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4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
I have to include this as well - another Stegner book that should be on everyone's to-read shelf.
A story of love and friendship, marriage, and career aspirations, this book is on my top 10 list. The characters will remind you of people you love and people that challenge you.
The bonus for me is that part of the book takes place at the University of Wisconsin, Madison where the protagonist is a professor!
Its the human spirit defined... ok so maybe that is a bit melodramatic but the book is not!
The bonus for me is that part of the book takes place at the University of Wisconsin, Madison where the protagonist is a professor!
Its the human spirit defined... ok so maybe that is a bit melodramatic but the book is not!
I'm a bit unsettled by this book, and I'm not sure why. Maybe it's the intimacy of being thrown so deeply into the characters' lives. Maybe it's because I can't decide if I like the narrator or not. Maybe I'm a bit resentful that the narrator made me dislike one of the female characters so much when I'm hyper-aware of the "wife-as-shew" trope and the narrator is a man. Maybe it's all of those things.
Whatever the cause for my not being able to pin this book down in my mind, it is an interesting read. It starts off slowly but picks up speed as you become embroiled in the characters' lives--at first separate, on the periphery, then like vines growing together as the story progresses. The narrator is telling the story after the fact, and the setup is such that I kept forgetting this wasn't an autobiography and the author-as-narrator, rather than a fictional character. I will say that the transitions from the present-day action (the catalyst for the trip down memory lane that takes up the bulk of the story) and memories are a bit abrupt, and there were one or two places I had to read a couple times to figure out just when we were back in the present, but overall it was a well-crafted frame for the story.
I definitely found myself taking sides. I was more fond of the narrator's wife than the narrator, and far more fond of the husband than the wife of the other couple. It's not they're not all sympathetic, but their various personalities come through so well that I stuck on to the ones I would most likely have enjoyed the company of myself.
The backdrop of the Depression was an interesting setting for the story, and it's obvious the author was injecting his own experiences during that time, to the betterment of the story. It was a little hard to relate--kind of like trying to understand the stories of my grandparents on a more than historical level--but made the contrast between the two couples' financial stations (a running them throughout the book) all the more stark.
Overall, it's not a book I'll be permanently adding to my shelves, but I am glad I read it. It's a fairly quick read, as well, so definitely worth the time.
Whatever the cause for my not being able to pin this book down in my mind, it is an interesting read. It starts off slowly but picks up speed as you become embroiled in the characters' lives--at first separate, on the periphery, then like vines growing together as the story progresses. The narrator is telling the story after the fact, and the setup is such that I kept forgetting this wasn't an autobiography and the author-as-narrator, rather than a fictional character. I will say that the transitions from the present-day action (the catalyst for the trip down memory lane that takes up the bulk of the story) and memories are a bit abrupt, and there were one or two places I had to read a couple times to figure out just when we were back in the present, but overall it was a well-crafted frame for the story.
I definitely found myself taking sides. I was more fond of the narrator's wife than the narrator, and far more fond of the husband than the wife of the other couple. It's not they're not all sympathetic, but their various personalities come through so well that I stuck on to the ones I would most likely have enjoyed the company of myself.
The backdrop of the Depression was an interesting setting for the story, and it's obvious the author was injecting his own experiences during that time, to the betterment of the story. It was a little hard to relate--kind of like trying to understand the stories of my grandparents on a more than historical level--but made the contrast between the two couples' financial stations (a running them throughout the book) all the more stark.
Overall, it's not a book I'll be permanently adding to my shelves, but I am glad I read it. It's a fairly quick read, as well, so definitely worth the time.
Truly enjoyed this stroll through friendship and relationships.
Crossing to Safety is quietly thoughtful and poignant. It is a gentle reflection on friendship and marriage, and the observations we make of the people to whom we're closest. It's a slowly moving novel without much action, but there is a lot of emotional depth that I thoroughly enjoyed. I wish I had more time to properly review this book. Suffice to say that it was wonderful, and I look forward to reading more of Stegner.
Around the time that I reached the halfway point in reading my first Stegner book (Big Rock Candy Mountain), I realized that I love this author. So I decided to start listening to Crossing To Safety before I even finished it. Thus, I was introduced with the one book and completed the other first.
Crossing To Safety is a novel about normal life that continues to openly defy the notion that good art and compelling stories must be violent, disillusioned, sexy, and bleak. It is the story of two couples who meet in the first stages of family and career building and who stick with one another through four decades that include The Great Depression, World War 2, and, more importantly, their own physical and social tragedies. While these complex people have supremely realistic character flaws and occasionally tenuous marital and financial circumstances, the overarching intention of the book is to show how much friends can provide for one another throughout a lifetime of caring. There are always downsides and difficulties where honesty is concerned, but this is a story of gratefulness. As someone who is always longing for intimate friendships, this book felt like a study of a chimera. A bond between four people who are put to the test for and by one another who never give up until the end. Definitely read this.
