Perfect short novel, 01 Mar 2007
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.

Why aren't all books written like this!, 31 Aug 2000
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.

A subtle, inspiring masterpiece, 26 Feb 1999
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. I strongly recommend this book to every reader. I'd write more but I want to order his next book now...

In the Morison house the important goes unsaid and indirection is the operative mode--conversation stops where it should start and key terms such as fear, pain and pregnancy fail to be addressed. The younger son, an eight-year-old, passes his days deciphering adults' inaccessible discussions. "In this fashion they communicated with each other, out of knowledge and experience inaccessible to Bunny. By nods and silences. By a tired curve of his mother's mouth. By his father's measuring glance over the top of his spectacles". Bunny's older brother would rather escape to the outside world, and their father finds declaiming the day's headlines--the end of World War I and the onslaught of Spanish Influenza--far preferable to engagement. Only Elizabeth, their mother, is capable of holding the family together. The fifth main character in They Came Like Swallows is the house itself. Maxwell expresses the boys' reactions through this labile, interior landscape. Bunny finds the dining room can be "braced and ready for excitement"; later his brother realises "for the first time how still the house was, how full of waiting ... tense and expectant". Though war never makes it to Illinois, the flu changes all. First Bunny is stricken, and once he recovers Elizabeth, pregnant, dies from it. In quiet, piercing prose, William Maxwell's second novel, originally published in 1937, evokes the greatest of losses and the terrors of imagination. --Amazon.com

Perfect short novel, 01 Mar 2007
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.

Why aren't all books written like this!, 31 Aug 2000
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.

A subtle, inspiring masterpiece, 26 Feb 1999
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. I strongly recommend this book to every reader. I'd write more but I want to order his next book now...

Perfect, 18 Oct 2004
Just beautiful - I judge people by whether they like this book. Please, please read it.

Beautifully written account of childhood and family life., 25 Apr 2002
Short, almost perfect, a gem of a book, evocative, sad, yet hopeful

Moving and timeless, 17 Apr 2002
It's hard to believe this book was written in the 30s (USA)as it has a timeless feel to it. The book is written in 3 sections by 3 different narrators. It starts with the youngest boy in the family, followed by his older brother & finally the father of the 2. Each portrays their own perspective beautifully. We really feel their emotions. All 3 narratives centre around the narrator's relationship with the mother/wife and tell the family tale with a simplicity that creates an extremely moving work. The childhood evoked is magic. Recommended. It's a short read and best read at one sitting...

You close the book longing to know what happens next., 16 Jan 2001
An ordinary family; Mother, Father and two sons, inhabit a quiet, small midwestern American town. Nothing dramatic seems to happen. You get to know them one by one - the timorous younger boy, his more daring (but 'afflicted') brother and the rather preoccupied Father. The Mother is the bright centre of the family, but you never realize just how important she is until the 1918 influenza epidemic hits the town. The book builds so subtly towards its climax that you are surprised by the depth of your emotional reaction to it. And the characters linger in your mind for days.

If you were ever a child, read it., 24 Oct 1997
The novel is split into three sections and each uses a different point of view--first Bunny, then Robert, then the father. The points of view are extraordinarily well realized. An authentic, believable young child's point of view is difficult for any writer to achieve--Maxwell's Bunny rings true--so true it could be the tuning fork. It has no equal.
My only caveat is that I find the original version better than the current edition, which changed a scene or two. (Why?) Read the current edition and go to the library or haunt your used bookstore for the original.

Perfect short novel, 01 Mar 2007
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.

Why aren't all books written like this!, 31 Aug 2000
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.

A subtle, inspiring masterpiece, 26 Feb 1999
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. I strongly recommend this book to every reader. I'd write more but I want to order his next book now...

Perfect, 18 Oct 2004
Just beautiful - I judge people by whether they like this book. Please, please read it.

Beautifully written account of childhood and family life., 25 Apr 2002
Short, almost perfect, a gem of a book, evocative, sad, yet hopeful

Moving and timeless, 17 Apr 2002
It's hard to believe this book was written in the 30s (USA)as it has a timeless feel to it. The book is written in 3 sections by 3 different narrators. It starts with the youngest boy in the family, followed by his older brother & finally the father of the 2. Each portrays their own perspective beautifully. We really feel their emotions. All 3 narratives centre around the narrator's relationship with the mother/wife and tell the family tale with a simplicity that creates an extremely moving work. The childhood evoked is magic. Recommended. It's a short read and best read at one sitting...

You close the book longing to know what happens next., 16 Jan 2001
An ordinary family; Mother, Father and two sons, inhabit a quiet, small midwestern American town. Nothing dramatic seems to happen. You get to know them one by one - the timorous younger boy, his more daring (but 'afflicted') brother and the rather preoccupied Father. The Mother is the bright centre of the family, but you never realize just how important she is until the 1918 influenza epidemic hits the town. The book builds so subtly towards its climax that you are surprised by the depth of your emotional reaction to it. And the characters linger in your mind for days.

