This was a reread for me and I can honestly say I liked it a wee bit more than the first read. This is partly because of it being a group read and the different observations enriched the reading experience.
It is a book describing small town life from the author's perspective and his perspective often leans toward short stories of despair, lack of communication, misunderstandings and sadness. Some humor is present but in all honesty I am not a fan of Anderson's prose. The lack of dialog made for a sluggish read.
I think to readings of this book are more that enough so if anyone wants my copy, drop me a PM. ( )

They call it literary "expressionism" - I get it. Sherwood Anderson is to literature what Marilyn Manson is to music. If you look on the creative/artistic side, you (might) find merit; in terms of the realistic/representational side, you'll find it about as truthful as a political advertisement. According to SA himself, he developed his Winesburg characters from people he met in the artist community of Chicago, a big city. I liked the stories and the author's prose style, and the criticism and analysis included in this slim volume provides a nice after-dinner conversation about what you have just read, but - where these critics try to extract from these stories "relative truth[s]" about small town life - it could be compared to listening to Jimmy Buffet sing about igloos and polar bears. I've lived in small towns most of my life. Those who can, do; those who can't, flee to the big city. The title of the book should be: "Leaving Winesburg, Ohio."

This lovingly produced critical edition provides an authoritative text and a number of critical studies of this somewhat enigmatic book. Everyone recognizes the power and yet the weaknesses of this quirky and slightly lurid look at turn of the last century small town middle America. It is easy to see the effectiveness of Anderson's portraits, but hard to overlook the stiltedness of the prose, which, especially towards the beginning of the book is self-consciously arty (it gets more natural as the volume progresses). ( )

In my top 5 American lit books; easy reading. ( )