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Sister Carrie
by Theodore Dreiser
Small-town girl adapts to life in the big city
A small-town girl finds herself caught up in the whirlwind of big city life when she moves from her home town to Chicago in the summer of 1889. With a rather limited understanding of the world and the nature of men, but possessing a certain natural intuition of her own, Carrie Meeber sets out to make her fortune. Carrie possesses a certain naivety which draws men and women to her—especially men. Among them are the womanizing Drouet and the much older—and inconveniently married—Hurstwood. The latter is a wealthy, respected tavern manager whose worldly airs and sophisticated charm easily seduce the impressionable young Carrie, who relies upon these men to take care of her. As the novel progresses, Carrie finds that she has a knack for acting which grows into a lucrative career. Along the way, she loses a good deal of her morals and her naivety.
Theodore Dreiser’s Sister Carrie is slow to catch a reader’s attention, but once the plot finally begins to move, is hard to put down. It is also not a story with especially likeable characters. Surprisingly for me, I found myself sympathizing most with Drouet, who is a womanizer and a liar. The other two characters in the love triangle prove themselves to be far worse, giving little consideration to the consequences of their actions, and rarely looking back as they callously go about improving their own situations. Carrie is the most surprising. From a provincial country girl to a sophisticated star, she loses the vulnerability and innocence which make her so appealing in the beginning, becoming instead rather cold and calculating. Yet, condemning them is difficult, as well, because every action taken is in self-preservation in a world which does not lend a hand to those who fall down. All in all, a good read, but not a great one.
Title: Sister Carrie
Author: Theodore Dreiser
Publisher: Signet Classics
ISBN: 0451527607
Review written by: Jess Boettger
Reviewer's Rating:6.5
Reader's Rating: 0
Reader's Votes: 0
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