Sarah's review
Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson
What a strange little book, full of strange but recognizable people. Set in the eponymous town, the book is a collection of almost plotless short stories; the characters of the stories wander through the book as they wander through the town, influencing each other tangentially.
The men are better realized than the women, and the language is euphemistic and formal, but at the same time, the interior lives of the characters are more realistic than almost anything I've ever read. Anderson does a great job of capturing moments of impulse and choice. Almost every story captures one of the townspeople at a moment of internal crisis: stay or go? stay silent or scream? follow your urges or your conscience? Each of these moments feels accurate and true. Even though the vignettes are only loosely connected, they tell an overarching tale of choices made.
The men are better realized than the women, and the language is euphemistic and formal, but at the same time, the interior lives of the characters are more realistic than almost anything I've ever read. Anderson does a great job of capturing moments of impulse and choice. Almost every story captures one of the townspeople at a moment of internal crisis: stay or go? stay silent or scream? follow your urges or your conscience? Each of these moments feels accurate and true. Even though the vignettes are only loosely connected, they tell an overarching tale of choices made.
