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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Wallace Stegner is one of America’s great writers…enough said.
This is one of the best books I have ever read!!!
To my everlasting disgrace, I must admit that I failed to finish this acknowledged masterpiece of the novelists’s art. One-third of the way into the book I still hadn’t found any sympathetic characters to root for. This well written but dour work may be just your cup of tea, but…..
One of the most beautifully written books I have ever read
I have read many books that are treasures, magnificent in their language, in their inspiration, in their ability to rehabilitate an hour, a day, indeed a lifetime that has been all too miserable. This is one of those books, written by Wallace Stegner, earning him a Pulitzer.
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A deserving Pulitzer Prize winner. Stegner writes about the infirmaries of age in an honest, uncurmudgeonly way. His descriptive phrasing is routinely stunning. A master craftsman.
Wonderfully and remarkably well written.
wonderful book. extremely well written
Audio version. My introduction to wallace stegner. You lnow excellence when you meet it and w. Stegner is my new author whose life works i look forward to readingi . Highly reccomend.
Excellent writing!
No wonder this won a Pulitzer. How did it take me this long to actually read Stegner? Not being dramatic when I say it is literally one of the best reads of my life. Beautiful and absorbing. And if you’re a child of “the west” it shines a light on our love for the open and wild.
I read this one because it was a Pulitzer winner. I found the writing excellent and certainly worthy and the story engaging but yet draggy in parts. The narrator’s character is beautifully drawn with enough annoying qualities to make him both believable and identifiable. The universal truths acknowledged in the ending plus the possibility of the narrator’s awakening make this read very satisfying.
I believe this book shows one of many manifestations of true love and how it may ruin some lives. Along the way I also learned a lot about Western history and I assume the author researched it thoroughly.
Can’t see why it was rated so highly.
I loved it. This is the story of a real woman’s life, though tragically distorted. Read
Mary Hallock Foote’s memoirs, A Victorian Gentlewoman in the Far West. You’ll be amazed.
A classic and so so enjoyable to read.
I loved the story of Susan and Oliver and their life in the West. It was rather sad how she sacrificed her dreams while he seemed to always put his dreams ahead of her. It was a fascinating look at the West through the eyes of an artist. The only problem I had was the ending- it was rather bizarre and left me wondering, “what the heck!”
Great read, great characters and the history around the story was informative.
Extremely well written. Poetic and imaginative.
Brilliantly written. Exposes life in America in the late 1880’s. It really reflects the moors of the day and the questions that were raised when people fell in and out of love. Exciting times in the West mixed with genteel ideas of the East. I’m not sure that those of us of the post baby boomers dan fully understand.