The All American Novel!, 08 Jan 2003
Dreiser has crafted an immmense, complex novel based on the life of Clyde Griffiths, a man who commmitted a famous murder out of desperation in 1906. Born of a poor Mid-western Salvation Army family, Griffiths becomes romantically involved with a woman of his own class, only to fall in love with a socialite just beyond his grasp. A series of miscalculations evolves and Griffiths finds himself lost in his own web of tragedy and panic.
Occurring mostly in the resort of Big Moose Lake, N.Y. during the hey-day of Adirondacks, the mood and characters are all too believable and Dreiser paints a romantically painful picture of a man who cannot escape his roots and destiny.

Don't be beset by the voluminous writing. The structure, narration and characterization is perfect. Dreiser truly has created the perfect All American novel. If you can pace your reading to prevent getting ahead of yourself, you will notice the careful style Dreiser has created that turns a neat full circle by the end.

Made famous by the film, "A Place In The Sun" with Montgomery Clift, Shelley Winters and Elizabeth Taylor.

... And lead us not into temptation!, 10 Aug 2001
Clyde Griffiths certainly has been led into temptation by his creator Theodore Dreiser: here he is, only an inch away from all he has ever wanted (money, beauty, status) and he thinks he can get it by paying the price of killing his former girlfriend. Dreiser, being a moralist, does not let him get away with it. On death row Clyde for the first time in his life makes a moral decision and perhaps reclaims his soul but loses his life. Neither could his victim, Roberta, resist the temptation of doing the wrong thing in order to get what she wants. Sex outside marriage does not seem much of an issue to us but this is turn of the century America and she herself is convinced that it is sinful. She falls victim to Clyde's seduction because she sees him as someone who can lift her out of her deprived existence on a fungous farm into a better life. It is true that she is also sentimentally in love with him. Up until the end Clyde feels that those who have not been tempted as he was should not judge him. He grew up repelled by the shabbiness of his home and confused by the failure of his parents (who are street preachers) to achieve any tangible success in life. He rejects their bible messages but, due to his lack of education and social isolation, has nothing to replace them with. When he does earn some money he wastes it on an exploitative girlfriend. Years later we see him in a minor position in his rich uncle's factory. He meets Roberta, who works for him and has a clandestine affair with her. And then it happens: he catches the fancy of a very rich society girl who brings him into the wealthy set, makes him presents, gives him money, plans a future with him. Roberta, by now pregnant and threatening a scandal, is an obstacle. I have long wondered why Clyde is presented not just as a criminal with a deprived childhood but also as a flawed human being. It is easy to scoff at the things he longs for but who among us is really free from the same longings? It must be because he has no resistance: at every point he gives in to temptation: he runs away after an accident and never finds out that no charges were pressed against him. He misspends his money and lies about it. He grasps the opportunity of pushing Roberta into a sexual relationship although he knows he should not...

The All American Novel!, 08 Jan 2003
Dreiser has crafted an immmense, complex novel based on the life of Clyde Griffiths, a man who commmitted a famous murder out of desperation in 1906. Born of a poor Mid-western Salvation Army family, Griffiths becomes romantically involved with a woman of his own class, only to fall in love with a socialite just beyond his grasp. A series of miscalculations evolves and Griffiths finds himself lost in his own web of tragedy and panic.
Occurring mostly in the resort of Big Moose Lake, N.Y. during the hey-day of Adirondacks, the mood and characters are all too believable and Dreiser paints a romantically painful picture of a man who cannot escape his roots and destiny.

Don't be beset by the voluminous writing. The structure, narration and characterization is perfect. Dreiser truly has created the perfect All American novel. If you can pace your reading to prevent getting ahead of yourself, you will notice the careful style Dreiser has created that turns a neat full circle by the end.

Made famous by the film, "A Place In The Sun" with Montgomery Clift, Shelley Winters and Elizabeth Taylor.

... And lead us not into temptation!, 10 Aug 2001
Clyde Griffiths certainly has been led into temptation by his creator Theodore Dreiser: here he is, only an inch away from all he has ever wanted (money, beauty, status) and he thinks he can get it by paying the price of killing his former girlfriend. Dreiser, being a moralist, does not let him get away with it. On death row Clyde for the first time in his life makes a moral decision and perhaps reclaims his soul but loses his life. Neither could his victim, Roberta, resist the temptation of doing the wrong thing in order to get what she wants. Sex outside marriage does not seem much of an issue to us but this is turn of the century America and she herself is convinced that it is sinful. She falls victim to Clyde's seduction because she sees him as someone who can lift her out of her deprived existence on a fungous farm into a better life. It is true that she is also sentimentally in love with him. Up until the end Clyde feels that those who have not been tempted as he was should not judge him. He grew up repelled by the shabbiness of his home and confused by the failure of his parents (who are street preachers) to achieve any tangible success in life. He rejects their bible messages but, due to his lack of education and social isolation, has nothing to replace them with. When he does earn some money he wastes it on an exploitative girlfriend. Years later we see him in a minor position in his rich uncle's factory. He meets Roberta, who works for him and has a clandestine affair with her. And then it happens: he catches the fancy of a very rich society girl who brings him into the wealthy set, makes him presents, gives him money, plans a future with him. Roberta, by now pregnant and threatening a scandal, is an obstacle. I have long wondered why Clyde is presented not just as a criminal with a deprived childhood but also as a flawed human being. It is easy to scoff at the things he longs for but who among us is really free from the same longings? It must be because he has no resistance: at every point he gives in to temptation: he runs away after an accident and never finds out that no charges were pressed against him. He misspends his money and lies about it. He grasps the opportunity of pushing Roberta into a sexual relationship although he knows he should not...

A Truly Great American Novel!, 12 Mar 2006
Sister Carrie," Theodore Dreiser's debut novel, is the extraordinarily powerful story of Carrie Meeber, a naïve small-town girl from Wisconsin who comes to the big city, Chicago, to reside with her older sister's small family. The year is 1889. "She was eighteen years of age, bright, timid and full of the illusions of ignorance and youth."

Carrie is soon overwhelmed by the difficulty of finding work, especially since she has no previous experience as a wage earner. When she finally does get a job on an assembly line at a shoe factory for $3.50 per week, she is exhausted by long hours of standing and poor working conditions. "Not the slightest provision had been made for the comfort of the employees, the idea being that something was gained by giving them as little as possible." "The wash rooms and lavatories were disagreeable, crude, if not foul places, and the whole atmosphere was one of hard contract."

Carrie does well in spite of these hardships, but she must pay her sister's husband almost her entire salary for her room and board. With winter coming and the chill winds of a Chicago autumn upon her, Carrie has no money for a coat, hat, nor even an umbrella. She is absolutely wretched. Then she meets a young salesman, Charles Drouet, whom she had become slightly acquainted with on the train to the city. She is eventually tricked into living with him - seduced by his offers of marriage, and the economic security and comparative independence he provides her. She is still a girl and is motivated by impulses and her passive, overly trusting nature.

Carrie makes another serious mistake when she allows herself to be deceived a second time by a well-to-do, married saloon manager twice her age, Mr. Hurstwood. Drouet, showing off, had introduced Carrie to his socially superior friend, and also thought to shine in Hurstwood's eyes by presenting him to his attractive, young "wife."

Disillusioned after a few years with Drouet, who loves her in his fashion but has proved to be irresponsible and flighty, Carrie believes Hurstwood to be single and herself to be in love with him. Hurstwood, a respectable gentleman who has never been a philanderer, is himself quite enamored with Carrie - enough to leave his family. He persuades her to flee Chicago and move with him to New York. He does this by outright lying to the young woman in his desperation to have her.

