Rating: 
Summary: Achingly true, even more so today
Review: I grew up in a small town in Iowa, and this book captures so well the experience of small towns, whether they be in Iowa or Angola. The frustrations and triumphs of Carol are universal and unending, and perhaps even more timely today than they were when this book was first published. "Main Street" is not so much about a woman in a repressive patriarchal society as it is about any independent spirit trapped by circumstance in a well-meaning but banal social structure composed of individuals too bound by convention to breathe free. This is a gently told cautionary tale that should be on every reading list in every high school in the nation.
Rating: 
Summary: Very slow moving, boring and stylistically dated but worthy.
Review: I had difficulty finishing the book. Had I not made a commitment to read it from cover to cover, I probably would have shelved it for another time. However, the book was listed on Daniel J. Boorstin's (former Head Librarian of the Library of Congress, if memory serves me correctly) top-ten list of books for all Americans to read, along with "The Grapes of Wrath" by John Steinbeck and "My Antonia" by Willa Cather. The book centers on a newly wed physician's wife, recently transplanted from the big city to rural midwest life, and the cultural and intellectual obstacles she faces within small townspeople's minds and lives.Ultimately, the book points out the hypocrisy of her ways as she tries to reform the local populace and, in so doing, exposes the reader to his/her own shortcomings which are held in common with all people. The points made by the book are universal and timeless for all people - whether living in rural towns or urban cities. However, the writing style is very slow, repititious and boring, not to mention dated.
Rating:
Summary: A nice book about American Life
Review: I liked the attention to detail in this book and the characters were very believable in their pretext. The description of Main Street was very alive. The two different view points offered contrast. I think it shows some of the bad things about small town life very well. For example how they impose a double standard and not receptive to new ideas.
Rating:
Summary: Main Street
Review: I loved this book. I liked the way the reader follows the emotions of the protagonist, Carol. Mr. Lewis is obviosly a very talented author, and there were several instances when I was amazed with the way he could eloquently articulate a vague opinion I had of society. This book is entertaining and has a great message (however you interpret it).
Rating:
Summary: America's true classic literature
Review: If you like original and unusually snobby and naive characters, this book is for you. A city girl who moves into the country comes across as being a flirt and a snob, somewhat of a Tori Spelling in those days. Nevertheless, a creative book that I surprisingly enjoyed. I loved the writing style, the text, and the plot. This IS the masterpiece of American literature.
Rating: 
Summary: A Study in Culture Shock
Review: In "Main Street", Sinclair Lewis analyzes the degree to which a progressively minded individual can become a fish out of water in the typically conservative American rural community. While many characterize "Main Street" as an 'attack' on middle America, I don't think Lewis's intentions were quite so dismissive.I say this because the character of Carol Kennicott has many of her own 'big city' faults. She can be condescending and elitist when it comes to the small town ways of her adopted home of Gopher Prairie. What "Main Street" is mostly a depiction of is culture shock. Carol has moved to Gopher Prairie after marrying Dr Will Kennicott. Will is not a particularly ambitious doctor. It seems that his greatest pleasures in life are his family and friends. He enjoys the quiet life of Gopher Prairie and becomes the symbol of rural 'who caresness'. Carol, on the other hand, is an ambitious reformer. She attempts to re-work the cultural and educational life of Gopher Prairie largely against the wishes of its residents. She is, in effect, trying to make Gopher Prairie something it is not: a city. "Main Street"'s most important message is 'live where you're comfortable'. It is obvious that Carol is not comfortable living in a rural place like Gopher Prairie and that she longs for the stimulation of urban life. It is her bane that she has married a decent man who has no intention of living in the city. She is faced with the choice of abandoning her husband for the familiarity of the city or living in exile in a place she doesn't fit in.
