Hamilton Basso (1904–1964)

Rating: 2.5* of five

There are over 400pp of words, more or less elegant, telling this story of snobbery, racism, infidelity, and unhappiness. The prose is mid-century bestseller (forty weeks on the New York Times list; finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction) bog-standard stuff, with a very few memorable lines; here's one:

The white man could not accept the Negro as an equal—he simply could not, and yet, since the Negro was walking, talking, living, he could not deny his reality as a human being.

Why I wouldn't rate the book lower is the Southern transplant sent "home" to solve an apparent embezzlement wrote a book as a young scholar called Shinto Traditions in the American South, which is fucking genius and, in fact, needs to be written ASAP.

The 1955 film gets the same 2.5* of five

Go listen to the love theme from the film. It is gorgeous, lush, intense...all the things the film just...isn't. It's beautiful, and curiously empty. But goodness me, what a spectacle!… (més)

Basso takes an entire South Carolina community and brings it to life during the Civil War era. The story revolves around John Bottomley. He has been educated in the North (New Jersey) and had plans of becoming a writer when family duty obligates him to return to his family plantation. His life during this time is one of isolation because he is in love with a married woman and no one can understand his "pro-North" views. It doesn't help that he is confused about his feelings concerning slavery. He grows more and more aware of his surrounding society as time goes on. Later, after a stint in government, Bottomley joins the military to aid in the war. Parallel to these life changes is the story of Bottomley's brother and his mysterious disappearance after a murder.… (més)