Book Review: You Can’t Go Home Again (Wolfe)
Have I read this before: Nope.
Review: ‘Twas good! I liked the portrayal of how people in George’s hometown reacted badly to his novel that was based on the town and their lives. I also liked the interweaving of the 1929 stock market crash and the emphasis on how George feels like – as the title states – he can’t go home again due to various factors.
Favorite Part: I love this description of the stock market crash. I think it’s easy to view that event as something that was sudden and catastrophic to everyone, when in fact it took time for its effects to actually hit everyone:
“The collapse of the Stock Market, which had begun in late October, was in some ways like the fall of a gigantic boulder into the still waters of a lake. The suddenness of it sent waves of desperate fear moving in ever-widening circles throughout America. Millions of people in the far-off hamlets, towns, and cities did not know what to make of it. Would its effects touch them? They hoped not.”
Rating: 6/10
Book Review: Look Homeward, Angel (Wolfe)
Have I read this before: Nope
Review: This is a very beautifully written and insightful coming of age story in the early 1900s. It’s long and covers a lot of the family’s history and Eugene’s growing up, but I like how it all works together and how it all is shown to shape who Eugene becomes when he finally leaves home. Also, the way it is written is very engaging and beautiful. Some of the descriptions used are so specific and perfect that they really stand out.
Favorite part: Ben’s death was particularly heartbreaking, because he’s built up (at least in my opinion) as a very sympathetic character and because of how close Eugene was to him. Also, a few phrases:
Gant trying to wake up his sons in the morning:
“‘When I was your age, I had milked four cows, done all the chores, and walked eight miles through the snow by this time.’
Indeed, when he described his early schooling, he furnished a landscape that was constantly three feet deep in snow, and frozen hard. He seemed never to have attended school save under polar conditions.
Ben, Eugene’s older brother, to Eugene after they have a fight over Eugene’s inability to let go of a woman he’d fallen in love with:
“‘There are a lot of bad days. There are a lot of good ones. You’ll forget. There are a lot of days. Let it go.’”
On Ben’s death:
“We can believe in the nothingness of life, we can believe in the nothingness of death and of life after death – but who can believe in the nothingness of Ben?”
Rating: 6/10
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