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Living to Tell
After spending five years in prison for killing his beloved grandmother in a drunk driving accident, thirty-three-year-old Winston Mabie is returning to his Wichita, Kansas, childhood home and the sisters and parents he left behind. Though the surroundings are familiar, Winston's return suddenly forces the five Mabies to reexamine one another. Will they learn to talk of cl...more
Paperback, 320 pages
Published
June 5th 2001
by Scribner Book Company
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A staggeringly powerful book that begins with a son returning home after five years in prison for accidentally killing his grandmother in a drunk-driving incident. Told at first in chapters inhabiting a character's head and then sliding into an alternating omniscience, it is a story about people with their own lives living in proximity to one another and trying to fit the pieces together. They obsess about how they are living their lives and what is going on in the lives of others. They have the...more
Antonya Nelson. Living to Tell. New York: Scribner, 2000.
Again, Nelson is better with short stories than a novel. (See comments for Talking in Bed.) A significant portion of this book I read in another book of hers as a short story. Sigh. I have several other books I ordered of hers and I suspect I’ll have the same observation again and again.
Page 91: “People were always telling you what a joy grandchildren were: restored children – without the worry. But Mrs. Mabie ...more
Again, Nelson is better with short stories than a novel. (See comments for Talking in Bed.) A significant portion of this book I read in another book of hers as a short story. Sigh. I have several other books I ordered of hers and I suspect I’ll have the same observation again and again.
Page 91: “People were always telling you what a joy grandchildren were: restored children – without the worry. But Mrs. Mabie ...more
After reading Nelson's latest short story collection and thoroughly enjoying it, I picked up a copy of one of her novels at the library. Although I am enjoying it, my sense of indignation has been aroused. Chapter 8 of this novel is almost exactly the same as the story "Party of One" in Nothing is Right. I don't know why this bothers me so much, but it seems to be cheating somehow. Oh well. Here are some quotations I like:
"Loving grown-ups proved challenging to Mrs. Ma...more
"Loving grown-ups proved challenging to Mrs. Ma...more
A beautiful story about the ways families disappoint and love one another. All of the characters in this novel are flawed and scarred. Emily, Winston, and Mona Mabie are all living in their parents' home again, despite being adults, but all are broken: Emily by divorce, Winston by a drunken driving accident that sent him to jail for five years and Mona by her bad choices in men and fragile psyche. Their parents might function better, but they have issues, too.
Things come to a head af...more
Things come to a head af...more
A quiet book that sneaks up on you. An ensemble story of a family including adult children who live together. Inciting incident is the return from prison of the son who killed his grandmother drunk driving. Subtle growth and changes among all family members. Delicate, delicious twists and a lovely ironic ending. Sure voice and this author has earned the designation of a top American writer. Remarkable effort.
Nelson's short fiction is some of my favorite. This novel is strong as well. It has the feel of a short story trying on its father's suit--in a good way. You can see it in there under the layers. And those layers are entertaining--comical at times, sad at others.
This was engaging to read, but I didn't just fall in love with it like some of her other books. If you want to check out this author, read Talking in Bed or Nothing Right, because they're fabulous.
Sally Kenney
added it
My favorite of the four novels I read. Characters initially unlikeable grew on me and rose to the occasion. Loved the academic parts. Reminded me of Franzen.
This was one of the 2001 RUSA Notable Books winners. For the complete list, go to http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/rusa/a...
The story sounded like it would be interesting but I was only annoyed by each of the characters and how self-involved they all were.
Donna
added it
Wonderful portrait of a family trying to come together as betrayals, broken hearts and other tragedies threaten to pull it apart.
Kate
added it
Despite a quite nice style of writing I grew bored of this part way through. The start promises more than the end delivers.
This is the second Antonya Nelson book I have read. I like her character development and prose style. This is the story of a dysfunctional family, the same old story, of course, but with a few twists...a retired professor, a son returning from five years in prison, two sisters, all of whom live in the family mansion. The narrative structure is worth noting, as the characters are introduced in point of view chapters. The chapter that introduces the mother, whose vision is deteriorating, begins to...more
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loved the characters, how they all have their quirks and flaws and the secrets amongst families.
Point: My great-grandmother, the matriarch of my family, is finally eroding at the age of 98 and the rest of us matriarch-to-bes--my grandmother, my mother, and myself--have been deathbed-side for a month or so now as she goes. On Sunday morning she grabbed my grandmother's hands, whispered "Forgive me" in Spanish and then went completely under.
Counterpoint: Some white people who live in a big house and nobody else cares about them. They do mean things to each other but don...more
Counterpoint: Some white people who live in a big house and nobody else cares about them. They do mean things to each other but don...more
Another story about a family with secrets, myths, lies, sex and no videos
the closer to the end of the book, the slower i tried to read it.
Mariya
marked it as to-read
NO
I finished this novel, which I was surprised about. It started off good but then ended slow. But there are some nice moments of togetherness in here-- those kind where the world (in the book) kind of forms a perfect circle and you wish you'd written it.
Enjoyable but not necessarily a book to fall in love with...you can definitely tell she's a short story writer (and both the good and the bad that come with that are rampant)...all in all a pleasant park slope stoop find.
Karen
rated it
favorite line: "Her music, as usual, was a frightening discordant presence, terribly at odds with the flowers and birds and blue sky, as if someone were throwing razor blades into the air."
Hetty
marked it as to-read
Cathy
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Bibliophile
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Jan
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Dlynn
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Kerri Nash
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Antonya Nelson is the author of nine books of fiction, including Nothing Right and the novels Talking in Bed, Nobody’s Girl, and Living to Tell. Nelson’s work has appeared in the New Yorker, Esquire, Harper’s, Redbook, and many other magazines, as well as in anthologies such as Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards and The Best American Short Stories. She has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, an NEA...more
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