Sister Carrie

In my attempt to read almost all of the classic books ever written, I have now finished Sister Carrie.
It's the story of Carrie a girl from a small town who moves to the big city of Chicago to try and start her life. She lives with her sister for a while before finding a handsome and affluent young man to take care of her. That man leads to another man, who takes her to New York where she gets work as an actress. There are ups and downs, scandals and poverty.
It was a little slow to start and I had to force myself to keep going. (I've had that problem a lot lately with books in general) After about 50% it started to pick up and I was interested in Carrie and what happened to her. It was a good read. It kind of had a Madame Bovary feel to it since it involved a woman and her scandal and issues with money. I can't say I"m a big fan of Drieser's writing. It wasn't enough. Enough of what I couldn't tell you, but I felt it lacked something for me. I think I needed more insights into Carrie's feelings internally instead of externally and I didnt' like the men in her life. There didn't seem to be much romance involved. He's no Jane Austen.

The next classic novel I'm attempting will be Silas Marner by George Eliot. I saw this on a list over at BookRiot showing the differences in books read by highschoolers. This used to be an important book in highschool English classes at the turn of the century. I figure I will suffer thru it as a 21st century adult.