You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
4.1 AVERAGE
4.1 AVERAGE
Hmph. Well-crafted for sure but there's something inauthentic about it, like a flat note in an otherwise moving piece of music.
I was really into this book at first but found it dragged on a little long. Quiet lives, beautifully written for the most part but a little tedious and at times the narrator was a bit melodramatic.
I hate this kind of tone books like this are written in.
This was my book club's June read, and we all loved it. My youngest sister had recommended it to me years ago, but I know my tendency to fail to read a book unless a deadline is attached, so I added it to the compiled book list we consult when considering new titles for discussion. Luckily for me, it was chosen before it timed off the list.
There are two central couples: Sid and Charity, James and Sally. They meet when the husbands are teaching English at the University of Wisconsin in Madison as the depression is waning and WWII is not yet underway, and the novel is a story of their friendship over the decades. One individual in particular is a force (I'm shamelessly stealing my sister's descriptor).
Our group relished analyzing the relationship dynamics and reviewing our friendships in comparison.
There are two central couples: Sid and Charity, James and Sally. They meet when the husbands are teaching English at the University of Wisconsin in Madison as the depression is waning and WWII is not yet underway, and the novel is a story of their friendship over the decades. One individual in particular is a force (I'm shamelessly stealing my sister's descriptor).
Our group relished analyzing the relationship dynamics and reviewing our friendships in comparison.
A beautiful, moving book about the joy, pain, and bonds of adult friendship between two couples who meet while the husbands teach at a university early in their married lives. The people in the book are written so realistically, and with such compassion, that they feel as real to me as anyone living. This novel is a quiet story of regular people, without any manufactured drama, and I loved every bit of it. Even the hard parts didn’t seem like novelistic conceptions for dramatic effect, but rather like the hard parts of everyday living. Thus, the book felt real to me in a way that very few books do or can. I highly recommend it.
I loved the descriptions in this book. The text was incredible. I found myself wishing I could have come up with some of the ways he describes things. The story is simple, but interesting. I'll probably read it again.
A beautiful book. When Larry and Sally move to a new town to begin Larry's teaching career at a university, they are 'adopted' by the wealthy, glamorous and kind Sid and Charity Lang, and so begins a life-long friendship. Starting at the end with Charity's summons to them to attend a last hurrah before her death and moving back and forward through careers, children, and summer holidays, it is a beautiful story with deep and authentic characters. Sally is sweet despite her polio disability, Charity is determinedly bright, enthusiastic, positive, and organised to the point of bullying her thoughtful, unambitious, outdoorsy Sid, and Larry as the narrator is talented, witty, cynical and hard working. Lovely.
It is infuriating that Goodreads doesn’t allow half stars. 3.5 for Crossing to Safety. I was really absorbed for the first half but I guess I just like my plots a bit more dramatic. But the writing was stellar.
Brilliant ficitonal work on faithfulness in both marriage and friendship, as well as the trials and joys of academic life and beyond. The four main characters are flawed and real, and brilliantly crafted.
This was deeply touching to me as we are walking our own long, often stressful road of marriage through a PhD program and post-graduate research, and it made me grateful for the friends who have stood by us through joy and hardship throughout the years.
This was deeply touching to me as we are walking our own long, often stressful road of marriage through a PhD program and post-graduate research, and it made me grateful for the friends who have stood by us through joy and hardship throughout the years.
Stegner is masterful at moving us through time and place while letting us befriend the Langs and the Morgans. A meaningful examination of relationships; friendship, spouse, and family.