Angle of Repose (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) | Wallace Stegner

Angle of Repose (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) | Wallace Stegner | It's difficult but worth it

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Angle of Repose (P...

	Angle of Repose (Penguin Twentieth-Century Classics) Wallace Stegner Penguin Classics, 2000 - 592 pages average customer review:based on 150 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Wallace Stegner's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel is a story of discovery--personal, historical, and geographical. Confined to a wheelchair, retired historian Lyman Ward sets out to write his grandparents' remarkable story, chronicling their days spent carving civilization into the surface of America's western frontier. But his research reveals even more about his own life than he's willing to admit. What emerges is an enthralling portrait of four generations in the life of an American family.

Like other great quests in literature, Lyman Ward's investigation leads him deep into the dark shadows of his own life. The result is a deeply moving novel that, through the prism of one family, illuminates the American present against the fascinating background of its past.

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"For lack of a keystone...

...the false arch may be as much as one can expect in this life." Stegner summation of his novel's themes contains this essential sentence. Two lines, leaning against each other, without the uniting keystone, form their own angle of repose, a term derived from geology and mining, but as he says, has it own meaning when applied to human relations. Repose which is an acceptance of our fate.

There are several themes that Stegner skillfully handles throughout the book. The central one is certainly the relationship of one man with one woman. An ill-starred marriage of a woman with deep roots in the East, pretensions to, and accomplishments in their high society to a laconic man whose work is of the West, mining and irrigation. The story is told from the viewpoint of their curmudgeonly grandson, who at 58, as a cripple with deteriorating health requiring much care, and has therefore earned his ill-tempered outlook "honestly." He is reconstructing their grandparent's story via letters that the grandmother had written to her best friend "back East." As the story unfolds, we also learn that an aspect of the grandfather's fate with women is reflected in the grandson's fate.

The story is told against the vast panorama that is the West as the frontier draws to a close. The background is a realistic one, not the fables of Hollywood, as the family moves from California to Colorado to Idaho, with a detour via Mexico. Hard economic conditions are their constant accompaniment, along with the hope for amelioration via meaningful work. One of the sub-themes is the whimsy of Eastern capital which can make or break the efforts in the development of the West. Other components serve to authentic the experience, including the majesty of the land itself, Chinese and Mexican immigrant labor, the Powell survey, and the necessitated obsession with water. Stegner knows his science, medicine and geology, and the reader is treated not only the basis for the title to the book, but also the "Doppler effect," which Stegner says has its human applications; the diseases and accidents of the time, along with childbirth, and the physical aspects of both mining and irrigation.

Stegner alternates the late 19th Century story with the life of the grandson, "threatened" by an "old folk's home" in Menlo Park, at the beginning of the `70's. The grandson, Lyman Ward, is clearly hostile to the social changes of the `60's, expressing a preference for the social morals of the Victorian era. Stegner however uses Ward's temporary assistant, Shelly, a student at UC Berkeley, as an effective foil for many of his opinions. Lyman is alienated from his own son also.

All the major, as well as many of the minor characters, are flawed, but Stegner tells their stories with much empathy for the human condition. His prose is wonderfully fresh. The story (ies) are revealed with just the right touch of "dramatic tension."

I was surprised by the comments of some of the other reviewers, who thought Stegner too verbose, or even boring! Clearly it is not a "quick, fun read", and thus not for everyone, but with his skills he could easily have continued for another 200 pages before exhausting his themes or my interest.

At the end it is impossible not to hope that he would, indeed, be a bigger man than his grandfather, breaking that endless cycle of "Plus ca change...."

Angle of Repose is an essential American novel.

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It's difficult but worth it

When I began reading this book I had a difficult time getting into it. I am happy I pushed myself past the first 100 pages. Angle of Repose is without hesitation my favorite classic. It's no mistake it is considered one of the best books of the century. The end of the book took me by surprise and reduced me to tears.

Intriguing, but not maybe not for every reader

I enjoyed this long, ambitious book. It has a lot of the characteristics of a romance novel, but it is a great deal more than that. The author is dealing with bigger themes within the context of fiction. I liked the changes between contemporary times, (1970 to be specific) and the pioneer times. Reading the book in 2008, you realize that what was contemporary when the book was published is now historical and it provides the reader with a different experience than readers in 1971 had. The book is long, but the technique of first person narration from the main character's point of view, the main character's version of his grandmother's life, as well as letters the grandmother wrote break up the novel. I hope I'm not giving too much away when I say this book might be subtitled "A Series of Unfortunate Events." Things don't seem to work out for these people and it is up to the reader to determine exactly why. I was particularly enthralled by the parts that took place in real locations like Leadville, that I could locate on a map. Every reader might not be drawn into this novel, but I was intrigued by it.

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A Great American Novel

I read Angle of Repose many years ago for the first time, and was astounded then as now by its power. Stegner continues to be one of the least recognized of our great American novelsits. Angle of Repose and Crossing to Safety are masterpieces that should be on everyone's list.

Nice writing and flow but.........

I tried twice and both times was foiled by it's monotony. It needed thinning / weeding out. It was like a slow train ride across a desert with the occasional oasis.

If I ever make it to the used book store I'll see if I can find a different title by Stegner and try again.

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