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Product Description
Product Description
The story of a murder is framed by the story of a brief friendship between two young boys. One, the narrator, is coping with the recent death of his mother; the other, a farm boy, witnesses his parents and a friend in scenes he neither understands nor wishes to. The narrative goes into his past and explores the events that destroyed the lives of his parents.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
William Maxwell is criminally under-rated in this country (or rather, not nearly as well known as he should be); in the US he is still remembered as a writer's writer and as the fiction editor at the New Yorker who crucially shaped the work of some of the US's best writers.
'So Long See You Tomorrow' is a fantastic introduction to his beautiful, lucid prose, his ability to evoke childhood and the passing of time. It really is a perfect short novel, one I have re-read several times and will never tire of.
'So Long See You Tomorrow' is a fantastic introduction to his beautiful, lucid prose, his ability to evoke childhood and the passing of time. It really is a perfect short novel, one I have re-read several times and will never tire of.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The first line hooked me:
"The gravel pit was about a mile east of town, and the size of a small lake, and so deep that boys under sixteen were forbidden by their parents to swim there. I knew it only by hearsay."
Very simple words, but they communicate immediately the major elements of the story: something bad will happen in the gravel pit, affecting the childhood of this boy under sixteen who has been forbidden to go there.
The story continues in this vein, with men at the gravel pit hearing a gunshot in the early morning, and from there a murder is described, all in the same simple, restrained, non-sensational language. The narrator is an old man now, looking back on it all and feeling guilty for ignoring the son of the murderer, who he had been friends with before the murder, when he saw him again later on.
It's a short book, just 135 pages, but it felt longer. I don't mean that in a bad way, that it dragged on too long. I mean that, just as the first line communicated so much in a short space, so the rest of the story seems to cover a lot of ground, to make you know the characters better than you know characters in a lot of books three times as long. The language is unhurried, too, with long digressions and asides - most of the first half doesn't deal with the murder story at all, but with the narrator's childhood. I got to the end and wondered how on earth Maxwell had managed to cram so much into such a short book without ever sounding rushed.
One of the quotes on the inside cover is from John Updike: "Maxwell's voice is one of the wisest in American fiction; it is, as well, one of the kindest." I can see exactly what he meant. The book deals with murder, infidelity, jealousy, betrayal of a friend, and yet all of the characters who are doing the murdering and betraying are sympathetic in some way. He communicates the injustice of the tenant farmers' positions, but gives the landlords their side of the story too, and doesn't make them into stock figures. He is kind to all of his characters and gives them all a voice - even the dog gets a few paragraphs from his point of view. This doesn't diminish the drama, but it does feel more real than a story that plays up the good vs evil dichotomy. It conveys life in all its complexities, and in the end I felt sorrier for the murderer than for his victim.
"The gravel pit was about a mile east of town, and the size of a small lake, and so deep that boys under sixteen were forbidden by their parents to swim there. I knew it only by hearsay."
Very simple words, but they communicate immediately the major elements of the story: something bad will happen in the gravel pit, affecting the childhood of this boy under sixteen who has been forbidden to go there.
The story continues in this vein, with men at the gravel pit hearing a gunshot in the early morning, and from there a murder is described, all in the same simple, restrained, non-sensational language. The narrator is an old man now, looking back on it all and feeling guilty for ignoring the son of the murderer, who he had been friends with before the murder, when he saw him again later on.
It's a short book, just 135 pages, but it felt longer. I don't mean that in a bad way, that it dragged on too long. I mean that, just as the first line communicated so much in a short space, so the rest of the story seems to cover a lot of ground, to make you know the characters better than you know characters in a lot of books three times as long. The language is unhurried, too, with long digressions and asides - most of the first half doesn't deal with the murder story at all, but with the narrator's childhood. I got to the end and wondered how on earth Maxwell had managed to cram so much into such a short book without ever sounding rushed.
One of the quotes on the inside cover is from John Updike: "Maxwell's voice is one of the wisest in American fiction; it is, as well, one of the kindest." I can see exactly what he meant. The book deals with murder, infidelity, jealousy, betrayal of a friend, and yet all of the characters who are doing the murdering and betraying are sympathetic in some way. He communicates the injustice of the tenant farmers' positions, but gives the landlords their side of the story too, and doesn't make them into stock figures. He is kind to all of his characters and gives them all a voice - even the dog gets a few paragraphs from his point of view. This doesn't diminish the drama, but it does feel more real than a story that plays up the good vs evil dichotomy. It conveys life in all its complexities, and in the end I felt sorrier for the murderer than for his victim.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This short novel is heartbreakingly beautiful, a wrench and a joy to read. Gradually layers of pain and loss are built up as we're shown the destructive path of a lonely helpless affair and the horrific effect it has on a the two families concerned, and of the man it effects most deeply, a sharply tempered farmer who does nothing to deserve the heartbreaking breakup of everything he holds dear. Maxwell writes simply and beautifully, in the way of great writers, and this book deserves a great, appreciative readership.
Having read this, I think Maxwell might jsut deserve the same kind of resurgence that Richard Yates is currently having. A neglected work, a miniature masterpiece of great beauty.
Having read this, I think Maxwell might jsut deserve the same kind of resurgence that Richard Yates is currently having. A neglected work, a miniature masterpiece of great beauty.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Considered a modern classic
I saw a review of this and thought it sounded interesting even though I'd never heard of the author. Read more
Published 10 months ago by Book chatter
Memoir or fiction?
After a great first chapter I was somewhat confused as to what this book was supposed to be - sometimes it felt like pure memoir and at others fiction. Read more
Published 14 months ago by pr1
Why aren't all books written like this!
On reading this book a couple of days ago, I have found an author whose style is both easily accessible and deeply enthralling. A small book, but a small gem, nonetheless.
Published on 31 Aug 2000
A subtle, inspiring masterpiece
This is the sort of book that makes you move beyond the words it uses into the world and, beyond that, the experiences it describes. Read more
Published on 26 Feb 1999
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