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So Long, See You Tomorrow (Panther)
by William Maxwell

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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14276.So_Long_See_You_Tomorrow?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="So Long, See You Tomorrow (Panther)" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1166586044m/14276.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14276.So_Long_See_You_Tomorrow?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">So Long, See You Tomorrow</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8880.William_Maxwell">William Maxwell</a><br/><br/>
  <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5546514?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
  rating: 5 of 5 stars<br/>I don't know how I'd never read this before. It's particularly silly, because I've read possibly three entire books about William Maxwell, and certainly plenty of his New Yorker stuff, just in the way one reads randomly bits of things over the years, and they accrue, and one day, you realize, Hello, I haven't read any books by this writer that EVERYONE ADORES. Maxwell was an incredible person by all accounts - I read MY MENTOR, the Alec Wilkinson book about him, as well as a straight bio, and another anthology book written by a variety of his friends about him, after he passed away. The events of his life were less incredible than the way he lived his life = at some point, in a crisis of loneliness, he decided to change his life by loving everyone, not by waiting for them to love him. It's one thing to think that - entirely another to actually do it. It seems as though he managed to do it, and as a result, he changed people's lives right and left. The thing that put me onto him to begin with, was an essay published in Tin House about Maxwell as an old man, and a much younger writer's friendship with him. It was one of those pieces of writing that made you think, "I have to change my life. I have to be better." Not to mention the fact that, at least in my head, Maxwell is my writer-grandfather. He reminds me of my real grandfather, whom I miss.  
<br/>
<br/>And so - onto the book. SO LONG, SEE YOU TOMORROW, is a ridiculously lovely piece of writing. It's a novella, dealing with the events and effects of a small-town love-triangle murder on the narrator, a young boy when the murder takes place, and on his friend, a boy who happens to be the son of the murderer. It's hard to break it down, though - this is a book that works not on the strength of its plot, but on the profound empathy it dispenses for everything within its covers. There is a justly celebrated section encompassing the point of view of a farm dog whose boy has moved into town, and who is left to the new owners of the farm. It will make you sob. You will likely not make it through this book without crying, and again, it's not the plot, but the soul. The book has a heart. Everyone should read it. And now, I'm back to reading the rest of Maxwell, cause clearly, I've been missing out. 
  <br/><br/><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/144392?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Maria's review
rating:
bookshelves: so-good-they-live-on-my-desk

I don't know how I'd never read this before. It's particularly silly, because I've read possibly three entire books about William Maxwell, and certainly plenty of his New Yorker stuff, just in the way one reads randomly bits of things over the years, and they accrue, and one day, you realize, Hello, I haven't read any books by this writer that EVERYONE ADORES. Maxwell was an incredible person by all accounts - I read MY MENTOR, the Alec Wilkinson book about him, as well as a straight bio, and another anthology book written by a variety of his friends about him, after he passed away. The events of his life were less incredible than the way he lived his life = at some point, in a crisis of loneliness, he decided to change his life by loving everyone, not by waiting for them to love him. It's one thing to think that - entirely another to actually do it. It seems as though he managed to do it, and as a result, he changed people's lives right and left. The thing that put me onto him to begi...more I don't know how I'd never read this before. It's particularly silly, because I've read possibly three entire books about William Maxwell, and certainly plenty of his New Yorker stuff, just in the way one reads randomly bits of things over the years, and they accrue, and one day, you realize, Hello, I haven't read any books by this writer that EVERYONE ADORES. Maxwell was an incredible person by all accounts - I read MY MENTOR, the Alec Wilkinson book about him, as well as a straight bio, and another anthology book written by a variety of his friends about him, after he passed away. The events of his life were less incredible than the way he lived his life = at some point, in a crisis of loneliness, he decided to change his life by loving everyone, not by waiting for them to love him. It's one thing to think that - entirely another to actually do it. It seems as though he managed to do it, and as a result, he changed people's lives right and left. The thing that put me onto him to begin with, was an essay published in Tin House about Maxwell as an old man, and a much younger writer's friendship with him. It was one of those pieces of writing that made you think, "I have to change my life. I have to be better." Not to mention the fact that, at least in my head, Maxwell is my writer-grandfather. He reminds me of my real grandfather, whom I miss.

And so - onto the book. SO LONG, SEE YOU TOMORROW, is a ridiculously lovely piece of writing. It's a novella, dealing with the events and effects of a small-town love-triangle murder on the narrator, a young boy when the murder takes place, and on his friend, a boy who happens to be the son of the murderer. It's hard to break it down, though - this is a book that works not on the strength of its plot, but on the profound empathy it dispenses for everything within its covers. There is a justly celebrated section encompassing the point of view of a farm dog whose boy has moved into town, and who is left to the new owners of the farm. It will make you sob. You will likely not make it through this book without crying, and again, it's not the plot, but the soul. The book has a heart. Everyone should read it. And now, I'm back to reading the rest of Maxwell, cause clearly, I've been missing out. ...less

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