"Main Street" is a novel that immediately conjures up images of the peaceful and idyllic corners of middle America just by its title. Sinclair Lewis chose the name Gopher Prairie for the Minnesota town in his novel, which couldn't be more suggestive of rustic simplicity and provinciality. This town is meant to be a prototype of thousands of American small towns in the early 20th century. It's a paradise for those who are content to adhere to convention, but unbearable for those who yearn for cultural refinement and artistic freedom.

The protagonist, Carol Milford, is a bright, pretty, and progressive college-educated girl with big dreams of social reform. She wants to educate children, help the poor, and rebuild and beautify small towns. Working as a librarian in St. Paul, she meets and falls in love with a visiting country physician, Will Kennicott. He convinces her to marry him and return with him to his hometown of Gopher Prairie.

However, Gopher Prairie is not as advanced as she hoped. Populated mainly by Scandinavian farmers and a gossipy group of white-collar townspeople, it is firmly set in its conservative ways and resistant to change. Carol's efforts to introduce a higher culture and broaden people's horizons are met with suspicion and ridicule. Even her own husband is nonchalant about her plans.
The only rebel in town is Miles Bjornstam, a handyman who taunts the town's stuffed shirts with his independence and atheistic and socialistic ideas.
Rather than having Carol succeed through perseverance, Lewis opts for realism. After having a baby, she becomes more domesticated and reluctantly accepts the way of life in Gopher Prairie. She has opportunities to rebel, but ultimately returns, realizing that life is about compromises and that change takes time.
"Main Street" is ambitious and bold, but may not have had the impact Lewis intended. He makes his point early on and spends the rest of the novel exploring variations on the theme of Carol vs. Gopher Prairie. While he may lack narrative acumen, he makes up for it with his ability to create distinctive characters and write sharp dialogue. In his later novel, "Elmer Gantry," he combines these skills with a focused story and a strong social statement, proving himself to be a worthy rabble-rouser in American literature.

The book actually kinda won me over at the end. Once the main character actually, you know, DID SOMETHING. It was like a sudden burst of life in a story that had been rather lackluster before.

However, the first 200 or so pages of "small-town satire" were truly some of the most annoying shit I've ever read in my life. It was just a buncha dad-bern idjits talkin' like this, which made it almost unbearable to get through.

It's beyond comprehension that this guy won a Nobel Prize. I mean, seriously, how could the jury have overlooked the flaws in the beginning? Though I guess English wasn't the jury's first language, which might explain their misjudgment to some extent.

Overall, the book had its moments, but the first part was a real struggle to get through. I'm not sure if I would recommend it to others based on that initial experience.

I've finally managed to come up with a concise way to depict this novel.

It can be regarded as the ultimate Shaggy Dog Story. However, it's not just a story; rather, it's a long, thorough, and scathing criticism of small-town America. Undoubtedly, it achieves that goal. But it is extremely tedious and repetitive, and the characters are constantly so exasperating that it is likely to leave the reader feeling exhausted instead of enriched.

One might argue that this is the intended point, but that doesn't miraculously make the novel engaging. Admittedly, it is beautifully written. Nevertheless, even the most elegant prose cannot rescue a story from those eight fatal words: "I don't care what happens to these people."

One gets a distinct impression that Sinclair Lewis didn't care either.

I actually only came upon this wonderful read/listen that is Sinclair's classic novel titled "Main Street" because it happened to be a monthly choice for my library book club.

I was truly captivated by this particular piece of work by Lewis. After reading it, I completely understand why he was the first author to ever receive the "Literary Nobel Prize." His writing is not only engaging but also thought-provoking.

However, most of my fellow book club members were not as enthralled with this particular work. I guess he may not suit everyone's tastes. As they say, "Different strokes for different folks." But for me, "Main Street" was an exceptionally smart, enjoyable, and entertaining read from start to finish. It was also chock full of satirical, dry humor.