If you were ever a child, read it., 24 Oct 1997
The novel is split into three sections and each uses a different point of view--first Bunny, then Robert, then the father. The points of view are extraordinarily well realized. An authentic, believable young child's point of view is difficult for any writer to achieve--Maxwell's Bunny rings true--so true it could be the tuning fork. It has no equal.
My only caveat is that I find the original version better than the current edition, which changed a scene or two. (Why?) Read the current edition and go to the library or haunt your used bookstore for the original.

Intriguing in places- but I'm not convinced, 07 Jun 2007
This book was chosen by my book club this month - but none of us appear to be totally convinced by it. In fact, thus far i am the only one to have completed it; and there are members of the group who have read 30 or 40 pages and have really had enough! Some cannot get beyond the sections that are written in French - others find the style and the lack of action discouraging.

For me, the book was an insight into the early post war years in France. A naive American couple arrive in France at the start of a 4 month European tour, ready to explore and expecting to be welcomed with open arms as part of the nation that 'won the war' and 'liberated their country'.
Initially, they appear to be well received; but on arriving at 'The Chateau' (Beaumesnil) the welcome becomes somewhat cooler. They have to arrange their own transport to the Chateau, and the greeting they receive on arrival is far from effusive.
The rest of the book (at least two thirds) reverberates around this; knocking us from pillar to post as they are first received, then accepted, then barely acknowledged. Their knowledge of the language is limiting and restricitve. They never appear to know where they stand in any relationship; but never quite know how to deal with 'the family'. In their naivety, they cannot grasp what the French have had to cope with and so cannot understand why their reception should be so lukewarm in many ways. They are totally unaware of what their hostess has been through - and of what she is still going through in having to let rooms out in order to keep the Chateau going! They are also unaware of the fact that, as a friend of mine said when we were discussing the book, 'A paying guest is never as welcome either as a friend or as a true guest.' They try hard with the language, but find it hard to follow discussions, and feel more and more excluded - particularly during dinner.

They move on to Paris - where they remain equally confused and unsure of their status; although they prefer it as a base. Expecting to be 'hail fellow well met' with all they see; it is anathema to them to discover that it is not quite so.

I know that the French can be rather insular, even today; however I'm afraid that I found Harold and his wife to be rather brash, naive and a little uncouth - not unlike some of the less pleasant of their compatriots that one still encounters in Europe (unfortunately). I would not wish this particular couple on anyone - even the French! (oops!)

There are, however a couple of quotes that, to me, appear to summarise the book.

p.264 "What it amounts to is thar you cannot be friends with somebody, no matter how much you like them, if it turns out that you don't really understand each other." (This, to me, summarises the whole idea of the book!)

p.358 "But, if you concentrate on details, you lose sight of the whole." - oops - was this William Maxwell's mistake?

For me I'm afraid, there was nothing special about this book at all. i will not be looking for anything else by this author, I fear.

Maxwell: a superb writer, 25 Apr 2001
I cannot recommend this novel highly enough. Maxwell's prose is lucid without being sparse and the form of the novel is entirely compatible with its content. Its refusal to supply explanations for events, or hints of events, mirrors the confusion, and the suspended world of the tourists. I found it a hugely satisfying read, one which, like the wines of the region it concerns, contains both subleties and depth.

Beautifully written but unfortunately overlooked, 18 Jul 1998
The Chateau is a wonderful "travelogue" for people who love well written novels. The story begins with the interesting premise of vacationing in France just after the war. The novel shows the tensions of the "haves" and "have nots" between financially war torn France and the booming post war U.S. The Chateau serves to remind us of the graciousness of everyday life and the small luxuries afforded by simply being American. All of the American insecurities of traveling abroad crop up throughout the novel: (e.g. the gaucheness of being an American, the lack of a long history or the U.S's place in Western Culture). No one character is entirely lovable or wretched. That is precisely what makes it such a thought provoking novel. It is perfect for those who travel or have been to France on an extended trip. Enjoy the book and recommend it to a friend. The story can stand on its own but the writing remains the feast.

Perfect short novel, 01 Mar 2007
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.

Why aren't all books written like this!, 31 Aug 2000
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.

A subtle, inspiring masterpiece, 26 Feb 1999
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. I strongly recommend this book to every reader. I'd write more but I want to order his next book now...

Perfect, 18 Oct 2004
Just beautiful - I judge people by whether they like this book. Please, please read it.

Beautifully written account of childhood and family life., 25 Apr 2002
Short, almost perfect, a gem of a book, evocative, sad, yet hopeful

Moving and timeless, 17 Apr 2002
It's hard to believe this book was written in the 30s (USA)as it has a timeless feel to it. The book is written in 3 sections by 3 different narrators. It starts with the youngest boy in the family, followed by his older brother & finally the father of the 2. Each portrays their own perspective beautifully. We really feel their emotions. All 3 narratives centre around the narrator's relationship with the mother/wife and tell the family tale with a simplicity that creates an extremely moving work. The childhood evoked is magic. Recommended. It's a short read and best read at one sitting...

You close the book longing to know what happens next., 16 Jan 2001
An ordinary family; Mother, Father and two sons, inhabit a quiet, small midwestern American town. Nothing dramatic seems to happen. You get to know them one by one - the timorous younger boy, his more daring (but 'afflicted') brother and the rather preoccupied Father. The Mother is the bright centre of the family, but you never realize just how important she is until the 1918 influenza epidemic hits the town. The book builds so subtly towards its climax that you are surprised by the depth of your emotional reaction to it. And the characters linger in your mind for days.

