Crossing to Safety

May 27th book group:  "Crossing to Safety" by Wallace Stegner We had 8 members at my, Libby's, house Tuesday may 27th in beautiful spring weather on the back patio:  Annie, Sheri,  Mary,  Marylib,  Maddy,  Margie, and Joanie and myself.  The book was Stegner's last novel published in 1987 when he was 78 years old.  In the words of Terry Tempest Williams who wrote the introduction, this is a "quiet novel" and several of us wondered if it would be popular at all today.  I will tell you of an experience this morning while waiting for a doctor's appointment:  there was a young 20-something also in the waiting room and I noticed that he was reading a Stegner book.  So of course I immediately started talking with him, and yes, the wonderful quiet of Stegner lives on in the younger generation.  He was reading "Big Rock Candy Mountain" and had read many other Stegner novels and felt he was a great insightful author, as did his girlfriend who then came out from her appointment.  Never fear.  These young people sought out Stegner. This book seemed to have something for everyone at the group since everyone has experienced relationships and friendships, intense, casual, ongoing or lost.  We all made intense friends early on in life and some of these relationships carry on.  Everyone had so much to contribute at group.  We all talked about having friends past and present.  Charity made some people uncomfortable, some feel annoyance, some feeling love-hate for her, and some actually like her energy.  Libby (through her husband) mentioned that Charity is perhaps a rare needed catalyst (this was actually an idea I told to him).  Would the couples have ever gotten together if Charity wasn't Charity?  She was certainly relentless in wanting to control and manipulate but also in love and generosity.  Marylib had a story of confronting a friend who was grating to their group when they were young, and this was an interesting and painful telling.  Maddy also had a story of a friendship that was difficult and what to do about it.  Sally and Larry and Sid and Charity never gave up the love for each other for whatever reason as the bonds were formed and grew through various ways.  We all agreed that you never really know what goes on in a couple, only what you see on the outside.  Couples are much more complicated underneath, even to themselves.... Joan mentioned that the Frost poem at the beginning was so important and wonderful.  As Frost has crossed to safety with the beauty in life, so has Stegner himself crossed to safety in creating a novel that can change lives reading the simple story of good decent people.  Stegner touches on the subject of how much control do we have when he says "order is indeed the dream of man, but chaos, which is only another word for dumb, blind, witless chance, is still the law of nature."  Sheri felt that there is no fate just daily chance.  Charity ultimately had no control and in the end at her death we all agreed that she only hurt herself.  Someone mentioned that Sally was not as developed as she could have been but that she was a model of perseverance with the chance occurrence of getting polio.  Several people felt sad for Sid, the life he was living with Charity.  He only lived what he wanted...as all of us try to do. I invite anyone who was there to add to this post as I may have forgotten things.  One other thing was that Stegner invokes nature so well, infusing it into the story, and many of us were taken by the scenes at the lake and the horse trip, telling stories of where they had similar lake experiences. All in all a great group!