Winesburg, Ohio in Never too Late to Read Classics

Apr 16, 2025 Sara rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: short-stories-novellas, american, 20th-century-literature, kindle-purchase, classics, coming-of-age

3.5 stars

While not the very first, "Winesburg, Ohio" by Sherwood Anderson is a landmark work, considered a pioneering example of the "short story cycle" or collection of interconnected stories that function like a novel. The Decameron and Canterbury Tales early and Elizabeth Strout lately, use this same device.
The work explores themes of isolation and the human condition in a small town.

All of the stories are set in Winesburg, and most of the stories contain the character, George Willard, a you ...more

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Jan 25, 2011 Yair Ben-Zvi rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites

Amos Oz discussed this book (oddly enough) in a Tale of Love and Darkness, as an almost liberating experience for him. Namely, he mentioned that the banality of the experiences depicted in Sherwood Anderson's book freed him up to describe the places and people of his own somewhat provincial upbringing. I kind of have to disagree with Mister Oz. I enjoyed the book and am now beginning to appreciate its power and hold, even its influence over subsequent generations of writers. But where Oz saw lib ...more

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Oct 14, 2015 Alexander rated it liked it · review of another edition

I'd give it a 3.7 if I could, because the book was very and I liked it a lot. It's a quick read and it's comfy AF. There are parts of the novel that are really poignant and there's a lingering loneliness that surrounds Winesburg. I feel like I can appreciate this more since I moved to the midwest a few years ago. ...more

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