If you were ever a child, read it., 24 Oct 1997
The novel is split into three sections and each uses a different point of view--first Bunny, then Robert, then the father. The points of view are extraordinarily well realized. An authentic, believable young child's point of view is difficult for any writer to achieve--Maxwell's Bunny rings true--so true it could be the tuning fork. It has no equal.
My only caveat is that I find the original version better than the current edition, which changed a scene or two. (Why?) Read the current edition and go to the library or haunt your used bookstore for the original.

Intriguing in places- but I'm not convinced, 07 Jun 2007
This book was chosen by my book club this month - but none of us appear to be totally convinced by it. In fact, thus far i am the only one to have completed it; and there are members of the group who have read 30 or 40 pages and have really had enough! Some cannot get beyond the sections that are written in French - others find the style and the lack of action discouraging.

For me, the book was an insight into the early post war years in France. A naive American couple arrive in France at the start of a 4 month European tour, ready to explore and expecting to be welcomed with open arms as part of the nation that 'won the war' and 'liberated their country'.
Initially, they appear to be well received; but on arriving at 'The Chateau' (Beaumesnil) the welcome becomes somewhat cooler. They have to arrange their own transport to the Chateau, and the greeting they receive on arrival is far from effusive.
The rest of the book (at least two thirds) reverberates around this; knocking us from pillar to post as they are first received, then accepted, then barely acknowledged. Their knowledge of the language is limiting and restricitve. They never appear to know where they stand in any relationship; but never quite know how to deal with 'the family'. In their naivety, they cannot grasp what the French have had to cope with and so cannot understand why their reception should be so lukewarm in many ways. They are totally unaware of what their hostess has been through - and of what she is still going through in having to let rooms out in order to keep the Chateau going! They are also unaware of the fact that, as a friend of mine said when we were discussing the book, 'A paying guest is never as welcome either as a friend or as a true guest.' They try hard with the language, but find it hard to follow discussions, and feel more and more excluded - particularly during dinner.

They move on to Paris - where they remain equally confused and unsure of their status; although they prefer it as a base. Expecting to be 'hail fellow well met' with all they see; it is anathema to them to discover that it is not quite so.

I know that the French can be rather insular, even today; however I'm afraid that I found Harold and his wife to be rather brash, naive and a little uncouth - not unlike some of the less pleasant of their compatriots that one still encounters in Europe (unfortunately). I would not wish this particular couple on anyone - even the French! (oops!)

There are, however a couple of quotes that, to me, appear to summarise the book.

p.264 "What it amounts to is thar you cannot be friends with somebody, no matter how much you like them, if it turns out that you don't really understand each other." (This, to me, summarises the whole idea of the book!)

p.358 "But, if you concentrate on details, you lose sight of the whole." - oops - was this William Maxwell's mistake?

For me I'm afraid, there was nothing special about this book at all. i will not be looking for anything else by this author, I fear.

Maxwell: a superb writer, 25 Apr 2001
I cannot recommend this novel highly enough. Maxwell's prose is lucid without being sparse and the form of the novel is entirely compatible with its content. Its refusal to supply explanations for events, or hints of events, mirrors the confusion, and the suspended world of the tourists. I found it a hugely satisfying read, one which, like the wines of the region it concerns, contains both subleties and depth.

Beautifully written but unfortunately overlooked, 18 Jul 1998
The Chateau is a wonderful "travelogue" for people who love well written novels. The story begins with the interesting premise of vacationing in France just after the war. The novel shows the tensions of the "haves" and "have nots" between financially war torn France and the booming post war U.S. The Chateau serves to remind us of the graciousness of everyday life and the small luxuries afforded by simply being American. All of the American insecurities of traveling abroad crop up throughout the novel: (e.g. the gaucheness of being an American, the lack of a long history or the U.S's place in Western Culture). No one character is entirely lovable or wretched. That is precisely what makes it such a thought provoking novel. It is perfect for those who travel or have been to France on an extended trip. Enjoy the book and recommend it to a friend. The story can stand on its own but the writing remains the feast.

The Folded Leaf, 03 Jan 2008
William Maxwell writes in the small spaces. He explores the little sad areas of our lives that are comprised of looks that are not returned, thoughts that remain unuttered because we simply cannot figure out how to say them, and embraces we wish we have shared but did not because we lack the courage to put our arms around the person we love. The Folded Leaf is a beautiful, melancholy story by an author whose understated value has sadly caused a lack of popular appreciation compared to his flashier contemporaries - Hemingway, Nabokov, Bellow, Updike, Roth.

The Folded Leaf is the story of Lymie and Spud, two young boys who share a strong friendship, even though they seem utterly different. The novel is told primarily from the perspective of Lymie, a shy, withdrawn, introverted and very sensitive young man who loves Spud with all of his heart. Spud, on the other hand, is something of a strong man, an athlete who does not understand, but is able to appreciate, the sensitivity of his friend. They compliment one another, with Lymie taking security from Spud's strength while Spud draws another kind of strength from his friend.

