So Big

By Edna Ferber

Book Overview

"So Big" is a Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece that explores the life of Selina Peake DeJong, a resilient woman who finds beauty and purpose amidst the hard labor of a farming community. Set in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in High Prairie, a Dutch settlement outside Chicago, the narrative follows Selina as she navigates the trials of widowhood and the struggle to maintain a truck farm. Despite her circumstances, she remains a woman of vibrant spirit, determined to cultivate a sense of art and wonder in a world often dominated by material necessity.

The novel examines the evolving relationship between Selina and her son, Dirk, nicknamed "So Big." As Dirk grows up and pursues a career in the city, the story highlights the poignant contrast between his mother's pursuit of a meaningful life and his own search for social and financial success. Edna Ferber's work is a profound meditation on the American dream, the dignity of manual labor, and the enduring power of the human spirit. Through its rich characterizations and evocative setting, "So Big" remains a definitive portrait of the Midwestern experience and a timeless study of what constitutes true fulfillment.

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• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1025447573
• ISBN13: 9781025447575
• Release Date: February 2026
• Publisher: Tradd Street Press
• Length: 388 Pages
• Weight: 1.58 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Pulitzer Prize winning Agrarian Lit

In the early pages of So Big we learn that So Big is the nickname of Dirk DeJong, a young man who has long outgrown the childhood name from his mother, Selina. At this point I figure that the novel would be about the title character, but So Big is really about his mother Selina. Selina takes a job as smalltown schoolteacher in Illinois knowing that in two years she will be eligible to work in a city school and be better paid (the novel is set in the late 1800's). In High Prairie Selina finds out that she is nothing like the hardworking and hard lives of the farmers and farming families of the town. High Prairie is an education for her and when she surprisingly marries one of the farmers her life is ultimately linked to the town and the farming life, one which she never would have anticipated. She hopes, of course, for a better life for her son and struggles to do the best she can for him. So Big won the 1924 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and is a fine novel of argrarian literature. Edna Ferber does well in capturing the hard lives of the farmers without either idealizing their struggle nor demeaning their lives. Literature of this sort (such as A Thousand Acres, which also won the Pulitzer) is strangely appealing to me since I have no real ties to the farming life and have never worked on a farm, but when written well it comes across with great passion and compassion in a novel. -Joe Sherry

One of the best books I've read.

I throughly enjoyed ths book. It was the second Ferber novel I had read, and truly, I don't think there are many that top this one. I laughed, I cried. I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in meeting an incredible woman who takes what she gets in life and makes the best that she can. A truly compelling novel.

The Story Stays With Me

I read So Big literally decades ago, and the story has stuck with me through all that time.Selina DeJong's positive and hard working attitude is inspirational. Ferber does her justice in the end, when Selina achieves "gravitas," the state of being satisfied with her life and wise in old age.Typically, her son doesn't appreciate what his mother has given him until his is older and can see her through his girlfriend's eyes. Suddenly she becomes clear to him as a heroine.This story even inspired me to each vegetables more! I can only hope you enjoy this book as much as I did.

An excelent and inspiring Pulitzer Prize winning novel

I loved this book. I am currently reading through the Pulitzer Prize winning novels and this is one of my favorites to date! The story reminds one of who you want to be - one who is strong, principaled and loving. The main charachter is a woman who faces virtually every challange that life has to offer and who still remains an individual of hope and direction. I thought that the novel was inspiring. The prose and the themes were engaging and very readable. The book reminds us to push on an be the people that we know that we can be.A great inspiring book - read it.

A timeless message

Edna Ferber's book is touching and timeless. The themes of money, working hard, family, and real "living" are as appropriate today as when the book was written. You can't help but be taken in by the inspirational story of Selina Peake...don't miss it.