Book Review: SISTER CARRIE

SISTER CARRIE by Theodore Dreiser, my copy published by Barnes and Nobles Publishing in 2005. SISTER CARRIE was first published in 1900, with a 1000 copies. I was republished in 1907. Let's cut to the chase, this book hit all the triggers that caused it to be banned for a bit. A lone woman traveling to Chicago, meets a man on the train and several chapters latter is living unmarried to said man on the train. She is essentially the kept woman. Her goal is not to meet Mr. Right, but to have things that she has not had before in her life, a job, money and importance. How does she succeed?

Well first she leaves her home, her sister's home, her life with Mr. Drouet and her fake life with Mr. Hurstwood. The whole time she is moving up the chain of luxury. We do not know much about her life in Columbia, but we do know she was not happy as she wanted to be in a big city. She hates the first job she gets for she feels that she is better then these girls who work in the factory. She has no skills, including finding work. As I mentioned before Mr. Drouet comes to her rescue. He makes the mistake of introducing her to Mr. Hurstwood, who sneaks in to woo Carrie while Drouet is way on business. Hurstwood does something that causes him to lose his job and he is on the run with Carrie. Carrie is clueless.

So what other things is this book about, what is the undertone? We definitely see a class struggle, especially in the streets of New York. The homeless looking for work, being denied, finding lodgings and soup kitchens to eat in, while the elite go to the theater and dinner at the Waldorf. Mr. Dreiser our author, based on this book, does not like the elite. He does not like that this woman character throws people out of her life to climb the ladder of success. Carrie is made to be awful shallow, and the men seem to like to prey on the innocent. In the end ideals, place and circumstances change considerably, leaving you to think is it all worth the trouble, this need for money at the cost of others.

This is a good historical novel, it shows us what the times were actually in the late 1800/1900's. We especially see the conditions is the major cities. I liked the book, but was not sure who to root for in this novel, all the characters lacked likability. I should find the movie and see how it is portrayed.