Crossing to Safety
Introduction by Terry Tempest Williams
Afterword by T. H. Watkins
Called a “magnificently crafted story . . . brimming with wisdom” by Howard Frank Mosher in The Washington Post Book World, Crossing to Safety has, since its publication in 1987, established itself as one of the greatest and most cherished American novels of the twentieth century. Tracing the lives, loves, and aspirations of two couples who move between Vermont and Wisconsin, it is a work of quiet majesty, deep compassion, and powerful insight into the alchemy of friendship and marriage.
Afterword by T. H. Watkins
Called a “magnificently crafted story . . . brimming with wisdom” by Howard Frank Mosher in The Washington Post Book World, Crossing to Safety has, since its publication in 1987, established itself as one of the greatest and most cherished American novels of the twentieth century. Tracing the lives, loves, and aspirations of two couples who move between Vermont and Wisconsin, it is a work of quiet majesty, deep compassion, and powerful insight into the alchemy of friendship and marriage.
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Community Reviews
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Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
341 pages
What's it about?
This novel is about a decades long friendship between two couples- the Langs and the Morgans. They meet in Madison at the beginning of their careers and immediately become friends.
What did it make me think about?
This is one of my favorite books of all time. I try to re-read it every few years. It is a story of friendship, of rescue, and of the passage of time.
Should I read it?
This is a book not to be missed. My review is short because how can I do this novel justice? I highly recommend this one.
Quote-
"Is that the basis of friendship? Is it as reactive as that? Do we respond only to people who seem to find us interesting?.. Do we all buzz or ring or light up when people press our vanity buttons, and only then? Can I think of anyone in my whole life whom I have liked without his first showing signs of liking me?"
If you like this try-
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
A Place For Us by Fatima Farheer Mirza
And The Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger
Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner
341 pages
What's it about?
This novel is about a decades long friendship between two couples- the Langs and the Morgans. They meet in Madison at the beginning of their careers and immediately become friends.
What did it make me think about?
This is one of my favorite books of all time. I try to re-read it every few years. It is a story of friendship, of rescue, and of the passage of time.
Should I read it?
This is a book not to be missed. My review is short because how can I do this novel justice? I highly recommend this one.
Quote-
"Is that the basis of friendship? Is it as reactive as that? Do we respond only to people who seem to find us interesting?.. Do we all buzz or ring or light up when people press our vanity buttons, and only then? Can I think of anyone in my whole life whom I have liked without his first showing signs of liking me?"
If you like this try-
A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles
A Place For Us by Fatima Farheer Mirza
And The Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger
Wallace Stegner has a way of telling the stories of everyday people but pulling you in right away by getting to the very soul of each of his characters, and you.
Larry and Sally Morgan are newly arrived in Madison, Wisconsin, fresh from New Mexico. Larry has secured a temporary teaching position at the university, hoping it will become permanent. They are immediately taken under the wing of Charity and Sid Lang. Sid also teaches at the university. Sally and Charity discover they're both pregnant, due around the same time, and instantly bond. So begins a decades-long friendship that takes them from Wisconsin to Vermont and beyond, and takes us through the triumphs and trials of life and relationships.
Larry and Sally Morgan are newly arrived in Madison, Wisconsin, fresh from New Mexico. Larry has secured a temporary teaching position at the university, hoping it will become permanent. They are immediately taken under the wing of Charity and Sid Lang. Sid also teaches at the university. Sally and Charity discover they're both pregnant, due around the same time, and instantly bond. So begins a decades-long friendship that takes them from Wisconsin to Vermont and beyond, and takes us through the triumphs and trials of life and relationships.
This is a beautifully written book, a story about enduring friendships, enduring marriages, and the ways that friends and spouses grow through life's often difficult journey to become more than what they were at the start.
Crossing to Safety is not a plot-driven book at all. It is a book about two couples who meet when they are young and the husbands are both aspiring writers and academics, and the close friendship they maintain through the decades. During those decades, Larry's professional star rises while Sid's sort of languishes, while it is Sid's wife, Charity, who always harbored and labored for her man to reach professional greatness.
Stegner's writing is elegant and sometimes lyrical, especially when he is focused on the magnificence of nature, which he obviously cherished. Near the end of the book, when Larry is exhausted from a long search for his friend Sid, who has gone missing and for whom he has left a note on the car, Stegner writes this paragraph:
"The moonlight has gathered and concentrated itself, the lawn lies out there pallid and even, the Rambler squats upon its shadow, the note is now a petal of pale flame. The folded chairs lie on the grass, faintly gleaming, like a pile of bones. From far off, drifting down from the hilltop, comes the sound of singing."
That is prose that is almost poetry. Most of the book is not in lyrical in that way; most moves the story forward in a low, even pace, with plenty of dialogue and enough movement to keep you wondering what will happen to these closest of friends.
Crossing to Safety is not a plot-driven book at all. It is a book about two couples who meet when they are young and the husbands are both aspiring writers and academics, and the close friendship they maintain through the decades. During those decades, Larry's professional star rises while Sid's sort of languishes, while it is Sid's wife, Charity, who always harbored and labored for her man to reach professional greatness.
Stegner's writing is elegant and sometimes lyrical, especially when he is focused on the magnificence of nature, which he obviously cherished. Near the end of the book, when Larry is exhausted from a long search for his friend Sid, who has gone missing and for whom he has left a note on the car, Stegner writes this paragraph:
"The moonlight has gathered and concentrated itself, the lawn lies out there pallid and even, the Rambler squats upon its shadow, the note is now a petal of pale flame. The folded chairs lie on the grass, faintly gleaming, like a pile of bones. From far off, drifting down from the hilltop, comes the sound of singing."
That is prose that is almost poetry. Most of the book is not in lyrical in that way; most moves the story forward in a low, even pace, with plenty of dialogue and enough movement to keep you wondering what will happen to these closest of friends.
I debated between 3 or 4 stars for this book. It was the writing style that pushed it to 4. This is my first Stegner and I liked his style enough that I want to read more of his work. I liked this book and knew going into it that there would not be a driven plot but rather a slow, contemplative story about lifelong friendships. I believe I read it at the right time for if I were younger, I would not have understood or possibly valued the messages in the story. For me, the main messages were acceptance and tolerance of faults in the people we love and that friends can truly be family. Friends can play a major role in our lives and we should treasure them. There's a lot of wisdom in this book and while I got a lot out of the story, it didn't knock my socks off. All the same, I'm glad I read it and suspect it's going to be one of those slow burn stories that I'll be thinking about long after I've finished reading it.
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