Literary Masterpiece...a Classic Novel

A griping, well-written, touching, penetratingly human story told with fervor and majesty. The descriptions were incredible! The arrival into Leadville, the harrowing ride up the mountain in the bitter cold, the tender moment when Oliver made breakfast for his citified new wife, Susan, on her first morning in the isolated, bare, frigid cabin "....cracking the (egg) shells against the edge of the pan and opening them upward with his long limber fingers until the insides fell out. She saw them solidify in the pan like golden-hearted, frilly edged flowers." Just a sampling of the never-ending experiences that fill the pages and keep you enthralled,

You have to admire Susan who could have been an intolerable b----. A spoiled and sheltered city girl who realized, early on, she had married 'beneath' her. Determined to make it work, she expressed 'joy' at each new home her husband took her to in his quest for success in the mining towns of the old west, swallowed her disappointments, made curtains, fixed up each abode as best she could, did her best to adjust to a new and hard lifestyle, and encouraged Oliver as he made one bad business decision after another. Poor Oliver: sweet, unconscious and weak. Staunch Susan: courageous, remarkable and strong. She had such a deep family loyalty that she literally punished herself forever after a terrible life changing tragedy.

Stegner does an outstanding job of maintaining a flowing story line as he flawlessly switches us back and forth between present day (as Susan's grandson researches and writes the history of the grandmother he loved but knew so little about) and the early times of actual events in Susan's life. The grandson, Lyman, does have a cantankerous side, poor thing. Who wouldn't under his circumstances: wife left him, wife's doctor/lover cuts off his leg (good grief!) and now he has some kind of paralysis that leaves him wheelchair bound! Egad! Now his ex-wife wants to rekindle their relationship. Yet, through it all, he maintains a keen sense of humor that lets him see things such as his own son (Rodman) coming to visit and hearing "...hard heels on the thin Beluchi rug, then on wood. He must wear leather heels, maybe with taps. I wonder if he'd begin to doubt his existence if he couldn't hear himself."

There's so much in this great book! Some full of courage, sadness, laughter, loneliness, love. Some funny enough that you laugh out loud. Some just glorious bits of writing that glow with brilliance. I loved it from the first page to the last! Read it to find out ... "whose head isn't inside a Bendix?"