Willoyd's Tour of the States.

[Hayley]

21 hours ago, willoyd said:

still not half way!

Nearly though! Were these last changes just for preference? I know it's considered a classic but I hated In Cold Blood, it made me feel really uncomfortable. 

[willoyd]

On 10/4/2021 at 8:51 PM, Hayley said:

Nearly though! Were these last changes just for preference? I know it's considered a classic but I hated In Cold Blood, it made me feel really uncomfortable. 

 

I'm an inveterate list maker and tweaker!  I set out my criteria, but at the time I made the original list I knew a lot less about American literature than I do now (I still don't know it well!).  In particular, I'm finding out more about where books are set, and which books are 'famous' - America literature appears much more regional, and authors who might be very well known in and around their state may be virtually unknown elsewhere.  Just to give one example, I'd barely heard of Wendell Berry before starting the tour, but he's one of only two (I think) living authors published by Library of America.

 

As a result, I've been shuffling books around on and off.  The latest shift around was triggered by the fact that I decided that 'In Cold Blood' didn't sufficiently fit the criteria.  But that meant shifting around elsewhere too.....

 

My aim is that by the end I'll have read a really good cross-section of twentieth century American literature. I've already read some stonking books - a couple of  six star reads, a fair number of fives, and several authors I definitely want to follow up, or have already started to follow up, further: Willa Cather, Larry McMurtry, Wendell Berry and Louise Erdrich just for starters (oh and, of course, Toni Morrison!).

Edited October 12, 2023 by willoyd

[Hayley]

23 minutes ago, willoyd said:

My aim is that by the end I'll have read a really good cross-section of twentieth century American literature. I've already read some stonking books - a couple of  six star reads, a fair number of fives, and several authors I definitely want to follow up, or have already started to follow up, further: Willa Cather, Larry McMurtrey, Wendell Berry and Louise Erdrich just for starters (oh and, of course, Toni Morrison!).

Your method of tweaking the list as you go is working then! 

 

24 minutes ago, willoyd said:

America literature appears much more regional, and authors who might be very well known in and around their state may be virtually unknown elsewhere.

I do find that very interesting. It's not something I'd thought about before.

[willoyd]

Books (and states!) 23 and 24:

 

#22: Missouri: Mrs Bridge by Evan S. Connell  *****

Completely coincidentally read after The Stone Diaries, and in so many ways so similar: a biography of a fictional woman, playing very much the wealthy wife and mother role in mid-twentieth century midwest America - similar husband, similar children (2 girls, one boy).  Different personality, different mindset, different atmosphere, written rather more sparingly, but the comparison was fascinating. Both books in very different ways say much about the society the women grow up in.  This book was followed up ten years later by a parallel volume, Mr Bridge, with both books combinedi into a film starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward.  The second book is already on order!

 

#23: Wyoming:  The Virginian by Owen Wister *****

The original Western, which sneaks in, just, as a 20th century book by barely a couple of years; this is the oldest book on my tour, just pipping Ethan Frome. In some respects, it shows it too, with some attitudes that would look distinctly out of place in a 21st century novel - the west is very Anglo-Saxon for instance! - but putting those aside, it was an absorbing novel, with the caveat that this, as pointed out in the introduction, is a somewhat romanticised view of the cowboy world. On that, I would have preferred rather more of the 'cowboy' story and a bit less of the romance, but the tension between the two was, after all, very much at the heart of Wister's story: masculine vs feminine, West vs East. Having been an avid fan of the TV series in my younger years, I was amazed to find Trampas was the original 'baddie', although a wee bit disappointed that, unlike other characters who were vividly developed, he remained somewhat 2-dimensional throughout.
Overall though, the book stood up well some 120 years down the line from its original publication - a ripping yarn with a strong romantic streak, peppered with humour and pathos, and, very important on this tour, a strong sense of place,  It made an interesting counter-point to Lonesome Dove, a rather more modern take on the West.  I really enjoyed it and can see why it remains something of a classic.

