+ − Freeman 2:237 N 17 ’20 750w
“His dialogue, which he uses very freely, is brilliant. The exactness of this dialogue is a literary achievement of a very high order. Mr Lewis has given literary permanence to the speech of his time and section. But the dialogue in ‘Main street’ is anything but literature in the sense of Verlaine; it is living talk. ‘Main street’ would add to the power and distinction of the contemporary literature of any country.”
+ Nation 111:536 N 10 ’20 820w
“‘Main street’ is pioneer work. Some formulae it does help to perpetuate. Some garishness and crudity it does unpleasantly employ in its anxiety to be effective and pat. But while the novelistic hen does not necessarily lay better if surrounded by strong artificial light, the light in ‘Main street’ is on the whole natural, honest and oh so amazingly illuminating.” F. H.
+ − New Republic 25:20 D 1 ’20 1500w
“‘Main street’ is a book to possess and treasure. What the critics have overlooked is just this: that Carol’s idealism was at least as superficial and worthless as the faults of Main street. Carol is more than a blind would-be leader of the blind; she is a butterfly aspirant for the leadership of the apsychosaurus.” Clement Wood
+ − N Y Call p5 Ja 9 ’21 300w
“Dealing with material that is rarely subtle, Mr Lewis can be subtle enough himself. Besides his gift for character and situation, he has also a knack at satire and caustic epigram, with so enormous an acquaintance with the foibles and folklore of the Middle West that he has literally set a new standard for novels dealing with the section.” Carl Van Doren
+ N Y Evening Post p3 N 20 ’20 2000w
“A remarkable book. A novel, yes, but so unusual as not to fall easily into a class. There is practically no plot, yet the book is absorbing. It is so much like life itself, so extraordinarily real. These people are actual folk, and there was never better dialogue written than their revealing talk.”