The Spectator Bird

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As that great philosopher Muhammad Ali once said, “The man who views the world at fifty the same as he did at twenty has wasted thirty years of his life.” I was older than twenty when I met Joe and I am older than fifty now, but the principle still applies. Furthermore, I have gained twenty years on him, and though he and I couldn’t be described as soul mates, I do have a better understanding and greater tolerance of him. Some – not all – but some of what he says and believes now makes sense to me. Once they arrived, the focus of the journal shifts to the countess. They learn that despite her elegance and good breeding, she was getting the cold shoulder from society types. Her estranged husband, unbeknownst to her when they’d been together, had been a Nazi sympathizer. Later into their stay they learn something else that explains the perceptions of her peers, but it would be a spoiler to say any more. I will say that you may or may not buy into this revelation. I decided that for me it was just a side issue, and that the far more important part of the book was Joe’s exploration of self. Although this was a good story, I preferred Stegner's Crossing to Safety and Angle of Repose a lot more. Ocr_converted abbyy-to-hocr 1.1.20 Ocr_module_version 0.0.17 Openlibrary OL21143591M Openlibrary_edition

Joe Allston, a retired literary agent, is an observer: of his past, of the current society, of life in general. He is troubled by the death of his son and the tense relationship they had had. His body is showing signs of age and so are the morals and norms he values. He has regrets, guilt, and pain, both physical and mental. Yet, he is engaging, intelligent, and known to be humorous. He and his wife have a loving, caring, and enviable relationship. Is he a curmudgeon, a grump. just an old crab? Unlike some reviewers, I don't think so. I believe his "spectating" is extremely realistic, especially of a 68-year old retiree. His musings are revealed in his diaries and reluctantly to his wife. He has difficulty discussing his innermost thoughts - not unusual in my opinion. His persona may not be one of joviality but it is not that of a crank. Sometimes a book that presents the reader with interesting an new information makes a good group read. The Kite Runner when my f2f group read it exposed us to a lot of new information about a country we knew little about I think that helped make it a good group read. One of the things that makes me more tolerant is that Joe had a rough childhood (as did Stegner) and I don’t think I originally made enough allowance for that fact. He is also unable to come to terms with the death of his only child twenty years earlier, who was described as an over age beach bum who died either due to an accident or suicide. Part of Joe’s grief can be traced to the fact that he and his son were in constant conflict and he feels that he was not a good father and thus was partly responsible for his rebellious son’s death. What is the central question of the novel? I'm not sure. Is it don't be a spectator in life? Is it why the son killed himself? This isn't explored at all so that can't be it. Is it his marriage to his wife? Is it the love that got away?In Other circumstances, if you hadn’t existed, I’d certainly have tried to marry her, and I think she might have had me. But those circumstances didn’t exist, and I never really fought you about coming home. I left all that behind, and eventually I forgot her. There have been stretches of two or three years when I haven’t thought of her, not once, and if her postcard hadn’t sent me looking for that diary, I probably wouldn’t have thought of her yet. That’s kind of sad, I’m sorry about that. But I’ll tell you something else. If I played the game the way people seem to expect, and jumped into the Baltic, all for love and the world well lost, and cut myself off from you and what you and I have had together, I couldn’t have forgotten you that way. I’d have regretted you the rest of my life”.

I also like what you said about possibilities. I hadn't thought of that in terms of the son, but you're right on with that. There were possibilities on two sides. On Joe's side, he could have been more directive as a father, but chose not to. He could have been more clarifying about what to do with some of the values he conveyed. On the son's side, he could have made other choices which wouldn't have put him in the place where the accident happened. He coulda been sumboddy. He coulda been a contendah. ;-0 Straddling two narrative lines, one in the present time and another two decades ago when Joe and Ruth travelled to Denmark trying to escape the loss of their only child, Stegner paints an introspective landscape that sometimes acquires a too intimate tinge for the reader’s comfort.Do we really get a chance to decide who we are, what we do, where we go and with whom we share all these choices as we grope in the darkness of time? Before retirement, Joe had been a literary agent, making it natural that authors and books are intermingled in the telling of the story, but not in the sense of name-dropping. Instead, characters and events in well-known books are used as reference points; if you have read the book you know the kind pf person Joe or Ruth are speaking of, understand their train of thought and catch the underlying humor. Nothing is explained; readers must themselves figure out what is inferred. If you have read the book you will understand. If you haven’t you won’t! Written 9 years after All the Little Live Things, Joe Alston is now 70 and pondering the indignities of aging, loss, and choices made earlier in life that determined which directions he went.

Arm in arm with Stegner, Joe dips into the past, examines the shadows, and is rewarded with a transcendent return to sunlight. There is a feeling part of us that does not grow old. If we could peel off the callus, and wanted to, there we would be, untouched by time, unwithered, vulnerable, afflicted and volatile and blind to consequence, a set of twitches as beyond control as an adolescent’s erections. Ever notice how, on rare occasions, certain writers really stand out for their ability to capture the subtle and complex ways of folks? It’s usually a reason to celebrate since these insights are there for us to imbibe. But it may be a source of distress if what’s revealed is a difficult truth. For me, Wallace Stegner is that sort of author, and this book is one I celebra-hate. Actually, hate is too strong a word, even when it’s combined with a good thing. I should say I felt twinges of disappointment when recognizably human elements in the main character’s make-up prevented a greater happiness. Don’t get me wrong. I’m not looking for slants a la Hallmark. I just feel sad about opportunities missed, especially when those doing the missing are characters whose innermost thoughts I’ve been absorbing with interest. There is much self-reflection here that will appear familiar to those entering their twilight years:The narrator is in full whine looking at his body in the bathtub as 'a museum of dereliction.' He regrets 'the affair not taken' on a trip long ago to Denmark in search of his mother's ancestral home. Both books were nominated for awards and this one was the winner. But I enjoyed reading its precursor more as the Danish segments here came off a bit disconnected from the story that seemed to be unfolding. Ultimately, as expected, it all came together. Stegner’s observations of married life are always sweet and sorrowful, profound and full of truth and wisdom. The indignities of ageing, long marriage, grief, depression, making choices vs just falling into things are some of the prevalent themes of this relatively quiet novel.