A review by arielamandah
The Spectator Bird by Wallace Stegner

4.0

So, with the exception of essays and short stories (which I think I will take at a more leisurely pace), I think this ends my summer 2021 Tour-de-Stegner. Out of the four novels I've read of his, Spectator Bird is probably lowest on my list. While it was great to go back to Joe and Ruth's story, I didn't feel as close to the characters as I did in Little Live Things. There was more distance there (perhaps because of the literary device/set-up with Joe's journal?). Joe lacked some of the humor and the energy had he had in the prior book, too. Some of the spark and crackle that I've come to associate with Stegner's best writing was missing here - instead, there was some sadness and reserve. Don't get me wrong - this book still runs circles around much of what I've read this year - it's just not quite under my skin in the same way as the others. Still, Stegner gets his own shelf.

Additional random thoughts:

The Denmark story felt odd; was it the guy reading the audiobook? He's terrible at reading women - they all felt like a joke. Or was it Stegner isn't as good when he's not writing America and the West? I wanted Joe back stateside - he felt "wrong" in with the old-world Danish nobility.

The appearance of actual famous authors and real-world personas felt strange. It was odd to find Karen Blixen as a character with dialogue or to imagine Joe being a literary agent for Joyce Carol Oates.