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Sister Carrie (Enriched Classics (Pocket))

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Theodore Dreiser may tender a curve ball to readers by naming the book Sister Carrie, as the eponymous character is not necessarily the focal point of this novel. I truly read this as a great novel about the fatal character who married her.

Written at the end of the 19th century, the book predates so many things: truly high rise New York or Chicago, and more importantly the American embracing of Freudian concepts of psychoanalysis and treatment of depression.

Carrie enters the book as a young naive girl who sees the big city - 500,000 people - in Chicago. Like other characters of this great time, the city's harsh backdrop can stifle youth and decay spirit. Unlike Upton Sinclair's Jurgis Rudkus of The Jungle, Carrie quickly escapes the demeaning and devouring sweat shops of the windy city. How? Basically by being the feminine sex. And, like no good girl from the midwest would do - she is from Wisconsin - she boards with dapper Charles Drouet. Her rooming relationship is not like the 21st or 22nd century girl who "boards", but the cohabitation under the guise of false marriage would easily amount to great scandal within the community - hence Drouet and Carrie must keep their false marriage a secret unknown by anyone.

Drouet is then confronted by the married George Hurstwood, who basically gives up a very comfortable life, wife and family in Chicago for Carrie. A greater sacrifice than he can manage. He first runs away with Carrie to Montreal, marries her before his own divorce is complete, adopts a false surname for the marriage, and moves with Carrie to New York where he finds work easily, but at a job which provides much less income, reward or prestige. And, during these times, Carrie who never enjoyed fruits of comfort, has no complaints.

It is then that the lives of simple Carrie and sophisticated George furnicularly move - she ascends slowly while depression catches Hurstwood by surprise and slowly eats away at his esteem until she becomes the breadwinner and he the lost soul. Many aspects of this relationship remind me of F. Scott Fitzgerald's tragic tale about Dick and Nicole Diver in Tender is the Night. Very poignant difference between these great American novels is 34 years in time. Fitzgerald, who wrote when the concepts of Freud and psychoanalysis had well matured for a much clearer understanding, incorporates the same in great detail to treat a mental illness similar to that of Hurstwood.

Amateurs of psychology, after reading this book, can clearly assert that Hurstwood's demise is classically caused by severe depression - he hides in his apartment, agoraphobic to a certain extent, he has an appetite reduction and he has a clear loss of hygiene. He may not be Rodion Romanovich Raskolnikov of Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, but his disease is equally deadly.

Reading a book of this size often can be difficult. But, this is not a book often read. Dreiser is a great story teller. And, his loyal socialist emotions erupt from the pages as he, like Sinclair, boldly depicts the tremendously unequal worlds of large metropolitan areas of America at this time. And, as displayed in these pages, Dreiser artistically shows how the inequality can be within the same family, within the marriage, within the nucleus of the family fabric.

In these hard times more than one hundred years later, we are experiencing many of the problems lived by these characters. Dreiser or Sinclair and their peers thought their literature would provide lessons to prevent our repeating this or these mistake(s). Maybe they did. Or, maybe the tough times are inevitable. But, whether in the late 19th century or early 21st century, these are trying times which can deliver great literature. I can only hope a silver lining of similarly great literature arises from the ashes of our economically strained circumstances.

This is one book I keep re-reading over the years. As a young woman in Eastern Europe I was inspired by this novel to come to America to pursue my dreams. It changed my life. Have to give credit to Carrie! I see a lot of her in me. Read it and be inspired!

Sister Carrie was published in 1900 becoming a bestseller and garnering literary fame for Theodore Dreiser (1871-1945). Dreiser was a Midwesterner born to German parents in Terre Haute, Indiana. He tried his hand at many ventures becoming a journalist and eventually a famous novelist known for this book, "Jennie Gerhardt," "The Financier", "The Pit", "The Genius" and his magnum opus of 1925 "An American Tragedy" (upon which the movie "A Place in the Sun" was based).

Sister Carrie tells the story of Carrie an innocent young girl from the boondocks of Wisconsin. She travels to Chicago to live with her sister. Carrie finds work in several lowpaying and demeaning jobs. She hates life with her working class sister, her husband and child. Carrie earlier met the smooth talking salesman Drouet on the train to Chicago. She becomes his mistress. She acts in an amateur theatrical production meeting the bartender Hurstwood who falls in love with her.

One night Hurtswood steals money from the business where he has been employed for fifteen years. He hates his cold shallow wife but knows he will miss his two grown children. Hurstwood persuades Carrie to join him as they flee to Montreal and New York City. Carrie does not know he stole the money. They live together in small apartments in New Yor becoming more miserable as time passes. Hurstwood fails to get any work. He sends back to Chicago most of the money he has stolen. Carrie and Hurstwood struggle to survive in the huge jungle of New York during its Gilded Age.

Carrie leaves Hurstwood becoming a famous and rich actress. Hurstwood becomes a bum who commits suicide by turning on the gas in a flophouse bedroom. A reversal of fortune and power has occurred. Carrie has become a powerful, beautiful and wealthy woman while the upper middle class Hurstwood die. The former manager dies in disgrace forgotten by all including his wealthy family.

Drouet resurfaces in New York but Carrie will have nothing to do with this slick ladies man. Carrie has learned how to survive in a dog eat dog survival of the fittest Darwinian universe. Dreiser writes in a style called naturalism which depicts life as it is lived free of rose colored glasses.

Dreiser's book is long moving slowly for 21st century eyes. This is especially true in the parts dealing with Carrie's Chicago life of being a kept woman to Drouet and a sexual object of the smitten Hurstwood. The pace picks up in the New York half of the book. The searing depiction of Hurstwood's decline and death make fascinating reading to those who are not acquainted with dire poverty in a large urban setting.

What does "sister" mean in the title? Carrie is the sister of the Chicago sibling whose home she enters upon her first day in Chicago. She is a sister of mercy to Hurstwood during his slow decline even though she finally abandons him. What about the name "Carrie"? She is carried along in the stream of life with no great depth of character though she is not dumb. Carrie is a survivor who grows and triumphs over the hazards of men, the theatrical life and poverty. This is a good book to introduce the reader to one of America's best known authors.

This is my all time favorite book. It is compelling and vividly written that takes you to a place you do not want to leave. Timeless, albeit a bit morose, it encapsulates the characters as if they were next door neighbors. An American classic which displays true ability of much beloved novelist. Highly recommend. Reread it if it has been awhile and marvel at Dreischer's genius.

I read the cover, the reviews and 8 pages of this book. I thought the style of writing wasn't for me. In addition, the theme of a young girl doing something "daring" for the time in which she lived didn't interest me.

The book arrived in a timely manner in new/like new condition, exactly as advertised. I would use this vendor again. Thanks.