The two boys love one another, with Lymie's love much the stronger, but the love remains platonic. It is the casual, affectionate, innocently physical love of young boys who become college men understanding that there is nobody else in the world more compatible with them than the other. A girl, of course, shatters this, but even though Spud may lose that first blush of pre-sexual affection, Lymie does not. The novel moves very slowly from the boys' strong relationship to a rather one-sided, heartbreaking examination of what happens when one friend moves on and the other cannot.

Is the story a homosexual one? It is hard to say. Spud and Lymie are physically affectionate, going so far as to spend almost their entire college life sleeping in the same bed. Note: Sleeping. While there is a lot left unsaid about Lymie's true feelings - he wonders, every now and again, when he shall meet a woman of his own to marry, but the wondering is academic rather than passionate - my reading of the novel is that Maxwell was happy to have Lymie's feelings remain ambiguous. Lymie is very much in love, and it is to the author's credit that the love does not have to be defined as sexual or emotional - it is simply what we see on the page. Lymie loves Spud and Spud loves Lymie: in different ways, it is true, but what they both feel is what we would call love. Maxwell is shrewd in avoiding the question of romantic or platonic love - what we have is love, just love, and it is shown to be enough. I highly doubt Lymie would have considered his feelings for Spud as anything wrong, and Spud - athletic, not very intelligent, given to boisterousness - certainly has no problem with his diminutive friend.

Maxwell shines the brightest when he is delving into Lymie's thoughts. We understand most of the novels scenes, from their school days to when they bunk together at university to when Spud becomes a (rather ignoble) boxer to Spud's engagement with Sally, from Lymie's perspective, allowing us to see the friendship in a way that Spud, and an outsider, never would. Consider this long quote: 'Lymie didn't know what the trouble was, but he was not dismayed. He had worn Spud down once before and he was sure he could do it again. Every day between four-fifteen and four-thirty he appeared at the gymnasium and stood a few feet away from the punching bag where Spud, if he wanted his gloves tied on or any small service like that, wouldn't have to go far to find him. When Spud came up from the showers, Lymie was there waiting by the locker, like a faithful hound. He made no move to open the lock, or to touch anything inside the locker that belonged to Spud. Occasionally while Spud was dressing and afterward on the way home, Lymie would say something to him, but Lymie was always careful not to put the remark in the form of a question, so there was no actual need for Spud to reply.' This is unrequited love at its most honest. Sadly for Lymie, Spud of course does not appreciate the layers of meaning and feeling behind Lymie's behaviour, and of course there is conflict that ends in tears. The novel ends the only way it should, but there is hope for the friendship and hope for Lymie, forced by circumstance to face the reality that even though his boyhood love may never have lost its intensity of feeling, Spud's certainly has.

Very thought provoking, 12 Feb 2001
I almost floundered and abandoned this book and I'm so glad I didn't. I couldn't see where the book was going at first but I did persevere and was rewarded with one of the most moving books I have ever read.

William Maxwell has a way of making a fairly ordinary subject matter, with few real highpoints in the subject compelling and truly sensitive. He writes with feeling and emotion that men and women alike would enjoy and appreciate.

The book is based around friendships developing through teenage years - how they start and how they end and how they change along the way. It's a very intensely emotional story of the love felt between friends. Very very few books bring tears to my eyes but this is one that did. Anyone with friends should read this book!

A truly exceptional book. Few books are this perfect, 25 Mar 2000
This book is one of the most beautifully written books I have ever read.

Such is the quality of writing, that some part of it will have resonance for everyone. The story is engaging and rewarding to read, the writing is intelligent and elegant.

Maxwell can capture the subtleties of both verbal and non verbal communication and convey them with startling accuracy. His ability to identify the fragile and unredeemed features of human existence is both powerfull and moveing.

Every boy & man should read this book, it will leave them richer than it found them.

Perfect short novel, 01 Mar 2007
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.

Why aren't all books written like this!, 31 Aug 2000
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.

A subtle, inspiring masterpiece, 26 Feb 1999
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. I strongly recommend this book to every reader. I'd write more but I want to order his next book now...

Perfect, 18 Oct 2004
Just beautiful - I judge people by whether they like this book. Please, please read it.

Beautifully written account of childhood and family life., 25 Apr 2002
Short, almost perfect, a gem of a book, evocative, sad, yet hopeful

Moving and timeless, 17 Apr 2002
It's hard to believe this book was written in the 30s (USA)as it has a timeless feel to it. The book is written in 3 sections by 3 different narrators. It starts with the youngest boy in the family, followed by his older brother & finally the father of the 2. Each portrays their own perspective beautifully. We really feel their emotions. All 3 narratives centre around the narrator's relationship with the mother/wife and tell the family tale with a simplicity that creates an extremely moving work. The childhood evoked is magic. Recommended. It's a short read and best read at one sitting...

You close the book longing to know what happens next., 16 Jan 2001
An ordinary family; Mother, Father and two sons, inhabit a quiet, small midwestern American town. Nothing dramatic seems to happen. You get to know them one by one - the timorous younger boy, his more daring (but 'afflicted') brother and the rather preoccupied Father. The Mother is the bright centre of the family, but you never realize just how important she is until the 1918 influenza epidemic hits the town. The book builds so subtly towards its climax that you are surprised by the depth of your emotional reaction to it. And the characters linger in your mind for days.