Edited August 17, 2023 by willoyd

[willoyd]

#24 Wisconsin: American Wife by Curtis Sittenfeld ****

(copied across from my reading blog thread)

My first book of the year, a book group choice, but one that nicely satisfies one of my aims this year, to read some bigger books. At over 600 pages it certainly counts as one of those!  Having said that, it proved a fairly rapid read - more to do with the readability than any physical aspect of the book!

With the main character, Alice, modelled on Laura Bush, the wife of George W Bush, it opens with the couple in bed in the White House, and Alice contemplating her marriage: she's betrayed the President (we don't know how) and is not certain how her marriage is going to progress - we then move into flashback and Alice tells the story of her life and how she got to this point.  Whilst Alice is modelled on Laura Bush, it becomes fairly quickly apparent that Alice is not actually Laura Bush: there are enough differences, not least that the story, until it reaches Washington, is set in Wisconsin rather than Texas - which meant that rather neatly but unexpectedly, I found I could slot it in as my Tour of the USA book for that state!.  However, there are some key aspects where the 2 lives coincide, aspects, or events, which inevitably impact massively on the women's respective lives.  It would be too much of a spoiler to itemise them all, but one which has been well-flagged in reviews, and occurs early on enough not actually spoil, is that it's well documented that Laura Bush, at the age of 19, drove through a stop sign one evening, and collided with a car coming along the other road, killing the driver, a boy who she knew well.  A similar incident occurs to Alice, but the circumstances and the aftermath are pure fiction. 

I initially thought that a lot of this book would be about the rise to the Presidency, but in fact that barely features. Three quarters of the book is about the Alice's life before Charlie (her husband) runs for political status, whilst the last quarter (there are 4 parts) jumps to a couple of years after they reach the White House.  But the parts are all strongly connected.  What the book does focus on is Alice's relationship with Charlie: they love each other, but they are political opposites - Alice is a signed up Democrat.  There social background is also very different (as were the real-life couples').  So, how does Alice work this, how does she compromise her political beliefs and principles to handle that relationship.  Or does she?  I have to admit, I did find the book quite hard going at times, not because of its readability (as we know), but because of of the extent of the navel-gazing, or internal monologue, and, to be honest, some of the repetition.  The challenge and its resolution, the moral hurdles Alice has to negotiate make for fascinating reading, but a good editor would have made this even better (interesting to hear only the other day the presenters of the Book Club Review podcast saying exactly the same about Sittenfeld's latest, 'Rodham', another alternative history biography). I never felt the desire to abandon the book, but I did find myself skimming on occasions.

When we came to the book group discussion, I think I was the most positive about the book.  Most felt it overlong, a good proportion found Alice frustratingly annoying ('Why was she such a doormat?' was one's question that summed this up neatly), but I have to say that I never once thought that: rather the opposite: this was very much a woman trying to balance her obvious love for her partner with the fact that they were such diametric opposites in so many areas - how did she handle this.  It may have been the life of an American First Lady, but so much of it reflected the questions pretty much every couple must face at one time or the other.  In her own way, I found Alice to be a rather strong character.

In summary: a generally engaging read, with a few patches of longeuse that would have benefited from a stronger editor, asking some very human questions. It certainly made for a good book club read.  A promising start to the year, with the added bonus that I've taken my Tour of the USA score up to 25 - one off half way! : 4 stars out of 6.

Edited August 17, 2023 by willoyd

[willoyd]

#25 Connecticut:  The Stepford Wives by Iran Levin **

Well, it took until almost half-way through the tour, but I finally reached a book that was genuinely disappointing. There have been a couple which were 'alright', and about which I couldn't get particularly enthusiastic, but none, until now, where I came away thinking that was a distinctly unsatisfactory read.  Supposedly this was a satire, and I suspect it was in its day, but reading this fifty years on, it just felt horribly dated, with wooden characters and a plot line lacking in any credibility.  And no, unlike many other books, I found myself unable to suspend my disbelief, not least because it was such an unpleasant read.  In fact, I'm almost talking myself into 1 star, but perhaps better to leave it at that, and just walk away, relieved that it was only 138 pages long, barely an evening's read.  A tedious evening, it has to be said.  2 stars out of 6.

