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Title: Main Street by Sinclair Lewis ISBN: 0-451-52682-1 Publisher: Signet Classics Pub. Date: 01 June, 1998 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $5.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.97 (31 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Outstanding work of literature
Comment: "Main Street" is simply an excellent novel that can be enjoyed at many levels. To some extent it can be seen as a historical account of life in small-town America in the early decades of the 20th century. Lewis does a commendable job of portraying the conservatism and prejudices of the rural town: their prejudices against immigrants and their mistrust of labor and farmers' collective movements, or anything that may lead to "socialism." Additionally, Lewis's fictional town of Gopher Prairie can also be seen as the prototype for any American small town, rural village or suburb and simultaneously a critique of rural and/or middle class society in America -- with its often narrow-minded attitudes and smug complacency -- which is still relevant today. "Main Street" is, however, first and foremost a work of literature, which tells the story of a young woman, Carol Kennicott, who has to come to grips with life in this small town, whether she likes it or not. Through Carol, Lewis shows how a small, enclosed community influences and molds even those who are intent on changing it, or at least resisting it. Carol thus becomes a poignant symbol of the compromises and rationalizations people are often forced to make in order to deal with the realities of a life that did not turn out as planned.
Rating: 4
Summary: A Study in Culture Shock
Comment: In "Main Street", Sinclair Lewis analyzes the degree to which a progressively minded individual can become a fish out of water in the typically conservative American rural community. While many characterize "Main Street" as an 'attack' on middle America, I don't think Lewis's intentions were quite so dismissive.
I say this because the character of Carol Kennicott has many of her own 'big city' faults. She can be condescending and elitist when it comes to the small town ways of her adopted home of Gopher Prairie. What "Main Street" is mostly a depiction of is culture shock.
Carol has moved to Gopher Prairie after marrying Dr Will Kennicott. Will is not a particularly ambitious doctor. It seems that his greatest pleasures in life are his family and friends. He enjoys the quiet life of Gopher Prairie and becomes the symbol of rural 'who caresness'.
Carol, on the other hand, is an ambitious reformer. She attempts to re-work the cultural and educational life of Gopher Prairie largely against the wishes of its residents. She is, in effect, trying to make Gopher Prairie something it is not: a city.
"Main Street"'s most important message is 'live where you're comfortable'. It is obvious that Carol is not comfortable living in a rural place like Gopher Prairie and that she longs for the stimulation of urban life. It is her bane that she has married a decent man who has no intention of living in the city. She is faced with the choice of abandoning her husband for the familiarity of the city or living in exile in a place she doesn't fit in.
Rating: 5
Summary: The Excellent and Well Told Story of Carol Kennicott
Comment: Carol is a girl with big dreams. When she marries Kennicott, she moves from the Twin Cities where she has supported herself, to rural life in Gopher Prairie, Minnesota, where it is her dream to transform the sleepy town into something better.
The ups and downs of Carrie Kennicott's life were felt by each member of our Family Book Club. Just when it seems things can't get any worse for Carrie, they can -- but sometimes they get better.
This book has been subject to a lot of literary criticism. Surely, the story can be studied in many ways at many levels. However, one does not need to have a master's in English in order to get a lot of enjoyment out of Main Street.
Set in the 1920s, Carrie's story -- her feelings, the changes she tries to make to Gopher Prairie, and all of the people she meets there -- could easily be told today with only minor changes. And, although this book is overall rather depressing in nature, there were quite a few places that it had me laughing out loud.
Main Street really captures the aura of small town America, especially middle Minnesota. The real life Gopher Prairie is Sauk Centre, Minnesota. It's an interesting place to visit, as the main street there has now been renamed Sinclair Lewis Boulevard.
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Title: Babbitt by Sinclair Lewis ISBN: 0553214861 Publisher: Bantam Classics Pub. Date: 01 October, 1998 List Price(USD): $5.95 |
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Title: Elmer Gantry by Sinclair Lewis ISBN: 0451522516 Publisher: Signet Classics Pub. Date: 01 February, 1978 List Price(USD): $7.95 |
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Title: Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis ISBN: 0451526910 Publisher: Signet Classics Pub. Date: 01 June, 1998 List Price(USD): $6.95 |
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Title: Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson ISBN: 055321439X Publisher: Bantam Books Pub. Date: 01 April, 1995 List Price(USD): $5.95 |
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Title: Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser, Richard Lingeman ISBN: 0451527607 Publisher: Signet Classics Pub. Date: 10 April, 2000 List Price(USD): $5.95 |
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