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Look Homeward, Angel
by: Thomas Wolfe |
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Binding: Paperback Dewey Decimal Number: 813.52 EAN: 9780684804439 Edition: 1st Scribner Paperback Fiction ISBN: 0684804433 Label: Scribner Manufacturer: Scribner Number Of Items: 1 Number Of Pages: 544 Publication Date: October 01, 1995 Publisher: Scribner Studio: Scribner |
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| Customer Reviews | ||
  - Ma & Pa Kettle meet Walt WhitmanThere is some undeniably fabulous writing in this book...the opening sequence had me in love and I anxiously looked forward to the rest, but instead it lead to an overworked tedium of mundane antics punctuated by moments of brillance. It seems to me he would have been more effective in getting to the heart of the American experience in poetry rather than novel. And more concise too. Rating:  - Review on AcceptanceI received the book "Homeward, Angel". Thank you. The book is a little beatup but will suffice nicely. I have to give a report of this book at my book club. I will be trying to pull up any information I can get to help me with my report. If you have any suggestions, I will appreciate all I can get. I would love to have some questions that I can ask after my report. Patricia H. Snyder Rating: - Classic Evocation of Its Age"Look Homeward Angel", together with its sequel "Of Time and the River", is an intense and panoromic narrative of life in, and a paean to, early 20th Century America from the perspective of a Southern writer gone North. As such it foresages the experiences of others who came after him like Willie Morris. Wolfe's work artfully evokes much of the era that Ken and Ric Burns seek to capture in their documentaries but from the perspective of a participant and his personal struggles in life. (Wolfe's evocation of New York City in the 20s and 30s in "Of Time and the River" comes to mind in this regard). In sum, Wolfe's works are not only top-notch examples of American literature but stand as a monumental and inspiring expression of American culture and of the spirit that animated much of our society during the dawning period of the 20th Century. Wolfe's work is not in the tradition of pop culture and has little in common with the work of the current writer of the same name. Thus, reading Wolfe's work can be intellectually challenging. Nevertheless, tackling these books can be a rewarding and enjoyable experience for those seriously interested in American history and culture. Wolfe's work, notwithstanding its challenging level of literacy to some, is very absorbing and will only be found to be boring by more pedestrian readers or by those Yankee snobs who have contempt for the work's mostly plebeian subject matter. Rating: - Still outstandingAfter reading this in college decades ago, it seemed time for a refresher. I had been impressed as a teenager by the vivid descriptions Wolfe used and wondered if the passing of many years would change my perception of the quality of his writing. It did not. The story is captivating and Wolfe's style invited me to re-read paragraphs just for the fun of it. Rating: - An insatiable zest for lifeAuthor of Afinidad: A novel of a serial killer Aztec Dawn: A tale of sacrifical murder, from Manhattan to Mexico Like the author himself, this first novel resonates with the surge of life. It is passionate, sensual, and unsparing. Every aspect of life, from the characters' every thought and emotion, to descriptions of the natural world around them, is explored in great detail, sometimes to the point of being rambling and incoherent. However, there is a structure to the novel that ensures that the reader does not lose his way for very long. The book is set in a town ringed by the North Carolina mountains, at the beginning of the twentieth century, and tells the tale of a young man's entry into and passage through a life that was intensely sensual and chaotic. The large, rumbustious family that he is born into is given as much attention as he is. There are no aspects of family or individual life left unexplored. You get to know the members as well, or better, than you know your own, with all their idiosyncrasies, strengths and weaknesses. And when the young man goes out into the world to attend school and college, the reader goes with him in all his thoughts and deeds. We learn things that we may feel we could have done without knowing, but the story is a deeply honest recording of a young person growing up. It is, perhaps, a book that has not aged well, because the modern taste in books is for getting to the point of the story fairly quickly; but, for anyone who enjoys a rich flow of prose, of powerful use of language to create incredible imagery, character descriptions, and emotions, then Look Homeward, Angel is a must. You must read it for the journey that it is, and not for a particular plot or ending. I cannot understand why people criticize the book for being autobiographical. That is as legitimate a theme for a book as any other. Yes, the book is flawed and could have benefited from more editing by Wolfe's editor, Maxwell Perkins, but, for anyone who loves to get to know characters intimately, who enjoy being drawn deeply into a writer's web of lyrical narrative, this book will satisfy. |
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