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J. Hardin & son
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465 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1923
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
June 28, 2017
Written in 1922, Whitlock's novel depicts the life of a father (Joshua Hardin) and his son (Paul) from the time of Paul's boyhood in the 1870's or 1880's (it's never explicitly stated) to Paul's middle age. Along the way great shifts are happening in the culture of the United States--both small towns and larger cities.
It's amazing to me that there are no reviews for J. Hardin & Son on Goodreads. While Whitlock is definitely no Twain, Dickinson, Emerson, or Faulkner, he still gives a glimpse into mid-western life at the turn of the 20th century. People's morals were influenced as much by fear of neighborly gossip as by the preacher on Sunday, forces of prohibition were starting to build, and craftsmen who spent their entire life making goods such as buggies were beginning to lose out to faster (and cheaper) production on an assembly line.
His writing is a bit dry, but it's still refreshing to take a break from modern writers at times, and immerse myself into the mannerisms of life 100 years ago. Here's a few examples.
~"The Clerk of the Courts, Captain Dumbaugh, a veteran of the Civil War, swung into the room on his crutches and the one leg on which he had gone farther in public life than ever he would have gone on two, and lowered himself into the swivel chair at his desk."
~"Krieger had had a hard time of it evidently; his faith was dead; he was skeptical of any good coming from the land where he had toiled so long in vain...His slatternly wife, as thin and gaunt as he, stood at the door of the small house, with a bevy of dirty children, their noses exuding mucus; they clung about her thin, bedraggled skirts, dragging her down, like some physical embodiment of the cares that oppressed her."
~"He acted as though, in marrying a woman, a man had given a proof of affection and gallantry that should indemnify him against all further demands for their expression."
~"How whimsical were the processes of time! Trivial, unimportant things seemed to be endowed with an almost triumphant immortality; others--love,affection, human hearts, these changed, changed."
Bottom line: Sometimes not much happens in a small town, and not much happens in Whitlock's novel either. People grow up, they marry, they fall in and out of love, they die--along the way there are a few dreams realized and many more that fall along the wayside. While J. Hardin & Son probably won't find it's way onto a college literature read list, and shouldn't be sought after to complete a collection of pivotal 20th century novels, it still deserves to be read. Get it from the library if they have it--especially if you are a Midwesterner, and want to learn more about the forces that shaped this area of the country. Given 3 stars or a rating of "good".
It's amazing to me that there are no reviews for J. Hardin & Son on Goodreads. While Whitlock is definitely no Twain, Dickinson, Emerson, or Faulkner, he still gives a glimpse into mid-western life at the turn of the 20th century. People's morals were influenced as much by fear of neighborly gossip as by the preacher on Sunday, forces of prohibition were starting to build, and craftsmen who spent their entire life making goods such as buggies were beginning to lose out to faster (and cheaper) production on an assembly line.
His writing is a bit dry, but it's still refreshing to take a break from modern writers at times, and immerse myself into the mannerisms of life 100 years ago. Here's a few examples.
~"The Clerk of the Courts, Captain Dumbaugh, a veteran of the Civil War, swung into the room on his crutches and the one leg on which he had gone farther in public life than ever he would have gone on two, and lowered himself into the swivel chair at his desk."
~"Krieger had had a hard time of it evidently; his faith was dead; he was skeptical of any good coming from the land where he had toiled so long in vain...His slatternly wife, as thin and gaunt as he, stood at the door of the small house, with a bevy of dirty children, their noses exuding mucus; they clung about her thin, bedraggled skirts, dragging her down, like some physical embodiment of the cares that oppressed her."
~"He acted as though, in marrying a woman, a man had given a proof of affection and gallantry that should indemnify him against all further demands for their expression."
~"How whimsical were the processes of time! Trivial, unimportant things seemed to be endowed with an almost triumphant immortality; others--love,affection, human hearts, these changed, changed."
Bottom line: Sometimes not much happens in a small town, and not much happens in Whitlock's novel either. People grow up, they marry, they fall in and out of love, they die--along the way there are a few dreams realized and many more that fall along the wayside. While J. Hardin & Son probably won't find it's way onto a college literature read list, and shouldn't be sought after to complete a collection of pivotal 20th century novels, it still deserves to be read. Get it from the library if they have it--especially if you are a Midwesterner, and want to learn more about the forces that shaped this area of the country. Given 3 stars or a rating of "good".
Displaying 1 of 1 review