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A review by bianca89279
All the Little Live Things by Wallace Stegner
5.0
How wonderful it was to come across the grumpy and humourless, Joe Allston, whom I first met in Stegner's The Spectator Bird.
Now in his sixties, he's retired in California, living a quiet, routine filled life next to his wife of forty years, Ruth.
It's the "crazy 60s" when the youths of the day went on sex, drugs and spiritual experimentation benders. I wasn't alive in the 60s, but I always wonder - would I have joined in or would I have followed the beaten path? I definitely see myself as being anti-war, I'm not so sure about the "free love " (more like free STIs and pregnancies) and the drug-taking.
The Allston routines are interrupted when they come across a young hippy man camped under a tree on their property. Joe Allston has issues with him immediately, he sees the young "revolutionaries" as preposterous. Joe Allston takes everything personally when it comes to Jim - his dishevelled appearance, his speech, his motorcycle - everything is an affront. Joe resents the young man even more, as he gives in and allows him to set camp on a part of his land that was unused. The young man starts building a treehouse, puts up a bridge and does other improvements that the Allstons observe from a distance.
Not long after Jim's camping development, Marian and John, a beautiful married couple, and their six-year old daughter move next to Joe and Ruth. Marian is not only beautiful but she's got a way of being and thinking that endears everyone to her, including Joe and Ruth. She's like the daughter they never had. Their friendship blossoms quickly, the older couple find that their life becomes more interesting, more sparkly in very subtle but noticeable ways.
This novel is about regret and grief, getting old, the clash of generations. It's about the way we affect others and others affect us.
The ending was beautiful:
"I shall be richer all my life for this sorrow.'
I shall be richer for having read Stegner.
Now in his sixties, he's retired in California, living a quiet, routine filled life next to his wife of forty years, Ruth.
It's the "crazy 60s" when the youths of the day went on sex, drugs and spiritual experimentation benders. I wasn't alive in the 60s, but I always wonder - would I have joined in or would I have followed the beaten path? I definitely see myself as being anti-war, I'm not so sure about the "free love " (more like free STIs and pregnancies) and the drug-taking.
The Allston routines are interrupted when they come across a young hippy man camped under a tree on their property. Joe Allston has issues with him immediately, he sees the young "revolutionaries" as preposterous. Joe Allston takes everything personally when it comes to Jim - his dishevelled appearance, his speech, his motorcycle - everything is an affront. Joe resents the young man even more, as he gives in and allows him to set camp on a part of his land that was unused. The young man starts building a treehouse, puts up a bridge and does other improvements that the Allstons observe from a distance.
Not long after Jim's camping development, Marian and John, a beautiful married couple, and their six-year old daughter move next to Joe and Ruth. Marian is not only beautiful but she's got a way of being and thinking that endears everyone to her, including Joe and Ruth. She's like the daughter they never had. Their friendship blossoms quickly, the older couple find that their life becomes more interesting, more sparkly in very subtle but noticeable ways.
This novel is about regret and grief, getting old, the clash of generations. It's about the way we affect others and others affect us.
The ending was beautiful:
"I shall be richer all my life for this sorrow.'
I shall be richer for having read Stegner.