Sister Carrie in Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die

Dec 20, 2016 Arukiyomi rated it liked it

Shelves: 1001-books

This is the story of a young woman who, somewhat naively, leaves home to make a life for herself in Chicago. Unlike most novels of this sort, where the author quite predictably causes everything to fall apart at some point to teach similarly tempted other youngsters to tow the social line and stay at home, no such thing happens. At least, not to her.

Instead, Carrie finds herself befriended by men who obviously want her for her physical charms. That they should seems as natural as anything to inn ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Jun 25, 2007 Tiffany rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: literature, classics, critical_essays, 1001-books, uw-eng353-americanlitlate19thc

I love Sister Carrie, and of course this Critical Edition (like all good Nortons) gets five stars because of the added critical essays.

1 like · Like · see review

Mar 12, 2011 M rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-books, library, read-in-2011

Sister Carrie was written by Theodore Dreiser (of German descent) in 1900. There was a first edition which was highly cropped by his wife and his, um, manager, to make it more readable. And then, there's the one I've read, which involves a certain patience on the part of the reader, since it's the uncut version of the novel (I would say even draft). It's 500+ pages, but, trust me, it felt like it had 500 more.

Because of the title, I thought this was going to be about a nun. I couldn't have been Sister Carrie was written by Theodore Dreiser (of German descent) in 1900. There was a first edition which was highly cropped by his wife and his, um, manager, to make it more readable. And then, there's the one I've read, which involves a certain patience on the part of the reader, since it's the uncut version of the novel (I would say even draft). It's 500+ pages, but, trust me, it felt like it had 500 more.

Because of the title, I thought this was going to be about a nun. I couldn't have been more wrong. The plot is a very simple one: Carrie, an innocent girl, leaves her home town to find work in a big city, Chicago. We follow her since her first impressions about this city until she doesn't even wonder at New York. And yes, we get to know every thought and every dress and every piece of furniture Carrie touches on her way to maturity and success. We have just another interesting character in the whole novel: Hurstwood. A man lulled into adultery by Carrie's apparent innocent and contradicting malice. This novel is so much about Carrie's way upward as Hurstwood's way downward. I liked the boldness and sense of survival Carrie shows throughout the novel, and the inactivity, gloom and sense of impending doom inherent to Hurstwood. These characters act without much thought, which leads them to what at first looked like seemingly impossible situations. Sister Carrie would have been great at exposing the causes of such events and the train of thoughts of the characters during them if Dreiser would have let them walk alone. Instead, they feel so thinly fleshed even though they are by no means one-dimensional, that it's impossible to stand this novel. The reader cannot separate Dreiser from his novel, and the narrator keeps on appearing to regulate the story and explain it to the reader. Still, I liked that Dreiser was so united to Carrie as to let her have a good ending. I mean, an unvirtuous female character survives decently to a nineteenth century novel! Sister Carrie should be read, even if it's just for this anomaly, but I think it shouldn't be that worshipped. I'm sure later novels by Dreiser must be better written and that there are other (better?) writers who epitomize American realism/naturalism in their writing. ...more

Like · see review

Jan 10, 2010 Andrea rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: already-own

First off, I would actually rate the book a 3.5, but that's not an option obviously so I went for three stars. Overall, the story doesn't seem very interesting now that I look back on it, but for some reason I was compelled to keep reading. I think it was because I became really invested in the characters, who I constantly changed my mind about. I hated them, then loved them, and vice-versa. The book is very long (like most of Dreiser's works), but if you can get past the repetitive middle secti ...more

Like · see review

Dec 20, 2016 Lucy rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 1001-booklist

Read on the plane to Chicago. Enjoyed it more than I thought I would when I started reading.

1001 book.

Like · see review

Jun 25, 2007 Tiffany rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, literature, 1001-books, to_get__bm_rqsts, on_my_wishlist

First reason I wanted to read this book: the Posies. Anyone who's a fan will know why.

Second reason I wanted to read this book: my professor of a history of US consumerism class recommended this book as a wonderful example of the changing US at the turn of the 20th century. Consumerism, growing cities, the rise of industries, the changing landscape (i.e. wildlands and small towns become big cities of office buildings and factories).

While I thought Sister Carrie was definitely a wonderful story, ...more

Like · see review

Jan 11, 2008 Tiffany rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, 1001-books

Penguin/U of Pennsylvania Press' UNEXPURGATED/original (and bleaker) version of Sister Carrie.

I'm (re-)reading this immediately after (re-)reading the edited version, and unless I'm imagining things, the unedited version seems fuller and more rounded out. I like this version better.

... And now I'm done with the book, and still like it more than the edited version. ...more

Like · see review

Jul 19, 2007 Stacie rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: i-own, 1001books

I got his point for writing the story of Carrie - it just felt like it took him FOREVER to get to it. I also struggled with caring for any of the characters. I know it is a great American novel with a moral lesson, but I think there are far greater American novels that can be read to teach this same thing.

Like · see review