Given the period when the novel was published and the morality and mores of the time, "Sister Carrie" was not only poorly received, the novel scandalized polite society. The heroine, a young woman who comes to the city, forms two out-of-wedlock relationships, eventually becomes successful in her own right, rising to fame and respectability. She is rewarded rather than suffering punishment for her moral lapses.

Originally a newspaperman, Theodore Dreiser writes with a blunt journalistic style. In "Sister Carrie" and his other work, he deals with the gritty reality of life and is known as an outstanding representative of naturalism - a movement in literature and the arts where real life subjects are portrayed as they exist in the real world - with all their blemishes and defects.

I originally read "Sister Carrie" 25 years ago and thought to revisit it when I found it in one of my book trunks. I loved the novel back then, but now I really appreciate what a great American novel this is. The characters are outstanding in their depth and realism. The story is compelling, and the portrait of American life as seen through Dreiser's eyes is exceptional. Highly recommended!
JANA

Curious classic, 08 Jul 2005
This is a manageable book with which to get to know Dreiser - it's much shorter than An American Tragedy. Dreiser writes a very odd prose, which fluctuates between the banal, the sentimental and the morally supercharged. He creates some interesting characters, especially the doomed Hurstwood, but this is quite a difficult book to enjoy, and it could certainly be shorter than it is - Dreiser has a taste for entirely superfluous detail.

You're not happy, said Hurstwood, 28 Jul 1999
You're not happy -- so you do something about it. To make yourself happy, you compete with others and the strongest will survive. Hints of Darwinian thought mix with Dreiser's own opinions on society as the reader follows the tale of Carrie and Hurstwood. Carrie goes to the city from the country and proceeds to work her way up in life. Hurstwood begins in a good position yet makes a tragic choice to end up down in life. The strongest survive in the city, and Dreiser's characters are all trying to survive. Works laced with determinism are not the most fun to read, but often have very important things to say about society. Sister Carrie is a profound book and well worth the time and effort.

Sister Carrie can teach us all a lesson., 03 May 1999
The theme of Sister Carrie is searching for the "American Dream." Carrie Meeber is searching for happiness by aquiring wealth and material possessions. The author, Theodore Dreiser, does an excellent job of keeping your attention with the use of his extremely descriptive language. He takes charecters from different classes of the American economy, and shows how they are corrupted by the pursuit of the American Dream. Sister Carrie gets off to a slow start, but the reader is able to connect with the events that unfold. Dreiser's talent lies in the fact that he was able to describe life as he saw it, tragic. Overall, the themes and symbolizism of Sister Carrie teach us that life is filled with success and failure.

Twist ending on classic formula, 14 Jul 1998
One of the reasons why Sister Carrie is worth reading has to do with the ending. If you've read any of these famous home-wrecking novels, where a young beautiful girl gets involved with an older man, and wondered if suicide always had to be the answer, here's your book. But surprisingly, the ending makes you sort of long for the good old suicide ending. Sister Carrie isn't bad, but a lot of the insights into human nature and society are expressed in the language of a talk-show self-help psychiatrist rather than a great author. There are better versions of this formula (Updike, Tolstoy, Wharton, Austen) but there is still something in Sister Carrie that makes it worth reading. Despite its title, the better character depiction in the book belongs to the lover rather than the heroine of the title. Like Updike, Dreiser makes you feel for the plight of the upper-middle class white man. And I mean that seriously, with no sarcasm.

The All American Novel!, 08 Jan 2003
Dreiser has crafted an immmense, complex novel based on the life of Clyde Griffiths, a man who commmitted a famous murder out of desperation in 1906. Born of a poor Mid-western Salvation Army family, Griffiths becomes romantically involved with a woman of his own class, only to fall in love with a socialite just beyond his grasp. A series of miscalculations evolves and Griffiths finds himself lost in his own web of tragedy and panic.
Occurring mostly in the resort of Big Moose Lake, N.Y. during the hey-day of Adirondacks, the mood and characters are all too believable and Dreiser paints a romantically painful picture of a man who cannot escape his roots and destiny.

Don't be beset by the voluminous writing. The structure, narration and characterization is perfect. Dreiser truly has created the perfect All American novel. If you can pace your reading to prevent getting ahead of yourself, you will notice the careful style Dreiser has created that turns a neat full circle by the end.

Made famous by the film, "A Place In The Sun" with Montgomery Clift, Shelley Winters and Elizabeth Taylor.

... And lead us not into temptation!, 10 Aug 2001
Clyde Griffiths certainly has been led into temptation by his creator Theodore Dreiser: here he is, only an inch away from all he has ever wanted (money, beauty, status) and he thinks he can get it by paying the price of killing his former girlfriend. Dreiser, being a moralist, does not let him get away with it. On death row Clyde for the first time in his life makes a moral decision and perhaps reclaims his soul but loses his life. Neither could his victim, Roberta, resist the temptation of doing the wrong thing in order to get what she wants. Sex outside marriage does not seem much of an issue to us but this is turn of the century America and she herself is convinced that it is sinful. She falls victim to Clyde's seduction because she sees him as someone who can lift her out of her deprived existence on a fungous farm into a better life. It is true that she is also sentimentally in love with him. Up until the end Clyde feels that those who have not been tempted as he was should not judge him. He grew up repelled by the shabbiness of his home and confused by the failure of his parents (who are street preachers) to achieve any tangible success in life. He rejects their bible messages but, due to his lack of education and social isolation, has nothing to replace them with. When he does earn some money he wastes it on an exploitative girlfriend. Years later we see him in a minor position in his rich uncle's factory. He meets Roberta, who works for him and has a clandestine affair with her. And then it happens: he catches the fancy of a very rich society girl who brings him into the wealthy set, makes him presents, gives him money, plans a future with him. Roberta, by now pregnant and threatening a scandal, is an obstacle. I have long wondered why Clyde is presented not just as a criminal with a deprived childhood but also as a flawed human being. It is easy to scoff at the things he longs for but who among us is really free from the same longings? It must be because he has no resistance: at every point he gives in to temptation: he runs away after an accident and never finds out that no charges were pressed against him. He misspends his money and lies about it. He grasps the opportunity of pushing Roberta into a sexual relationship although he knows he should not...

A Truly Great American Novel!, 12 Mar 2006
Sister Carrie," Theodore Dreiser's debut novel, is the extraordinarily powerful story of Carrie Meeber, a naïve small-town girl from Wisconsin who comes to the big city, Chicago, to reside with her older sister's small family. The year is 1889. "She was eighteen years of age, bright, timid and full of the illusions of ignorance and youth."

Carrie is soon overwhelmed by the difficulty of finding work, especially since she has no previous experience as a wage earner. When she finally does get a job on an assembly line at a shoe factory for $3.50 per week, she is exhausted by long hours of standing and poor working conditions. "Not the slightest provision had been made for the comfort of the employees, the idea being that something was gained by giving them as little as possible." "The wash rooms and lavatories were disagreeable, crude, if not foul places, and the whole atmosphere was one of hard contract."

Carrie does well in spite of these hardships, but she must pay her sister's husband almost her entire salary for her room and board. With winter coming and the chill winds of a Chicago autumn upon her, Carrie has no money for a coat, hat, nor even an umbrella. She is absolutely wretched. Then she meets a young salesman, Charles Drouet, whom she had become slightly acquainted with on the train to the city. She is eventually tricked into living with him - seduced by his offers of marriage, and the economic security and comparative independence he provides her. She is still a girl and is motivated by impulses and her passive, overly trusting nature.

Carrie makes another serious mistake when she allows herself to be deceived a second time by a well-to-do, married saloon manager twice her age, Mr. Hurstwood. Drouet, showing off, had introduced Carrie to his socially superior friend, and also thought to shine in Hurstwood's eyes by presenting him to his attractive, young "wife."

