A magnificent portrayal of 1890s America and the harsh realities of a dog-eat-dog world, Sister Carrie lies at the forefront of American Naturalism. When poor young provincial woman Carrie Meeber arrives in Chicago, she little expects to be catapulted from lower-class woman to prominent Broadway actress. Passive and yielding, she lets circumstances coerce her into action and by good fortune she arrives at fame. It is in Chicago that Carrie meets a successful businessman, Hurstwood, who helps her establish her name. Gripped ...
Read More
A magnificent portrayal of 1890s America and the harsh realities of a dog-eat-dog world, Sister Carrie lies at the forefront of American Naturalism. When poor young provincial woman Carrie Meeber arrives in Chicago, she little expects to be catapulted from lower-class woman to prominent Broadway actress. Passive and yielding, she lets circumstances coerce her into action and by good fortune she arrives at fame. It is in Chicago that Carrie meets a successful businessman, Hurstwood, who helps her establish her name. Gripped by a strong attraction to Carrie, Hurstwood ends his marriage and moves with her to New York. Their relationship soon ends and, like a fish out of water, Hurstwood finds himself vagrant and destitute on the streets of an unfamiliar city, a poignant counterpoint to Carries rapid rise. Frank, evocative and compelling, Sister Carrie gives us a version of the American dream with a gritty and unattractive reality.
Read Less
Dreiser's insight and understanding of human behavior becomes the bones of this profound look at the social / political machine churning under Capitalism. Extraordinary, powerful, demanding, attitude altering.
ninthchord
Aug 17, 2010
Masterful
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this work--for me, the first time to read Dreiser besides one short story. I fond myself caring very much for Carrie (the poor lamb in the stone jungle) and wanting her to succeed. With her story, Dresier points out that success in Chicago or New York may mean alienation.
As for Hurstwood, as Carrie's star rockets, his fizzles out. The man, already in possession of the success that Carrie desires, seeks exactly what Carrie winds up losing, the affection of another. In seeking affection, he loses his family and his wealth.
Drouet, the typical dandy, escapes unscathed. Everything is appearance and show to him, and feelings are something one can don or discard.
Dreiser's only shortcoming is his tendency to become long-winded. He could have left out a few scenes that I found redundant.
![Theodore Dreiser: Sister Carrie [Laurel Lefkow] [Naxos Audiobooks: Na0307] (Naxos Complete Classics)](https://www1.alibris-static.com/isbn/9781781981283_t.gif)
