Maggie: A Girl of the Streets and George's Mother

by Stephen Crane, Van Wyck Brooks

Maggie is a young woman who has learned to survive in the New York slums. George learns to be a support to his mother instead of a burden in the second novel. Both are works of Crane's innovative idea of Naturalism in literature.

Genres: Fiction, Classics, Novels

160 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 29, 1969

About the author

Stephen Crane (1871-1900) was an American novelist, poet and journalist, best known for the novel, The Red Badge of Courage. That work introduced the reading world to Crane's striking prose, a mix of impressionism, naturalism and symbolism. He died at age 28 in Badenweiler, Baden, Germany.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Reviews

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a short enough novel that it wasn't a chore to read. I had a friend in high school named Maggie and I recall that we would sometimes call her "Maggie Girl of the Streets" while we were reading this book... The only other thing I remember about this book is the main character looking up and saying, "The moon looks like shit" - and my teacher dissecting this sentence to mean that the character's life was so terrible she couldn't think of anything wonderful to compare the moon to.

[Rah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stephen Crane, I DON'T KNOW U, BUT I'LL FIND YOU , AND I'LL KILL U ,even though you're already dead ! -_- This is one of the books that suffocates the shit out of you, I wanted to throw it away several times, not just because of The Somehow-old-English-used-that-sounds-like-Chinese , No , but for the depressing story ! Why do we mourn people when they die, while we curse them , hate them, and bore them when they're alive ?! The confusing thing is that it's her own mom who did so ! I see a lot of common points that gather our actual Arabic societies with this English Society of the 18/19th century. The same exhausting judgement, the fear of what people might say, the neighbours , the gossips,the stupid concept of honour, the woman who pays everything.
PS/ Pete , I WANNA KILL U DUDE! Stupid asshole " see ? " !

[Lonely Panda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was really disturbed while reading this book. The realism of Maggie's life was so crude that I was really bothered with all that happened to her. Stephen Crane's realistic style made it almost an introspection in the poorer life. I was impressed that even his first novel was already in the same atmosphere as his later ones.

[Carrie Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

After loving The Red Badge of Courage, I was not disappointed with Maggie: A Girl of the Streets. Even more surprising, however, was the tale of George's Mother that followed in my volume. I was pleased with the subtle connection between the two. Both stories were delightful although gritty and tragic. Quick reads, George's Mother was my favorite.

[Jess Foley · Rating 1 out of 5]

When I found a copy of Maggie: A girl of the Streets (including George's Mother: a tragic tale of the Bowery) at Molly's Books for only $3 in the Italian Market I was over the moon. It's thrilling to read that Crane " slept in Bowery shelters; sat in a tramp's clothes in Union Square , listening to the talk of hoboes, and stood all night in a blizzard watching men in a bread line" (p.1).
I appreciate the effort , yet despite his hanging about, the resulting two short novels prove that Crane never understood the Bowery of the 1890's.

[Kenneth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maggie, A Girl of the Streets was a controversial novel when it was first published in the 1890's. Today, not so much. A novel of New York City's Bowery, Maggie is a forlorn girl. The other novel included, George's Mother, is also a novel of the Bowery and the gangs therein.

[Justin Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Both stories follow a theme of the price of making bad decisions.
Crane was such an incredible writer. Each paragraph is its own vivid image, and read as a story, the paragraphs together depict a colorful story.

[Mickey Bits · Rating 5 out of 5]

With the caveat that I wasn't around back then... I've never read any other author that can capture such authenticity in the dialog and dialect of folks in New York in the late 19th Century. Two gritty and realistic novels. Almost an American Dickens...

[Agnes · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 Stars

There's not a shred of hope in here.

2 stories of how poverty drives women to ruin & men to drink.

Predictable, one note, the "good" characters felt pathetic.

The dialogue was challenging to read especially as I couldn't hear what the accent was supposed to be.

[Emily McIntosh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was so sad but had great themes. Also makes you think and reflect.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Maggie: A Girl of the Streets and George's Mother are two tragic novellas from the 1890's by Stephen Crane. Maggie Johnson comes from what we today would call a dysfunctional family torn asunder by alcohol. She eventually finds herself homeless and without any social support. Maggie makes an appearance in the second story as well, where we witness a young man's alcohol-fueled downward social spiral. Crane is best known today for writing The Red Badge of Courage. His stories aim at a kind of social realism and seem dead serious in intent. In my opinion, his dialogue, full of social-realist dialect, hasn't aged well.