If you were ever a child, read it., 24 Oct 1997
The novel is split into three sections and each uses a different point of view--first Bunny, then Robert, then the father. The points of view are extraordinarily well realized. An authentic, believable young child's point of view is difficult for any writer to achieve--Maxwell's Bunny rings true--so true it could be the tuning fork. It has no equal.
My only caveat is that I find the original version better than the current edition, which changed a scene or two. (Why?) Read the current edition and go to the library or haunt your used bookstore for the original.

Intriguing in places- but I'm not convinced, 07 Jun 2007
This book was chosen by my book club this month - but none of us appear to be totally convinced by it. In fact, thus far i am the only one to have completed it; and there are members of the group who have read 30 or 40 pages and have really had enough! Some cannot get beyond the sections that are written in French - others find the style and the lack of action discouraging.

For me, the book was an insight into the early post war years in France. A naive American couple arrive in France at the start of a 4 month European tour, ready to explore and expecting to be welcomed with open arms as part of the nation that 'won the war' and 'liberated their country'.
Initially, they appear to be well received; but on arriving at 'The Chateau' (Beaumesnil) the welcome becomes somewhat cooler. They have to arrange their own transport to the Chateau, and the greeting they receive on arrival is far from effusive.
The rest of the book (at least two thirds) reverberates around this; knocking us from pillar to post as they are first received, then accepted, then barely acknowledged. Their knowledge of the language is limiting and restricitve. They never appear to know where they stand in any relationship; but never quite know how to deal with 'the family'. In their naivety, they cannot grasp what the French have had to cope with and so cannot understand why their reception should be so lukewarm in many ways. They are totally unaware of what their hostess has been through - and of what she is still going through in having to let rooms out in order to keep the Chateau going! They are also unaware of the fact that, as a friend of mine said when we were discussing the book, 'A paying guest is never as welcome either as a friend or as a true guest.' They try hard with the language, but find it hard to follow discussions, and feel more and more excluded - particularly during dinner.

They move on to Paris - where they remain equally confused and unsure of their status; although they prefer it as a base. Expecting to be 'hail fellow well met' with all they see; it is anathema to them to discover that it is not quite so.

I know that the French can be rather insular, even today; however I'm afraid that I found Harold and his wife to be rather brash, naive and a little uncouth - not unlike some of the less pleasant of their compatriots that one still encounters in Europe (unfortunately). I would not wish this particular couple on anyone - even the French! (oops!)

There are, however a couple of quotes that, to me, appear to summarise the book.

p.264 "What it amounts to is thar you cannot be friends with somebody, no matter how much you like them, if it turns out that you don't really understand each other." (This, to me, summarises the whole idea of the book!)

p.358 "But, if you concentrate on details, you lose sight of the whole." - oops - was this William Maxwell's mistake?

For me I'm afraid, there was nothing special about this book at all. i will not be looking for anything else by this author, I fear.

Maxwell: a superb writer, 25 Apr 2001
I cannot recommend this novel highly enough. Maxwell's prose is lucid without being sparse and the form of the novel is entirely compatible with its content. Its refusal to supply explanations for events, or hints of events, mirrors the confusion, and the suspended world of the tourists. I found it a hugely satisfying read, one which, like the wines of the region it concerns, contains both subleties and depth.

Beautifully written but unfortunately overlooked, 18 Jul 1998
The Chateau is a wonderful "travelogue" for people who love well written novels. The story begins with the interesting premise of vacationing in France just after the war. The novel shows the tensions of the "haves" and "have nots" between financially war torn France and the booming post war U.S. The Chateau serves to remind us of the graciousness of everyday life and the small luxuries afforded by simply being American. All of the American insecurities of traveling abroad crop up throughout the novel: (e.g. the gaucheness of being an American, the lack of a long history or the U.S's place in Western Culture). No one character is entirely lovable or wretched. That is precisely what makes it such a thought provoking novel. It is perfect for those who travel or have been to France on an extended trip. Enjoy the book and recommend it to a friend. The story can stand on its own but the writing remains the feast.

The Folded Leaf, 03 Jan 2008
William Maxwell writes in the small spaces. He explores the little sad areas of our lives that are comprised of looks that are not returned, thoughts that remain unuttered because we simply cannot figure out how to say them, and embraces we wish we have shared but did not because we lack the courage to put our arms around the person we love. The Folded Leaf is a beautiful, melancholy story by an author whose understated value has sadly caused a lack of popular appreciation compared to his flashier contemporaries - Hemingway, Nabokov, Bellow, Updike, Roth.

The Folded Leaf is the story of Lymie and Spud, two young boys who share a strong friendship, even though they seem utterly different. The novel is told primarily from the perspective of Lymie, a shy, withdrawn, introverted and very sensitive young man who loves Spud with all of his heart. Spud, on the other hand, is something of a strong man, an athlete who does not understand, but is able to appreciate, the sensitivity of his friend. They compliment one another, with Lymie taking security from Spud's strength while Spud draws another kind of strength from his friend.