Crossing To Safety is a novel about normal life that continues to openly defy the notion that good art and compelling stories must be violent, disillusioned, sexy, and bleak. It is the story of two couples who meet in the first stages of family and career building and who stick with one another through four decades that include The Great Depression, World War 2, and, more importantly, their own physical and social tragedies. While these complex people have supremely realistic character flaws and occasionally tenuous marital and financial circumstances, the overarching intention of the book is to show how much friends can provide for one another throughout a lifetime of caring. There are always downsides and difficulties where honesty is concerned, but this is a story of gratefulness. As someone who is always longing for intimate friendships, this book felt like a study of a chimera. A bond between four people who are put to the test for and by one another who never give up until the end. Definitely read this.
A mí mi padre me prestó este libro con las solemnes palabras "Si te gustó Stoner te gustará éste".
¿Se puede escribir sobre una vida apacible? ¿Se puede escribir sobre una vida normal tirando a feliz y normalmente agradable? ¿Se puede escribir una novela que carezca de drama? ¿Se puede basar toda una novela en la amistad sin más de dos parejas a lo largo de los años?
Se puede. Pero por supuesto no es para todo el mundo. No se le puede dar este libro a alguien de 15 años, porque incluso si se lo termina y no lo tira por resultarle soporífero, no llegará a comprender en toda su magnitud la visión de la amistad que hace esta novela. Al fin y al cabo, con 15 años crees que tus mejores amigos lo serán por siempre y que tu amistad con ellos no cambiará. Pero la amistad cambia, de la misma forma que lo hacen las personas, y una amistad duradera tendrá fases y mucho componente de confianza, paciencia y comprensión del otro. Tus amigos no son perfectos, y es parte de la vida entender y admitir esto.
No es éste un libro con un ritmo rápido, ni con giros de guión. Es un paseo agradable por el campo, siendo las descripciones de la naturaleza una parte importante de la narración. A veces hasta pareciera demasiado edulcorado, aunque siempre hay un momento de sufrimiento o una sombra en la personalidad de los personajes, que lo ancla a la realidad. También se habla de la vida universitaria, del profesorado de las universidades de la Ivy League y nuestros personajes son personas cultas que no escatiman referencias a ese saber cultural. La historia nos narra la vida de personas de cierto nivel socio-cultural a los que no les sucede mucho en la vida, salvo los típicos reveses y alguna que otra sorpresa que es parte del vivir. Pero no hay drama y no hay tensión, porque no es ese tipo de historia.
Si tuviera que elegir, sin duda me quedaría con Stoner, porque su prosa sencilla y precisa y aséptica, con muy pocas florituras, me atrajo más, pero parafraseando a mi padre: "a quienes les gustó Stoner es muy posible que también les guste esta novela".
¿Se puede escribir sobre una vida apacible? ¿Se puede escribir sobre una vida normal tirando a feliz y normalmente agradable? ¿Se puede escribir una novela que carezca de drama? ¿Se puede basar toda una novela en la amistad sin más de dos parejas a lo largo de los años?
Se puede. Pero por supuesto no es para todo el mundo. No se le puede dar este libro a alguien de 15 años, porque incluso si se lo termina y no lo tira por resultarle soporífero, no llegará a comprender en toda su magnitud la visión de la amistad que hace esta novela. Al fin y al cabo, con 15 años crees que tus mejores amigos lo serán por siempre y que tu amistad con ellos no cambiará. Pero la amistad cambia, de la misma forma que lo hacen las personas, y una amistad duradera tendrá fases y mucho componente de confianza, paciencia y comprensión del otro. Tus amigos no son perfectos, y es parte de la vida entender y admitir esto.
No es éste un libro con un ritmo rápido, ni con giros de guión. Es un paseo agradable por el campo, siendo las descripciones de la naturaleza una parte importante de la narración. A veces hasta pareciera demasiado edulcorado, aunque siempre hay un momento de sufrimiento o una sombra en la personalidad de los personajes, que lo ancla a la realidad. También se habla de la vida universitaria, del profesorado de las universidades de la Ivy League y nuestros personajes son personas cultas que no escatiman referencias a ese saber cultural. La historia nos narra la vida de personas de cierto nivel socio-cultural a los que no les sucede mucho en la vida, salvo los típicos reveses y alguna que otra sorpresa que es parte del vivir. Pero no hay drama y no hay tensión, porque no es ese tipo de historia.
Si tuviera que elegir, sin duda me quedaría con Stoner, porque su prosa sencilla y precisa y aséptica, con muy pocas florituras, me atrajo más, pero parafraseando a mi padre: "a quienes les gustó Stoner es muy posible que también les guste esta novela".
Idk if I can rate this? Very chill vibes. It's like slice of life but it's not a slice, it's the WHOLE life. A bit of unreliable narrator imo. Cozy read. Good female characters for being written by a man at the time it was. Might give it another try when I'm like 60 haha
Superb. A quiet, authentic, intricate story of two married heterosexual couples and their lifelong friendship, starting in the 1930s.