Customer Reviews

Poor White: A Novel

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you thought that Winesburg Ohio was good, then you'll absolutely love Poor White. It has a similar feel as Winesburg, except this story revolves around two main characters, Hugh McVey and Clara Butterworth. Poor White tells of how the spread of industrialism affected the agrarian towns of the Midwest.

Sherwood Anderson captures America's change from agrarian to industrial, with insightful and poetic writing. This is a perfect companion to Anderson's best-known work (Winesburg, Ohio) as well as to the many non-fiction books on the same topic (The Machine in the Garden, etc.).

" The machines men are so intent on making have carried them very far from the old sweet things."
This quote from the book sums up its core philosophy very nicely. Surely this is Anderson's best book, also depressing, but not as much as "Winesburg, Ohio", and quite sweet in its depiction of a life now lost. Anderson must have deeply loved the country and its farms to have described it so wondrously. And his skill in depicting even the most minute of characters is quite remarkable. This ability to draw out of the smallest things such vivid detail, is really outstanding. I liked this book very much and would almost wish to return to those "old sweet things". He really abhored the machine age and, as in "Winesburg", all his people, especially Clara and Hugh, are abysmal at trying to connect with their fellow human beings. Created with a lot of suspense.

I loved Winesburg, and enjoyed this book just as much. It treats some of the same themes, Americas transition from agrarian society to industrial, and the lonliness that accompanies it. Much of the book reads like poetry. Anderson writes like Edward Hopper painted....

The character development in this book is extensive, which if the characters were more enjoyable or logical might be enjoyable as I am a fan of extensive character development. When the characters are interesting, going in depths into their thoughts and dreams is desirable. But with Hugh McVey, the main character of "Poor White" I found myself cringing towards the end of this book. It's understandable that a poor boy that spent his formative years doing not much more than laying on the river bank, sleeping in a smelly fish shack, would be apprehensive as he strikes out in the world. However as the character of Hugh McVey builds we seem to be left with a man that suffers from a debilitating form of shyness. Anderson spends an undue amount of time telling us again and again and yet again that McVey wants to be part of the community, yearns to have even a male friend with which he can talk. Has even stronger yearnings to be part of a woman's life, any woman will do obviously, because when in the presence of people male or female we are told again and again that Hugh McVey just cannot manage to speak. Anderson does not name the cause of this silence, instead he paints a picture of McVey as so lonely he spends his nights walking the town and surroundings essentially peeping in from the fringes at others life's.

Half way through the book, McVey's nightly wanderings, peeping in at windows, hiding behind trees, and following people in the town become almost creepy. One account depicts McVey as he follows young lovers in the town as they set out for the areas equivalent of lover's lane. As the young couples separate to walk off and sneak embraces and kisses in the night, we find McVey hiding behind trees and fences to watch. Really, kinda creepy. The narrative is that McVey longs to be able to do the same with a woman. Yet I found it harder and harder to sympathize with McVey as the book progressed because his shyness seems to be the sole culprit that turns the books main character into a skulking shadow on the fringes of the community. I found myself unsympathetic as this young man was made rich by fate suddenly , unbelievably rich for the times, he continued to skulk about like a stalker, unable to speak when in the presence of others. I can understand a bit of shyness from a young man never in the company of the fairer sex, but Anderson leads us to believe that McVey remains so shy, so lacking in words that he never learns to be at ease even among men that he works with daily. And the book goes on and on and on about McVey's inability to connect with others.

Then Clara, whom I found to be a completely unsympathetic and indeed even a detestable character. Anderson has Clara throwing fits of temper when she behaves inappropriately by staying out late, worrying her father or caretakers. When they attempt to discuss any such behavior with Clara she flies into quiet fits of rage and refuses to discuss anything with anybody, we are led to believe for days if not months at a time. Clara would have been a privileged young lady of that day. She seems to rage against women's perceived traditional roles, yet when given a unique opportunity for the times to attend college at a major university Anderson narrates that her grades are poor and Clara is seen as judging people she meets as somehow lacking. Clara does not embrace this chance to break out of traditional roles instead she spends three years at college pouting and judging the world as somehow lacking. Clara finally drops out of college and returns to her home town. Anderson spends much time explaining the musings and thoughts of Clara and I found them self centered and indulgent, worse yet lacking substance.

If it was exciting the following might be considered a spoiler, but the narrative on this is so boring that I do not consider it a spoiler. As the book winds down we find that Hugh McVey's debilitating shyness has him falling prey to a rushed marriage with the self centered Clara. When I say rushed I mean rushed. McVey shows up for the first time at Clara's door and she rushes him off in the middle of the night to the next town's magistrate to be married. The narrative immediately following the marriage is almost painful to read due to McVey's extreme shyness and the bitter character of Clara, I found the newlyweds a most unsympathetic pair.

Then Anderson takes a twist in the book and indeed had this fork of the story line been explored more in depth the book might have been redeemed. A local business man suddenly goes on a rampage and murders his employee in a most gruesome way. By chance as he is being pursued for the crime he attacks Hugh McVey in a scene that would be at home in a Vampire story. Instead of pursuing this story line a bit more in depth the book quickly ends.
For comfort Anderson gives us as a ending that today might be considered a picture of an clinically depressed Hugh Mcvey and for comfort a Clara that has somewhat decided to tolerate and mother her new husband. Very uninspired ending.

I honestly struggled between giving this book one star and two. Deciding on two simply because it's a long book and short parts are redeemable. Over all though Anderson missed the mark in this one. Anderson seems to lack the ability to create in depth characters without them becoming boring. Perhaps that is why his best book is Winesburg, in which he does short stories about the townspeople that while admirable separately, never come together in a coherent end. Yet the short character builds in Winesburg are worth reading. I may read it again in the future. I would have to be desperate for something to read to read " Poor White " again and I shall hope I never become that desperate.