Main Street
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Narrated by:
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Brian Emerson
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By:
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Sinclair Lewis
About this listen
Published in 1920, Main Street was Sinclair Lewis' first really successful novel. An allegory of exile and return, Main Street attacks the complacency and ingrown mores of those who resist change, who are under the illusion that they have chosen their tradition.
Maxwell Geismar lauded this work as "a remarkable diary of the middle-class mind in America".
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Story
This first entry in John Dos Passos's celebrated U.S.A. trilogy paints a grand picture of the United States at the dawn of the twentieth century.
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Powerful document of an all-too-familiar past
- By Ryan on 06-01-13
By: John Dos Passos
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Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All
- By: Allan Gurganus
- Narrated by: Barbara McCulloh
- Length: 49 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Allan Gurganus's Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All became an instant classic upon its publication. Critics and fans alike fell in love with the voice of 99-year-old Confederate widow Lucy Marsden, one of the most entertaining and loquacious heroines in American literature. Lucy married at the turn of the 20th century, when she was 15 and her husband was 50. If Colonel William Marsden was a veteran of the "War for Southern Independence", Lucy became a "veteran of the veteran" with a unique perspective on Southern history and Southern manhood.
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Dated.
- By edie butler on 04-06-21
By: Allan Gurganus
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Breakfast at Tiffany's
- By: Truman Capote
- Narrated by: Michael C. Hall
- Length: 2 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Golden Globe-winning actor Michael C. Hall (Six Feet Under) performs Truman Capote's masterstroke about a young writer's charmed fascination with his unorthodox neighbor, the "American geisha" Holly Golightly. Holly - a World War II-era society girl in her late teens - survives via socialization, attending parties and restaurants with men from the wealthy upper class who also provide her with money and expensive gifts. Over the course of the novella, the seemingly shallow Holly slowly opens up to the curious protagonist.
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"Better to look at the sky than live there"
- By W Perry Hall on 02-12-14
By: Truman Capote
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The Professor's House
- By: Willa Cather
- Narrated by: Sean Runnette
- Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Professor Godfrey St. Peter is a man in his fifties who has devoted his life to his work, his wife, his garden, and his daughters, and achieved success with all of them. But when St. Peter is called on to move to a new, more comfortable house, something in him rebels. And although at first that rebellion consists of nothing more than mild resistance to his family's wishes, it imperceptibly comes to encompass the entire order of his life.
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Gently compelling
- By TiffanyD on 08-12-19
By: Willa Cather
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A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
- By: Betty Smith
- Narrated by: Kate Burton
- Length: 14 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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A moving coming-of-age story set in the 1900s, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn follows the lives of 11-year-old Francie Nolan, her younger brother Neely, and their parents, Irish immigrants who have settled in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. Johnny Nolan is as loving and fanciful as they come, but he is also often drunk and out of work, unable to find his place in the land of opportunity.
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Book: flawless. SKIP THE RECORDED INTRO!!
- By Wild Wise Woman on 09-04-11
By: Betty Smith
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Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules (Unabridged Selections)
- By: Edited by David Sedaris
- Narrated by: David Sedaris, Mary-Louise Parker, Cherry Jones
- Length: 2 hrs and 54 mins
- Unabridged
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Children Playing Before a Statue of Hercules is a collection of short stories, some classic, others impending, selected and introduced by David Sedaris.
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Great stories but only 5 of 17 are included
- By Terri Kirk on 07-13-12
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Mother Carey's Chickens
- By: Kate Douglas Wiggin
- Narrated by: Anne Hancock
- Length: 7 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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The sudden death of the father of the family results in the drastic reduction of the Careys' income and they must leave their comfortable home in Boston. Nancy Carey, the eldest, recalls a vacation in Maine when they all picnicked in the garden of a big, vacant house that her father loved. She discovers that the house is available, the rent is cheap, and persuades her mother that life in The Yellow House in Beulah, Maine is the perfect place to begin their new life.
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A very cozy book =)
- By Camilla on 03-01-17
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Peyton Place
- By: Grace Metalious
- Narrated by: Tim O'Connor
- Length: 16 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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In 1956, when this novel was first published, communities all over New England snapped up copies to see if they were the town portrayed in the book. Peyton Place is the story of a repressive New England town known for its high standards of public morality, and the steamy sexual activities that take place behind its bedroom doors.