The two boys love one another, with Lymie's love much the stronger, but the love remains platonic. It is the casual, affectionate, innocently physical love of young boys who become college men understanding that there is nobody else in the world more compatible with them than the other. A girl, of course, shatters this, but even though Spud may lose that first blush of pre-sexual affection, Lymie does not. The novel moves very slowly from the boys' strong relationship to a rather one-sided, heartbreaking examination of what happens when one friend moves on and the other cannot.

Is the story a homosexual one? It is hard to say. Spud and Lymie are physically affectionate, going so far as to spend almost their entire college life sleeping in the same bed. Note: Sleeping. While there is a lot left unsaid about Lymie's true feelings - he wonders, every now and again, when he shall meet a woman of his own to marry, but the wondering is academic rather than passionate - my reading of the novel is that Maxwell was happy to have Lymie's feelings remain ambiguous. Lymie is very much in love, and it is to the author's credit that the love does not have to be defined as sexual or emotional - it is simply what we see on the page. Lymie loves Spud and Spud loves Lymie: in different ways, it is true, but what they both feel is what we would call love. Maxwell is shrewd in avoiding the question of romantic or platonic love - what we have is love, just love, and it is shown to be enough. I highly doubt Lymie would have considered his feelings for Spud as anything wrong, and Spud - athletic, not very intelligent, given to boisterousness - certainly has no problem with his diminutive friend.

Maxwell shines the brightest when he is delving into Lymie's thoughts. We understand most of the novels scenes, from their school days to when they bunk together at university to when Spud becomes a (rather ignoble) boxer to Spud's engagement with Sally, from Lymie's perspective, allowing us to see the friendship in a way that Spud, and an outsider, never would. Consider this long quote: 'Lymie didn't know what the trouble was, but he was not dismayed. He had worn Spud down once before and he was sure he could do it again. Every day between four-fifteen and four-thirty he appeared at the gymnasium and stood a few feet away from the punching bag where Spud, if he wanted his gloves tied on or any small service like that, wouldn't have to go far to find him. When Spud came up from the showers, Lymie was there waiting by the locker, like a faithful hound. He made no move to open the lock, or to touch anything inside the locker that belonged to Spud. Occasionally while Spud was dressing and afterward on the way home, Lymie would say something to him, but Lymie was always careful not to put the remark in the form of a question, so there was no actual need for Spud to reply.' This is unrequited love at its most honest. Sadly for Lymie, Spud of course does not appreciate the layers of meaning and feeling behind Lymie's behaviour, and of course there is conflict that ends in tears. The novel ends the only way it should, but there is hope for the friendship and hope for Lymie, forced by circumstance to face the reality that even though his boyhood love may never have lost its intensity of feeling, Spud's certainly has.

Very thought provoking, 12 Feb 2001
I almost floundered and abandoned this book and I'm so glad I didn't. I couldn't see where the book was going at first but I did persevere and was rewarded with one of the most moving books I have ever read.

William Maxwell has a way of making a fairly ordinary subject matter, with few real highpoints in the subject compelling and truly sensitive. He writes with feeling and emotion that men and women alike would enjoy and appreciate.

The book is based around friendships developing through teenage years - how they start and how they end and how they change along the way. It's a very intensely emotional story of the love felt between friends. Very very few books bring tears to my eyes but this is one that did. Anyone with friends should read this book!

A truly exceptional book. Few books are this perfect, 25 Mar 2000
This book is one of the most beautifully written books I have ever read.

Such is the quality of writing, that some part of it will have resonance for everyone. The story is engaging and rewarding to read, the writing is intelligent and elegant.

Maxwell can capture the subtleties of both verbal and non verbal communication and convey them with startling accuracy. His ability to identify the fragile and unredeemed features of human existence is both powerfull and moveing.

Every boy & man should read this book, it will leave them richer than it found them.

Twenty enchanting stories by this mistress of characterisation, saved from archived obscurity by far-sighted American editor, 26 Oct 2007
Sylvia Townsend Warner wrote seven novels, starting with the instantly successful Lolly Willowes. In the end it was her short stories, frequently published in the New Yorker, which brought her the greatest recognition. Although fourteen collections were published, these twenty have never before been issued in book form.

Writing from the 1920s right through to the 1970s, Warner's stories are exquisite vignettes of numinous moments in the lives of ordinary - or extraordinary - English people. Frequently she begins with an ordinary event - a snowstorm, a bicycle ride, an invitation to tea - only for the story to metamorphose into a depiction of the magical, the mythical or the deeply resonant. In The Listening Woman, an elderly lady rediscovers her younger self through a long-forgotten painting; in the title story, two dispossessed gentlefolk find themselves accidental guests in their own home; in Stay, Corydon, Thou Swain a lovelorn draper's innocent rural outing ends in supernatural panic.

The centrepiece of the collection is a cycle of five stories dealing with the Abbey Antique Galleries and its unusual proprietor, Mr Edom, through whose idiosyncratic gaze we see a wealth of miniature dramas play themselves out amongst the objets d'art. A young woman, oppressed by her husband's good taste, steals a Victorian necklace under Edom's approving eye; a sudden power cut plunges the shop into a candlelit interlude which transforms the goods on sale into magical artefacts.

