From AudioFile
Occasionally author, novel and narrator mesh really well; so it is with this reading of Lewis's satirical, yet affectionate, portrait of small-town America in the 1920's. The modern parallel is Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon. Protagonist Carol Kennicott fails to transform the dull ordinariness she finds in Gopher Prairie, but her attempt is grand and grandly told by Barbara Caruso. Caruso's wry voice provides just the right characterizations for the frustrated Kennicott; her patient, but misunderstanding, husband; and the uncertain townspeople. Listeners will sense in Caruso's reading what is conveyed in Lewis's writing--raised eyebrows, knowing looks, a mix of condescension and tolerance. T.H. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine
Book Description
in this classic satire of small-town America, beautiful young Carol Kennicott comes to Gopher Prairie, Minnesota, with dreams of transforming the provincial old town into a place of beauty and culture. But she runs into a wall of bigotry, hypocrisy and complacency. The first popular bestseller to attack conventional ideas about marriage, gender roles, and small town life, Main Street established Lewis as a major American novelist.
Download Description
The first mainstream book to attack conventional ideas about marriage, gender roles, and small town life, "Main Street" established Lewis as a major American novelist.
The Merriam-Webster Encyclopedia of Literature
Novel by Sinclair Lewis, published in 1920. The story of Main Street is seen through the eyes of Carol Kennicott, a young woman married to a Midwestern doctor who settles in the Minnesota town of Gopher Prairie (modeled on Lewis' hometown of Sauk Center). The power of the book derives from Lewis' careful rendering of local speech, customs, and social amenities. The satire is double-edged--directed against both the townspeople and the superficial intellectualism of those who despise them.
From the Publisher
This classic by Sinclair Lewis shattered the sentimental American myth of happy small-town life with its satire. Main Street attacks the conformity and dullness of early 20th Century midwestern village life in the story of Carol Milford, the city girl who marries the town doctor. Her efforts to bring culture to the prairie village are met by a wall of gossip, greed, and petty small-minded bigotry. Lewis's complex and compelling work established him as an important character in American literature.
Main Street FROM THE PUBLISHER
The first of his major novels of the 1920s, Sinclair Lewis's Main Street satirizes the manners of the American Middle West. Here is the story of Carol Kennicott, who, to be accepted, must adapt to the ways of Gopher Prairie, Minnesota. This groundbreaking novel attacks conformism, commercialism, moneygrubbing, and the decline in what Lewis saw as the American ideals of freedom and respect for individuality.
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