Sister Carrie (Signet Classics)

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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

Book Description

From the day of its troubled publication in 1900 to its inclusion in Modern Library's list of of Top 100 Novels of the 20th Century, Sister Carrie has been the source of controversy and debate. Regarded as the "first masterpiece of the American naturalistic movement" (The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature), this 100th Anniversary Edition of the classic includes additional material by the author and a new introduction by the definitive Dreiser biographer.

"Dreiser is a pioneer." --Sherwood Anderson

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Theodore Dreiser had a hardscrabble youth and the years of newspaper work behind him when he began his first novel, Sister Carrie, the story of a beautiful Midwestern girl who makes it big in New York City. Published by Doubleday in 1900, it gained a reputation as a shocker, for Dreiser had dared to give the public a heroine whose "cosmopolitan standard of virtue" brings her from Wisconsin, with four dollars in her purse, to a suite at the Waldorf and glittering fame as an actress. With Sister Carrie, the original manuscript of which is in the New York Public Library collections, Dreiser told a tale not "sufficiently delicate" for many of its first readers and critics, but which is now universally recognized as one of the greatest and most influential American novels.

Customer Reviews:

Material Girl...100 years ago. .......2007-06-16

Written at a time when women still lacked the right to vote, Sister Carrie offers an uncommon (and not initially accepted) commentary on women and independence. It also addresses that timeless theme of how the city changes the individual. Dreiser's turn of the century novel chronicles the young adult life of Carrie Meeber, who leaves her small town home for a more exciting life of Chicago. Taking residence at her sister Minnie's meager apartment, Carrie is immediately plunged into a pit of lower class struggles; to pull her weight she takes a job as a factory girl in a shoe shop for wages that can barely afford her basic necessities let alone the simple pleasures of Chicago life. Not quite used to the rigorous demands of intense manual labor, she yearns for something greater. By chance, she bumps into a wealthy, flirtatious gentleman - Drouet - whom she had previously met on her train ride into Chicago. His initial courting is unsuccessful but he eventually takes Carrie on as a kept mistress. Their relationship is at best superficial. He offers material things and compliments to her beauty.

Without spoiling the rest of the story, Carrie's raw and innocent drive for success takes her on a series of relationships and adventures first in Chicago and later in New York. As a historical piece, Dreiser provides vivid descriptions of these two cities right down to the street level. He treats the city as a state of mind, with narrative insights weaved between powerful stretches of dialogue.

100 years later, present-day readers might see Carrie as a heroine, despite her unabashed materialism. This was the very reason for its lack of marketing support; the historical fact is that the wife of Doubleday's CEO was upset by Carrie's bachelorette success going "unpunished" by the author.

As was mentioned above, the "city" has transformed her into a woman who is set in her ambitions. Dreiser's style allows us to see things from the point of view of many characters and not just Carrie's. There are snippets of moralizing here and there which give the reader a sense that Dreiser was in some ways a prophet - he foresaw the unbridled potential of American individuality, its drawbacks, and how it is generally actualized in the American city. And for the time period, this was a paradox for women. But Carrie shamelessly lives her life they way she wants to. Classism and sexism aside, Carrie Meeber carries on the American dream.

money changes everything.......2007-05-10

'Sister Carrie' is about a naive girl from the boonies, circa 1890, who travels to Chicago to find more out of life. She runs into men, gets swept into going to New York where her life goes through great changes when the man she is with, who happens to be her sole provider, completely unravels emotionally, spiritually and financially. Carrie's life proceeds in a manner very atypical of heroines of that era. The story builds to a very fine conclusion.

My only complaint with 'Sister Carrie' is that it does take some time to "warm up", and the author's writing style not especially fluid. I also felt after reading the book I never completely understood Carrie or the men in her life, ... but maybe the author left it to the reader ponder over afterwards??

Bottom line: certainly a remarkable piece of literature in its day, and thankfully the material hasn't aged a bit. Recommended.

my favorite novel of all time.......2006-12-19

Sister Carrie is my favorite novel of all time. I have read it at least twenty times in the past sixteen years. I'll spare you the literary review, which I'm sure you can read anywhere, and tell you why it still holds interest for the modern reader.