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Best book I've read to date!
- By Crusader on 11-07-11
By: Grace Metalious
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Daddy-Long-Legs
- By: Jean Webster
- Narrated by: Kate Forbes
- Length: 4 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Jerusha Abbott is the oldest orphan in the John Grier Home. Every day she helps scrub and dress the younger children - all 97 of them. Soon she will graduate from high school and be on her own. Where will she go, and how will she support herself? When an anonymous wealthy donor decides to send her to college, Jerusha can hardly believe her good fortune. All she must do in return is send him a letter once a month. With all the excitement of college life - classes, parties, new friends, and a special gentleman - Jerusha can hardly stop writing!
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Delightful
- By Greg and Sara Masarik on 04-06-15
By: Jean Webster
What listeners say about Main Street
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Maureen
- 10-21-09
Time for a classic
It's hard to believe that this book was first published in 1920. Many of the themes are as relevant today as they were 90 years ago. The narrator is excellent and doesn't get "in the way" of the story line. This classic is definitely worth rediscovering.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Alexandra
- 04-20-12
Can't believe I hadn't read it before
I really enjoyed this book, I found the issues and personalities to be surprisingly familiar, considering that it was published in 1920. Also, that a man of that time could write such a feminist novel. Although not much happens action-wise, I felt engaged throughout. Wonderfully real characters and an incredible sensitivity to their various motivations.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Reginald Williams
- 10-02-18
Small Towns Are Paused
As a life-long resident of small towns (2,000-7,000 population), I found this a troublesome and fascinatingly critical story of the "paused in time and context" of small town culture.
Honestly, I really did not like Carol. To me she was stuck-up, entitled, and condescending to those of us who embrace the slowness and safely insular attitudes for those of us who live in small towns. She was ungrateful in my opinion of the fine life she had, the husband she had (no spouse is perfect), and the comfort and intimacy of neighborhood camaraderie that she sneered at politely rather than appreciated. This is not a thoughtful, intelligent character in my opinion. This was most on display not when she courted the idea of having an affair but because of the reason and quality of that "possible affair" because she was seemingly "bored" with the routine of her life. I can understand with one getting bored with small time life when you are either adjusted to or pining for large city cultural. On the other hand, when someone like Carol sees her life with such contempt, any romantic thoughts of intrigue and drama are careless due to her inability to "give Gopher P" a chance to be something important. Contempt for comfort is a dangerous place to be. Fortunately, Carol may have learned her lesson by the end of the story...but...
Brian Emerson does his best with the story, but he seems to have trouble differentiating the men in the story--all of them sound the same.
My favorite character was...Gopher P. The strongest part of Main Street is how superbly Lewis describes small town life in such sensorial beauty. There were several different instances that I cannot list them all. He makes it sound like a lovely, timeless world unto itself.
A interesting book that is worth looking at again, but quite critical of small town life as if it threatens the progress of civilization. It does just the opposite: small towns are the bastion of civilization in an uncivilized world in a major way.
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- Dee
- 09-10-19
Timeless
I was skeptical reading a male author’s assessments of the female mind at the turn of the 19th - 20th century, but Lewis nailed it. I would definitely recommend this book!
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- Cynthia
- 05-20-12
Small town, small minds, big book
What did you love best about Main Street?
The descriptions of Gopher Prarie, Minnesota, are as apt today as they were almost 100 years ago. Lewis alternately loves and loathes the town, where an outsider is anyone who wasn't born and raised in the town.
The treatment and scorn of minorities by the town could be Arizona today, except that in Gopher Prairie, the hated immigrants taking the worst jobs and struggling to find a better future for their children are Swedish immigrants.
Carol, the idealistic wife of one of the town doctors imported from the big city, finds solace in her friendships with her maids. The town disapproves, and she is shocked to find, talks about her behind her back.
At the same time, the sins of her husband, are never revealed to her.
What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?
