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ruairim95's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
funny
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Medical content and Cancer
iroma8's review against another edition
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
rainbow1218's review
reflective
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
book_concierge's review
4.0
Audiobook performed by Richard Poe
Sally and Larry Morgan arrive at the Vermont compound of their long-time friends, Charity and Sid Lang. They have come to celebrate Charity’s birthday, and to say their goodbyes, for she is dying of cancer. As they settle in at the guest cottage, Larry begins to reflect on memories of a friendship lasting over four decades.
The couples meet in 1937 in Madison, where both Sid and Larry begin their academic careers on the English faculty at the university, and their wives are both pregnant. Larry and Sally are struggling to make ends meet. Sid and Charity are independently wealthy. Still, they form an instant bond despite their differences, and the novel follows them from Wisconsin to Vermont to Cambridge to Italy. Over the years the couples help one another during tough times, and enjoy one another during times of plenty. They are intimately aware of the difficulties each is having, and of the strengths (and weaknesses) in each individual’s character as well as in each couple’s marriage.
This is a work of literary fiction in the best sense. The writing is elegant and the prose simply beautiful (and beautifully simple). If you are a reader who needs a strong plot, with a dramatic storyline and major twists, this is not the work for you. The lives of these two couples are like the lives of most of us … without epic drama, but full of the joys and sorrows of a decades-long existence. Larry, as narrator, is thoughtful and contemplative, not simply observing what happens but trying his best to explain dynamics of the relationships. Stegner has Larry voice the writer’s difficulty: “How do you make a book that anyone will read out of lives as quiet as these? Where are the things that novelists seize upon and readers expect? Where is the high life, the conspicuous waste, the violence …?” In the end we have a novel about love and vulnerability, about kindness and forgiveness, about the complicated relationships we call marriage and friendship. There may not be anything particularly special about any one of these four people, but the story of their friendship is special indeed.
My only complaint is that I thought Charity really bore the brunt of negative characterization. Stegner almost belabors the point that she is a control freak, who repeatedly bullies those she purportedly loves into doing things HER way. How many examples do we need to get it? The sailing trip, the tea bag, the compass, the dishwashing assignment, etc. Just overkill. On the other hand, her determination is also a saving grace in several situations, and it is clear that everyone loves her in spite of (and perhaps a little because of) this flaw.
I should point out that this was Stegner’s last published novel, and he, himself, called it: “…a sort of memoir more for Mary and myself than for anything else, and I wasn’t at all sure I was ever going to publish it.” I, for one, am glad that he did.
Richard Poe does a fine job narrating the audiobook. His pacing is good. I did find his deep voice somewhat challenging when portraying the women, but that is a minor quibble.
Sally and Larry Morgan arrive at the Vermont compound of their long-time friends, Charity and Sid Lang. They have come to celebrate Charity’s birthday, and to say their goodbyes, for she is dying of cancer. As they settle in at the guest cottage, Larry begins to reflect on memories of a friendship lasting over four decades.
The couples meet in 1937 in Madison, where both Sid and Larry begin their academic careers on the English faculty at the university, and their wives are both pregnant. Larry and Sally are struggling to make ends meet. Sid and Charity are independently wealthy. Still, they form an instant bond despite their differences, and the novel follows them from Wisconsin to Vermont to Cambridge to Italy. Over the years the couples help one another during tough times, and enjoy one another during times of plenty. They are intimately aware of the difficulties each is having, and of the strengths (and weaknesses) in each individual’s character as well as in each couple’s marriage.
This is a work of literary fiction in the best sense. The writing is elegant and the prose simply beautiful (and beautifully simple). If you are a reader who needs a strong plot, with a dramatic storyline and major twists, this is not the work for you. The lives of these two couples are like the lives of most of us … without epic drama, but full of the joys and sorrows of a decades-long existence. Larry, as narrator, is thoughtful and contemplative, not simply observing what happens but trying his best to explain dynamics of the relationships. Stegner has Larry voice the writer’s difficulty: “How do you make a book that anyone will read out of lives as quiet as these? Where are the things that novelists seize upon and readers expect? Where is the high life, the conspicuous waste, the violence …?” In the end we have a novel about love and vulnerability, about kindness and forgiveness, about the complicated relationships we call marriage and friendship. There may not be anything particularly special about any one of these four people, but the story of their friendship is special indeed.
My only complaint is that I thought Charity really bore the brunt of negative characterization. Stegner almost belabors the point that she is a control freak, who repeatedly bullies those she purportedly loves into doing things HER way. How many examples do we need to get it? The sailing trip, the tea bag, the compass, the dishwashing assignment, etc. Just overkill. On the other hand, her determination is also a saving grace in several situations, and it is clear that everyone loves her in spite of (and perhaps a little because of) this flaw.
