The Spectator Bird
question
Stegner - a brilliant writer
Paul
Nov 04, 2013 04:59AM
Read first chapter... brilliant, just brilliant. Yes, it might help if you are over 50. But that aside, the writing, the characters ... brilliant. Can Stegner ever write. In fact, I've read the first chapter twice, just to soak it up.
Just discover Wallace Stegner a year or so ago.Read three books so far. While I may have had some problems with a plot point here or there or a characters action in some places, it's more because it's not the direction I would have gone; it has nothing to do with the writing that moves in that direction. Always the writing is freaking brilliant.
Have you read anything by Stegner? Thoughts?
Just discover Wallace Stegner a year or so ago.Read three books so far. While I may have had some problems with a plot point here or there or a characters action in some places, it's more because it's not the direction I would have gone; it has nothing to do with the writing that moves in that direction. Always the writing is freaking brilliant.
Have you read anything by Stegner? Thoughts?
Agree completely - I've read many hundreds of wonderful books but didn't get around to Stegner until he was strongly recommended by a US friend from Utah - I've now read 'Spectator Bird' 'Crossing to Safety' & 'Angle of Repose.' I enjoyed 'Spectator Bird' the most - have you read the follow on book by Stegner featuring the same dramatis personae? 'Crossing to Safety' for me, eclipsed 'Angle of Repose' the latter though seeming to have gained most of the honours. Didn't Faulkner win the Lit. Pulitzer for 'The Reivers' when either Sound & the Fury, or As I Lay Dying were obviously his great works.
I'll read two more by Stegner once I've got through the five or so books of a Nabokov spell. I remaine amazed Wallace Stegner doesn't receive more attention though my friend from Utah assures me it is/was because of an East/West coast bias against the mid-western authors, not to mention Stegner's rather low opinion of east coast literary mafia.
Fabulous author.
I'll read two more by Stegner once I've got through the five or so books of a Nabokov spell. I remaine amazed Wallace Stegner doesn't receive more attention though my friend from Utah assures me it is/was because of an East/West coast bias against the mid-western authors, not to mention Stegner's rather low opinion of east coast literary mafia.
Fabulous author.
I just finished it and enjoyed it as I do all his books I've read. Big Rock Candy Mountain was great reading about a young man's growing up in Canada and the West. I was sorry to have it end.
I read Stegner a long time ago and loved his books. Came across "The Spectator Bird" recently. I am way over 50 which might have something to do with my really liking this book. I find the attitude of individuals regarding aging interesting--so many different ideas. I liked hearing Stegner's.
Yeah. Stegner is a really under appreciated writer. I've read all of his novels and numerous short stories. He was a real craftsman. His stories are exceptionally well put together and the reader can see the care and effort that went into the choice of words.
Spectator Bird is one of those great stories of opening up memories and only belatedly discovering the truth. I loved Angle of Repose as a historical novel coming at the history from another viewpoint. Crossing to Safety seems to have been written just to prove that he wasn't just a "Western" writer. It is some of the best writing to come out of 20th century America. Perhaps because I know the region so well, my favourite is Wolf Willow, a story, partly autobiographical, of a man and a woman, he a dreamer, she a realist who gives all to protect her children in a rugged but beautiful frontier landscape. A short book well worth the read.
"Wallace Stegner: His Life and Work" by Jackson Benson is also very good if you want to know more about the man.
Spectator Bird is one of those great stories of opening up memories and only belatedly discovering the truth. I loved Angle of Repose as a historical novel coming at the history from another viewpoint. Crossing to Safety seems to have been written just to prove that he wasn't just a "Western" writer. It is some of the best writing to come out of 20th century America. Perhaps because I know the region so well, my favourite is Wolf Willow, a story, partly autobiographical, of a man and a woman, he a dreamer, she a realist who gives all to protect her children in a rugged but beautiful frontier landscape. A short book well worth the read.
"Wallace Stegner: His Life and Work" by Jackson Benson is also very good if you want to know more about the man.
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Jan 04, 2014 03:58PM · flag