Customer Reviews

Plains Song: For Female Voices

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A fine novel, a masterpiece of concision, considering the breadth of the story. What saddens me is that there are no other Morris novels in print. This one is no better or worse than any of his other wonderful novels, but evidently rates publication because it has the word "female" in the title. His best novel, The Field of Vision, also won the National Book award.

I do not think you'll ever hear the name of Wright Morris mentioned as one of the major American novelists of the late 20th Century. It is a pity! This is a great novel. Those who say it has no plot do not understand that Morris moved to grasp the pace of life itself, and managed to do it apparently effortlessly--though I see a great mastery of form here, absolutely impressive. When you end up in the years the novel was written, you are almost shocked by the feeling of the passing of years. The saga of this Midwestern family is wholly persuading and poetically told, and leaves permanent traces in one's memory, even though there are almost no remarkable events in the story. But does that really matter? This is a slow novel, but life is slow too. We should be grateful to Wright Morris for having sung his plain song so slowly, and so well.

Plains Song is overall a sound novel, but suffers from some structural problems. It is as if Morris could not figure out the overall trajectory of the plot? Who are the central characters of the novel, and what is the overall conflict to be resolved? There are muddled intentions here, and it shows throughout this work. But overall, Wright is a master at detailing life on the Midwestern plains and the pivotal changes encountered by its inhabitants at the turn of the century. This redeems the novel somewhat, and makes it, if not anything, an interesting artifact.