Disillusioned after a few years with Drouet, who loves her in his fashion but has proved to be irresponsible and flighty, Carrie believes Hurstwood to be single and herself to be in love with him. Hurstwood, a respectable gentleman who has never been a philanderer, is himself quite enamored with Carrie - enough to leave his family. He persuades her to flee Chicago and move with him to New York. He does this by outright lying to the young woman in his desperation to have her.

Given the period when the novel was published and the morality and mores of the time, "Sister Carrie" was not only poorly received, the novel scandalized polite society. The heroine, a young woman who comes to the city, forms two out-of-wedlock relationships, eventually becomes successful in her own right, rising to fame and respectability. She is rewarded rather than suffering punishment for her moral lapses.

Originally a newspaperman, Theodore Dreiser writes with a blunt journalistic style. In "Sister Carrie" and his other work, he deals with the gritty reality of life and is known as an outstanding representative of naturalism - a movement in literature and the arts where real life subjects are portrayed as they exist in the real world - with all their blemishes and defects.

I originally read "Sister Carrie" 25 years ago and thought to revisit it when I found it in one of my book trunks. I loved the novel back then, but now I really appreciate what a great American novel this is. The characters are outstanding in their depth and realism. The story is compelling, and the portrait of American life as seen through Dreiser's eyes is exceptional. Highly recommended!
JANA

Curious classic, 08 Jul 2005
This is a manageable book with which to get to know Dreiser - it's much shorter than An American Tragedy. Dreiser writes a very odd prose, which fluctuates between the banal, the sentimental and the morally supercharged. He creates some interesting characters, especially the doomed Hurstwood, but this is quite a difficult book to enjoy, and it could certainly be shorter than it is - Dreiser has a taste for entirely superfluous detail.

You're not happy, said Hurstwood, 28 Jul 1999
You're not happy -- so you do something about it. To make yourself happy, you compete with others and the strongest will survive. Hints of Darwinian thought mix with Dreiser's own opinions on society as the reader follows the tale of Carrie and Hurstwood. Carrie goes to the city from the country and proceeds to work her way up in life. Hurstwood begins in a good position yet makes a tragic choice to end up down in life. The strongest survive in the city, and Dreiser's characters are all trying to survive. Works laced with determinism are not the most fun to read, but often have very important things to say about society. Sister Carrie is a profound book and well worth the time and effort.

Sister Carrie can teach us all a lesson., 03 May 1999
The theme of Sister Carrie is searching for the "American Dream." Carrie Meeber is searching for happiness by aquiring wealth and material possessions. The author, Theodore Dreiser, does an excellent job of keeping your attention with the use of his extremely descriptive language. He takes charecters from different classes of the American economy, and shows how they are corrupted by the pursuit of the American Dream. Sister Carrie gets off to a slow start, but the reader is able to connect with the events that unfold. Dreiser's talent lies in the fact that he was able to describe life as he saw it, tragic. Overall, the themes and symbolizism of Sister Carrie teach us that life is filled with success and failure.

Twist ending on classic formula, 14 Jul 1998
One of the reasons why Sister Carrie is worth reading has to do with the ending. If you've read any of these famous home-wrecking novels, where a young beautiful girl gets involved with an older man, and wondered if suicide always had to be the answer, here's your book. But surprisingly, the ending makes you sort of long for the good old suicide ending. Sister Carrie isn't bad, but a lot of the insights into human nature and society are expressed in the language of a talk-show self-help psychiatrist rather than a great author. There are better versions of this formula (Updike, Tolstoy, Wharton, Austen) but there is still something in Sister Carrie that makes it worth reading. Despite its title, the better character depiction in the book belongs to the lover rather than the heroine of the title. Like Updike, Dreiser makes you feel for the plight of the upper-middle class white man. And I mean that seriously, with no sarcasm.

A Truly Great American Novel!, 12 Mar 2006
Sister Carrie," Theodore Dreiser's debut novel, is the extraordinarily powerful story of Carrie Meeber, a naïve small-town girl from Wisconsin who comes to the big city, Chicago, to reside with her older sister's small family. The year is 1889. "She was eighteen years of age, bright, timid and full of the illusions of ignorance and youth."

Carrie is soon overwhelmed by the difficulty of finding work, especially since she has no previous experience as a wage earner. When she finally does get a job on an assembly line at a shoe factory for $3.50 per week, she is exhausted by long hours of standing and poor working conditions. "Not the slightest provision had been made for the comfort of the employees, the idea being that something was gained by giving them as little as possible." "The wash rooms and lavatories were disagreeable, crude, if not foul places, and the whole atmosphere was one of hard contract."

Carrie does well in spite of these hardships, but she must pay her sister's husband almost her entire salary for her room and board. With winter coming and the chill winds of a Chicago autumn upon her, Carrie has no money for a coat, hat, nor even an umbrella. She is absolutely wretched. Then she meets a young salesman, Charles Drouet, whom she had become slightly acquainted with on the train to the city. She is eventually tricked into living with him - seduced by his offers of marriage, and the economic security and comparative independence he provides her. She is still a girl and is motivated by impulses and her passive, overly trusting nature.

Carrie makes another serious mistake when she allows herself to be deceived a second time by a well-to-do, married saloon manager twice her age, Mr. Hurstwood. Drouet, showing off, had introduced Carrie to his socially superior friend, and also thought to shine in Hurstwood's eyes by presenting him to his attractive, young "wife."

Disillusioned after a few years with Drouet, who loves her in his fashion but has proved to be irresponsible and flighty, Carrie believes Hurstwood to be single and herself to be in love with him. Hurstwood, a respectable gentleman who has never been a philanderer, is himself quite enamored with Carrie - enough to leave his family. He persuades her to flee Chicago and move with him to New York. He does this by outright lying to the young woman in his desperation to have her.

Given the period when the novel was published and the morality and mores of the time, "Sister Carrie" was not only poorly received, the novel scandalized polite society. The heroine, a young woman who comes to the city, forms two out-of-wedlock relationships, eventually becomes successful in her own right, rising to fame and respectability. She is rewarded rather than suffering punishment for her moral lapses.

Originally a newspaperman, Theodore Dreiser writes with a blunt journalistic style. In "Sister Carrie" and his other work, he deals with the gritty reality of life and is known as an outstanding representative of naturalism - a movement in literature and the arts where real life subjects are portrayed as they exist in the real world - with all their blemishes and defects.

I originally read "Sister Carrie" 25 years ago and thought to revisit it when I found it in one of my book trunks. I loved the novel back then, but now I really appreciate what a great American novel this is. The characters are outstanding in their depth and realism. The story is compelling, and the portrait of American life as seen through Dreiser's eyes is exceptional. Highly recommended!
JANA

Curious classic, 08 Jul 2005
This is a manageable book with which to get to know Dreiser - it's much shorter than An American Tragedy. Dreiser writes a very odd prose, which fluctuates between the banal, the sentimental and the morally supercharged. He creates some interesting characters, especially the doomed Hurstwood, but this is quite a difficult book to enjoy, and it could certainly be shorter than it is - Dreiser has a taste for entirely superfluous detail.

You're not happy, said Hurstwood, 28 Jul 1999
You're not happy -- so you do something about it. To make yourself happy, you compete with others and the strongest will survive. Hints of Darwinian thought mix with Dreiser's own opinions on society as the reader follows the tale of Carrie and Hurstwood. Carrie goes to the city from the country and proceeds to work her way up in life. Hurstwood begins in a good position yet makes a tragic choice to end up down in life. The strongest survive in the city, and Dreiser's characters are all trying to survive. Works laced with determinism are not the most fun to read, but often have very important things to say about society. Sister Carrie is a profound book and well worth the time and effort.

