A review by sharanyasarathy
Fidelity: Five stories by Wendell Berry

5.0

I read this book in 2 days but as soon as I finished I had an urge to read it again slower in order to actually understand what it was telling me.

This book reminded me overwhelmingly of Grapes of Wrath but with a less clear boundary between an older way of life and the modern. I particularly enjoyed the order of the stories, and the way the same characters came circling around until the gathering at the end of the last story.

I found this book so soothing and thought it effectively captured the wistfulness and nostalgia of a bygone time and a small community holding onto those ways and values. At the same time I’d be interested to hear if this is a romanticization of small farming communities in Kentucky and Appalachia.