Main Street (Signet Classics)
by Sinclair Lewis
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Book Summary Information
Author: Sinclair LewisIntroduction: Thomas Mallon
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1998-06-01
ISBN: 0451526821
Number of pages: 480
Publisher: Signet Classics
Book Reviews of Main Street (Signet Classics)
Book Review: # 68 on Modern Library's list
Summary: 4 Stars
Some of the most enduring works of literature live on in our collective memory not because of their plot, or their characters, or their message, but because of their setting. Main Street is such a book. Mention Gopher Prairie, MN to anyone who has read this book, and images of quintessential small-town America will quickly come to mind. This book isn't so much about Carol or Will Kennicott, or any of the other characters who populate this narrow-minded, Puritan, one-horse town. It's about the town itself, and what it represents for broader America in the early 20th century. It's not the greatest book, but I would recommend it because of its ability to capture a sentiment that defined a significant period in our nation's history.
Small towns have certainly changed over the past eighty years - some today are fairly progressive - but some things will never change, like the fact that everyone knows everyone else's business in a town of a few thousand or less. If you cheat on your husband, don't bother trying to keep it a secret in Gopher Prairie. Or if you pay your maid a dollar more per week than your neighbors. And don't even think about trying to change the way things have always been done around here. If it was good enough fifty years ago, it's still good enough today.
Gopher Prairie is a town with a skeptical fascination of the big city, a fascination that it does its best to hide. It's a town that is perfectly happy basking in its own ignorance and hiding behind a veil of conservative values.
It's also a town of wide open spaces, with beautiful lakes and fresh air and no crime. And it's a place where neighbors will always help neighbors, as long as they can poke through their dirty laundry at the same time.
Main Street is a tad longer than it needs to be, and a bit tedious at times. But it's on the Modern Library Top 100 list for good reason.
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