Lewis's humor has a clear purpose. It carries strong, wonderfully descriptive messages on human nature. It is evident that Mr. Sinclair had a deep appreciation and fondness for the people and places he brought to life in his stories. And yet, he didn't hold back in revealing their flaws and insecurities. He did a remarkable job of pointing out that humans are complex beings, not all good or bad. Most of us have moral and ethical sides, as well as egotistical, self-centered, and condescending propensities. Sinclair didn't miss a beat in creating believable, realistic, and relatable statements about human nature.

This book is just as relatable today as it must have been when Lewis finished penning it back in 1920. It's a true classic that will continue to resonate with readers for generations to come. #Classic

Carol Kennicott is truly a fish out of water in the small-town America.

Her journey involves the realization that, as the big-city suffragette informs her, she ought to take on one conformist law at a time.

Even though I find Sinclair Lewis to be a condescending snob, I firmly believe he is an extraordinary writer.

The snobbish attitude is the belief that small-town America is populated with petty, unimaginative, and conformist individuals, who are in desperate need of the sophistication of the metropolis and the old world.

They are backbiting and as stolid as cows, never questioning the rules set by the church and their small-minded society.

That being said, Lewis crafts an amazing story.

If it is the result of liberal prejudice, it is told extraordinarily well, with some astonishing imagery and quite compelling character descriptions.

His ability to bring the characters and the small-town atmosphere to life is remarkable, making the reader both cringe at the flaws of the society he描绘s and root for Carol as she tries to break free from the constraints.

Overall, despite my reservations about Lewis' attitude, I have to admit that his writing is a force to be reckoned with.

I can clearly understand why this is a classic, beloved, and highly studied work of American literature. It's not hard to fathom why it managed to knock The Great Gatsby off the bestseller list upon its publication. And it's evident why Lewis was honored with the Nobel Prize.

I truly adored this book. With a tone that reminds one of East of Eden, it vividly evokes the reality of the American Midwest during that era. Carol Kenticott is an extraordinary character. Perhaps not as enigmatic as Jay Gatsby, but she is far more tangible and relatable. This is because as readers, we are granted access to her innermost thoughts, her minute-by-minute meditations and ponderings, her undulating emotions, her thwarted hopes and dreams, her triumphs and trials. She is transparent to us, yet still humanely complex.

We can empathize with her disquiet and restless spirit - her dissatisfaction and distaste for mediocrity, small-mindedness, and the monotony of the life she has become trapped in, much like so many women of her time. We celebrate her unwavering morals and her determination to reject conformity, to resist having her character subsumed by the will of the masses and gender bias. It is her will and steeliness that shape her future in this small prairie town, leading to changes in social morality in Gopher Prairie, personal growth in her husband, neighbours, and townsfolk, and ultimately promulgating her own maturity that results in her ultimate contentment with the life she has chosen. Finally, a classic with a happy ending!

Note to self - read more Lewis!!!

A woman holds the belief that she is superior to the people in rural towns, whom she deems as hicks. She makes a bold decision to rebuild these small towns according to her own vision. However, she quickly abandons this idea as she lacks any real commitment.

Later, she meets a small-town doctor and, despite having nothing in common, they get married and relocate to a small town. To her dismay, she finds the town extremely ugly. When she is informed that the locals like it this way, she concludes that it is because the town is both ugly and stupid.

When she openly tells the townspeople that they are stupid and ugly, they respond by calling her snooty and judgmental. Hurt by their remarks, she breaks down in tears, feeling that these ugly and stupid people are being overly mean to her.

Eventually, her marriage crumbles as her husband loves the very town she despises, and they still have no common ground. She is shocked to discover that she is unhappy sitting alone at home, constantly thinking mean thoughts about everyone else.

This woman's journey serves as a cautionary tale about the dangers of being judgmental and the importance of finding true commitment and commonality in relationships and life.

This novel can be a bit of a slog at times,

but the last act...oh, it broke me in a million wonderful ways.

How can an artistic or progressive person born in the Midwest survive unscathed?

Should they stay or should they go? That is the question.