Theodore Dreiser's attention to detail was definitely one of his major strengths as a writer. I've always found the details of late 1800's Chicago and New York fascinating in this novel. If you are particularly interested in this time period, you may want to read this novel for the everyday historical details alone.

The coming-of-age theme is also one that modern readers can relate to, even though Carrie is from a different time. She leaves behind her small town and her family at the age of eighteen and is dazzled by city life. We can all relate to the degradation and desperation she feels as she seeks out her first job, and her desire for independence. Ultimately, she is successful, at least in a material sense, and the journey the reader follows her on is engaging.

I don't want to give away too much of the plot, but I would highly recommend Sister Carrie. I have read most of Dreiser's other novels and several of his short stories. This is by far the best of his works, in my humble opinion.

The Sex & the City of the 1890s........2006-09-22

A girl named Carrie moves from Wisconsin to Chicago to become something. She gets in a love triangle with two men--the kind, but "inferior" Charles Drouet and the worldly, wealthy George Hurstwood. Carrie picks one of the two, and we see a reverse of good fortune. Carrie rises in society while her significant other, through a series of bad decisions, falls in society. Carrie uses these men to get what she wants, but I wouldn't exactly call her a maneater. Through failure and success and exposure to harsh reality, Carrie matures and toughens. She grows; though some may argue she becomes a worse person, not a better one.

This was Theodore Dreiser's first novel. It is a very good story and a very easy read.

Sister Carrie also delves into the cutthroat conditions of the late 1890's. The ease at which someone became homeless and was at the mercy of other people's compassion was very scary. This book made me deathly afraid of becoming homeless. I can't tell you how paranoid I was. Some people seem to think everyone who is homeless asked for it by being lazy or indulging in bad habits. But if we realized how quickly good fortune could change, maybe we could be a little more sensitive and sympathetic to people who find themselves on the street. It could easily be us: even those of us who aren't stupid or frivolous with our money.

Sister Carrie (a review for Eng 474).......2006-09-20

Sister Carrie, by Theodore Dreiser, is, in short, the tale of a small-town country girl's attempts to rise to aristocracy in the cutthroat world of the early 20th century. After many adventures, and some trials and tribulations, Carrie does find the affluence and financial success that she desired more than anything else in the world - but there is more to it than that.

Carrie from the beginning seems to be the very emblem of a consumer driven materialistic society, and there seems to be no doubt about this as the book continues on. She seems possessed by the inanimate, and seems to completely disregard anything other than the right clothes, the right place to work, and her appearance. Carrie is seemingly vapid, and, as she struggles to "make it" by letting Drouet take care of her and give her his money, she hardly acknowledges the fact that he has helped pull her out of poverty. Once she is able, she throws him away in order to be with Hurstwood, a man of even more wealth and connection. However, it needs to be said that Carrie is not stupid. As materialistic and shallow as she seems to be, she is intriguing nonetheless. She knows how to get what she wants, how to manipulate others into giving her what she wants, and there is something about her that even the men of the novel seem to find irresistible. She is most definitely worth a deeper analysis.

The fact remains, however, that none of the characters seem likeable. They all lack depth, don't seem to have agency, and remain basically static throughout the entirety of the novel. But this is brilliance on Dreiser's part, because it seems to serve as a commentary of the society in which the characters are a part. They seem to perfectly represent a world which also seems to lack in depth and focuses solely on exterior, surface-level qualities.

Dreiser's novel is a powerful and accurate portrayal of a materialistic society and the ways in which living such a shallow life can ultimately lead to the downward spiral and complete end of a person, like Hurstwood, or the forever unfulfilled and never-quite-satisfied attitude of Carrie's. But Beware: the prose tends to positively drag in many places, mostly through the middle section of the book, moving at an almost ridiculously slow pace. Nonetheless, it is still worth the time.

Sister Carrie (Norton Critical Editions)

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An essential read
History Repeats Itself
Determinism at work: Carrie rises; Hurstwood falls

Sister Carrie (Norton Critical Editions)
Theodore Dreiser
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0393960420

Customer Reviews:

An essential read.......2005-12-17

Sister Carrie is undoubtedly a hallmark of American literature. Whether one reads this as a social Darwinesque glorification of American society or a scathing criticism of capitalist individualism and urban naturalism, Dreiser's work encapsulates the fabric of American society and history. Unfortunately, Dreiser has gone long underappreciated, and the sheer importance of his work has yet to be fully recognized.

