Synopsis
Written in 1900, the story begins with the lovely Carrie, another girl looking for a solid job in the city. While living with her sister she tries and fails at so much, only to catch the eye of a handsome man, and run off with him deeper into the metropolitan monster away from the simple blue-collar life she used to live. She begins to be involved with a local theater only to catch yet another…much more wealthy…man’s eye. As Carrie Meeber rises to stardom, so does her love of finer things, and her former lovers, including the wealthy and well known George Hurstwood, slowly fade away into the distant memory of high society and blue-collar work. Will they recover from the loss of such a beautiful and talented woman, or will they crash and burn like their pocketbooks did for her?
History
First publication: Doubleday, 1900
Review
Like the Great Gatsby, the book Sister Carrie speaks to great cost of wealth, love, and freedom and how that looks for an unmarried woman in the early 1900s who persues those things. It makes you question how much is enough and how much is too much when it comes to getting what you want out of life, and what does one do when happiness doesn’t align with those you love? Complex characters amidst the industrial glamour that is up-and-coming metropolitain America is juxtaposed against an ongoing discussion of lust verses love.