Sister Carrie can teach us all a lesson., 03 May 1999
The theme of Sister Carrie is searching for the "American Dream." Carrie Meeber is searching for happiness by aquiring wealth and material possessions. The author, Theodore Dreiser, does an excellent job of keeping your attention with the use of his extremely descriptive language. He takes charecters from different classes of the American economy, and shows how they are corrupted by the pursuit of the American Dream. Sister Carrie gets off to a slow start, but the reader is able to connect with the events that unfold. Dreiser's talent lies in the fact that he was able to describe life as he saw it, tragic. Overall, the themes and symbolizism of Sister Carrie teach us that life is filled with success and failure.

Twist ending on classic formula, 14 Jul 1998
One of the reasons why Sister Carrie is worth reading has to do with the ending. If you've read any of these famous home-wrecking novels, where a young beautiful girl gets involved with an older man, and wondered if suicide always had to be the answer, here's your book. But surprisingly, the ending makes you sort of long for the good old suicide ending. Sister Carrie isn't bad, but a lot of the insights into human nature and society are expressed in the language of a talk-show self-help psychiatrist rather than a great author. There are better versions of this formula (Updike, Tolstoy, Wharton, Austen) but there is still something in Sister Carrie that makes it worth reading. Despite its title, the better character depiction in the book belongs to the lover rather than the heroine of the title. Like Updike, Dreiser makes you feel for the plight of the upper-middle class white man. And I mean that seriously, with no sarcasm.

The All American Novel!, 08 Jan 2003
Dreiser has crafted an immmense, complex novel based on the life of Clyde Griffiths, a man who commmitted a famous murder out of desperation in 1906. Born of a poor Mid-western Salvation Army family, Griffiths becomes romantically involved with a woman of his own class, only to fall in love with a socialite just beyond his grasp. A series of miscalculations evolves and Griffiths finds himself lost in his own web of tragedy and panic.
Occurring mostly in the resort of Big Moose Lake, N.Y. during the hey-day of Adirondacks, the mood and characters are all too believable and Dreiser paints a romantically painful picture of a man who cannot escape his roots and destiny.

Don't be beset by the voluminous writing. The structure, narration and characterization is perfect. Dreiser truly has created the perfect All American novel. If you can pace your reading to prevent getting ahead of yourself, you will notice the careful style Dreiser has created that turns a neat full circle by the end.

Made famous by the film, "A Place In The Sun" with Montgomery Clift, Shelley Winters and Elizabeth Taylor.

... And lead us not into temptation!, 10 Aug 2001
Clyde Griffiths certainly has been led into temptation by his creator Theodore Dreiser: here he is, only an inch away from all he has ever wanted (money, beauty, status) and he thinks he can get it by paying the price of killing his former girlfriend. Dreiser, being a moralist, does not let him get away with it. On death row Clyde for the first time in his life makes a moral decision and perhaps reclaims his soul but loses his life. Neither could his victim, Roberta, resist the temptation of doing the wrong thing in order to get what she wants. Sex outside marriage does not seem much of an issue to us but this is turn of the century America and she herself is convinced that it is sinful. She falls victim to Clyde's seduction because she sees him as someone who can lift her out of her deprived existence on a fungous farm into a better life. It is true that she is also sentimentally in love with him. Up until the end Clyde feels that those who have not been tempted as he was should not judge him. He grew up repelled by the shabbiness of his home and confused by the failure of his parents (who are street preachers) to achieve any tangible success in life. He rejects their bible messages but, due to his lack of education and social isolation, has nothing to replace them with. When he does earn some money he wastes it on an exploitative girlfriend. Years later we see him in a minor position in his rich uncle's factory. He meets Roberta, who works for him and has a clandestine affair with her. And then it happens: he catches the fancy of a very rich society girl who brings him into the wealthy set, makes him presents, gives him money, plans a future with him. Roberta, by now pregnant and threatening a scandal, is an obstacle. I have long wondered why Clyde is presented not just as a criminal with a deprived childhood but also as a flawed human being. It is easy to scoff at the things he longs for but who among us is really free from the same longings? It must be because he has no resistance: at every point he gives in to temptation: he runs away after an accident and never finds out that no charges were pressed against him. He misspends his money and lies about it. He grasps the opportunity of pushing Roberta into a sexual relationship although he knows he should not...

A Truly Great American Novel!, 12 Mar 2006
Sister Carrie," Theodore Dreiser's debut novel, is the extraordinarily powerful story of Carrie Meeber, a naïve small-town girl from Wisconsin who comes to the big city, Chicago, to reside with her older sister's small family. The year is 1889. "She was eighteen years of age, bright, timid and full of the illusions of ignorance and youth."

Carrie is soon overwhelmed by the difficulty of finding work, especially since she has no previous experience as a wage earner. When she finally does get a job on an assembly line at a shoe factory for $3.50 per week, she is exhausted by long hours of standing and poor working conditions. "Not the slightest provision had been made for the comfort of the employees, the idea being that something was gained by giving them as little as possible." "The wash rooms and lavatories were disagreeable, crude, if not foul places, and the whole atmosphere was one of hard contract."

Carrie does well in spite of these hardships, but she must pay her sister's husband almost her entire salary for her room and board. With winter coming and the chill winds of a Chicago autumn upon her, Carrie has no money for a coat, hat, nor even an umbrella. She is absolutely wretched. Then she meets a young salesman, Charles Drouet, whom she had become slightly acquainted with on the train to the city. She is eventually tricked into living with him - seduced by his offers of marriage, and the economic security and comparative independence he provides her. She is still a girl and is motivated by impulses and her passive, overly trusting nature.

Carrie makes another serious mistake when she allows herself to be deceived a second time by a well-to-do, married saloon manager twice her age, Mr. Hurstwood. Drouet, showing off, had introduced Carrie to his socially superior friend, and also thought to shine in Hurstwood's eyes by presenting him to his attractive, young "wife."

Disillusioned after a few years with Drouet, who loves her in his fashion but has proved to be irresponsible and flighty, Carrie believes Hurstwood to be single and herself to be in love with him. Hurstwood, a respectable gentleman who has never been a philanderer, is himself quite enamored with Carrie - enough to leave his family. He persuades her to flee Chicago and move with him to New York. He does this by outright lying to the young woman in his desperation to have her.

Given the period when the novel was published and the morality and mores of the time, "Sister Carrie" was not only poorly received, the novel scandalized polite society. The heroine, a young woman who comes to the city, forms two out-of-wedlock relationships, eventually becomes successful in her own right, rising to fame and respectability. She is rewarded rather than suffering punishment for her moral lapses.

Originally a newspaperman, Theodore Dreiser writes with a blunt journalistic style. In "Sister Carrie" and his other work, he deals with the gritty reality of life and is known as an outstanding representative of naturalism - a movement in literature and the arts where real life subjects are portrayed as they exist in the real world - with all their blemishes and defects.

I originally read "Sister Carrie" 25 years ago and thought to revisit it when I found it in one of my book trunks. I loved the novel back then, but now I really appreciate what a great American novel this is. The characters are outstanding in their depth and realism. The story is compelling, and the portrait of American life as seen through Dreiser's eyes is exceptional. Highly recommended!
JANA

Curious classic, 08 Jul 2005
This is a manageable book with which to get to know Dreiser - it's much shorter than An American Tragedy. Dreiser writes a very odd prose, which fluctuates between the banal, the sentimental and the morally supercharged. He creates some interesting characters, especially the doomed Hurstwood, but this is quite a difficult book to enjoy, and it could certainly be shorter than it is - Dreiser has a taste for entirely superfluous detail.