 

Edited August 17, 2023 by willoyd

[willoyd]

#26 Pennsylvania: The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara ******

A small moment of celebration, as filling in this state means that for the first time, I have a complete line of states filled in all the way from "Sea to Shining Sea", Pacific to Atlantic!
After the disappointment of The Stepford Wives (Connecticut), this was a return to the high ratingsthat the vast majority of the books on this tour have so far achieved. The title is a slightly odd one, more reminiscent of a zombie novel, or at least something out of Doctor Who (I think those are actually Weeping Angels!), but there's nothing odd about the book itself, a fictionalised narrative of the Battle of Gettysburg, told mainly from the perspective of General Robert E. Lee and his second-in-command, James Longstreet, but including other 'lesser' players too, including Joshua Chamberlain, a college professor turned regimental commander on the Union side who went on to great things. By fictionalising the narrative, Shaara was able to take the historically factual aspects (and I gather he was pretty rigourous on this front, with mainly just some compression of time and removal of minor characters in places), and bolt on his own interpretations, particularly enabling the inclusion of internal feelings, perceptions and conversations of the characters. They and the place are brought vividly to life, and the result is a superb evocation of battle and the men fighting it. I was gripped, and can well see why it won the Pulitzer. This not a book that features on many 'US Tours', but it should be. I've also spent quite a bit of time on Google Earth whilst reading, exploring relevant parts of the Gettysburg area as much as that will allow, but it's actually somewhere I'd now love to visit. I read James MacPherson's Battle Cry of Freedom a few years ago, but think I need to go and have a reread - or maybe tackle Shelby Foote's trilogy at long last (it's been sat waiting for me long enough!).I've got his novel of Shiloh on my list for one of the other states, and it'll be interesting to compare.

Edited October 12, 2023 by willoyd

[willoyd]

#27 Minnesota: Main Street by Lewis Sinclair ***

A satirical look at small-town life in mid-West America of the early twentieth century, written in the 1920s. Apparently, this was a major contribution to the author's winning the Nobel Prize for Literature om 1930. Rather oddly, it was initially awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1921, but the board of trustees overturned the decision and gave it to Edith Wharton's Age of Innocence, a not unworthy winner it has to be said.
I found this a pretty straightforward, easy read, and was initially really engaged. It's not just a satire, but does examine the roles and feelings of women in the America of the period, albeit written by a contemporary man. Carol, the main protagonist, quite realistically feels herself being pulled several ways, and sucked into attitudes and stances that she herself is uncomfortable with. However, for me, it felt overlong (at 380 pages) and would have benefited from being rather sharper and leaner - there were times when I thought the commentary was being ladled on rather thickly (for instance, a couple of speeches etc didn't need reiterating in all their verbosity), and things were spelled out rather too ponderously. The third quarter, in particular, dragged, although the writing, and events, did pick up rather towards the end. Overall, a solid read, but I can't say I was completely grabbed, and it took some effort to make it to the end, although I was glad I did.

