Cat's review
Sister Carrie (Signet Classics)
by Theodore Dreiser
I would recommend this book to people interested in the concept of the city. Although its notoriety stems from its "naturalistic" depiction of the characters, I thought it was the depcition of the urban environment of Chicago and New York which stood out.
While the intertwined fates of Carrie, Drouet and Hurstwood occupy the foreground of this book, I found myself consistently drawn to the back ground.
Since Dreiser came up as a newspaperman, this makes a certain amount of sense.
The details that Dreiser includes about the day-to-day life in the big city at the turn of the century were worth the price of admission, so to speak. The plot of the novel, concerning Carrie and her rise and fall and rise, was less notable, as far as I'm concerned.
This is not a short book, and some of the economic turmoil suffered by the characters tapped in to a larger well spring of fear and anxiety about social status that many Americans(including myself) share.
While not what I...more
Cat's review
Sister Carrie (Signet Classics) by Theodore Dreiser
Cat's review
rating:
bookshelves:
20thcenturyamericanliterature
I would recommend this book to people interested in the concept of the city. Although its notoriety stems from its "naturalistic" depiction of the characters, I thought it was the depcition of the urban environment of Chicago and New York which stood out.
While the intertwined fates of Carrie, Drouet and Hurstwood occupy the foreground of this book, I found myself consistently drawn to the back ground.
Since Dreiser came up as a newspaperman, this makes a certain amount of sense.
The details that Dreiser includes about the day-to-day life in the big city at the turn of the century were worth the price of admission, so to speak. The plot of the novel, concerning Carrie and her rise and fall and rise, was less notable, as far as I'm concerned.
This is not a short book, and some of the economic turmoil suffered by the characters tapped in to a larger well spring of fear and anxiety about social status that many Americans(including myself) share.
While not what I...more