I'm reminded of a song by native Hoosier, Cole Porter.

"Experiment."

Experiment

Make it your motto day and night

Experiment

And it will lead you to the light

The apple on the top of the tree

Is never too high to achieve

So take an example from Eve

Experiment

Be curious

Though interfering friends may frown,

Get furious

At each attempt to hold you down

If this advice you'll only employ

The future can offer you infinite joy

And merriment

Experiment

And you'll see

The idea of "Experiment" seems to be a guiding principle here. It encourages us to be bold and not be afraid of trying new things.

Whether it's in our personal lives or in our artistic pursuits, taking risks and being curious can lead to great rewards.

Just like the apple on the top of the tree, which may seem out of reach, with experimentation, we can find ways to achieve it.

Interfering friends may try to hold us back, but we should get furious and not let them stop us.

If we follow this advice and embrace experimentation, the future holds the promise of infinite joy and merriment.

So, let's all take a page from Cole Porter's book and make "Experiment" our motto.

Who knows what wonderful things await us?

I have a deep affection for this old favorite, and I firmly believe it would be an excellent choice for a women's book club. There is an abundance of material within its pages that remains highly relevant to the lives of contemporary women. It offers a wealth of good fodder for engaging in rich conversations, thought-provoking discussions, and lively debates.

Carol Kennicott, an educated young woman from Minneapolis, graduates from college in the early 1920s and decides to pursue a career as a librarian. Her passion lies in introducing children to the world of books, fostering their love for reading, and exposing them to new ideas. She adores the vibrant and bustling atmosphere of the Twin Cities and eagerly seizes every opportunity for cultural exploration and adventure. When she meets Will Kennicott, a visiting physician, they quickly fall in love and get married. Will persuades Carol to accompany him back to his small hometown of Gopher Prairie, which he believes is "up and coming." However, upon arrival, Carol is shocked and dismayed by the town's physical and practical ugliness, as well as the smug, conservative, and self-satisfied nature of its residents. Despite her initial disappointment, Carol resolves to make the best of the situation and actively searches for a way to carve out a meaningful life for herself. She undertakes several initiatives, such as attempting to beautify the town, establishing a drama club, and befriending open-minded individuals who may be considered "below" her social class. Unfortunately, each of her efforts is met with either outright resistance and obstreperousness or the slow and suffocating spread of gossip and judgment. The question of how Carol ultimately finds a way to live in Gopher Prairie is one that can be endlessly debated by readers.

Throughout my life, my perspective on Carol has evolved. When I was younger, I strongly identified with her and was excited by her every idea and attempt at reform. However, as I have grown older and gained more life experience, I have developed a more nuanced (or so I think!) opinion. I now believe that Carol could have approached her methods with greater respect and consideration for the established ways of Gopher Prairie. Additionally, I have held varying opinions regarding her decision to marry Will in the first place and the choices they made within their marriage. Overall, I find this book to be incredibly interesting, offering numerous rich angles for analysis and personal opinion, depending on the reader's own background and perspective. Sinclair Lewis has written it with great subtlety (in my view), carefully avoiding the overuse of satire and presenting a balanced view of each situation. I highly recommend it!

Carol is truly a unique individual. She embodies a combination of romanticism and idealism. As a romantic, she has an inherent love for all things beautiful, always seeking out the aesthetically pleasing in the world around her. However, this romantic nature, when combined with her idealism, often leads to a disconnection from the harsh realities of the world.

Her attempts to bring about change in her small town are often Quixotic. She dreams big and sets out with great enthusiasm to transform her community. But alas, she quickly realizes the futility of her efforts. The task at hand is simply too overwhelming, and the resistance from the status quo is too strong.

Time and time again, she exhausts herself in these endeavors, only to give up in frustration. It's a pattern that repeats itself, leaving her disheartened and defeated. But it's important to note that this is the case with most, but not all, such dreamers.

