Customer Reviews

The Works of Love (Bison Book)

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If what keeps you reading is plot, Wright Morris is not for you. If what keeps you going is a sense of longing and humor and an always surprising eye for detail in the most ordinary of lives, he might be. This is my favorite of his many novels about the people and place of the American Midwest in the first half or so of the 20th century. Morris was an awesome photographer and his writing is keenly visual. The stories tender to wander, as the lives of the people in them wander, too, as our own lives wander. There's a lot of loneliness in Morris, beautifully rendered, but always a twinkle of play as well, and a clear love for the people and the land. Morris is as much poet as storyteller, a master smith of phrase and thought. For example, this book begins with a line I'll never forget: "In the dry places, men begin to dream."Take Me With You When You Go

I was spooked when I read Alan's review. The line I remember is also "In the dry places men begin to dream" and I read this about thirty years ago! Here is this small book that hardly anyone will ever read but which is so fine and moving. How can it be that such fine art is gone forever. But then again - here is new edition and maybe some lucky few will read this book.