I should point out that this was Stegner’s last published novel, and he, himself, called it: “…a sort of memoir more for Mary and myself than for anything else, and I wasn’t at all sure I was ever going to publish it.” I, for one, am glad that he did.
Richard Poe does a fine job narrating the audiobook. His pacing is good. I did find his deep voice somewhat challenging when portraying the women, but that is a minor quibble.
kendranicole28's review
5.0
Published in 1987 and told mostly in flashback, this semi-autobiographical novel traces the lives and ambitions of two couples whose friendship spans decades. The story begins in 1938 when our narrator, Larry Morgan, and his new bride, Sally, settle into their new home in Madison, Wisconsin, where Larry has accepted a job teaching creative writing in the university’s English department. The Morgans are swiftly swept into an impassioned friendship with another couple from the department, Sid and Charity Lang, and quickly learn of Sid’s ambitions to succeed as a writer and Charity’s bolder ambitions to see her husband excel in the world of academia. As life and global events unfold and Sid and Larry’s careers mature, the couples take different paths but remain close, and their story offers an acute exploration of lifelong friendship.
At one point in the novel, it is suggested that Larry write a story about his friends and he remarks on the absurdity of writing “a book that anyone will read out of lives as quiet as these? Where are the things that novelists seize upon and readers expect?” It is true that this is a quiet novel without the dramatics or suspense of a plot-driven story. But I would argue that this book—with its quiet but realistic characters, jaw-dropping prose, and thoughtful examination of marriage, hardship, perseverance, purpose, and ambition—is just the novel many of us are yearning to read.
This is one of the most compelling stories of adult friendship (especially “couple” friendship) and of marriage that I have ever read, plumbing the complexities and vulnerabilities of our closest relationships and tapping into the struggles and insecurities we all feel but rarely pause to examine or understand. Through the lives of these contrasting couples, we are given the rare gift of navigating our own stories through those we see on the page. Stegner’s writing is marked with dry humor and layers of historical and literary understanding that give resonance and readability to his achingly profound insight into human nature and interpersonal dynamics. His work is also complicated and challenging and not at all straightforward; as much as I loved this, I’m still trying to work out the ending!
This is not a long book, but it was a slower read—mostly because there were so many passages that I read once and then again, pausing between to simply reflect on the meaning and depth of what I had read. It is a deeply introspective book and one I could spend thousands of words analyzing; instead, I will simply urge you to read this for yourself. And you may want to have journal handy or discussion group lined up for a post-reading debrief, for if ever there was a book ripe for discussion and literary analysis, this is it.
My Rating: 5 Stars // Book Format: Kindle
At one point in the novel, it is suggested that Larry write a story about his friends and he remarks on the absurdity of writing “a book that anyone will read out of lives as quiet as these? Where are the things that novelists seize upon and readers expect?” It is true that this is a quiet novel without the dramatics or suspense of a plot-driven story. But I would argue that this book—with its quiet but realistic characters, jaw-dropping prose, and thoughtful examination of marriage, hardship, perseverance, purpose, and ambition—is just the novel many of us are yearning to read.
This is one of the most compelling stories of adult friendship (especially “couple” friendship) and of marriage that I have ever read, plumbing the complexities and vulnerabilities of our closest relationships and tapping into the struggles and insecurities we all feel but rarely pause to examine or understand. Through the lives of these contrasting couples, we are given the rare gift of navigating our own stories through those we see on the page. Stegner’s writing is marked with dry humor and layers of historical and literary understanding that give resonance and readability to his achingly profound insight into human nature and interpersonal dynamics. His work is also complicated and challenging and not at all straightforward; as much as I loved this, I’m still trying to work out the ending!
This is not a long book, but it was a slower read—mostly because there were so many passages that I read once and then again, pausing between to simply reflect on the meaning and depth of what I had read. It is a deeply introspective book and one I could spend thousands of words analyzing; instead, I will simply urge you to read this for yourself. And you may want to have journal handy or discussion group lined up for a post-reading debrief, for if ever there was a book ripe for discussion and literary analysis, this is it.
My Rating: 5 Stars // Book Format: Kindle
timna_wyckoff's review
4.0
I enjoyed it. It's the story of a friendship between two couples - husbands met as English profs at Madison in the late 1930s - follows them through several decades of happiness, tragedy and LIFE. A little old-fashioned for me, but a good story.
arussell77's review
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
4.5
Love that this book partially took place in Madison, Wi
shareen17's review
4.0
My judgment of this book is clouded by the fact that I decided to read this book based on it being on a list of novels about happiness; however, I don't really agree with that assessment. The most optimistic theme I could get from the book is that life is a mixture of happiness, pain, and random awfulness. Or maybe to have love and friendship in our lives we have to accept that people are flawed. I like the writing in this book. I like that it isn't about some extraordinary happenings but everyday people and life. It made me think, which is always part of a good book.
asipior's review
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0