So Big in A Book Walks Into a Bar

Mar 27, 2016 Travis rated it liked it · review of another edition

So Big won a Pulitzer Prize yet has never been accepted as part of the canon of great American literature, and justifiably so: while So Big is a good novel, it's not great, nor is it exceptionally memorable.

So Big is a character study of two individuals: Selina Peake DeJong and her son, Dirk (nicknamed by his mother Sobig because she often spoke of him as being "so big" when he was a young child) DeJong. Selina is a fascinating character, the daughter of a widowed gambler. It seems to me that so So Big won a Pulitzer Prize yet has never been accepted as part of the canon of great American literature, and justifiably so: while So Big is a good novel, it's not great, nor is it exceptionally memorable.

So Big is a character study of two individuals: Selina Peake DeJong and her son, Dirk (nicknamed by his mother Sobig because she often spoke of him as being "so big" when he was a young child) DeJong. Selina is a fascinating character, the daughter of a widowed gambler. It seems to me that some of the most interesting parts of Selina's life, her childhood with her father, were given rather short shrift. In the opening chapters, we receive a bit of information on Selina's childhood, but then the novel rapidly transitions to Selina at age 19, at which time she must very quickly grow up when her father dies and she has to move to a rural area not far outside Chicago to work as a teacher. We never see all the wonderful adventures that Selina had as a little girl growing up with a loving yet eccentric father.

I did enjoy the stories of Selina's time as a school teacher, her courtship by a tall, handsome Dutch farmer, Pervus DeJong, and how she turned Pervus's farm into a booming success--and one marveled at by all her Dutch neighbors, who are stunned that a woman is running her own farm--after Pervus's unexpected and early death. While Selina remains as an integral part of the story once her success running the farm has been established, Dirk's story then takes center stage. And there just isn't that much too Dirk's story: he starts off as a struggling architect, moves to a job as a bond trader and becomes very rich and successful, and then finds himself bored with life in Chicago's high society until he meets Dallas, a young woman who runs her own advertising business and is an aspiring artist.

Dirk is not a well fleshed out character. He is quiet and reserved and rather unemotional--at least until he meets Dallas. When he finally he meets Dallas (and is subjected to the same critiques from her as from his mother: he should not have given up his passion, architecture), it seems he is poised to start to grow as a person, but the novel ends abruptly, with Dirk despairing that he will never have the love of Dallas (she has told him as much), envious of Roelf Pool (Roelf was the son of the farmer with whom Selina originally lived at age 19 when she left Chicago for her teacher's job) who left behind the farm and moved to France and became a successful artist, and wearied by his relationship with his long-time best friend, Paula, who is the wife of a much older man and who is herself in love with Dirk.

Dirk's life has been spent pursuing wealth. And that life has been a hollow life for him. He is unhappy. He has failed to realize that "cabbages are beautiful," which his mother had first exclaimed when she moved to the small Dutch community to become a teacher. "Cabbages are beautiful" became a joke to Mr. Pool (Roelf's father) and many in the Dutch community, but Selina saw something in the simple satisfaction of doing hard work, especially hard work that one enjoys and that is meaningful (unlike trading bonds, which Selina looks down upon). The beauty of cabbages is seen only by those who are truly living. Selina lives. Dirk does not.

The latter part of the book, focusing on Dirk, is in my estimation much weaker than the first half, focusing on Selina. I very much enjoyed Selina's story and wanted much more of it. The story of Selina (especially had we been given more of her childhood) could easily have been a 5-star novel for me, but Dirk's story lacked the earnestness and depth of Selina's, so overall, this was a 3-star novel for me. ...more

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Mar 24, 2016 Laurie rated it really liked it

Shelves: 2016

I didn't know what to expect of this but I really liked it. I think I expected stuffier, but it is a good read about the Chicago area in the early 20th century. Mostly it follows one woman as she leaves Chicago for a truck farm, and how she never loses her spirit and always makes her own way. Recommended, especially if you have any connection to Chicago. ...more

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