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Jan 19, 2016DorisWaggoner rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
I suppose it's unfair to withhold half a star because I often wanted to, as another reviewer put it, shake both Oliver and Susan Ward. And their grandson Lyman Ward, the narrator of the framing sections of the book. Still, I began by reading the book slowly, savoring it for its many perfections and felicities of language. Then I got impatient and wanted to know "how it all turns out" and stayed up way too late one night to finish it. Fortunately, I soon found a used copy to buy. I plan to reread it, slowly, savoring the whole thing, to see if I can figure out how Stegner pulls off this magic. Susan, Oliver, Lyman, and the other main characters and so many walk-ons are so clearly drawn. He has a way of making complex, imperfect people compelling. He also shows how they change. Susan, for instance, writes letters to her friend Augusta in NYC, whom she doesn't see for years. To her she pours out her heart about her joys and sorrows. While she tells Augusta how much she hates the West, how much she holds her self above it, she is changing slowly into a Westerner. She's not the same kind of Westerner as her husband Oliver, and that's part of their tragedy. But she's become a true Westerner. Lyman, who knew them both when he was a child, is aware of that, and sees it in her writing. A truly beautiful book.