Angle of Repose (1971)

I don’t know, maybe it’s the pandemic...I don’t know, the premise intrigued me but the book just felt stodgy and humorless. I did love “Crossing to Safety” and “The Spectator Bird” but this one just seemed so overly self-aware all along. ( )

Although I skimmed some of the descriptive detail I cannot give this anything but 5 stars. ( )

Wallace Stegner is one of my favorite authors. I fell in love with his writing and storytelling when I first read [b:The Spectator Bird|11045|The Spectator Bird|Wallace Stegner|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1385095780l/11045._SY75_.jpg|949595] and was amazed when I found I enjoyed a much longer novel, [b:The Big Rock Candy Mountain|10801|The Big Rock Candy Mountain|Wallace Stegner|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1389231736l/10801._SY75_.jpg|1105171], every bit as much. So it is fair to say that I have anticipated reading [b:Angle of Repose|292408|Angle of Repose|Wallace Stegner|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1329151576l/292408._SY75_.jpg|283706] as much as anything else and more than most. Of course, with that much anticipation you would almost expect some level of disappointment. There was none. The novel is majestic. As I worked my way into it, I felt no desire to rush the experience. I wanted to savor it. If I was tired, I put it aside willingly as I did not want to miss out on any of the experience. Ultimately, though, I did not enjoy it as much as the other two novels. The characters were just as rich in detail and layered in complexity. The story was simple, and yet worthy of every one of the 531 pages. I liked and respected Oliver Ward, and I respected and admired Susan Burling Ward, but I never felt as close to them, as if they were breathing the same air I breath, as I did with the other two novels. The story did not pull me along with the urgency that I might hope for. I thought the structure of the novel was wonderfully designed and beautifully executed. I very much appreciate when an author uses a structure that blends with and enhances the story; Wallace Stegner does that very well here.

It is an incredible story, well told, that I will be thinking about for a long time. ( )

I read Angle of Repose. Stegner is a completely new author for me. I loved the prose in this novel. His writing is highly evocative: I grew up in Arizona and there were pieces of the novel where he would describe the great expanses of the North American West that made me feel like I was back there with the landscape developing before my eyes.

In terms of the novel itself, I thought it was ok. The prose was really the highlight. I don't know if it's because of all the upheaval of 2020, but something about Lyman's storytelling rubbed me the wrong way in places. I'm not really in a headspace to appreciate a tale about a man discovering, due to his old age and physical pain, that women are also people with complex inner lives and small heroic acts. Perhaps another time I would have liked it more. I did enjoy reading the historical accounts and read in the foreword that many of the letters Stegner used were authentic. (He did change names, but she was a real person!) ( )

This is a work of art. The writing is splendid, the characters compelling, and the background of the untamed American West, seen through the eyes East Coast civility, as rough as it is magnificent. Stegner offers the reader no glamorous tale of cowboys or lode-finders. Rather, he delivers a perfectly conceived story of honest people in search of the American dream and the harsh reality of shattered dreams in Western mines and canyons. This is a metaphor of American expansion and a five-star read. It made me want to go back through all of my other ratings of threes and fours here on Goodreads and lower them in comparison. Highly recommended. ( )