Warner's early life as a musician also surfaces frequently in these stories, with stories of overblown violinists, callow composers and class-ridden choral societies. Funniest of all is In the Absence of Mrs Bullen, in which an ageing diva impersonates her own charwoman, terrifying an impressionable piano tuner.

A treasure - either as an introduction to Warner's work, or as an adjunct to an existing collection.

In the Morison house the important goes unsaid and indirection is the operative mode--conversation stops where it should start and key terms such as fear, pain and pregnancy fail to be addressed. The younger son, an eight-year-old, passes his days deciphering adults' inaccessible discussions. "In this fashion they communicated with each other, out of knowledge and experience inaccessible to Bunny. By nods and silences. By a tired curve of his mother's mouth. By his father's measuring glance over the top of his spectacles". Bunny's older brother would rather escape to the outside world, and their father finds declaiming the day's headlines--the end of World War I and the onslaught of Spanish Influenza--far preferable to engagement. Only Elizabeth, their mother, is capable of holding the family together. The fifth main character in They Came Like Swallows is the house itself. Maxwell expresses the boys' reactions through this labile, interior landscape. Bunny finds the dining room can be "braced and ready for excitement"; later his brother realises "for the first time how still the house was, how full of waiting ... tense and expectant". Though war never makes it to Illinois, the flu changes all. First Bunny is stricken, and once he recovers Elizabeth, pregnant, dies from it. In quiet, piercing prose, William Maxwell's second novel, originally published in 1937, evokes the greatest of losses and the terrors of imagination. --Amazon.com

Perfect short novel, 01 Mar 2007
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.

Why aren't all books written like this!, 31 Aug 2000
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.

A subtle, inspiring masterpiece, 26 Feb 1999
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. I strongly recommend this book to every reader. I'd write more but I want to order his next book now...

Perfect, 18 Oct 2004
Just beautiful - I judge people by whether they like this book. Please, please read it.

Beautifully written account of childhood and family life., 25 Apr 2002
Short, almost perfect, a gem of a book, evocative, sad, yet hopeful

Moving and timeless, 17 Apr 2002
It's hard to believe this book was written in the 30s (USA)as it has a timeless feel to it. The book is written in 3 sections by 3 different narrators. It starts with the youngest boy in the family, followed by his older brother & finally the father of the 2. Each portrays their own perspective beautifully. We really feel their emotions. All 3 narratives centre around the narrator's relationship with the mother/wife and tell the family tale with a simplicity that creates an extremely moving work. The childhood evoked is magic. Recommended. It's a short read and best read at one sitting...

You close the book longing to know what happens next., 16 Jan 2001
An ordinary family; Mother, Father and two sons, inhabit a quiet, small midwestern American town. Nothing dramatic seems to happen. You get to know them one by one - the timorous younger boy, his more daring (but 'afflicted') brother and the rather preoccupied Father. The Mother is the bright centre of the family, but you never realize just how important she is until the 1918 influenza epidemic hits the town. The book builds so subtly towards its climax that you are surprised by the depth of your emotional reaction to it. And the characters linger in your mind for days.

If you were ever a child, read it., 24 Oct 1997
The novel is split into three sections and each uses a different point of view--first Bunny, then Robert, then the father. The points of view are extraordinarily well realized. An authentic, believable young child's point of view is difficult for any writer to achieve--Maxwell's Bunny rings true--so true it could be the tuning fork. It has no equal.
My only caveat is that I find the original version better than the current edition, which changed a scene or two. (Why?) Read the current edition and go to the library or haunt your used bookstore for the original.

Intriguing in places- but I'm not convinced, 07 Jun 2007
This book was chosen by my book club this month - but none of us appear to be totally convinced by it. In fact, thus far i am the only one to have completed it; and there are members of the group who have read 30 or 40 pages and have really had enough! Some cannot get beyond the sections that are written in French - others find the style and the lack of action discouraging.

For me, the book was an insight into the early post war years in France. A naive American couple arrive in France at the start of a 4 month European tour, ready to explore and expecting to be welcomed with open arms as part of the nation that 'won the war' and 'liberated their country'.
Initially, they appear to be well received; but on arriving at 'The Chateau' (Beaumesnil) the welcome becomes somewhat cooler. They have to arrange their own transport to the Chateau, and the greeting they receive on arrival is far from effusive.
The rest of the book (at least two thirds) reverberates around this; knocking us from pillar to post as they are first received, then accepted, then barely acknowledged. Their knowledge of the language is limiting and restricitve. They never appear to know where they stand in any relationship; but never quite know how to deal with 'the family'. In their naivety, they cannot grasp what the French have had to cope with and so cannot understand why their reception should be so lukewarm in many ways. They are totally unaware of what their hostess has been through - and of what she is still going through in having to let rooms out in order to keep the Chateau going! They are also unaware of the fact that, as a friend of mine said when we were discussing the book, 'A paying guest is never as welcome either as a friend or as a true guest.' They try hard with the language, but find it hard to follow discussions, and feel more and more excluded - particularly during dinner.

