Crossing to Safety (Modern Library) (Modern Library Classics)

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I know I'm completely on the outside here, and I'm treading on hallowed ground - once again I'm wearing my slippers as to not leave a trace. Slightly Foxed introduces its readers to books that are no longer new and fashionable but have lasting appeal.

Despite the generally hard times, the two couples shared lots of laughs and slathered layers of glue on to their friendship. Let me say upfront that on reading the first 60 pages of Crossing to Safety I already knew it had the potential to be one of my favourite books of the year, and I’m sticking with this thought. I'd rather spend it on Charity" (what is it about that line that has the reader continue to 'think' about this? She plots their route, plans their activities, brooks no arguments, although there certainly are some.While telling this story Wallace gives a sense of space and time like no other author I’ve read before. She never stops and loses patience with those who don't toe the line or keep up, an impossible task. For me it was too close to reality having witnessed a very similar relationship within my own family, another Charity type who was just an abusive and self-centred bully as far as I’m concerned. Well, that’s exactly what Wallace Stegner has done with Crossing to Safety, a book that captured my heart. Despite ‘the serpent’, their friendship is lasting and deep-rooted, helped along by a great deal of generosity and tolerance.

The thread keeping it together is much different from that of family, which always seems to be there no matter what, even if it’s a rather snarled thread. That is ever the difference between the wise and the unwise: the latter wonders at what is unusual; the wise man wonders at the usual.The characters in this book (primarily Larry and his wife Sally, and their friends Sid and Charity Lang) have personalities that are indelibly etched in my heart. Since I finished reading this book about three weeks ago, I've thought a lot about what its central subject actually is. Stegner was clearly at one with nature and a charming aside about Achilles the Tortoise immediately reminded me of dear old Gerald Durrell. I think there’s more of a gender balance here than in Stoner – all four of the main characters (Sally, Larry, Charity and Sid) are in the foreground! Oh, and the women in this book are given equal billing to the men, which is always a good thing in my view.