Carol, who struggles against the status quo, is my favorite character. He tells the story without putting himself into it. Emerson is an excellent narrator, and I will look for other performances. Which character – as performed by Brian Emerson – was your favorite? The pace of the story was slow, but it was written in a much different time. I was able to imagine what the lives of my Midwestern great grandparents were like. The town spent its time watching its inhabitants, gossiping, and seeking a safe kind of education through traveling lectures. There was no television, and if radio had come to Gopher Prarie, Lewis didn't mention it. In the 1920's, women mostly didn't work outside of the home.

The story was unexpectedly bleak, and I realized it couldn't have been written today. What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting? At the same time, the sins of her husband, are never revealed to her. The town disapproves, and she is shocked to find, talks about her behind her back. Carol, the idealistic wife of one of the town doctors imported from the big city, finds solace in her friendships with her maids. 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. Lewis alternately loves and loathes the town, where an outsider is anyone who wasn't born and raised in the town.

The descriptions of Gopher Prarie, Minnesota, are as apt today as they were almost 100 years ago. What did you love best about Main Street?

Main street by sinclair lewis