Customer Reviews

A Shooting Star

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

 

 

Wallace Stegner, clearly one of America's great authors (still not getting all the accolades he deserves but likley will in time) wrote a story here, rather than a thoroughly thought out, structured and crafted novel. From many other writers this would be considered to be a great book. But from Stegner, who has given us so much better, it is simply not up to his standards nor the standards I believe he would have demanded in his Creative Writing seminars. The story is good, if cliche, but one that affects many and can be explored by many writers through the ages in search of answers and furthering to paint the human condition. In effect, it is about a young woman who "has everying", risks it all in a very careless way, and then seeks to find happiness through a destructive series of events that continually bring her back to her dysfunctional and affluent family in the San Francisco Bay Area.

This book is often forgotten by readers of Stegner (intersting when you look at Stegner's work on Amazon it does not appear but requires a seperate search) as his real work is in Angle of Repose, Big Rock Candy Mountain and Crossing to Safety. His naturalist style comes alive in these near-organic novels. In essence, if you are new to Stegner, do not start with "A Shooting Star". Some would say Crossing to Safety is "Stegner Lite", something I would take odds with but, albeit, a good start. Then read Angle of Repose, one of the great novels of the 20th Century. On the other hand, for Stegner affectionados, this book is worth a read as it was written before some of his greater books and perhaps his development is evident here. Certainly his writing is always crisp and, I believe, always worth reading.

I took a chance on this novel, having read Angle and Crossing. I have not been disappointed. This man had to be born to write, it flows and the pages turn and time is well spent. I am surprised there is not more on this book here. Stegner is a master at dialogue, fleshing out characters who become so real, creating scenes and places that become just as real. The novel could have taken a touch of editing down and it's plot is not fast and furious as some readers need. For me he is about my favorite writer, it's a joy reading this. From here I'm moving on to 3 other Stegner books. Stunningly great writing.

Not my favorite Stegner book but would probably be an interesting book for discussion. Such a contrast between the author's analytical, dry voice and the main character's flighty desperation. It makes an interesting contrast, but hard to get into the character at times. Also, Stegner doesn't seem to understand women as well as men, especially this one. Another point of interest: its publication date. Some of this must have been a lot more sensational then than now, but it's also fun to see that "people back then" weren't as different from us as we'd like to think.

The other characters in the book were frustrating, I thought. The mother was the most intriguing. The others were stereotypical and annoying. I wanted to learn more about Bobbie, the "perfect," "content" friend - how could she be so serene when married to a know-it-all like Leonard? And Sabrina's brother read like something out of a romance novel. If only he had a long black mustache to twirl!

All in all, not my favorite but it did get me to thinkin', and that's never a bad thing.

I am a fervent Wallace Stegner reader, and couldn't believe I hadn't heard of this title. I wish to heaven that were still so. This novel was originally published in 1961. Perhaps he had some heavy financial obligations then - that's the only reason I can fish up for this laughably tawdry tale, told completely without his usual deftness and sensitivity (except when he's describing the natural world.) Those parts of the book I could bear to skim through were filled with incongruities - beginning with the putative heroine's name; what "old money" family of impeccable New England rectitude would have named a daughter "Sabrina"? And it's embarrassingly easy to guess the role each character will play. This stuff is something Helen Gurley Brown would have bought for her Cosmo girls to read around the pool. If you want the real Stegner, the titan of the Stanford writing program, read "Women on the Wall" or "Crossing to Safety" or "Angle of Repose" or almost any other of his fictional works; and by all means seek out his environmental writings.

After Zora Neale Hurston's,Their Eyes Were Watching God, this book is my next favorite. Wallace Stegner is a genius, a truly literary giant, equal to the likes of Tolstoy, Jane Austen, Balzac, and so on. The characters in this book are entirely real, in that they are great and not so great. But perhaps the best thing about the book is the beautiful writing. Just taking almost any sentence alone is a lesson in how to write. So original, so eloquent and so beautiful, it almost doesn't matter what the book is about. However, the book is also substantively great...about life and what it means to live it fully and genuinely. A great book.

This was a surprise for me, a novel of Stegner's that I hadn't read, but enjoyed immensely. The writing is masterful, the characters are drawn with subtlety and complexity, and the story is unpredictable and fascinating. I'd recommend this book to anyone who loves great writing and craftsmanship.

I read this because of the positive reviews, but Washington DC has it right. Predictable, tedious, a woman protagonist whose major act of rebellion is wearing funny slippers and hanging out by the pool on her mother's Hillsborough estate...Puhleeze! Hard to believe this same writer created the characters in Angle and Crossing.