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wslockard's review
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
katamariguy's review
emotional
funny
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
larsonbrianm's review
3.0
Fine. It's a bit monotonous. However the commentary resounds into the present. Human nature doesn't seem to change.
looshapoosha's review
5.0
Nothing happens in this book, and I still loved it. Sharp sharp sharp (and also not an ad for small-town Minnesota life).
echris8's review
5.0
I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. It really brings out some thought on how you interact with people and how your ideas of the world develop as you get older.
kolesar's review against another edition
3.0
Not quite the biting satire I was expecting but surprisingly modern nevertheless.
jonisayin's review
5.0
I started with 3 stars, but adjusted. I see why Lewis was awarded the Nobel for this one. We're all so ordinary. Ad we see ourselves in the inhabitants of Main Street. As droll, mediocre and colorless as they are, they are us.
Pretty college educated Carol marries the handsome, small town, Dr. Will Kennecot and spends her life in a bored state of annoyance, believing she deserves stimulation, art, beauty... blah, blah - blah. People who think they deserve so much more than they are willing to work for or risk for make my eyes bleed.
She has a son, she has a romantic affair - and she leave the handsome Dr., only to return. Sheesh. 1920 was hard on the poor girl.
The lesson is - "life is what you make it". Or is it "bloom where your planted". So many cliches to choose from. Lewis makes them all relevant here.
Pretty college educated Carol marries the handsome, small town, Dr. Will Kennecot and spends her life in a bored state of annoyance, believing she deserves stimulation, art, beauty... blah, blah - blah. People who think they deserve so much more than they are willing to work for or risk for make my eyes bleed.
She has a son, she has a romantic affair - and she leave the handsome Dr., only to return. Sheesh. 1920 was hard on the poor girl.
The lesson is - "life is what you make it". Or is it "bloom where your planted". So many cliches to choose from. Lewis makes them all relevant here.
ronnie2024's review
4.0
Main Street is a scathing portrayal of small town life in middle America. Lewis used such a heavy hand as he tirelessly hammered his point home! At times, I despaired of ever finishing this book! I would have liked to sympathize with Carol because I would have found life in Gopher Prairie equally stultifying. However, I grew weary of her unrelenting criticism of everything and everyone (except herself) in town. In the last third, the pace picked up, and the rhetoric toned down, which made for a much more enjoyable read.
mak506's review
4.0
Little socialist on the prairie? Brilliant and razor sharp observation of small (town) thinking, high mindedness with nowhere to go, hypocrisy in all its forms, and so much more. I loved this, but it felt like it took forever to read. Not sure it would have worked as well shorter, though.