Rating:
Summary: A Study in Culture Shock
Review: In "Main Street", Sinclair Lewis analyzes the degree to which a progressively minded individual can become a fish out of water in the typically conservative American rural community. While many characterize "Main Street" as an 'attack' on middle America, I don't think Lewis's intentions were quite so dismissive. I say this because the character of Carol Kennicott has many of her own 'big city' faults. She can be condescending and elitist when it comes to the small town ways of her adopted home of Gopher Prairie. What "Main Street" is mostly a depiction of is culture shock. Carol has moved to Gopher Prairie after marrying Dr Will Kennicott. Will is not a particularly ambitious doctor. It seems that his greatest pleasures in life are his family and friends. He enjoys the quiet life of Gopher Prairie and becomes the symbol of rural 'who caresness'. Carol, on the other hand, is an ambitious reformer. She attempts to re-work the cultural and educational life of Gopher Prairie largely against the wishes of its residents. She is, in effect, trying to make Gopher Prairie something it is not: a city. "Main Street"'s most important message is 'live where you're comfortable'. It is obvious that Carol is not comfortable living in a rural place like Gopher Prairie and that she longs for the stimulation of urban life. It is her bane that she has married a decent man who has no intention of living in the city. She is faced with the choice of abandoning her husband for the familiarity of the city or living in exile in a place she doesn't fit in.
Rating:
Summary: A Study in Culture Shock
Review: In "Main Street", Sinclair Lewis analyzes the degree to which a progressively minded individual can become a fish out of water in the typically conservative American rural community. While many characterize "Main Street" as an 'attack' on middle America, I don't think Lewis's intentions were quite so dismissive. I say this because the character of Carol Kennicott has many of her own 'big city' faults. She can be condescending and elitist when it comes to the small town ways of her adopted home of Gopher Prairie. What "Main Street" is mostly a depiction of is culture shock. Carol has moved to Gopher Prairie after marrying Dr Will Kennicott. Will is not a particularly ambitious doctor. It seems that his greatest pleasures in life are his family and friends. He enjoys the quiet life of Gopher Prairie and becomes the symbol of rural 'who caresness'. Carol, on the other hand, is an ambitious reformer. She attempts to re-work the cultural and educational life of Gopher Prairie largely against the wishes of its residents. She is, in effect, trying to make Gopher Prairie something it is not: a city. "Main Street"'s most important message is 'live where you're comfortable'. It is obvious that Carol is not comfortable living in a rural place like Gopher Prairie and that she longs for the stimulation of urban life. It is her bane that she has married a decent man who has no intention of living in the city. She is faced with the choice of abandoning her husband for the familiarity of the city or living in exile in a place she doesn't fit in.
Rating:
Summary: classic tale of an idealist in a small town
Review: In this classic novel, newlywed Carol Kennicott moves from a city to the small town her doctor husband calls home and must struggle to survive a social and cultural environment she finds oppressive. College-educated and ambitious, she is frustrated with the town's lack of artistic and cultural endeavors and her attempts to raise local standards are met with disapproval. "Main Street"'s strongest point is its humor: through dialogue and description, Lewis paints a detailed picture of Carol and her neighbors - their thoughts, plans, manipulations and foibles, particularly those they all have in common. The book is both powerful and frustrating, since the issue it raises (how to fulfill any but the meanest aspirations in the context of the trivial daily lives most people live) is still applicable, and since the book offers little in the way of solution.
Rating:
Summary: classic tale of an idealist in a small town
Review: In this classic novel, newlywed Carol Kennicott moves from a city to the small town her doctor husband calls home and must struggle to survive a social and cultural environment she finds oppressive. College-educated and ambitious, she is frustrated with the town's lack of artistic and cultural endeavors and her attempts to raise local standards are met with disapproval. "Main Street"'s strongest point is its humor: through dialogue and description, Lewis paints a detailed picture of Carol and her neighbors - their thoughts, plans, manipulations and foibles, particularly those they all have in common. The book is both powerful and frustrating, since the issue it raises (how to fulfill any but the meanest aspirations in the context of the trivial daily lives most people live) is still applicable, and since the book offers little in the way of solution.
| 
