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Comments (25)

What did you think about this title?
1 to 25 of 25 items
Feb 28, 2024Linda Fields rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Amazing insight into the nature of relationships. Beautiful writing that requires attention to every word.
Mar 04, 2023POLYCAT rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
A well written book that gets bogged down in places. But the friendship of the two couples was interesting enough to get me to finish the book.
Nov 26, 2022IdontwantaUsername_51 rated this title 1.5 out of 5 stars
I just didn't care for any of the characters. Without engaging me in their journey the book was just a chore to finish, like a homework assignment one has to finish rather than "want" to finish. Writing came off as arrogant though I am…
Oct 18, 2022LoriHarrow rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Stegner at his best. Lovely, lovely writing...lovely, lovely book.
Sep 08, 2021wyenotgo rated this title 3 out of 5 stars
An extended love-in between two couples and their extended families; white, middle class academics. Set first in Madison WI, surely the epitome of middle-America, beginning in the late 1930s, a time when the USA was beginning to emerge…
Jun 15, 2021
Recommended by Kim - book club already read
Apr 21, 2021
Recommended by Terry Leever
Sep 23, 2020
Modern Mrs Darcy Made it halfway, didn't finish. A bit dull
Nov 26, 2019Luckybe rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
I read this novel with mixed emotions, continually changing as it moved forward, which may be exactly what the author intended . I don’t think intimate relationships, such as the ones described here, could develop in today’s world,…
May 31, 2019AnnabelleLee27 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
A quiet and surprisingly powerful novel which explores the deep ties of friendship and the potent internal landscape of marriage. The writing is beautiful and thoughtful, successfully evoking a sense of time passed while still being…
Feb 27, 2019redleggedme rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
"How do you make a book that anyone will read out of lives as quiet as these? Where are the things novelists seize upon and readers expect? Where is the high life, the conspicuous waste, the violence, the kinky sex, the death wish? Where…
Aug 30, 2017snowflake54 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Love this author. Can't wait to read more of his books.
athompson10
Mar 22, 2016athompson10 rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
A novel about marriage and friendship. Very quiet, not a lot of drama, but a LOT of feeling. As an academic and writer, the author has a VERY high opinion of his fictional academics and writers, which can come across as smug and…
Dec 17, 2015DorisWaggoner rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
Stegner's late novel is a quiet view of a long friendship between two couples. Framed by a single day, looking back over years of this friendship, its ups and downs, life's ups and downs, it's a stunning achievement. It's told from the…
May 13, 2015lukasevansherman rated this title 3.5 out of 5 stars
"What ever happened to the passion we all had to improve ourselves, live up to our potential, leave a mark on the world? Our hottest arguments were always about how we could contribute. We did not care about the rewards. We were young and…
Jan 14, 2015
Not sure what I think yet. I might like it more as I get further into it.
Apr 03, 2014jweitz rated this title 2 out of 5 stars
I tried to like this book, but found it to be arrogant academia at its finest.
Mar 15, 2014
Party of me says its a book about first-world problems, but the writing is so strong I almost don't care. It reminds me of Annie Dillard's "The Maytrees:" another beautifully-crafted book full of good rural living, large picnics, and…
Jan 08, 2014mom2niamh rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
This book is in my fiction "top five" list. If you like outstanding fiction, don't ask questions; just read it. A beautiful book.
Sep 17, 2013Mary037 rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
A wonderful story of the lives of two couples and the demands, triumphs and tragedies that life brings their way from the depression era to the mid 1970s
gracindaisy
Aug 13, 2013gracindaisy rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
Two couples meet in 1930’s Madison at the University of Wisconsin and become lifelong friends. Stegner’s descriptive writing style leaps off the page into your heart. Recommended from The End of Your Life Book Club.
ZolaFan
Jan 17, 2013ZolaFan rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
An adult novel--meaning, you need considerable life experience to appreciate it fully. A worthy read. Good to read and discuss with someone else.
Oct 24, 2012annekim9 rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
I found this story about two very different (from each other) couples, told over several decades, engrossing and worth the reading. Stegner is great at character development.
Oct 06, 2012dera444 rated this title 2 out of 5 stars
Pretentious.
Dec 05, 2009macierules rated this title 5 out of 5 stars
This title will definitely be added to my all-time favourite list. It is a simple story about two couples who are locked into an amazing friendship, and how the battle between the order of man and the chaos of nature plays out on them all.…