The Wapshot Chronicle (Vintage Classics)
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Product Description
Review
Cheever's debut novel is skittish, mercurial and ringing with life Guardian The best introduction to Cheever's work...richly inventive and vividly told New York Times Magazine A tapestry woven from the threads of emotion, tragedy, comedy...and the irony so wonderfully evident in the author's short stories...a literary mosaic...Cheever is a pleasure to read San Francisco Chronicle A brilliantly written novel, vastly and sometimes sadly, amusing Time
Book Description
The first novel John Cheever wrote is a wonderful introduction to his writing; clever, funny, charming and bursting with life
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I've read a couple of other Cheevers, Falconer and Bullet Park. Falconer didn't really hold my interest, and Bullet Park was absolutely sublime until the second half, when it all got a little odd. I could tell, though, that this was a definitely a writer capable of writing a book that I'd think was fantastic. And, at the third attempt at trying, The Wapshot Chronicle is it.
A joyous, messy, loving novel, full of warm normal characters, and quirky eccentric ones. It's great fun to read. The scenes are written perfectly - the scene where elderly Aunt Honora Wapshot receives her post, throws it straight on the fire, clocks the baffled look on her maid's face, then dodders recalcitrantly into town sad at the fact that no one understands her, is particularly pristine. The whole book is warm, full of love, full of beauty, and the style is truly alive (the only parts I didn't enjoy - at all - were Leander Wapshot's diary entries, written in an idiolect that I found so annoying I ended up skipping them - but they're not that extensive). A wonderful family narrative, full of the zany behaviours we all recognise from our own families, I suspect. I bought the sequel straight away.
A joyous, messy, loving novel, full of warm normal characters, and quirky eccentric ones. It's great fun to read. The scenes are written perfectly - the scene where elderly Aunt Honora Wapshot receives her post, throws it straight on the fire, clocks the baffled look on her maid's face, then dodders recalcitrantly into town sad at the fact that no one understands her, is particularly pristine. The whole book is warm, full of love, full of beauty, and the style is truly alive (the only parts I didn't enjoy - at all - were Leander Wapshot's diary entries, written in an idiolect that I found so annoying I ended up skipping them - but they're not that extensive). A wonderful family narrative, full of the zany behaviours we all recognise from our own families, I suspect. I bought the sequel straight away.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Perhaps this look at the peculiarities of a smalltown American family is becoming a little dated, it can occasionally seem a touch quaint, but it is still a rich wise and funny look at the human condition. The narative ranges over several generations of the Wapshots at home and trying to make their way in the world. There's plenty of humour - eccentric characters, odd little episodes, but there is some tragedy in the mix too. You find yourself wanting Leander Wapshot and his family to come out alright in the end because, for all their unwarranted arrogance and over-estimation of their own importance they seem basically decent people. As an exercise in character drawing this book is a real achievement and not to be missed.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The next book following Freedom was always going to be difficult but this 1950s American novel was ideal.
Cheever is apparently better known for his short fiction a bit like Chekov. He is also an influence on modern writers like Eggers and Franzen. So a thoughtful Xmas gift.
The novel as title suggests is a family saga. Indeed this New England clan can trace their origins back to the original settlers. But this family has seen better days. In many ways the family parallels the development of American capitalism.
Though the background is given the time setting is the 1920s and 30s. Significantly, i thought, this is never made explicit with no clear references to external events, it is more implicit. Both sons of the family work for the state in some capacity.
The faded glory is encapsulated by the father Leander a sailor trapped on a tourist ferry and his wife who is obsessed with gift shops.
For a novel written in the 50s and set twenty years before it is very frank on sexual issues. Theeldest son iis a Lothario with fairly misogynistic attitudes. The other is struggling with his sexuality - these passages seemed very hearfelt - I am not sure of Cheever's own background
As a writer of short fiction each image in the work seems intricately crafted. I like the descriptions of train stations on Sundays. There is also some narrative experimentation with extracts from Leander's journal quite difficult to follow. An excellently written novel with a lot of originality.
Cheever is apparently better known for his short fiction a bit like Chekov. He is also an influence on modern writers like Eggers and Franzen. So a thoughtful Xmas gift.
The novel as title suggests is a family saga. Indeed this New England clan can trace their origins back to the original settlers. But this family has seen better days. In many ways the family parallels the development of American capitalism.
Though the background is given the time setting is the 1920s and 30s. Significantly, i thought, this is never made explicit with no clear references to external events, it is more implicit. Both sons of the family work for the state in some capacity.
The faded glory is encapsulated by the father Leander a sailor trapped on a tourist ferry and his wife who is obsessed with gift shops.
For a novel written in the 50s and set twenty years before it is very frank on sexual issues. Theeldest son iis a Lothario with fairly misogynistic attitudes. The other is struggling with his sexuality - these passages seemed very hearfelt - I am not sure of Cheever's own background
As a writer of short fiction each image in the work seems intricately crafted. I like the descriptions of train stations on Sundays. There is also some narrative experimentation with extracts from Leander's journal quite difficult to follow. An excellently written novel with a lot of originality.
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