Norton's edition is spectacular, compiling a significant amount of background information about Dreiser and the writing of Sister Carrie, as well as critical responses and reviews. Another edition worthy of attention is the University of Pennsylvania "unabridged" publication, regardless of one's opinions about the authenticity or genuousness of un-editing the edited (originally published) Sister Carrie.

History Repeats Itself.......2005-04-02

Here is a snapshot, written by a journalist, of Chicago and New York of 110 years ago. Dreiser, according to the excellent background notes in this Norton edition, had never read "naturalist" novels before he wrote this one, but had been heavily influenced by Balzac. What we have here is social and political messages delivered in the context of the life of a young, idealistic woman who comes to Chicago to escape the boredom of a small town and to make her way in the world. I'm reminded of the book, Devil in the White City, and how it mentions all the young women who flocked to Chicago in the 1880s and 1890s and were in awe of that booming city's majesty and bustle and life. What Carrie finds is utter indifference and dullness until a man sets her up in a "love nest." What a scandal! Soon Carrie grows weary of this guy and is taken with the true tragic figure in this story, a successful married man named Hurstwood. Hurstwood falls in love with Carrie and blows his whole life up for that love. All of this is based on a true story of Dreiser's own sister, we learn from the background notes, but Dreiser has embellished this squalid little tale to give us the demise of a man in minute and realistic detail, all the while commenting on the meaning of success, material well being, and what happiness is all about. This would all be trite if it weren't framed in journalistic realism. Carrie ends up a smashing "success" in the theater, but never finds true contentment. Question: What is the good life? Answer: It comes from internal sources, not external materialistic ones. But money, nevertheless, helps along the way to give you the leisure time to even contemplate this question. Dreiser doesn't seem to address this.
The corrosive depression that Hurstwood suffers is hard to take, but the scenes of old New York hark to today's downtown New York, south of 34th Street, where you can still see the buildings Dreiser describes, and you can still see the hard-luck people as well.
This is a unique American novel, well worth the time. This edition is also well worth the wealth of information it provides.

Determinism at work: Carrie rises; Hurstwood falls.......1999-05-29

Dreiser's Sister Carrie is an urban novel. A country girl comes to the city, ends up with a slick saleman as a kept woman, but runs off with a bar manager to New York where she finds fame as an actress. Her bar manager husband falls on hard times and kills himself. Carrie's fortunes rise as Hurstwood's falls. The characters operate in the world of the city with its mystical pull. Their decisions and some chance events help guide along the plot, but this is a world of survival of the fittest. Carrie turns out to be fit, while Hurstwood does not. There are undertones of Darwin's theories. Dreiser himself occasionally appears as a voice in the work separate from the narrator and the characters. The Norton Critical Edition contains useful reference works at the back and a bibliography helpful for starting research.

Theodore Dreiser : Sister Carrie, Jennie Gerhardt, Twelve Men (Library of America)

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Theodore Dreiser : Sister Carrie, Jennie Gerhardt, Twelve Men (Library of America)
Theodore Dreiser
Manufacturer: Library of America
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0940450410

Book Description

A master of naturalism, Theodore Dreiser brought the American novel into the twentieth century. Fascinated by the city street, its parade of fashion and its threat of poverty and degradation, his journalistic eye lets us see as they were first seen the now familiar realities of modern living. "Sister Carrie" traces the fate of a small-town girl drawn into the brutal metropolitan worlds of Chicago and New York, and Sinclair Lewis called it "the first fresh air since Mark Twain and Whitman." "Jennie Gerhardt"'s vital but naive heroine emerges superior to the succession of men who exploit her. With honest emotion and respect for unvarnished truth, "Twelve Men" muses on the exemplary lives of ordinary men in search of lasting values with which to face the new century. Together, these three works exemplify the energy, originality, and genius of one of the great modern American writers.

