Again, I have read these books several times, but the last time was ages ago and so I don't remember all the details. But I do remember Crossing To Safety being a very interesting and thought provoking story about the lifelong friendship between two couples. Wallace Stegner is one of my favorite authors and is such an amazing author. Another one of his that I love is The Angle of Repose, which I recommend just as highly. The angle of repose is the angle at which rocks will no longer slide down but remain in place on a slope. This is a book about a poorly suited couple who spend years finding the angle of repose in their marriage, and also one of their descendents finding the angle of repose in his life. These, in my opinion, are must read books. They are incredibly well written, and provide some very interesting discussion material. Be sure to pick them up.
Again, I have read these books several times, but the last time was ages ago and so I don't remember all the details. But I do remember Crossing To Safety being a very interesting and thought provoking story about the lifelong friendship between two couples. Wallace Stegner is one of my favorite authors and is such an amazing author. Another one of his that I love is The Angle of Repose, which I recommend just as highly. The angle of repose is the angle at which rocks will no longer slide down but remain in place on a slope. This is a book about a poorly suited couple who spend years finding the angle of repose in their marriage, and also one of their descendents finding the angle of repose in his life. These, in my opinion, are must read books. They are incredibly well written, and provide some very interesting discussion material. Be sure to pick them up.
3 comments:
These two novels are among my all-time favorites! I'm a big Wallace Stegner fan. In fact, I wrote my master's thesis on him as a graduate student at BYU. I like many things about Stegner, but probably chief among them is his ability to capture the drama and significance of ordinary human relationships. He writes about the kind of people I know from personal experience--people who are decent, bright, generous, and capable human beings but also flawed. Stegner's characters are not the kind of people who would think that their stories would be worth telling, but they are. Angle of Repose, a Pulitzer Prize-winner, is more sweeping in scope. It deals with such themes as life on the western frontier, marriage, generational conflict, gender identity, the tension between the past and the present, etc. Crossing to Safety is a more intimate novel about friendship and is set in contemporary times. Stegner is an author more people should be familiar with. I highly recommend both of these books!
Crossing to Safety is my favorite of the two although I liked them both. I have read it twice.
I read Crossing to Safety a few years ago after I overheard a neighbor recommend it to my Dad. I fell in love immediately with Stegner's beautiful style. His prose is not the modern, choppy language we use today. It is intricate, subtle and masterful. I love his portrayal of simple relationships as extraordinary ones. I love his ability to paint a picture and a character, then leave you with a punchline that pulls it all together - whether it's at the end of a great paragraph or the end of the story.
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