Book Review: Crossing to Safety

  by Wallace Stegner

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was my first Wallace Stegner book. I loved his writing style! And I'm probably going to have to read some more of his work.

Crossing to Safety is definitely a character book. It's more about exploring the people in the book and why they are the way they are and less about what they do. The main characters are two couples, Larry and Sally Morgan, and Sid and Charity Lang, and the friendship they share throughout their lives. The story is written from Larry's point of view. The Morgan's are called to come visit the Langs one more time before Charity dies of cancer. The story is Larry's reflections, memories, and thoughts of the life long friendship the foursome has shared.

I felt like the book was honest. It didn't try to make the past appear only rosy, but remembered the good and the bad. The characters were authentic and interesting. And I thought that in the end the author's thoughts on death (as told by Larry Morgan) were so realistic but not necessarily romantic (in the english literature sense of the word, not the modern lovey dovey sense). Maybe I can explain that better. The question arises, is it possible to go on living when the one you love most dies, and how do you do it? Of course the dramatic answer would be that you cannot, that some Romeo and Juliet scene will have to occur. And indeed, I did think that the book would end with a suicide. But that's not the conclusion that this book comes to. In a very visual way the author discribes surviving a tragedy as an instinct. An almost unintentional action that the human mind does not know it can achieve until it does.

The ending was good, suspenceful (in a non-action packed sort of way), and insightful. But I felt like it need to go just a little further. I felt a little bit like I was left hanging, because it didn't wrap up in a nice little package with a pretty bow on top. But that's ok. All in all, a great book. I recommend it, especially to people who are in to character driven stories (as opposed to plot driven), this one is a good one.