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Sister Carrie: a Novel
Theodore Dreiser
Manufacturer: Hard Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 1406942189
Release Date: 2006-11-03

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Sister Carrie

Manufacturer: Tantor Media
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio CD

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ASIN: 1400102707

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Sister Carrie (Modern Library, 8)

Manufacturer: Modern Library - Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Product Description

Copyright date is 1927; this is a later printing of the Modern Library edition. Progressive-era novel, published originally in 1901, chronicles the rise of Carrie Meeber and the fall of her married lover Hurstwood.

Sisters of the Extreme: Women Writing on the Drug Experience, Including Charlotte Bronte, Louisa May Alcott, Anais Nin, Maya Angelou, Billie Holiday, Nina Hagen, Carrie Fisher, and Others

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SISTERS Give The Wildest Ride
A fine survey of women whose lives were changed by drugs.
Stick with the original. It's better.

Sisters of the Extreme: Women Writing on the Drug Experience, Including Charlotte Bronte, Louisa May Alcott, Anais Nin, Maya Angelou, Billie Holiday, Nina Hagen, Carrie Fisher, and Others

Manufacturer: Park Street Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

• An anthology of writings by some of the most influential women in history on the often misunderstood and misrepresented female drug experience.

• With great honesty, bravery, and frankness, women from diverse backgrounds write about their drug experiences.

Women have been experimenting with drugs since prehistoric times, and yet published accounts of their views on the drug experience have been relegated to either antiseptic sociological studies or sensationalized stories splashed across the tabloids. The media has given us an enduring, but inaccurate, stereotype of a female drug user: passive, addicted, exploited, degraded, promiscuous. But the selections in this anthology--penned by such famous names as Billie Holiday, Anais Nin, Maya Angelou, and Carrie Fisher--show us that the real experiences of women are anything but stereotypical.

Sisters of the Extreme provides us with writings by women from diverse occupations and backgrounds, from prostitute to physician, who through their use of drugs dared cross the boundaries set by society--often doing so with the hope of expanding themselves and their vision of the world. Whether with LSD, peyote, cocaine, heroine, MDMA, or marijuana, these women have sought to reach, through their experimentation, other levels of consciousness. Sometimes their quests have brought unexpected rewards, other times great suffering and misfortune. But wherever their trips have left them, these women have lived courageously--if sometimes dangerously--and written about their journeys eloquently.

Customer Reviews:

SISTERS Give The Wildest Ride.......2000-10-30

Being on the fringe of consensual reality and yet being able to take some notes of the journeys beyond, is an awesome gift. The stories in SISTERS OF THE EXTREME are such gifts of the God-Us. I have the original SHAMAN WOMAN, MAINLINE LADY and went through my contribution, line for line, and the only difference noted was my photo had shrunk in this new, revised edition. (This is consistent as now, being in my fifties, I notice that I am shrinking some also.) The tone not only is consistent from the first edition but vividly expansive. (I was somewhat embarrassed being in the first edition, with the stereotypic cover -- yet in this new volume, I am honored not only for the outrageous company kept and new sisters included but engaging graphics.)

As the God-Us dances about the universe, skirt swirling the galaxies, being on the fringes gives the wildest ride. This book is a travelogue by explorers of multi-dimensional realities written in white ink, from the heart of our Sisters-in-the-Clan-of-Encouragement: this book is a major herstoric contribution to the sext of human consciousness.

Jeannine Parvati (Baker) Author HYGIEIA: A WOMAN'S HERBAL

A fine survey of women whose lives were changed by drugs........2000-08-04

Sisters Of The Extreme is an informative and engaging presentation of famous female authors who write about the drug experience includes a variety of works from such notables as Bronte, Alcott, Di Prima, and more. Writings from historical works through modern times are gathered in Sisters Of The Extreme, a fine survey of the lives and experiences of women who have had their lives changed by drugs.

Stick with the original. It's better........2000-05-25

Let's get one thing straight right off the bat, Sisters of the Extreme is a "reissue" of 1982's Shaman Woman, Mainline Lady -- cut, streamlined and reformatted beyond all recognition. Evidently, the authors took the edge off their book for a more "conservative" era -- either that, or they assume their reader's minds have been so numbed by drugs that we NEED heavy edits and People Magazine-inspired "look" to hold our limited attention.