You're not happy, said Hurstwood, 28 Jul 1999
You're not happy -- so you do something about it. To make yourself happy, you compete with others and the strongest will survive. Hints of Darwinian thought mix with Dreiser's own opinions on society as the reader follows the tale of Carrie and Hurstwood. Carrie goes to the city from the country and proceeds to work her way up in life. Hurstwood begins in a good position yet makes a tragic choice to end up down in life. The strongest survive in the city, and Dreiser's characters are all trying to survive. Works laced with determinism are not the most fun to read, but often have very important things to say about society. Sister Carrie is a profound book and well worth the time and effort.

Sister Carrie can teach us all a lesson., 03 May 1999
The theme of Sister Carrie is searching for the "American Dream." Carrie Meeber is searching for happiness by aquiring wealth and material possessions. The author, Theodore Dreiser, does an excellent job of keeping your attention with the use of his extremely descriptive language. He takes charecters from different classes of the American economy, and shows how they are corrupted by the pursuit of the American Dream. Sister Carrie gets off to a slow start, but the reader is able to connect with the events that unfold. Dreiser's talent lies in the fact that he was able to describe life as he saw it, tragic. Overall, the themes and symbolizism of Sister Carrie teach us that life is filled with success and failure.

Twist ending on classic formula, 14 Jul 1998
One of the reasons why Sister Carrie is worth reading has to do with the ending. If you've read any of these famous home-wrecking novels, where a young beautiful girl gets involved with an older man, and wondered if suicide always had to be the answer, here's your book. But surprisingly, the ending makes you sort of long for the good old suicide ending. Sister Carrie isn't bad, but a lot of the insights into human nature and society are expressed in the language of a talk-show self-help psychiatrist rather than a great author. There are better versions of this formula (Updike, Tolstoy, Wharton, Austen) but there is still something in Sister Carrie that makes it worth reading. Despite its title, the better character depiction in the book belongs to the lover rather than the heroine of the title. Like Updike, Dreiser makes you feel for the plight of the upper-middle class white man. And I mean that seriously, with no sarcasm.

A Truly Great American Novel!, 12 Mar 2006
Sister Carrie," Theodore Dreiser's debut novel, is the extraordinarily powerful story of Carrie Meeber, a naïve small-town girl from Wisconsin who comes to the big city, Chicago, to reside with her older sister's small family. The year is 1889. "She was eighteen years of age, bright, timid and full of the illusions of ignorance and youth."

Carrie is soon overwhelmed by the difficulty of finding work, especially since she has no previous experience as a wage earner. When she finally does get a job on an assembly line at a shoe factory for $3.50 per week, she is exhausted by long hours of standing and poor working conditions. "Not the slightest provision had been made for the comfort of the employees, the idea being that something was gained by giving them as little as possible." "The wash rooms and lavatories were disagreeable, crude, if not foul places, and the whole atmosphere was one of hard contract."

Carrie does well in spite of these hardships, but she must pay her sister's husband almost her entire salary for her room and board. With winter coming and the chill winds of a Chicago autumn upon her, Carrie has no money for a coat, hat, nor even an umbrella. She is absolutely wretched. Then she meets a young salesman, Charles Drouet, whom she had become slightly acquainted with on the train to the city. She is eventually tricked into living with him - seduced by his offers of marriage, and the economic security and comparative independence he provides her. She is still a girl and is motivated by impulses and her passive, overly trusting nature.

Carrie makes another serious mistake when she allows herself to be deceived a second time by a well-to-do, married saloon manager twice her age, Mr. Hurstwood. Drouet, showing off, had introduced Carrie to his socially superior friend, and also thought to shine in Hurstwood's eyes by presenting him to his attractive, young "wife."

Disillusioned after a few years with Drouet, who loves her in his fashion but has proved to be irresponsible and flighty, Carrie believes Hurstwood to be single and herself to be in love with him. Hurstwood, a respectable gentleman who has never been a philanderer, is himself quite enamored with Carrie - enough to leave his family. He persuades her to flee Chicago and move with him to New York. He does this by outright lying to the young woman in his desperation to have her.

Given the period when the novel was published and the morality and mores of the time, "Sister Carrie" was not only poorly received, the novel scandalized polite society. The heroine, a young woman who comes to the city, forms two out-of-wedlock relationships, eventually becomes successful in her own right, rising to fame and respectability. She is rewarded rather than suffering punishment for her moral lapses.

Originally a newspaperman, Theodore Dreiser writes with a blunt journalistic style. In "Sister Carrie" and his other work, he deals with the gritty reality of life and is known as an outstanding representative of naturalism - a movement in literature and the arts where real life subjects are portrayed as they exist in the real world - with all their blemishes and defects.

I originally read "Sister Carrie" 25 years ago and thought to revisit it when I found it in one of my book trunks. I loved the novel back then, but now I really appreciate what a great American novel this is. The characters are outstanding in their depth and realism. The story is compelling, and the portrait of American life as seen through Dreiser's eyes is exceptional. Highly recommended!
JANA

Curious classic, 08 Jul 2005
This is a manageable book with which to get to know Dreiser - it's much shorter than An American Tragedy. Dreiser writes a very odd prose, which fluctuates between the banal, the sentimental and the morally supercharged. He creates some interesting characters, especially the doomed Hurstwood, but this is quite a difficult book to enjoy, and it could certainly be shorter than it is - Dreiser has a taste for entirely superfluous detail.

You're not happy, said Hurstwood, 28 Jul 1999
You're not happy -- so you do something about it. To make yourself happy, you compete with others and the strongest will survive. Hints of Darwinian thought mix with Dreiser's own opinions on society as the reader follows the tale of Carrie and Hurstwood. Carrie goes to the city from the country and proceeds to work her way up in life. Hurstwood begins in a good position yet makes a tragic choice to end up down in life. The strongest survive in the city, and Dreiser's characters are all trying to survive. Works laced with determinism are not the most fun to read, but often have very important things to say about society. Sister Carrie is a profound book and well worth the time and effort.

Sister Carrie can teach us all a lesson., 03 May 1999
The theme of Sister Carrie is searching for the "American Dream." Carrie Meeber is searching for happiness by aquiring wealth and material possessions. The author, Theodore Dreiser, does an excellent job of keeping your attention with the use of his extremely descriptive language. He takes charecters from different classes of the American economy, and shows how they are corrupted by the pursuit of the American Dream. Sister Carrie gets off to a slow start, but the reader is able to connect with the events that unfold. Dreiser's talent lies in the fact that he was able to describe life as he saw it, tragic. Overall, the themes and symbolizism of Sister Carrie teach us that life is filled with success and failure.

Twist ending on classic formula, 14 Jul 1998
One of the reasons why Sister Carrie is worth reading has to do with the ending. If you've read any of these famous home-wrecking novels, where a young beautiful girl gets involved with an older man, and wondered if suicide always had to be the answer, here's your book. But surprisingly, the ending makes you sort of long for the good old suicide ending. Sister Carrie isn't bad, but a lot of the insights into human nature and society are expressed in the language of a talk-show self-help psychiatrist rather than a great author. There are better versions of this formula (Updike, Tolstoy, Wharton, Austen) but there is still something in Sister Carrie that makes it worth reading. Despite its title, the better character depiction in the book belongs to the lover rather than the heroine of the title. Like Updike, Dreiser makes you feel for the plight of the upper-middle class white man. And I mean that seriously, with no sarcasm.

