Sister Carrie

By: Theodore Dreiser

Narrated by: Jim Killavey

Length: 16 hrs and 43 mins

Publisher's summary

Theodore Dreiser's first and perhaps greatest novel appeared in 1900. The story is about a young country girl who moves to the big city, where she starts realizing her own American Dream by embarking on a life of sin rather than by hard work and perseverance. On publication, it met with outraged disapproval and was immediately withdrawn as "too shocking and sordid for polite readers". But it is precisely in Dreiser's compassionate exploration of ordinary men and women, their frailty and humanity, that this stormy, controversial novel remains supreme.

©1989 Jimcin Recordings (P)1989 Jimcin Recordings

Simply not a good narration of Sister Carrie

Listened to Sister Carrier once, when I first purchased it, and didn't care much for the narrator. At that time, I hadn't had much experience with Audible books, so I didn't have much to compare it to. Now I've been listening for years; and I've heard some WONDERFUL narrations.
This book was chosen by our book club as our classic for this year, so I tried to listen to the book again and simply could not take listening to it again.
The cadence of the speech, the voice, everything, just isn't good.
The story isn't a happy one, and it really shows you the customs and value of women (or lack thereof) for the late 1800s/early 1900s.
If you really want to read this book, find another version, or get a printed copy.

slightly annoying voice

great story but the voice was annoying. kept me interested the whole book. highly recommend

Wonderful writer.

Drieser is a master of drawing out excruciating situations until you almost lose your mind. Such great character development.
But the narrator for this novel is unfortunate. He sounds like a computer voice. Just terrible.
This can make or break an audio book. But great literature.

Sister Carrie review

This story originally had some feeling and understanding of the character’s words. The narrator and his ancient mic made it difficult for me to understand what the people were saying. There was little inflection of the narrator’s voice which took some of the life away from the character and brought it right back to the mic and a voice without feeling. I will reread this book after I find a more appropriate narrator. It’s taken me a couple years to even start the book. But I’m finished now Whew

Great book, not so great narration

Would you recommend this book to a friend? Why or why not?

Absolutely I would recommend "Sister Carrie" to anybody who loves good stories.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Carrie, of course, for her guts and single-mindedness. She's not a lovable character, but in a time when women could be nothing but wives and mothers, she made her own way.

Who would you have cast as narrator instead of Jim Killavey?

No idea.

Do you think Sister Carrie needs a follow-up book? Why or why not?

Not an option, since Theodore Dreiser is long dead, and I wouldn't be interested in anybody else writing about his great character.

Any additional comments?

The narrator mispronounced several things, the most galling being Halsted Street in Chicago. Everybody knows it rhymes with "all red," but the narrator pronounced it like "Hal Steed." Wrong on both syllables. These things are not hard to research, especially such a well-known street.

I Loved this! Could not wait each time I listened

Any additional comments?

I felt like I was there through the whole listen. At time is was quite sad, but it just gave me a feeling for the difficluty of the times. As I have enjoyed Dreiser, this contines my passion.

Sister Carrie

The narrator's voice is so unsuited to this classic literature that there is no point in listening. In a word, terrible.