Main Street (Modern Library (Paperback))
by Sinclair Lewis
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Read in September, 2007
recommends it for:
denizens of small town america.
I feel like every book I read is time I literally have to steal from the rest of my life. I feel resistance to my reading habits- from my job, my wife, etc. It's like I have to fight for every moment for every single book that I want to read. I guess that makes it more rewarding, but it also means that my reading habits have acquired a patina of guilt- like I'm a drug addict. That's how I feel about it - that I have to keep it secret, that I have no one to share it with, that I am isolated a...more
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Read in April, 2008
I know many people complain that not much happens in this book, and I am not the most patient reader, but I zipped right through it. I loved the commentary on tiny, unimportant events and the way the novel shifted from the main character's point of view.
I felt sympathetic to Carol, even though she is a cold person. Not a bad person, not a mean person, but not someone who can truly connect to others. Even her son falls short because she believes he thinks like his father.
From what I have...more
I felt sympathetic to Carol, even though she is a cold person. Not a bad person, not a mean person, but not someone who can truly connect to others. Even her son falls short because she believes he thinks like his father.
From what I have...more
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Read in February, 2008
"Main Street" is book two of my great books in 08 campaign (number 99 on the list).
Reading this book reminded me of my first experiences eating spinach. Spinach is essential for a healthy diet, so I began eating it. Main Street in on my great books list, so I began reading it. At first, the mild bitterness in spinach turned me off. Similarly, the lackluster landscape openings in "Main Street" made my eyelids droop.
Then, the shift occurred. Suddenly spinach be...more
Reading this book reminded me of my first experiences eating spinach. Spinach is essential for a healthy diet, so I began eating it. Main Street in on my great books list, so I began reading it. At first, the mild bitterness in spinach turned me off. Similarly, the lackluster landscape openings in "Main Street" made my eyelids droop.
Then, the shift occurred. Suddenly spinach be...more
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Has a copy to sell/swap
recommends it for:
high school students (and teachers)
"Main Street" was a nice surprise. Even though the book is about a city girl moving to a small town, I didn't feel that the entire book was disparaging about it. Often, small town books have the characters portrayed as hicks, small minded, and boring. While there are definitely characters that fit those stereotypes, Sinclar goes to great lengths to show that there is depth to the townspeople in the novel.
I especially loved how wonderfully infuriating Carol is as the protagonis...more
I especially loved how wonderfully infuriating Carol is as the protagonis...more
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This is the story of a woman who leaves her life in the city to move to her husband's hometown, a small hamlet where everyone knows each other, where the walk from her house to the grocery store to the post office takes about 10 minutes, and where she feels she is losing herself and drowning in the demands of others that she conform. She tries to bring her big-town ideas to these small-town folk and is deemed a freak. Misery ensues until she finally breaks free and returns to the independence of...more
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Read in November, 2006
Not much really happened in the book. There were lots of descriptions and the writing was amazing. As far as plot goes, there was a seemingly endless string of attempts by Carol to better the townspeople, which they largely rejected and/or messed up. I found these episodes hysterical, even though the outcome of all Carol's activities was predictable. There was a bit of a twist near the end of the story, but only after the reader really experienced what Carol's life was like in Gopher Prairie, du...more
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Read in May, 2008
Main Street addresses the issues of narrow-mindedness and prejudice, predominant in small town America. The main character of the story, Carol, marries a doctor and moves to Gopher Prairie, Minnesota. Young, enthusiastic and filled with optimism, she attempts to introduce culture and social reform to the community, only to encounter resistance time and time again. Written by Sinclair Lewis based on his own experiences growing up in Saux Centre, MN, and published in 1920, many points in this b...more
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Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
Feminists feeling trapped in a relationship
I really enjoyed this book, despite my usual hate of female characters written by men. I feel like Lewis really nailed his characters this time. The story is about an intelligent, emotional, young woman who appreciates big cities, art, and all things beautiful and exciting. She marries a small-town doctor and spends quite a bit of time feeling trapped and miserable. The language and character development are wonderful. Perhaps i really enjoyed this because i'm from a small town and have fel...more
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Read in August, 2007
recommends it for:
Anyone looking for a good slow-paced novel and a passion for satire
A beautiful portrait of small town America before and during WWI.
