First Kindle book I read. Sad story. ( )

Depressing but so powerful. I would teach this before I taught The Red Badge of Courage. ( )

While the dialogue took some getting used to and some of the terms are no longer used today, I fell in love with this story. I watched Maggie grow up, fall in love and ultimately die. Crane not only gained my attention but also my sympathy for a character so lifelike I could almost see her. I felt like I was transported back in time to witness Maggie's life. Definitely worth reading and a critical piece of American Fiction. ( )

En las arterias del desdichado barrio de Bowery en Nueva York, escenario de revueltas y vilezas perpetradas por las bandas de gángsteres, transcurre la historia de la joven Maggie, de su familia y de un entorno hipócrita y hostil, que ignora la compasión mientras ella se hunde cada vez más en el fango de las callejuelas citadinas finiseculares. Stephen Crane se erige por derecho propio como un autor al que conviene leer y revisar en estos momentos: su crítica del sistema, no de las personas, señala con el dedo la hipocresía más incrustada de nuestras estructuras sociales. Todo lo que no queremos ver, lo que nos duele escuchar y lo que nos resistimos a creer forma parte del paisaje literario de Crane. Una lectura atenta nos convence de que es un escritor con un plan: sumergirse en las entrañas de su amada América para expurgar de ellas todo su profundo malestar. ( )

Not a very good book, in my opinion. The dialect came across as ludicrous. The morality was ridiculous, but I suppose that was the point. The mother and son were probably worse morally than the daughter, but it was her state in life that destroyed her. ( )