Sure, there are a couple of new excerpts worth reading (the one from Mary Woronov's "The Mole People is revealing), but for the most part, Sisters of the Extreme seems to be pandering to old YUPPIES who need a little stimulation. I swear that if I read ANYTHING by Carrie Fisher ever again, it will be too soon -- enough of the "I went to rehab and got a bad haircut" trip. Get over it.

In the introduction, the authors do say that they edited some excerpts for space and deleted others all together. When I got out the two editions and compared them almost line for line, I discovered a disturbing trend -- whereas Shaman Woman, Mainline Lady allowed one to take the writings at face value, Sisters of the Extreme has definite agenda. Sisters of the Extreme doesn't LIKE drugs. It doesn't want ME to like drugs. It wants me to be TITILATED by the writings. The difference is clear.

Sisters of the Extreme is a product of the times. It's been dumbed down and punched up. Sure, the authors include a couple of writings on sex magick and a few counter culture cartoons, but the overall smell of political correctness is stupifying.

The gist of my review is this: if don't already own a copy of Shaman Woman, Mainline Lady, go ahead and buy Sisters of the Extreme. Then, go on a quest for the Real Thing.

Book Description

With characteristic humor and a full cast of eccentric and wonderfully lovable characters, Dorothea Benton Frank brings readers a refreshingly honest and funny novel about friendship, family, and finding happiness by becoming who you are meant to be.

Customer Reviews:

Ludicrous and insulting .......2007-09-05

One of the most ludicrous books I have recently wasted my time reading. It is insult to anyone from the South, anyone who has gone through a difficult divorce, all psychologists and gay men. The storyline is totally incredible, the dialogue trite. Don't waste your time on this book!

Pawley's Island.......2007-08-15

I didn't enjoy this story as much as I thought I would. The other 2 books I have read were excellent.

Ridiculously Fun.......2007-04-05

Light reading for the beach, this book will entertain and maybe even make you want to take a vacation in North Carolina soon.

Ridiculous but fun.......2007-01-12

The story is totally ridiculous, but as the cover says, it's a good beach read and many parts are very heartwarming.

Great book...spoilers.......2007-01-06

On the South Carolina barrier island of Pawley's Island, former attorney Abigail Thurmond spends most of her days golfing and gossiping with her best friend Huey Valentine.

However, their lives are forever changed by their meeting artist Rebecca Sims.

When Huey and Abigail learn of the recent tragedy of Rebecca's life they insert themselves into her life determined to stand by her and hopefully to make things better. In addition, we get Abigail who after enduring a tragedy of her own finally embraces her life and legal background again.

I love the way Frank switches back and forth between Rebecca and Abigail throughout this novel. Two southern women at different points of their lives, both finding it in them to be strong and fight for what they once loved.

I have to say Frank's writing style will not disappoint, and her descriptions of South Carolina make me want to vacation there soon.

Pawleys Island: A Lowcountry Tale (Lowcountry Tales (Brilliance Audio))

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Pawleys Island: A Lowcountry Tale (Lowcountry Tales (Brilliance Audio))
Dorothea Benton Frank
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Audio Cassette

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ASIN: B000IOEN38

The Lowcountry Tales Series: Sullivan's Island, Plantation, Isle of Palms, Shem Creek, Pawley's Island (Set of 5 Romance Novels)

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The Lowcountry Tales Series: Sullivan's Island, Plantation, Isle of Palms, Shem Creek, Pawley's Island (Set of 5 Romance Novels)
Dorothea Benton Frank
Manufacturer: Jove
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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Pawleys Island - A Lowcountry Tale
Dorothea Benton Frank
Manufacturer: Berkley Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

The coffee table cookbook: From Edisto Island, Hellhole Swamp, Jackass Cut, and Pawley's Island, South Carolina, recipes, wild stories, and tales from the historic lowcountry of South Carolina

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The coffee table cookbook: From Edisto Island, Hellhole Swamp, Jackass Cut, and Pawley's Island, South Carolina, recipes, wild stories, and tales from the historic lowcountry of South Carolina
Oscar Vick
Manufacturer: O.N. Vick
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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ASIN: B0006FAYPA

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Pawleys Island (Lowcountry Tales)
Dorothea Benton Frank
Manufacturer: Brilliance Audio
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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