While her story may seem a bit disheartening, it also serves as a reminder of the challenges that come with trying to make a difference. I just wish the work that tells her story was a bit shorter, perhaps more concise in its presentation, so that the essence of her journey could be captured more effectively.

It's been an incredibly long time since I delved into an Important Social Novel, the kind you typically encounter in high school. So long, in fact, that I had completely forgotten and even deprecated the potential it holds when it's done well. Lewis presents Carol Kennicott as a captivating kaleidoscopic study of the activist mindset. He dissects her sense of the disparity between the world as it is and the world as it should be from a dozen different angles, contrasting her with both allies and opponents who are more frank, extreme, and rigidly conservative.

In the process, the plot progresses in short leaps. Carol gets an idea, attempts it (or at least entertains it), discovers it to be impossible or misguided, and then moves on to the next one. It's a Goldilocks sort of situation, except that Carol, of course, never finds anything that can truly satisfy her. This is because of the nature of her personality and her difficult predicament. Due to her class station, some token effort toward reform is expected of her. However, while the village "aristocracy" may be a group of bumbling dullards in some respects, they are very much aware of threats to their social hierarchy.

One of the most astonishing aspects of Main Street is the extent to which its political conversations mirror contemporary ones. The entire socialist radical/liberal reformer/apathetic centrist/virulent conservative spectrum could be transplanted almost directly from then to now, simply shifted a few rungs to the left of the line. But the talking points sound distressingly familiar. It's depressing until you realize how much the conservatives have been losing ground in this battle, slowly but surely. To the point where it becomes very clear that Carol's story is as much a horror story of "born in the wrong era" isolation as it is a treatment of activism itself. Carol could have achieved many of her modest goals in a town that was more willing to accept them. While part of her journey is about coming to terms with the inevitability of certain injustices and inadequacies, she never truly reaches that position. By the end of the book, she still hates many things as passionately as she ever did. Her melancholy stems from the fact that she realizes she can find no one to understand her side.

And this is precisely what elevates this beyond being just a book of sharply observant ethnography of Midwestern small town political dialogue and makes it a genuine novel. Carol's struggles may resonate with people of her time and of ours, but they are also a tragically specific account of a woman witnessing the way the world treats her friends. There are some extremely bitter pills to swallow here. In fact, if there's one overarching observation I can make from these books written or set in the 1910s, it's their blatant parallels with dystopian fiction. This isn't a novel observation, of course, but these books - Main Street, Housekeeping, The Living, O Pioneers!, etc - make it abundantly clear that small-town gossip can be an incredibly intrusive form of surveillance, and that public opinion publishes thoughtcrime in a perfectly totalitarian manner. I just tend to envision the dystopian state as a blunt and unattractive entity, and I'm surprised to find it so closely approximated as an antagonist by the indistinct, Greek-chorus-like Community in these more "literary" works. Of course, there is more nuance here, and I believe social opprobrium is an underutilized source of conflict in genre fiction - it's far more powerful and dramatic than overt force. After all, of all the strategies and angles that occur to Carol, she never once contemplates joining a revolutionary group and embracing life as an outcast.

One of my New Year's resolutions this year was to read fiction by Nobel prize winners.

I have no idea what led me to start with Sinclair Lewis, but I find him quite an interesting author.

This book is set at the turn of the century and focuses on the viewpoint of Carol, a college-educated city girl. She marries a small town doctor and attempts to fit into Gopher Prairies, his small midwestern town.

It's a real struggle for her to witness the gender, racial, and economic inequities of the time and to try to improve life for the down-trodden.

It's amazing to read about the prejudices of that era: the townspeople discriminate against the "lazy" Swedes, Germans, and Jews. I guess the word lazy always attaches to the poor, struggling immigrant, regardless of their nationality.

Also interesting was the contrast between religious fervor and scientific minds, as well as the "patriots" versus the union organizers who, at that time, were seen as socialists/communists.

The turn of the century, even before women had the vote, was similar in many ways to today's divisive political scene.

Overall, it was an enjoyable and informative read that provided insights into a bygone era and its social issues.