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by: Theodore Dreiser
List Price: $12.95Amazon.com's Price: $11.01 You Save: $1.94 (15%)Prices subject to change. Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.52
EAN: 9780375753213
ISBN: 0375753214
Label: Modern Library
Manufacturer: Modern Library
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 752
Publication Date: March 02, 1999
Publisher: Modern Library
Release Date: March 02, 1999
Sales Rank: 1125565
Studio: Modern Library
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Editorial Review:
Product Description:
' Theodore Dreiser is a man who, with the passage of time, is bound to loom larger and larger in the awakening aesthetic consciousness of America. Among all of our prose writers he is one of the few men of whom it may be said that he has . . . never been a trickster. If there is a modern movement in American prose writing, a movement toward greater courage and fidelity to life in writing, Theodore Dreiser is the pioneer and the hero of the movement.'--Sherwood Anderson
Long before she was seduced by the cautious and ordinary man whose life she would unravel with no malice and only intermittent interest, the young Carrie Meeber was seduced by the promise of the city--its vitality and reckless possibility, the thrill of material luxury, and the spectacle of power and industry. Banned on publication for its questionable morals, Sister Carrie is the great American novel of seduction, a masterpiece of insight into appetite and innocence.
'Such a novel as Sister Carrie stands quite outside the brief traffic of the customary stage. It leaves behind an inescapable impression of bigness, of epic sweep and dignity. It is not a mere story, not a novel in the customary American meaning of the word; it is at once a psalm of life and a criticism of life. . . . [Dreiser's] aim is not merely to tell a tale; his aim is to show the vast ebb and flow of forces which sway and condition human destiny. The thing he seeks to do is to stir, to awaken, to move. One does not arise from such a book as Sister Carrie with a smirk of satisfaction; one leaves it infinitely touched.'--H. L. Mencken
Amazon.com Review:
Sister Carrie, Theodore Dreiser's revolutionary first novel, was published in 1900--sort of. The story of Carrie Meeber, an 18-year-old country girl who moves to Chicago and becomes a kept woman, was strong stuff at the turn of the century, and what Dreiser's wary publisher released was a highly expurgated version. Times change, and we now have a restored 'author's cut' of Sister Carrie that shows how truly ahead of his time Dreiser was. First and foremost, he has written an astute, nonmoralizing account of a woman and her limited options in late-19th-century America. That's impressive in and of itself, but Dreiser doesn't stop there. Digging deeply into the psychological underpinnings of his characters, he gives us people who are often strangers to themselves, drifting numbly until fate pushes them on a path they can later neither defend nor even remember choosing.
Dreiser's story unfolds in the measured cadences of an earlier era. This sometimes works brilliantly as we follow the choices, small and large, that lead some characters to doom and others to glory. On the other hand, the middle chapters--of which there are many--do drag somewhat, even when one appreciates Dreiser's intentions. If you can make it through the sagging midsection, however, you'll be rewarded by Sister Carrie's last 150 pages, which depict the harrowing downward spiral of one of the book's central characters. Here Dreiser portrays with brutal power how the wrong decision--or lack of decision--can lay waste to a life. --Rebecca Gleason
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Fluidity of life in a budding capitalistic society
I think that the subject matters of this book definitely have a special place in the American literature. The attractions and risks of the vibrant, everchanging society and confusions over the shifting values and the desire to maintain the appearance of the old morals, and one's life can change any minute by luck, misfortune, or choices resulted from impulsivity or lazy complacency etc. I gave only 3 stars because of the lack of personalities in main characters, they seem rather flat to me, not ... Read More
Rating:  - Getting Your Mrs. Degree Without Going to College
"Sister Carrie" is a novel that I happened upon accidently. I ordered it when I thought I was ordering another and it was delivered to my door. Since it was recommended for a creative writing class, I figured I might as well read it since I love a long, epic novel. Little did I know what I was getting into.
Carrie reads abruptly Brittish at first, with all the proper nouns and pronouns making it seem, straight away, like a snobbish and bourgoise book. Once I got past the first few pages, however, ... Read More
Rating:  - A mostly interesting story
"Sister Carrie", to begin with, is written in a most curious fashion. Theodore Dreiser, an author I'd never heard of before, writes in a very interesting and distinct style. Some would probably feel frustrated with it, as well as his rather blunt way of writing, but it's rather different and certainly good.
A story of a girl's slow and steady rise, "Sister Carrie" will capture readers first with its intrigue. Obviously, the idea of young Carrie whisked away to the city and within moments as ... Read More
Rating: - User Carrie
This is about life for a single woman at the turn of the century, when a good marriage or poverty were the only two choices a woman had, along with needlepoint. Yes, times were difficult for a single woman who had to go it alone; I will give that point. However, I don't see that as excuse to throw morality out the door, to use and be used by other people, and be constantly on the prowl for somebody better or more, prettier "things". I had a dislike of Carrie from early on. Dreiser repeatedly tries to ... Read More
Rating: - Fractured Fairy Tale and/or Horror Story on Capitalism
"Increase of material comforts, it may be generally laid down, does not in any way whatsoever conduce to moral growth." Mahatma Gandhi
"She (Carrie Meeber) wanted pleasure, she wanted position, and yet she was confused as to what these things might be." p. 145 "Sister Carrie"
Critics may scoff at the immorality of the main characters, the persistently subtle, yet always stinging slams at the evils of Capitalism, or how depressing the novel is. But despite it all, my interest ... Read More
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