Reviews - Sister Carrie | The StoryGraph

310 reviews for:

Ugh. Carrie is such a passive character; nearly every major decision in her life (living with Drouet, “marrying” Hurstwood, taking to the stage) was made for her by others. Also, though she is the “main” character, I think more time was given to Hurstwood and his fall from respectability and comfort, which at times bordered on the unbelievable (a man who thinks himself too good to work as a bar tender decides instead to be a lower class scab during a trolley strike? I don’t think so.). There are hundreds of pages of not much happening; the story finally picks up when Carrie makes a name for herself as an actress, mostly because at last, something is finally happening! Honestly, there isn’t much to recommend this story, except the setting and time: it is an interesting look at urban life and work coming into the 20th century.

feliciadisalvo's review against another edition

4.25

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

paula_tkacikova's review against another edition

2.5

emotional reflective slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

evelina_j94's review against another edition

3.0

Mėgstu klasiką, bet šios knygos pradžia buvo be galo lėta, net varginanti. Įveikus apie 200 puslapių istorija po truputį "įsivažiavo", tačiau aprašyta Kerės istorija vis vien pasirodė tik vidutiniška.

jeriwho's review against another edition

3.0

In grad school, several of my friends were following a track of classes that included examining British and American novels and the treatment of "fallen women". I was in a different track, but I found it entertaining to sit in on the discussions among my peers. They read a whole slew of novels, but the only titles I recall are PAMELA, and then a sort of counterpart, JOSEPH ANDREWS. And MOLL FLANDERS, And, of course, SISTER CARRIE. But there were more.

I read SISTER CARRIE so that I could follow along and perhaps even join in. The novel, in brief, traces the financial rise of a young country girl who comes to Chicago after the Great Fire and uses her good looks to gain financial support from men. Over time, and helped along by many lucky coincidences, she becomes a famous actress, just as the lout she has married goes bankrupt. They separate. He meets his end in poverty and despair, and she finds haven in her good fortune, but she does not find happiness.

This novel was an American classic through a good part of the 20th century, but it has not lasted. To me, its one point of interest was Dreiser's naturalistic view of mankind. Hurstwood is his own worst enemy and never realizes it. Hard to believe that at one point he was the manager of an uptown club in bustling Chicago. He makes one bad decision after another, even allowing for his bad decision of leaving his wife for Carrie. And Carrie herself came across as mechanical to me. Lucky breaks happen to her, and she takes advantage of them, but only with the same dexterity and cleverness that a dog shows when it is handed a bone. To me, all the main characters seemed driven by their instincts, and they did not seem to possess any cognitive ability to calculate consequences. Thinking did not form any part of the characterization.

OK, I agree that Victorian sentimentality had to be uprooted, but Dreiser's depiction of people fails the reality check. In a lot of ways, this novel is Victorian. The way characterization is handled is an exception, but Dreiser swings so far the other way that he is also unrealistic.

In his day, Dreiser was a pivotal literary figure. But now we recognize him as one more step in the process of American literary phases. SISTER CARRIE does not hold up well to contemporary readers. I do not think the novel is even that well written.