Scan barcode
cozylis's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
whimsicalmeerkat's review against another edition
5.0
It's hard to describe this book, but it left me close to tears, not of sadness, more from a sort of fullness and wonder at life. In some ways a "coming of age" story, it manages to be so much more, largely because the focus on the main character is so loose. The depictions of dozens of people, the way the struggles they have in common yet hide away in the privacy of their rooms or thoughts, do not in any way feel disorganized. The book at once meanders and builds steadily to the end. The phrase "the sadness of sophistication" particularly struck me as beautiful. I have not read anything so moving in a long time.
jvmpbvndles's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
lrsreads's review against another edition
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
smusie's review against another edition
4.0
Apparently, people used to take a lot of walks at night.
beigemoose's review against another edition
dark
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
mxmorganic's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
In the introduction to my edition of this book, Glen A. Love writes of “the presence of myth in Winesburg” (pg. viii), and reading Winesburg, Ohio with this in mind brightened the experience in an incredibly rich way, and so I strongly recommend approaching the novel from that angle.
I’ll give an example of how this works, the first instance in the novel that really stuck out to me: “The story of Doctor Reefy and his courtship of the tall dark girl who became his wife and left her money to him is a very curious story. It is delicious, like the twisted little apples that grow in the orchards of Winesburg. In the fall one walks in the orchards and the ground is hard with frost underfoot. The apples have been taken from the trees by the pickers. They have been put in barrels and shipped to the cities where they will be eaten in apartments that are filled with books, magazines, furniture, and people. On the trees are only a few gnarled apples that the pickers have rejected. They look like the knuckles of Doctor Reefy’s hands. One nibbles at them and they are delicious. Into a little round place at the side of the apple has been gathered all of its sweetness. One runs from tree to tree over the frosted ground picking the gnarled, twisted apples and filling his pockets with them. Only the few know the sweetness of the twisted apples.” (pg. 19)
I include the entire quote, long as it is, because I also think it demonstrates several other features of the book which I found noteworthy. A tiny detail that tripped me up now and then was Anderson’s use of commas, specifically how few of them he uses compared to what I would expect from a modern author. This isn’t a bad thing by any means, it’s just an odd, interesting result of reading a book published in 1919, and you can see it in a few places in the quote above.
I gave that quote as an example of the book’s mythic qualities, and I did this because the story of the apples feels reminiscent of the ekphrases, or little side stories, that abound in works like Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. It does not, strictly speaking, add anything to the story, but at the same time, moments like these are the story of Winesburg. It’s a story made up not just of its 24 distinct short stories, but of innumerable little stories which carry the reader from the beginning of a given narrative to its end, over and over until the book is suddenly done. (Indeed, its final story is its shortest, and while I love the ending, it does arrive shockingly quickly.)
Finally, this quote demonstrates just how much this book focuses on little pleasures, on the everyday and the mundane, and how it finds something beautiful in the simplicity of life’s commonest moments. “Apartments that are filled with books, magazines, furniture, and people” stands out to me both because it should be a boring, throwaway line, and because it’s all the more evocative for that.
The short stories in Winesburg all drip with a bittersweet melancholy that I think will stick with me for years to come. I’m not sure there’s a single truly happy story in the bunch – some get close to this, and some have happy moments, but the citizens of Winesburg, Ohio, all have a tough go of it in various ways, but I suppose that’s true of all of us, isn’t it. Anyway, all the stories here are pretty good, but I’ll just note that a few of my favorites include “The Thinker” (which bummed me out), “Tandy” (a great example of myth in Winesburg), “The Strength of God” (just a great story), and “Sophistication” (which really hit home for me more than I wish it did).
As a student of Greco-Roman myth, the opportunity to read an American mythmaker was an incredibly special experience – it helps that Anderson’s a tremendous storyteller. I recommend Winesburg, Ohio wholeheartedly.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Terminal illness, Chronic illness, and Grief
Moderate: Death and Alcoholism
c_mcd's review against another edition
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
deanna_rigney's review against another edition
5.0
It seemed like it would be a simple book of short stories concerning different members of a small town, but the stories were deep and thoughtful, and many were just plain sad. These people are complex in a variety of ways, and the author leads us through each little life that suddenly doesn't seem little at all. I can definitely see the influence this had on later writers like Faulkner & Fitzgerald. This was both beautiful and moving in a sorrowful way.