three children by Betsy get more attention this time, but mainly as benchmarks advancing the notion of the protagonist's new life. Reception The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit II was not a commercial success. Many fans felt that the sequel did not live up to the expectations set by the original. The novel marked Wilson's last major effort in fiction writing. (His autobiographical memoir What Shall We Wear to The Party?: The Man In The Gray Flannel Suit, Twenty Years Before & After, published in 1976, also marked Wilson's last non-fiction effort.) After early success with The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit and A Summer Place in the 1950s — both of which became best-sellers and were made into profitable motion pictures — Wilson crafted ten more books, but none approached those early heights of popularity. References 1984 American novels Sequel novels Novels set in Connecticut Arbor House books