The All American Novel!, 08 Jan 2003
Dreiser has crafted an immmense, complex novel based on the life of Clyde Griffiths, a man who commmitted a famous murder out of desperation in 1906. Born of a poor Mid-western Salvation Army family, Griffiths becomes romantically involved with a woman of his own class, only to fall in love with a socialite just beyond his grasp. A series of miscalculations evolves and Griffiths finds himself lost in his own web of tragedy and panic.
Occurring mostly in the resort of Big Moose Lake, N.Y. during the hey-day of Adirondacks, the mood and characters are all too believable and Dreiser paints a romantically painful picture of a man who cannot escape his roots and destiny.

Don't be beset by the voluminous writing. The structure, narration and characterization is perfect. Dreiser truly has created the perfect All American novel. If you can pace your reading to prevent getting ahead of yourself, you will notice the careful style Dreiser has created that turns a neat full circle by the end.

Made famous by the film, "A Place In The Sun" with Montgomery Clift, Shelley Winters and Elizabeth Taylor.

... And lead us not into temptation!, 10 Aug 2001
Clyde Griffiths certainly has been led into temptation by his creator Theodore Dreiser: here he is, only an inch away from all he has ever wanted (money, beauty, status) and he thinks he can get it by paying the price of killing his former girlfriend. Dreiser, being a moralist, does not let him get away with it. On death row Clyde for the first time in his life makes a moral decision and perhaps reclaims his soul but loses his life. Neither could his victim, Roberta, resist the temptation of doing the wrong thing in order to get what she wants. Sex outside marriage does not seem much of an issue to us but this is turn of the century America and she herself is convinced that it is sinful. She falls victim to Clyde's seduction because she sees him as someone who can lift her out of her deprived existence on a fungous farm into a better life. It is true that she is also sentimentally in love with him. Up until the end Clyde feels that those who have not been tempted as he was should not judge him. He grew up repelled by the shabbiness of his home and confused by the failure of his parents (who are street preachers) to achieve any tangible success in life. He rejects their bible messages but, due to his lack of education and social isolation, has nothing to replace them with. When he does earn some money he wastes it on an exploitative girlfriend. Years later we see him in a minor position in his rich uncle's factory. He meets Roberta, who works for him and has a clandestine affair with her. And then it happens: he catches the fancy of a very rich society girl who brings him into the wealthy set, makes him presents, gives him money, plans a future with him. Roberta, by now pregnant and threatening a scandal, is an obstacle. I have long wondered why Clyde is presented not just as a criminal with a deprived childhood but also as a flawed human being. It is easy to scoff at the things he longs for but who among us is really free from the same longings? It must be because he has no resistance: at every point he gives in to temptation: he runs away after an accident and never finds out that no charges were pressed against him. He misspends his money and lies about it. He grasps the opportunity of pushing Roberta into a sexual relationship although he knows he should not...

The All American Novel!, 08 Jan 2003
Dreiser has crafted an immmense, complex novel based on the life of Clyde Griffiths, a man who commmitted a famous murder out of desperation in 1906. Born of a poor Mid-western Salvation Army family, Griffiths becomes romantically involved with a woman of his own class, only to fall in love with a socialite just beyond his grasp. A series of miscalculations evolves and Griffiths finds himself lost in his own web of tragedy and panic.
Occurring mostly in the resort of Big Moose Lake, N.Y. during the hey-day of Adirondacks, the mood and characters are all too believable and Dreiser paints a romantically painful picture of a man who cannot escape his roots and destiny.

Don't be beset by the voluminous writing. The structure, narration and characterization is perfect. Dreiser truly has created the perfect All American novel. If you can pace your reading to prevent getting ahead of yourself, you will notice the careful style Dreiser has created that turns a neat full circle by the end.

Made famous by the film, "A Place In The Sun" with Montgomery Clift, Shelley Winters and Elizabeth Taylor.

... And lead us not into temptation!, 10 Aug 2001
Clyde Griffiths certainly has been led into temptation by his creator Theodore Dreiser: here he is, only an inch away from all he has ever wanted (money, beauty, status) and he thinks he can get it by paying the price of killing his former girlfriend. Dreiser, being a moralist, does not let him get away with it. On death row Clyde for the first time in his life makes a moral decision and perhaps reclaims his soul but loses his life. Neither could his victim, Roberta, resist the temptation of doing the wrong thing in order to get what she wants. Sex outside marriage does not seem much of an issue to us but this is turn of the century America and she herself is convinced that it is sinful. She falls victim to Clyde's seduction because she sees him as someone who can lift her out of her deprived existence on a fungous farm into a better life. It is true that she is also sentimentally in love with him. Up until the end Clyde feels that those who have not been tempted as he was should not judge him. He grew up repelled by the shabbiness of his home and confused by the failure of his parents (who are street preachers) to achieve any tangible success in life. He rejects their bible messages but, due to his lack of education and social isolation, has nothing to replace them with. When he does earn some money he wastes it on an exploitative girlfriend. Years later we see him in a minor position in his rich uncle's factory. He meets Roberta, who works for him and has a clandestine affair with her. And then it happens: he catches the fancy of a very rich society girl who brings him into the wealthy set, makes him presents, gives him money, plans a future with him. Roberta, by now pregnant and threatening a scandal, is an obstacle. I have long wondered why Clyde is presented not just as a criminal with a deprived childhood but also as a flawed human being. It is easy to scoff at the things he longs for but who among us is really free from the same longings? It must be because he has no resistance: at every point he gives in to temptation: he runs away after an accident and never finds out that no charges were pressed against him. He misspends his money and lies about it. He grasps the opportunity of pushing Roberta into a sexual relationship although he knows he should not...

A Truly Great American Novel!, 12 Mar 2006
Sister Carrie," Theodore Dreiser's debut novel, is the extraordinarily powerful story of Carrie Meeber, a naïve small-town girl from Wisconsin who comes to the big city, Chicago, to reside with her older sister's small family. The year is 1889. "She was eighteen years of age, bright, timid and full of the illusions of ignorance and youth."

Carrie is soon overwhelmed by the difficulty of finding work, especially since she has no previous experience as a wage earner. When she finally does get a job on an assembly line at a shoe factory for $3.50 per week, she is exhausted by long hours of standing and poor working conditions. "Not the slightest provision had been made for the comfort of the employees, the idea being that something was gained by giving them as little as possible." "The wash rooms and lavatories were disagreeable, crude, if not foul places, and the whole atmosphere was one of hard contract."

Carrie does well in spite of these hardships, but she must pay her sister's husband almost her entire salary for her room and board. With winter coming and the chill winds of a Chicago autumn upon her, Carrie has no money for a coat, hat, nor even an umbrella. She is absolutely wretched. Then she meets a young salesman, Charles Drouet, whom she had become slightly acquainted with on the train to the city. She is eventually tricked into living with him - seduced by his offers of marriage, and the economic security and comparative independence he provides her. She is still a girl and is motivated by impulses and her passive, overly trusting nature.

Carrie makes another serious mistake when she allows herself to be deceived a second time by a well-to-do, married saloon manager twice her age, Mr. Hurstwood. Drouet, showing off, had introduced Carrie to his socially superior friend, and also thought to shine in Hurstwood's eyes by presenting him to his attractive, young "wife."

Disillusioned after a few years with Drouet, who loves her in his fashion but has proved to be irresponsible and flighty, Carrie believes Hurstwood to be single and herself to be in love with him. Hurstwood, a respectable gentleman who has never been a philanderer, is himself quite enamored with Carrie - enough to leave his family. He persuades her to flee Chicago and move with him to New York. He does this by outright lying to the young woman in his desperation to have her.

Given the period when the novel was published and the morality and mores of the time, "Sister Carrie" was not only poorly received, the novel scandalized polite society. The heroine, a young woman who comes to the city, forms two out-of-wedlock relationships, eventually becomes successful in her own right, rising to fame and respectability. She is rewarded rather than suffering punishment for her moral lapses.

