A Word About Awards

EARLY AUTUMN by Louis Bromfield Award: Pulitzer 1927 Dates Read: December 22, 2009 & April 21, 2019 Early Autumn focuses on the Pentland family, particularly Olivia Pentland, an "outsider" that married into this prestigious family that prides itself on their Massachusetts Bay Colony heritage. The Pentlands, specifically Anson and Aunt Cassie, loathe outsiders almost as much as they loathe change.  All of the women of this novel (Olivia, Sybil, Sabine and Therese) seem trapped by their gender, unable to aspire to anything beyond being a wife, their lives entirely defined by which man is on their arm.  Further, in order to be considered a lady at all, women had to let parts of themselves die - inquisitiveness, vivaciousness, intellect.  Being so limited in their choices, all of the relationships in Early Autumn seem forced and lack genuine connection.  Olivia married Anson Pentland because she didn't find him repulsive, an incredibly low bar for ma...

THE BRIDGE OF SAN LUIS REY by Thornton Wilder Award: Pulitzer 1928 Dates Read: November 29, 2007 & March 23, 2019 Some books fall into your hands accidentally and you are so happy they did. Others, not so much. This is one of the not so much for me. I have given this more than a fair shake, having read it twice. A second chance didn't improve my previous opinion. Yet, t his novel is widely considered "one of the towering achievements in American fiction."  In 1714, a precarious rope bridge in Peru breaks and the five travelers crossing fall fatally into the gulf below. A monk, Brother Juniper, witnesses this tragedy and embarks on a "quest to prove that it was divine intervention rather than chance that led to the deaths." "Either we live by accident and die by accident, or we live by plan and die by plan," so resolves Brother Juniper, who undertakes a thorough examination of the lives of those who perished. Rather than answering this...

SCARLET SISTER MARY by Julia Peterkin Award: Pulitzer Winner 1929 Dates Read: December 3, 2008 & September 18, 2017 Scarlet Sister Mary, set in South Carolina, is a fabulous book about a black woman torn between living a respectable and virtuous life, but also wanting to buck convention and follow her pleasure. Readers can tell right away that the man Mary weds, July, is never going to be faithful or a good provider, yet Mary is already pregnant with Unex (short for Unexpected) and is head-over-heels in love with him. Over the years, July comes and goes but Mary has other lovers and other children by other men, never marrying any of them. She earns the scorn of everyone around her, becoming somewhat of a pariah, unwelcome at church or in others' homes. Throughout, however, she always remains true to herself. I am conflicted over this novel for several reasons. I understand that in order to explore these issues, the main character needed to be a woman, particul...

ARROWSMITH by Sinclair Lewis Award: Nobel Prize Winner 1926, Pulitzer Winner 1926 Dates Read: April 23, 2007 & September 13, 2017 Arrowsmith is Lewis' homage to science and the medical profession. Martin Arrowsmith, coming from a small town, finds his way to medical school, where is suspended for insulting his mentor, Max Gottlieb. In the process, he marries one woman and has an affair with another, inviting both to a lunch to leave them to decide his fate. He eventually marries his mistress, Leora, and takes up private practice in another small town. He moves from private practice to a public health official to a doctor in a private hospital to a prestigious research institute. Arrowsmith eventually discovers a phage that can kill bacteria. Lewis was granted the Pulitzer for this work, however, he declined the award because he felt it was not bestowed for merit "...but in obedience to whatever code of Good Form may chance to be popular at the moment." Some...

SO BIG by Edna Ferber Award: Pulitzer Winner 1925 Dates Read: March 14, 2007 & July 16, 2017 So Big follows the life of Selina, who begins her independence as a school teacher in a rural farming community, quickly meets and then marries a farmer named Pervus. Of course, the whole time I'm thinking why marry so fast? From reading, I just never got the sense that she was madly in love with him. They soon have a child together, Dirk, who she nicknames "So Big," hence the title of the novel. Pervus is not long for this world and dies, leaving Selina and Dirk to fend for themselves. Selina works herself to the bone on the farm, determined to give Dirk a future. The novel from this point focuses more on Dirk and him falling in love with his wife, Dallas, and money, yet ultimately being abandoned by his wife and realizing the wisdom of his mother and her artistic values. Yet, my enjoyment came from Selina through and through. The imagery of her toiling in the so...

