Words on words. Crossing to Safety

4 of 5 stars.

Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner.
Lara Robinson.
11/29/12

I finished this book last night for our book club choice of the Month. I was not disappointed. He, Wallace, wouldn't let me. He sets the scene and tone. A young, in love, struggling couple, striving to excel in intellect with little finances meets a young and in love couple struggling to excel in intellect but are wealthy.

I might have actually wondered what was going to happen, what drama, suspense or mystery would propel us forward, but we are in the hands of a professional and just as we wonder, he tells us, no, that's not here, that's not what this is about, and we push forward on his simple path of friendship, that becomes deeper as we become more invested in their lives.

This is how he tells us what to expect.

"How do you make a book that anyone will read out of lives as quiet as these? Where are the things that novelists seize upon and readers expect? Where is the high life, the conspicuous waste, the violence, the kinky sex, the death wish? . . . Where are speed, noise, ugliness, everything that makes us who we are and makes us recognize ourselves in fiction?''


It was a beautiful book, I liked that he spent some time telling us about Sally in the end, when we are all fully with Charity, he tells us what we have been wondering all the time. What was his own marital relationship like? He seemed so focused on Sid and Charity. He asked all the right questions, about love and loss and the end of life. All those questions were answered either by the last actions of Charity, when she finally wept, or by his reveling his view of how Sally made him a better person by her disability. Nicely done, well crafted, and tenderly told.

I had never read any work by Wallace Stegner and his accolades read nearly as long as his book. Certainly, he was prolific.