I’ve finished William Faulkner’s The Reivers: A Reminiscence. The verdict? One of my favorites. I not only loved the style, I also loved the way Faulkner navigated his rather complex story in such a way as to put me into it as it developed. And it was a great story — taking place in the early days of the automobile (1905) and involving a grand plan to win one back after having it swapped for a horse. It twists and turns and is in fact laugh-out-loud funny in several places. It held my attention to the end, and I’d say it’s the best I’ve read so far on this Pulitzer run. I recommend it…that is, if you can tolerate Faulkner’s style. In my opinion, that’s what made the book stand out among the (so many good) other Pulitzers I’ve read over these past few months.
And so now it’s on to the next book — one I had already picked up from the library at my sister’s suggestion: Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner, winner of the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1972. And unfortunately, I started it almost immediately after finishing The Reivers. It’s not that it’s a bad book, I’m sure, but the style is already so remarkably different from Faulkner that it’s a bit disorienting. I feel like I’m reading a weaker book right now because I’ve just finished one that’s so incredible.
This is a bit weird because I know Angle of Repose is going to be decent in the end (you don’t win Pulitzers for crap as far as I know), so maybe I can chalk this up as a lesson learned: take your time and enjoy the books for what they are. This isn’t a race. I haven’t set a goal of “23 Pulitzers in ’23” or anything like that. So I’ll back up and take a moment to ease myself into this one, and we’ll see where it ends up on the list. In any case though, I fear it might be somewhere near the bottom — down there with Gilead — because the subject matter seems to be another one of those “reflections of the unfortunate.” Gilead was a journal from a dying father to his son, and Angle of Repose looks to be the first-person telling of a story by a man who’s confined to a wheelchair in his later years. I have nothing against the genre, but I find them (in my limited experience) a bit maudlin for my tastes. Too much sentiment for the story’s good.
Of course, I’ll let you know…
You mentioned seeing the movie if you enjoyed the book. Did you have a chance to see it?
If you’re talking about The Reivers — I watched a clip of it on Youtube and it looked a bit campy. I doubt they could do the beauty of the language any justice. The book, though, is a masterpiece.