THE ABLE MCLAUGHLINS by Margaret Wilson Award: Pulitzer Winner 1924 Dates Read: October 24, 2008 & July 4, 2017 The Able McLaughlins tells the story of Wully McLaughlin who returns from the Civil War to find his beloved, Christie, pregnant by a scoundrel of the community, Peter Keith. Wully promptly runs Peter out of town and marries Christie, accepting paternity for the child and the shame it brings when the child is born soon after the wedding.  Peter eventually returns to town to see Christie and his child but is run off again by Wully, who eventually finds and confronts Peter.  I loved the contrast of Wully and Christie's marriage and home life with that of her father and stepmother who, coming from Scotland, expected a castle and instead inherited a "pig sty." Wilson is an exceptional storyteller and is able to convey life and struggle with her own unique voice. Where she could have driven the revenge portion of the novel, instead she eleva...

ONE OF OURS by Willa Cather Award: Pulitzer Winner 1923 Dates Read: March 28, 2008 & June 27, 2017 One Of Ours follows the life of Claude Wheeler, the son of a successful farmer and modest mother. Claude is sent to university where he meets the Ehrlich family and is captivated by their lively home life, full of music, debate and free-thinking. Shortly after, Claude is forced to drop out of college to assist his father with his farm expansion.  Now trapped by the farm, Claude marries his childhood friend, Enid Royce, who is more interested in pursuits outside her home than she is in Claude. Enid soon leaves for China to tend to her ill missionary sister and Claude is left alone. He soon returns to his parent's farm, and he and his parents follow the outbreak of WWI with rapt attention. Once the US enters the war, Claude enlists in the Army and is shipped to the front.  The Army is a revelation to Claude, who feels his life has purpose for the first time and ...

ALICE ADAMS by Booth Tarkington Award: Pulitzer Winner 1922 Dates Read: November 24, 2006 & June 20, 2017 Alice Adams comes from a modest family with limited means, yet her life's ambition is to become a part of wealthy society. She sets her sights on Arthur Russell, who Alice at first believes is engaged to her friend Mildred, and believes is only spending time with her out of pity. She tells endless lies to him to hide her family's humble background and presses him to not believe anything he might hear about her or her family from others in society. Meanwhile, her father, Virgil, in poor health and with a nagging and ambitious wife, is encouraged to start his own glue factory, yet the original recipe comes from his previous employer, Mr. Lamb. Virgil justifies this intellectual property theft by determining he made enough improvements to the recipe that it now rightfully belongs to him. All of these shenanigans come to a boil when Arthur finally hears Alice a...

THE AGE OF INNOCENCE by Edith Wharton Award: Pulitzer Winner 1921 Dates Read: January 23, 2007 & May 29, 2017 The Age Of Innocence is yet another novel so good, I read it twice. Wharton, notably, was the first woman to be awarded the Pulitzer Prize. Go, girl! The Age Of Innocence tells the story of Newland Archer and recently engaged to the beautiful May Welland. His world is thrown upside down by the arrival of May's cousin, Countess Ellen Olenska. Newly returned to America after separating from her husband, Countess Olenska shocks the New York aristocracy with her revealing clothes, carefree manners, and rumors of adultery. Because the Countess's family, headed by the powerful Mrs. Manson Mingott, have chosen to reintroduce her into good society, Archer and May feel it necessary to befriend her. Archer begins to appreciate her unconventional views on New York society, while becoming increasingly disillusioned with May and the world of artifi...

SIDDHARTHA by Hermann Hesse   Award: Nobel Prize Winner 1922   Date Read: April 17, 2004   Kirkus Reviews:  “A serene "classic novel" about a spiritual journey through Indian mysticism -- a smooth, bland entity for a special audience by the author of Steppenwolf and winner of the 1946 Nobel Prize. This is the story of the young Brahmin, Siddhartha, and his progress from arrogant asceticism, through abandonment to the senses, rebirth of spiritual vigor, deep human grief, to an appreciation of the unity and beauty of all things, a unity in which words and thoughts appear as shadows. The style reflects this discovery of the timeless rooted in the nature of time- the author's stringent, economical phrasing with its careful rhythms lends the book an air of studied antiquity, refreshing, yet, oddly, new.”