The Optimist's Daughter: A Novel ByEudora WeltyDaniel's review
rating: 3 of 5 stars
Father dies after surgery. Much younger second wife throws a scene. Daughter of first wife mourns...while resenting younger step-mother?
It took me most of the story to become interested in the story. one night, I just flat didn't want to read it because it was so boring. The protagonist felt flat and emotionless for so long that I started to wonder if I any conflict really existed at all. Finally, the character starts to express some emotion, starts to show some feeling, and suddenly snaps...but it took so long to get there, even for the short and quick book like this one is.
All that aside, there are perhaps redemptive qualities to this short novel. Welty examines the different experiences and qualities that different people bring to a relationship, and to a marriage, and the effect that those qualities and experiences bequeath to their children.
To be honest, though, this probably is not my type of book. Too much melancholy, dying, and nostalgia and all that looking back mournfully is just too droll for me. Further, not unlike McCormac, if not quite so, Welty is almost painfully sparse in her language, describing just enough to move the story along.
Should you read it? Maybe. If you like Welty.
View all my reviews.
Meet Daniel and Brittany
The challenge that began with "Have a nice life, Daniel Burton" is progressing with favorable results. Surviving and thriving on lively discussions about books, Abby, or the post-grad school world, the Burtons show signs of excellent health and familial success.
Dan and Britt met on a hot July 4th in 2005. Shortly after inviting her to join him for a panoramic view of the Independence Day fireworks, and not long after her denial, Daniel and Britt agreed to break the ice over ice cream. They soon realized that they were both book geeks, decided a permanent union was worth evaluating, and were married just over a year later on another beautiful July day.
After graduating with a law degree from both he and Brittany's alma mater's rival, Daniel is corporate counsel at the Woodbury Corporation, a commercial real estate management and development company in Salt Lake City. Meanwhile, and far more interestingly, Brittany is raising a new generation of Burtons as full-time mother and family creative director. Abby is two and a half, and #2 is on the way, with arrival expected in late June of 2011. The Burtons look forward to many years of exploring canyons, creeks, and mountain tops, swapping novels, notes, and ideas, and enjoying great discussions about people, politics, and their family.
Daniel and Brittany are both graduates of the 2002 class of Brigham Young University. Abby is gunning to graduate from diapers, sooner than later.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment