Rating: 
Summary: Another Good Stegner Novel
Review: Why have I revisited Stegner so soon after reading "Angle of Repose"? I don't really know. I cannot say "Angle of Repose" is excellent literature, although I do say that it is very good. I guess I just wanted to give Stegner another chance. I chose to read this book, "The Spectator Bird," in order to try and understand Stegner a bit better and give him that chance. For those who don't know, Wallace Stegner wrote many books, both fiction and non-fiction, with the American West as their theme. "Angle of Repose," his best known work (it's on that top 100 list from a few years ago), won the 1971 Pulitzer Prize. Stegner died in a car accident in 1993, at the age of 84."The Spectator Bird," written five years after "Angle of Repose," tells the story of Joe Allston. Allston, a retired literary agent, lives in California with his wife Ruth. Life has not been good for Allston; he had a son that died, he's been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, and his life has been one uninteresting blur. His work as a literary agent left him on the sidelines, as a spectator to the success of others. Except for one event: a trip to Denmark some 20 years prior, when Allston and his wife tried to track down the village where Joe's mother came from. A postcard from Astrid, the Danish woman that the Allstons stayed with on the trip, arrives in the mail and inspires Allston to dig up a journal he wrote while in Denmark. Joe reads the journal to his wife, and together, they relive their journey. Just as in "Angle of Repose," a dark secret emerges at the end of the journal. This leads to revelations that improve the relationship between Joe and Ruth. That's it, in a nutshell. I have to say that "Angle of Repose" is the better of the two books. "The Spectator Bird" is much shorter, for one thing. It also is not nearly as rich, in its prose, as "Angle of Repose." While this makes "The Spectator Bird" somewhat more accessible, it also lessens the effect of the work. In "Angle of Repose," Stegner's ability to create atmosphere and character depth is simply breathtaking. This does not happen as often in "The Spectator Bird." Wallace Stegner is probably best described as a reactionary. He often places his characters in opposition to the 1960's counterculture movement. Stegner tries to show that old values are not worthless, but rather the correct and healthy ones. It is these values, if studied and listened to, which can solve problems in the present. It's not hard to imagine that Stegner, with his novels and writings, represented the "silent majority" of Richard Nixon fame. I apologize for comparing "The Spectator Bird" with "Angle of Repose." Many of the reviews on Amazon seem to make similar comparisons, and many of the readers seem to start out with "Angle of Repose," just as I did. While "The Spectator Bird" isn't on the level of "Angle of Repose," it is still entertaining reading. Enjoy!
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