Literary Award Winners Fiction Book Club discussion

Please comment here on Arrowsmith by Sinclair Lewis. (1925) Pulitzer Prize winner.

This is a LONG book -- 700+ pages. Am about a third of the way through. I was tempted to put is aside, found the first 70 or so pages very boring. Am glad I pressed on, am enjoying it very much now.

Hi Mary, I am 25% the way through this novel. I also found the first part of the book slow going. The plot momentum picked up with the introduction of Leora. So far, it's been an engaging, easy, interesting, pleasant read.

An enjoyable, engaging read about Dr. Martin Arrowsmith’s career as a physician and medical researcher in the early 1900s in the USA. Arrowsmith is a well developed character. He is a hard worker, fairly honest, self centred and not very diplomatic.

Lewis pokes fun at the moral shallowness, greed and self-delusion of the people Arrowsmith associates with. Many in the medical profession are more focussed on how rich they can become. The book also highlights the conflict between following professional ambitions to the exclusion of personal happiness.

Here are a couple examples of Sinclair’s writing style:
‘It is one of the major tragedies that nothing is more discomforting than the hearty affection of the Old Friends who never were friends.’
‘He was permitted, without restriction, to speak of himself as immoral, agnostic and socialistic, so long as it was universally known that he remained pure, Presbyterian, and Republican.’

Overall, a memorable, entertaining read. I preferred Sinclair Lewis' novels, 'Babbitt' (1922) and 'Main Street' (1920), probably because I liked and could empathise more with the main characters in 'Babbitt' and 'Main Street'.

Finished this yesterday. It was not my favorite of Lewis's books. I never really felt invested. There were great lines that mocked society. But it never gained momentum as a narrative. I suspect that my mood during this time of such social uncertainty is a large part of my inability to focus on this book which did ask the reader to focus.

I tend to agree Irene that the plot never really hooked you in. I liked the historical commentary on life back then.

Yes, it was an interesting snap shot of changing attitudes toward medicine and science a hundred years ago.

This is a long novel, I am about 75% done.

It is well written, although hard to get into. I have the feeling that I am missing a lot of the satire since I don't know a lot about the culture at that time.

The science is accurate for the time period. I used to do laboratory research and reading this has brought back memories.

I find it interesting that Lewis refused the Pulitzer for this novel.

I did not know that Lewis refused the Pulitzer for Arrowsmith. Do you know why?

I found out about it looking at the Pulitzer website. This article, https://www.pulitzer.org/article/sinc..., seems to say that authors would be forced to adhere to a set of standards that would ultimately change the types of novels being written. It may also have been that he lost out to other authors two previous times, at least on some level.

However, Lewis did accept the Nobel for lIterature in 1930.

I found this synopsis, https://english.illinoisstate.edu/sin...

Interesting. Thank you. It does sound like a case of sour grapes.

I remember reading this several years ago. I found it completely absorbing. It was just incredible. I couldn't put it down and finished it while riding the bus back and forth from Kent to Tukwila. I'm sorry some of you didn't enjoy it. But if you consider it one of his poorer works, I will definitely pick up some other works of his.

Given you enjoyed reading ‘Arrowsmith’ so much, you will probably also enjoy reading Sinclair Lewis’s other famous books - ‘Babbit’, ‘Main Street’ or ‘It Can’t Happen Here’. I enjoyed ‘Arrowsmith’ but preferred ‘Main Street’ and ‘Babbit’, as I appreciated the characters in ‘Main Street’ and ‘Babbit’ more. I am looking forward to reading ‘It Can’t Happen Here’ soonish - (I have a copy on my bookshelf).

Kirsten, I would love to hear your thoughts if you read other books by Lewis. Sometimes, I find that I most enjoy my first encounter with a great writer. After that, my expectations are so elivated that the others don't seem as impressive.

Thanks for your comment Irene. The perspective of being let down by reading more of an author never occurred to me.

Once I discover an author I particularly like, I feel impelled to read the author’s other books. Usually I discover even more enjoyable books by the author. Sometimes the first book is the most impressive, for example, Jane Austen’s ‘Pride and Prejudice’, however all of Austen’s other novels are very pleasant, enjoyable and different, must read, reading experiences.

For me, author’s who have delivered even more enjoyable reads after the first book I read by them include Cormac McCarthy, Philip Roth, Iris Murdoch, J.M. Coetzee, Muriel Spark, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Rachel Cusk, .......the list goes on!

There are authors that I have read and enjoyed many of their books, then encountered one that I really didn't enjoy which soured me on the previous books, mostly modern authors.

I think Arrowsmith would improve for me on a second reading. I didn't dislike it, but it didn't grab my attention either. And I will still seek out other novels by Lewis. He was a skilled writer and his novels are worth diving into even if they aren't my favorites.

Guess that is why we have chocolate and vanilla!

Irene wrote: "Kirsten, I would love to hear your thoughts if you read other books by Lewis. Sometimes, I find that I most enjoy my first encounter with a great writer. After that, my expectations are so elivated..."

Thanks, Irene. I haven't moved on to any others. it's funny I picked up Arrowsmith by accident/impulse. I still remember riding the bus from Kent to Tukwila wishing the bus would go into a time loop so I wouldn't have to put the book down. LOL!