The story of Carol Kennicott, a young city girl married to a small town doctor, and her quest to beautify Gopher Prairie is a humorous, slow-paced look at the real small town America. Although the story is certainly of it's era (I couldn't get over the idea that men used to look at a woman's ankles the way they do breasts), the characters and certain situations are timeless. Many have criticized this book for not having a set pl...more
The story of Carol Kennicott, a young city girl married to a small town doctor, and her quest to beautify Gopher Prairie is a humorous, slow-paced look at the real small town America. Although the story is certainly of it's era (I couldn't get over the idea that men used to look at a woman's ankles the way they do breasts), the characters and certain situations are timeless. Many have criticized this book for not having a set pl...more
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Read in March, 2008
Carol (a happy, cultured feminist from St. Paul) marries and moves to "Gopher Prairie", Minnesota, in hopes of creating an artsy, sophisticated, cultured small town. However, she soon learns that making any changes is next to impossible. This book describes how many small towns in the midwest run on set gender roles, gossip and holier-than-thou attitudes. Carol discovers that one needs to live where they are happy because life is too short to live in a place you detest. It took me...more
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Read in January, 1993
recommended to Cindy by:
Sisterrecommends it for: Those stuggling with life in a small town
I had just moved to a small town in Minnesota - with the same aspirations as this classic charater of many years before me, yet my thoughts and run ins were very much the same 50 years later. It was a reminder that one fits or one doesn't fit but to spend your life trying to change the engrained to your likely only means you will spend your life in turmoil, in hopes others after you, long after you will find the place more to your liking. Shortly afterwards - I moved.
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Read in August, 2006
recommends it for:
Feminists, HAAA
I bought this book used, a 1954 copy at Witmore Library. They often have great buys there and I think this was one of them.
The reason I recommend this to feminists is because the book was all about this heroine who moved from the big city to a podunk town where she tried to spark some culture in their boring city. It merely records her struggles she has with her husband and their neighbors. It just shows a woman's struggle as a house wife in a boring town. So it seems to be for old time ...more
The reason I recommend this to feminists is because the book was all about this heroine who moved from the big city to a podunk town where she tried to spark some culture in their boring city. It merely records her struggles she has with her husband and their neighbors. It just shows a woman's struggle as a house wife in a boring town. So it seems to be for old time ...more
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Read in January, 2008
Kept feeling like a disappoving old lady reading this book: "This young man writes very well, but I don't like his tone." Smug. Unutterably smug, and he doesn't seem to like or care about any of his characters, which makes the whole exercise rather cold. I suppose, ninety years later, the "small towns are narrow-minded and hypocritical" theme has been done to death, and Lewis deserves credit for pioneering the genre, but on the whole I didn't like it.
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I like reading books that were written before the onslaught of modern communications technology. It seems to provoke story lines that aren't circumvented by technological shortcuts. Characters have to interact with language, emotions and in person. And the television mentality hasn't truncated the characters' personalities. One summer I read most of Sinclair Lewis' work and enjoyed the commentary of American society from early in the 20th century.
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Read in October, 2006
One time on the train while I was reading this book, a woman asked me if it was the first time I'd read it. Ha! I mean, it's okay, but why would anyone read it more than once? Apparently there are people who really identify with Carol's dreary existence and futile attempts to look on the bright side. Not me so much. I kind of think that all the characters in this novel are basically assholes, but it is set in the 1910s.
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Main Street took me awhile to finish because of the subject matter. The book shows small town life convincingly but leaves the reader unsatisfied. I loved the main character and I did learn alot of new vocabulary. Overall I would suggest Sinclair's novel if you've lived in a city all your life. Try something new and read this book. You'll feel like you've lived on main street all your life.
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I liked the fact that the book addressed the certain truth about small towns: that everything is not necessarily idyllic in a small town just because it is small and seemingly "quaint". I didn't love any of the characters, Carol included, but I did like how Lewis satirized both the members of the town, as well as Carol and her designs on changing the town for "the better".
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Read in January, 1995
recommends it for:
Pessimists, Optimists
This is a book linked in my mind to MIDDLEMARCH and MADAME BOVARY--little bourgeouis struggling to make their world into something special. I feel like this book really captured the mind-numbing boringness of a certain kind of life and the futility of struggling against your environment. Sometimes you truly are caught and doubly so if you are married. Hahaha.
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Read in June, 2008
actually really good, although I didn't think it would be...I'm reading an edition from something like 70 years ago, so the commentary/margin notes aren't terribly helpful. If you've read Sister Carrie, this is like the opposite premise; i.e., instead of small town girl goes to the city, it's big city girl goes to the small town ("Gopher Prairie..."
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Read in March, 2008
this book read more like a drawn out essay than a typical fiction book. it seemed like the first 2/3 of the book was spent building up to where the plot would really begin to get interesting. full of timeless themes. i enjoyed it, but it wasn't one of those page-turner books that i just couldn't put down, so it took me a while to get through it.
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