Originally a newspaperman, Theodore Dreiser writes with a blunt journalistic style. In "Sister Carrie" and his other work, he deals with the gritty reality of life and is known as an outstanding representative of naturalism - a movement in literature and the arts where real life subjects are portrayed as they exist in the real world - with all their blemishes and defects.

I originally read "Sister Carrie" 25 years ago and thought to revisit it when I found it in one of my book trunks. I loved the novel back then, but now I really appreciate what a great American novel this is. The characters are outstanding in their depth and realism. The story is compelling, and the portrait of American life as seen through Dreiser's eyes is exceptional. Highly recommended!
JANA

Curious classic, 08 Jul 2005
This is a manageable book with which to get to know Dreiser - it's much shorter than An American Tragedy. Dreiser writes a very odd prose, which fluctuates between the banal, the sentimental and the morally supercharged. He creates some interesting characters, especially the doomed Hurstwood, but this is quite a difficult book to enjoy, and it could certainly be shorter than it is - Dreiser has a taste for entirely superfluous detail.

You're not happy, said Hurstwood, 28 Jul 1999
You're not happy -- so you do something about it. To make yourself happy, you compete with others and the strongest will survive. Hints of Darwinian thought mix with Dreiser's own opinions on society as the reader follows the tale of Carrie and Hurstwood. Carrie goes to the city from the country and proceeds to work her way up in life. Hurstwood begins in a good position yet makes a tragic choice to end up down in life. The strongest survive in the city, and Dreiser's characters are all trying to survive. Works laced with determinism are not the most fun to read, but often have very important things to say about society. Sister Carrie is a profound book and well worth the time and effort.

Sister Carrie can teach us all a lesson., 03 May 1999
The theme of Sister Carrie is searching for the "American Dream." Carrie Meeber is searching for happiness by aquiring wealth and material possessions. The author, Theodore Dreiser, does an excellent job of keeping your attention with the use of his extremely descriptive language. He takes charecters from different classes of the American economy, and shows how they are corrupted by the pursuit of the American Dream. Sister Carrie gets off to a slow start, but the reader is able to connect with the events that unfold. Dreiser's talent lies in the fact that he was able to describe life as he saw it, tragic. Overall, the themes and symbolizism of Sister Carrie teach us that life is filled with success and failure.

Twist ending on classic formula, 14 Jul 1998
One of the reasons why Sister Carrie is worth reading has to do with the ending. If you've read any of these famous home-wrecking novels, where a young beautiful girl gets involved with an older man, and wondered if suicide always had to be the answer, here's your book. But surprisingly, the ending makes you sort of long for the good old suicide ending. Sister Carrie isn't bad, but a lot of the insights into human nature and society are expressed in the language of a talk-show self-help psychiatrist rather than a great author. There are better versions of this formula (Updike, Tolstoy, Wharton, Austen) but there is still something in Sister Carrie that makes it worth reading. Despite its title, the better character depiction in the book belongs to the lover rather than the heroine of the title. Like Updike, Dreiser makes you feel for the plight of the upper-middle class white man. And I mean that seriously, with no sarcasm.

A Truly Great American Novel!, 12 Mar 2006
Sister Carrie," Theodore Dreiser's debut novel, is the extraordinarily powerful story of Carrie Meeber, a naïve small-town girl from Wisconsin who comes to the big city, Chicago, to reside with her older sister's small family. The year is 1889. "She was eighteen years of age, bright, timid and full of the illusions of ignorance and youth."

Carrie is soon overwhelmed by the difficulty of finding work, especially since she has no previous experience as a wage earner. When she finally does get a job on an assembly line at a shoe factory for $3.50 per week, she is exhausted by long hours of standing and poor working conditions. "Not the slightest provision had been made for the comfort of the employees, the idea being that something was gained by giving them as little as possible." "The wash rooms and lavatories were disagreeable, crude, if not foul places, and the whole atmosphere was one of hard contract."

Carrie does well in spite of these hardships, but she must pay her sister's husband almost her entire salary for her room and board. With winter coming and the chill winds of a Chicago autumn upon her, Carrie has no money for a coat, hat, nor even an umbrella. She is absolutely wretched. Then she meets a young salesman, Charles Drouet, whom she had become slightly acquainted with on the train to the city. She is eventually tricked into living with him - seduced by his offers of marriage, and the economic security and comparative independence he provides her. She is still a girl and is motivated by impulses and her passive, overly trusting nature.

Carrie makes another serious mistake when she allows herself to be deceived a second time by a well-to-do, married saloon manager twice her age, Mr. Hurstwood. Drouet, showing off, had introduced Carrie to his socially superior friend, and also thought to shine in Hurstwood's eyes by presenting him to his attractive, young "wife."

Disillusioned after a few years with Drouet, who loves her in his fashion but has proved to be irresponsible and flighty, Carrie believes Hurstwood to be single and herself to be in love with him. Hurstwood, a respectable gentleman who has never been a philanderer, is himself quite enamored with Carrie - enough to leave his family. He persuades her to flee Chicago and move with him to New York. He does this by outright lying to the young woman in his desperation to have her.

Given the period when the novel was published and the morality and mores of the time, "Sister Carrie" was not only poorly received, the novel scandalized polite society. The heroine, a young woman who comes to the city, forms two out-of-wedlock relationships, eventually becomes successful in her own right, rising to fame and respectability. She is rewarded rather than suffering punishment for her moral lapses.

Originally a newspaperman, Theodore Dreiser writes with a blunt journalistic style. In "Sister Carrie" and his other work, he deals with the gritty reality of life and is known as an outstanding representative of naturalism - a movement in literature and the arts where real life subjects are portrayed as they exist in the real world - with all their blemishes and defects.

I originally read "Sister Carrie" 25 years ago and thought to revisit it when I found it in one of my book trunks. I loved the novel back then, but now I really appreciate what a great American novel this is. The characters are outstanding in their depth and realism. The story is compelling, and the portrait of American life as seen through Dreiser's eyes is exceptional. Highly recommended!
JANA

Curious classic, 08 Jul 2005
This is a manageable book with which to get to know Dreiser - it's much shorter than An American Tragedy. Dreiser writes a very odd prose, which fluctuates between the banal, the sentimental and the morally supercharged. He creates some interesting characters, especially the doomed Hurstwood, but this is quite a difficult book to enjoy, and it could certainly be shorter than it is - Dreiser has a taste for entirely superfluous detail.

You're not happy, said Hurstwood, 28 Jul 1999
You're not happy -- so you do something about it. To make yourself happy, you compete with others and the strongest will survive. Hints of Darwinian thought mix with Dreiser's own opinions on society as the reader follows the tale of Carrie and Hurstwood. Carrie goes to the city from the country and proceeds to work her way up in life. Hurstwood begins in a good position yet makes a tragic choice to end up down in life. The strongest survive in the city, and Dreiser's characters are all trying to survive. Works laced with determinism are not the most fun to read, but often have very important things to say about society. Sister Carrie is a profound book and well worth the time and effort.

Sister Carrie can teach us all a lesson., 03 May 1999
The theme of Sister Carrie is searching for the "American Dream." Carrie Meeber is searching for happiness by aquiring wealth and material possessions. The author, Theodore Dreiser, does an excellent job of keeping your attention with the use of his extremely descriptive language. He takes charecters from different classes of the American economy, and shows how they are corrupted by the pursuit of the American Dream. Sister Carrie gets off to a slow start, but the reader is able to connect with the events that unfold. Dreiser's talent lies in the fact that he was able to describe life as he saw it, tragic. Overall, the themes and symbolizism of Sister Carrie teach us that life is filled with success and failure.

