Stegner’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of personal, historical, and geographic discovery Confined to a wheelchair, retired historian Lyman Ward sets out to write his grandparents’ remarkable story, chronicling their days spent carving civilization into the surface of America’s western frontier. But his research reveals even more about his own life than he’s willing to admit. What emerges is an … What emerges is an enthralling portrait of four generations in the life of an American family.
“Cause for celebration . . . A superb novel with an amplitude of scale and richness of detail altogether uncommon in contemporary fiction.” —The Atlantic Monthly
“Brilliant . . . Two stories, past and present, merge to produce what important fiction must: a sense of the enchantment of life.” —Los Angeles Times
This Penguin Classics edition features an introduction by Jackson J. Benson.
For more than sixty-five years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,500 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
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I opened today’s BookBub newsletter to find one of my all-time favorite books featured and I thought wow, I’ve got to tell somebody! Now that BookBub allows authors to recommend their favorites, I get to really spread the word.
The book is listed in the literary fiction genre, and indeed it’s a Pulitzer Prize winning classic. For those whose tastes also run to mystery and thriller and adventure (like mine), you’ll find that in Wallace Stegner’s ANGLE OF REPOSE.
Oh, and there is a thrilling encounter with geology, in the form of quicksilver 😉
Angle of Repose is a wonderful, many-layered book about the West, marriage, history, and family. I was happily sucked into it by the narrative of the American West in the late 1800s. But as the nuances of the marriage and family history at the heart of the story unfolded, the book resonated and took on a weight that I hadn’t expected.
Fiction based on non-fictional characters. A real insight into what courageous people did to open the West. The challenges they faced, their adventures and their personal life. Excellent writing.
A favorite book of mine, I listened to it as an audio book and found Mark Bramhall’s performance fabulous. It added a wonderful dimension to the spectacular writing of Wallace Stegner. When I finished the book, not only did I find myself emotional over it days later, I also immediately went back to the beginning to listen to it again. I will admit that the beginning is slow, and took me awhile to really become captured in the story, but once I did, it consumed me. It is one of those rare books that mixes the tragic and beautiful in a way that can only be done through the power of story. It is a special novel where it speaks to the heart and permanently changes the reader. I can firmly say I am a better person because of the experience I had with this literary masterpiece. It reminded me why I read. And it reminded me why I aspire to write. Beautifully done!
Wallace Stegner’s Angle of Repose is an American classic. Lyman Ward, the grandson of Susan and Oliver Ward is the narrator. He tells the reader the story of their life and while he writes he comes to a fuller understanding of his own beliefs and convictions. How perfect. Storytelling is how we understand ourselves. The past is never dead… right? It is not even past. Faulkner was a big influence on Stegner as was James Joyce. As Lyman writes he more and more understands his own motivation and relationship with his son and his ex-wife. Lyman’s memory of his grandparents informs him, but as he is in their home and writing their biography, he learns a truth about them that shifts his paradigm. Our memories shape us, but they might be a myth we cling to.
This is must read book, and it is also a writer’s book. One to keep on the shelf and come back to repeatedly.
How two people so different hung on until the worst tragedy. Each very accomplished in their own field. Fascinating.
This is a fascinating book. One of the reviews I saw on it said it was in the top five of novels about the West. I’m not sure of that. It’s not that it’s not great. It is. But because of the device Stegner chose to narrate the novel, it reads like more of an east-coast novel: perhaps because the main character goes through her life psychologically and culturally tied to New England instead of the American West.
That being said, I highly recommend the book.
I actually read this book many years ago and bought it so I can read it again. It’s one of my very, very favorites.
This book is, quite simply, beautifully written. It further provides a much-neglected woman’s view into the building of the American West.
This classic is well worth reading.
Wallace Stegner has a reputation as a brilliant writer. This novel proves the reputation is well deserved. The storyline, characters, and setting are all vividly and realistically portrayed.
This book is great literature. The characters are deep and realistic. The story gave me much to ponder.
Perhaps the most beautifully written book I’ve ever read.
Stegner is a master of complex characterization as well as having a deep understanding of The West.
Word candy!
Beautifully crafted descriptions of the West and the hardships of the early mining industry with each character distinct and consistently alive.
A classic and winner of the Pullitzer Prize. Wallace Stegner is a master storyteller. There are sentences I could read over and over for their poetry and craft. This is the saga of one woman struggling to find her own fulfillment as she follows her husband into the wild west. I sometimes pass on the classics for the next new bestseller but Angle of Repose was a reminder to mix things up. Sometimes we forget these writers who have paved the way for so many writers today.
Like reading poetry.
This Pulitzer-prize winning book is beautifully written and historically accurate. If you enjoy reading it, you will enjoy my novel Never Done, set in the same parts of Colorado and during the same time period.
When you read a lot of contemporary fiction, it’s easy to forget what truly great literature is. ANGLE OF REPOSE was an excellent reminder.
This Pulitzer Prize winning novel seamlessly unites two stories.
Lyman Ward, a retired professor and historian, recently divorced and newly disabled, is currently living in his grandparents’ house, researching the story of their roles in settling the Wild West during the 1880s.
2. Oliver and Susan Burling Ward are two seemingly mismatched people whose marriage includes all the tragedy, disappointment, resiliency, and drama inherent in any long-term relationship. Oliver works as a mining engineer continually struggling against failure and his own good nature. Susan is an East Coast artist with an elitist attitude toward the West that keeps her above and distant from her life.
In Lyman’s exploration we get to see beyond what superficially might appear as the adventurous lives of the Western settlers. We also hear about Lyman’s personal memories of his grandparents in their old age, and his own difficulties accepting both his disability and divorce.
The writing is beautifully descriptive, even brilliant. And Stegner’s characters jump off the page in their depth, realism and human complexity. Most of all he reminds us about some of the deep and profound truths about the sad fallibility of being human.