The story was unexpectedly bleak, and I realized it couldn't have been written today. In the 1920's, women mostly didn't work outside of the home. There was no television, and if radio had come to Gopher Prarie, Lewis didn't mention it. The town spent its time watching its inhabitants, gossiping, and seeking a safe kind of education through traveling lectures. I was able to imagine what the lives of my Midwestern great grandparents were like.
The pace of the story was slow, but it was written in a much different time.
Which character – as performed by Brian Emerson – was your favorite?
Mr. Emerson is an excellent narrator, and I will look for other performances. He tells the story without putting himself into it. Carol, who struggles against the status quo, is my favorite character.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Stephen
- 09-08-13
Main Street - Sinclair Classic
Book: In general, I do not comment on classics. However, I found the story interesting since it draws from the history in the US from 100 years ago: Pre-WWI, midwest, industrialization of the economy, the movement of most of the population from the farm to the city, etc - all the changes - economic, political, social, etc. The character, a college girl with a liberal outlook, for some strange reason decides to marry a small town doctor. The book dwells, to the point of depression, on the failings of the small town. It was a counter to all the books of the time that over-glorified small town life. Mr. Lewis challenge all those notions. However, I did not really feel too much empathy for his lead character.
Performance: The reader was very good. In time, I forgot there was reader and toward the end of the book the reader acted some of the characters well out.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Leann
- 04-11-17
Better than expected
What did you like about the performance? What did you dislike?
The performance was above average- I had to speed it up quite a bit, and I appreciated him trying to differentiate voices. I think this would have been a hard book to stay engaged with if the narrator didn’t participate so much with the voices and characters.
If this book were a movie would you go see it?
yes
Any additional comments?
I read this while trying to read and compare Hemingway, Fitzgerald, and Lewis’ writing styles. Considering they were all writing around the same time, I find Lewis’ writing style and commentary more realistic and poignant. Especially in “Main Street,” his prose continues to challenge the American ideals. There were specific parts, like with the red Swede, which were a remarkably accurate paradox between the 20s and today. The feeling of being a liberal or a reformer, but also being a part of a middle to high class lifestyle. Furthermore, Lewis’ novel superbly describes the balance and hardship of wanting to challenge the norm for betterment of society, while wanting to fit in.
The novel challenges me to reconsider any charity or progressive ideal I may have and really think about the intention behind those ideals. Lewis seems to want to show that we are all kindred spirits and that the poor man needs the rich man just as much as the rich man needs the poor man.
I will say, sometimes the descriptions and banter was a little over-done for me, especially at the beginning, but it also made sure to paint the full picture. If you power through the first ten or so chapters you will become entranced and very thoughtful about the underlying messages. At times, I also struggled with the innocence (sometimes crossing into ignorance) of Carol, as well as her complete disregard (and Lewis’) for the benefits of small towns. Nonetheless, I highly recommend! I wish I would have read this in high school or college too!
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- Elizabeth
- 02-02-15
I tried to like it...
This came recommended so I was looking forward to the listen, but finally have it up about one-third of the way through. I'm not sure if it was the uninspired narration or the story that went no where fast that caused me to give up. I felt bad about quitting, but within 5 minutes of my next book I was glad I did.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Oliver
- 11-30-18
File was out of order- unlistenable
File began with normal Audible introduction but followed by chapter 14. Could not determine proper order as chapter titled sections do not correspond to the material in each.
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- Kenneth
- 04-13-12
Lots of Words
Lewis was in DESPERATE need of a good editor with this one. While I enjoy long lyrical descriptions of setting and character, it must be done in context. There was some of that, but I felt most of the book was just spinning in the mud and going nowhere. I got the point that Carol didn't fit in Gopher Prairie very quickly but it was hashed out over and over again. I found her to be quite as obnoxious in her haughty opinions of the towns people as they were in their judgement of her. Given the time a place, I can imagine this was very controversial, and the last 4 hours does get a bit better but it was long and dull. Perhaps that was the point to try to catapult the reader into action at a time when there was a battle between moving forward and making progress and clinging to what had traditionally made us American and maintaining status quo. The book does a fantastic job of pitting the two points of view against each other but it takes so long to get to it that it was a monotonous journey.
The narrator did a fine job esp with the different kinds of accents he was able to employ.
Overall, not one I'd recommend.
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1 person found this helpful