Twist ending on classic formula, 14 Jul 1998
One of the reasons why Sister Carrie is worth reading has to do with the ending. If you've read any of these famous home-wrecking novels, where a young beautiful girl gets involved with an older man, and wondered if suicide always had to be the answer, here's your book. But surprisingly, the ending makes you sort of long for the good old suicide ending. Sister Carrie isn't bad, but a lot of the insights into human nature and society are expressed in the language of a talk-show self-help psychiatrist rather than a great author. There are better versions of this formula (Updike, Tolstoy, Wharton, Austen) but there is still something in Sister Carrie that makes it worth reading. Despite its title, the better character depiction in the book belongs to the lover rather than the heroine of the title. Like Updike, Dreiser makes you feel for the plight of the upper-middle class white man. And I mean that seriously, with no sarcasm.

The All American Novel!, 08 Jan 2003
Dreiser has crafted an immmense, complex novel based on the life of Clyde Griffiths, a man who commmitted a famous murder out of desperation in 1906. Born of a poor Mid-western Salvation Army family, Griffiths becomes romantically involved with a woman of his own class, only to fall in love with a socialite just beyond his grasp. A series of miscalculations evolves and Griffiths finds himself lost in his own web of tragedy and panic.
Occurring mostly in the resort of Big Moose Lake, N.Y. during the hey-day of Adirondacks, the mood and characters are all too believable and Dreiser paints a romantically painful picture of a man who cannot escape his roots and destiny.

Don't be beset by the voluminous writing. The structure, narration and characterization is perfect. Dreiser truly has created the perfect All American novel. If you can pace your reading to prevent getting ahead of yourself, you will notice the careful style Dreiser has created that turns a neat full circle by the end.

Made famous by the film, "A Place In The Sun" with Montgomery Clift, Shelley Winters and Elizabeth Taylor.

... And lead us not into temptation!, 10 Aug 2001
Clyde Griffiths certainly has been led into temptation by his creator Theodore Dreiser: here he is, only an inch away from all he has ever wanted (money, beauty, status) and he thinks he can get it by paying the price of killing his former girlfriend. Dreiser, being a moralist, does not let him get away with it. On death row Clyde for the first time in his life makes a moral decision and perhaps reclaims his soul but loses his life. Neither could his victim, Roberta, resist the temptation of doing the wrong thing in order to get what she wants. Sex outside marriage does not seem much of an issue to us but this is turn of the century America and she herself is convinced that it is sinful. She falls victim to Clyde's seduction because she sees him as someone who can lift her out of her deprived existence on a fungous farm into a better life. It is true that she is also sentimentally in love with him. Up until the end Clyde feels that those who have not been tempted as he was should not judge him. He grew up repelled by the shabbiness of his home and confused by the failure of his parents (who are street preachers) to achieve any tangible success in life. He rejects their bible messages but, due to his lack of education and social isolation, has nothing to replace them with. When he does earn some money he wastes it on an exploitative girlfriend. Years later we see him in a minor position in his rich uncle's factory. He meets Roberta, who works for him and has a clandestine affair with her. And then it happens: he catches the fancy of a very rich society girl who brings him into the wealthy set, makes him presents, gives him money, plans a future with him. Roberta, by now pregnant and threatening a scandal, is an obstacle. I have long wondered why Clyde is presented not just as a criminal with a deprived childhood but also as a flawed human being. It is easy to scoff at the things he longs for but who among us is really free from the same longings? It must be because he has no resistance: at every point he gives in to temptation: he runs away after an accident and never finds out that no charges were pressed against him. He misspends his money and lies about it. He grasps the opportunity of pushing Roberta into a sexual relationship although he knows he should not...

A girl punished for daring to love men above her class., 06 Jun 1999
It seems each time I finish one of Dresier's works I think it is my favorite. Such is the case with Jennie Gerhardt, at least until my next Dresier. This heart-wrenching saga takes the reader through Jennie's life from cleaning houses with her mother, bearing a child by a US Senator and living and loving a man beyond her society class. Lester (the man she loves after the Senator), for his part, is unwilling to marry Jennie and is cut-off from the family and it's millions for loving someone "below" his class in society. Jennie remains true to herself, following her heart and the dicates of a harsh scoiety. She makes amendes with her father and is the only child to nurture him through his final days and death. She takes her daughter away from Chicago and leaves Lester so he can reclaim his family fortune. Her daughter dies, leaving her alone but the strength of Jennie's character comes through when she adopts orphans, for if she isn't nurturing she isn't living. Dreiser drives home his theme of fate and how some can dictate it while others are a slave to it. But even this distinction isn't black and white. Lester seems not to care what fate has in store for him until he takes it into his onw hands and marries the society girl he arguably should have married before he hooked up with Jennie. Alas, Jennie never mastered her fate. She was punished for loving two men from the upper-crust of scoiety instead of taking the crusts that high-living classes would toss her.

Grand and Lavish...I feel so spoiled, 26 Feb 1999
As usual, Dreiser's writing style just amazes me. Just like SISTER CARRIE, this book is about a woman searching for a place in life. You can't but help feel her pain of how her first love dies, only to find out she's pregnant, and she's not even married! Then concealing this child from her next lover, who she lives on. Just like always, a grand and entertaining read.

A thought-provoking story..., 24 Mar 1998
Dreiser's story spanning the life of Jennie is excellently written with rather "modern" topics, considering the time in which it was published. It is a bittersweet story which holds the reader and makes an impression long after it has been finished.

The All American Novel!, 08 Jan 2003
Dreiser has crafted an immmense, complex novel based on the life of Clyde Griffiths, a man who commmitted a famous murder out of desperation in 1906. Born of a poor Mid-western Salvation Army family, Griffiths becomes romantically involved with a woman of his own class, only to fall in love with a socialite just beyond his grasp. A series of miscalculations evolves and Griffiths finds himself lost in his own web of tragedy and panic.
Occurring mostly in the resort of Big Moose Lake, N.Y. during the hey-day of Adirondacks, the mood and characters are all too believable and Dreiser paints a romantically painful picture of a man who cannot escape his roots and destiny.

Don't be beset by the voluminous writing. The structure, narration and characterization is perfect. Dreiser truly has created the perfect All American novel. If you can pace your reading to prevent getting ahead of yourself, you will notice the careful style Dreiser has created that turns a neat full circle by the end.

Made famous by the film, "A Place In The Sun" with Montgomery Clift, Shelley Winters and Elizabeth Taylor.

... And lead us not into temptation!, 10 Aug 2001
Clyde Griffiths certainly has been led into temptation by his creator Theodore Dreiser: here he is, only an inch away from all he has ever wanted (money, beauty, status) and he thinks he can get it by paying the price of killing his former girlfriend. Dreiser, being a moralist, does not let him get away with it. On death row Clyde for the first time in his life makes a moral decision and perhaps reclaims his soul but loses his life. Neither could his victim, Roberta, resist the temptation of doing the wrong thing in order to get what she wants. Sex outside marriage does not seem much of an issue to us but this is turn of the century America and she herself is convinced that it is sinful. She falls victim to Clyde's seduction because she sees him as someone who can lift her out of her deprived existence on a fungous farm into a better life. It is true that she is also sentimentally in love with him. Up until the end Clyde feels that those who have not been tempted as he was should not judge him. He grew up repelled by the shabbiness of his home and confused by the failure of his parents (who are street preachers) to achieve any tangible success in life. He rejects their bible messages but, due to his lack of education and social isolation, has nothing to replace them with. When he does earn some money he wastes it on an exploitative girlfriend. Years later we see him in a minor position in his rich uncle's factory. He meets Roberta, who works for him and has a clandestine affair with her. And then it happens: he catches the fancy of a very rich society girl who bring