 

#28 Georgia:  The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers ******

Something of a contrast!  This debut novel, McCullers was only 23 when she wrote this, centres on deaf-mute John Singer, living alone in a boarding-house after the institutionalisation of his close friend and house-mate Spiros Antonapoulos, and the the lives of four people for whom Singer becomes a bit of a lynch-pin: a young girl (12+), a diner owner, an itinerant labour radical, and a local black doctor.  All are isolated and lonely in their own ways, and McCullers examines the impact this has on them, as wel as the influence of Singer, who in his own insular world, doesn't appreciate the effect he has - he remains focused on the remnants of his relationship with Antonapoulos and struggles to understand the world around him.  It's a powerful and immersive meditation that gripped me from start to finish.  McCullers' writing is based on remarkably short and straightforward sentences which paint a vivid picture - the writing feels more complex than it actually is - and gets deep inside the five characters and their lives.  It's not a happy book, but is both thoughtful and thought-provoking.  It's yet another book (or, indeed, author) in this tour that is a local (or at least American) classic, but that is far less known in this country.  It's proving rather an eye-opener!

Edited October 12, 2023 by willoyd

[willoyd]

#29 Mississippi: As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner ******

I approached this book with some trepidation: Faulkner's reputation as a 'difficult' author is positively fearsome, but I needn't have worried.  It's told through a multiplicity of narrators - each chapter recounted by a different character - so even though every one is 'unrelialble', or at least sees events through their own eyes - a rich and detailed picture is built up rather like a patchwork embroidery.  The result is one of the most brilliant reads I've had in ages - totally engaging, immersive, full of character, humour and a strong sense of time and place.  Not in terms of pure geography or history, but as a microcosm - you feel you are there with the characters as and when it all happens.  Just loved it from start to finish, and the finish is a stonker, literally the very last line.  More, please!

Edited August 17, 2023 by willoyd

[willoyd]

#30 New York: Another Country by James Baldwin ******
Another masterpiece - this project is really producing the goods! It took me a while to decide on which book out of a rather large number I would read for New York. I eventually plumped for James Baldwin simply because I'd never read any of his work, and yet had heard so much about him. I was delighted I did. His style is definitely not on the lean side - it's full, rich, detailed, and digs deep into the mind of his characters - we are directly privy to their thoughts and feelings. So there's a lot of tell rather than show, which usually puts me off, but his telling shows things that are even deeper, resulting in some really strongly developed characters, far richer than many even good writers achieve. I found it hard to tell whether 'Another Country' referred to race, or, as one part of the novel suggested, love. Probably a combination of both, because at the heart of this were the relationships between several mixed race couples. and the tensions created from the differing viewpoints these differences led to. There again, the title could have been referring to literally the influence of another country, Eric (almost entirely absent in the first half of the book) returning to the US after an extended stay in France a very different person to the one who had left, and one whose relationships are thoroughly effected by that change. Or, perhaps, the 'country' was gender, with a lively mix of homo-, bi- and heterosexual characters and relationships? To be honest, it was almost too rich in places, and I was in danger more than once of getting lost in the dense weave of all four of these threads.
It wasn't perfect. I found the first half utterly engrossing, but after dramatic events at the end of the first half, the narrative seemed to take a while to get going again at the start of the second. I'm sure this was deliberate - the pace and intensity changed so dramatically it couldn't have been anything other, but it took me rather longer than I wanted to regain the sense of reading rhythm and level of immersion that I had earlier achieved - a bit like coming out of a particularly vivid dream, desperately trying to hold on to it, but finding it slipping away. Fortunately the new characters (the transition between the two halves of the book sees a dramatic shift in character focus) are quickly well established in their own right, the two halves are stitched together, and the book starts to gather pace again, none too soon!
Overall, this was an intense, rich, immersive, big book (over 400 pages) - a thoroughly rewarding read that will not let go easily, an excellent 'representative' read for New York. Another writer of whom I need to read more.

Edited October 12, 2023 by willoyd

[willoyd]

#31 Florida: Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston *****

Review to follow

Edited October 12, 2023 by willoyd

[willoyd]

#32 West Virginia: Rocket Boys / October Sky by Homer Hickam Jnr *****

Review to follow

Edited November 17, 2023 by willoyd

[willoyd]

#33 Nevada: The Ox-Bow Incident by Walter Van Tilburg Clark *****

Review to follow