They move on to Paris - where they remain equally confused and unsure of their status; although they prefer it as a base. Expecting to be 'hail fellow well met' with all they see; it is anathema to them to discover that it is not quite so.

I know that the French can be rather insular, even today; however I'm afraid that I found Harold and his wife to be rather brash, naive and a little uncouth - not unlike some of the less pleasant of their compatriots that one still encounters in Europe (unfortunately). I would not wish this particular couple on anyone - even the French! (oops!)

There are, however a couple of quotes that, to me, appear to summarise the book.

p.264 "What it amounts to is thar you cannot be friends with somebody, no matter how much you like them, if it turns out that you don't really understand each other." (This, to me, summarises the whole idea of the book!)

p.358 "But, if you concentrate on details, you lose sight of the whole." - oops - was this William Maxwell's mistake?

For me I'm afraid, there was nothing special about this book at all. i will not be looking for anything else by this author, I fear.

Maxwell: a superb writer, 25 Apr 2001
I cannot recommend this novel highly enough. Maxwell's prose is lucid without being sparse and the form of the novel is entirely compatible with its content. Its refusal to supply explanations for events, or hints of events, mirrors the confusion, and the suspended world of the tourists. I found it a hugely satisfying read, one which, like the wines of the region it concerns, contains both subleties and depth.

Beautifully written but unfortunately overlooked, 18 Jul 1998
The Chateau is a wonderful "travelogue" for people who love well written novels. The story begins with the interesting premise of vacationing in France just after the war. The novel shows the tensions of the "haves" and "have nots" between financially war torn France and the booming post war U.S. The Chateau serves to remind us of the graciousness of everyday life and the small luxuries afforded by simply being American. All of the American insecurities of traveling abroad crop up throughout the novel: (e.g. the gaucheness of being an American, the lack of a long history or the U.S's place in Western Culture). No one character is entirely lovable or wretched. That is precisely what makes it such a thought provoking novel. It is perfect for those who travel or have been to France on an extended trip. Enjoy the book and recommend it to a friend. The story can stand on its own but the writing remains the feast.

The Folded Leaf, 03 Jan 2008
William Maxwell writes in the small spaces. He explores the little sad areas of our lives that are comprised of looks that are not returned, thoughts that remain unuttered because we simply cannot figure out how to say them, and embraces we wish we have shared but did not because we lack the courage to put our arms around the person we love. The Folded Leaf is a beautiful, melancholy story by an author whose understated value has sadly caused a lack of popular appreciation compared to his flashier contemporaries - Hemingway, Nabokov, Bellow, Updike, Roth.

The Folded Leaf is the story of Lymie and Spud, two young boys who share a strong friendship, even though they seem utterly different. The novel is told primarily from the perspective of Lymie, a shy, withdrawn, introverted and very sensitive young man who loves Spud with all of his heart. Spud, on the other hand, is something of a strong man, an athlete who does not understand, but is able to appreciate, the sensitivity of his friend. They compliment one another, with Lymie taking security from Spud's strength while Spud draws another kind of strength from his friend.

The two boys love one another, with Lymie's love much the stronger, but the love remains platonic. It is the casual, affectionate, innocently physical love of young boys who become college men understanding that there is nobody else in the world more compatible with them than the other. A girl, of course, shatters this, but even though Spud may lose that first blush of pre-sexual affection, Lymie does not. The novel moves very slowly from the boys' strong relationship to a rather one-sided, heartbreaking examination of what happens when one friend moves on and the other cannot.

Is the story a homosexual one? It is hard to say. Spud and Lymie are physically affectionate, going so far as to spend almost their entire college life sleeping in the same bed. Note: Sleeping. While there is a lot left unsaid about Lymie's true feelings - he wonders, every now and again, when he shall meet a woman of his own to marry, but the wondering is academic rather than passionate - my reading of the novel is that Maxwell was happy to have Lymie's feelings remain ambiguous. Lymie is very much in love, and it is to the author's credit that the love does not have to be defined as sexual or emotional - it is simply what we see on the page. Lymie loves Spud and Spud loves Lymie: in different ways, it is true, but what they both feel is what we would call love. Maxwell is shrewd in avoiding the question of romantic or platonic love - what we have is love, just love, and it is shown to be enough. I highly doubt Lymie would have considered his feelings for Spud as anything wrong, and Spud - athletic, not very intelligent, given to boisterousness - certainly has no problem with his diminutive friend.

Maxwell shines the brightest when he is delving into Lymie's thoughts. We understand most of the novels scenes, from their school days to when they bunk together at university to when Spud becomes a (rather ignoble) boxer to Spud's engagement with Sally, from Lymie's perspective, allowing us to see the friendship in a way that Spud, and an outsider, never would. Consider this long quote: 'Lymie didn't know what the trouble was, but he was not dismayed. He had worn Spud down once before and he was sure he could do it again. Every day between four-fifteen and four-thirty he appeared at the gymnasium and stood a few feet away from the punching bag where Spud, if he wanted his gloves tied on or any small service like that, wouldn't have to go far to find him. When Spud came up from the showers, Lymie was there waiting by the locker, like a faithful hound. He made no move to open the lock, or to touch anything inside the locker that belonged to Spud. Occasionally while Spud was dressing and afterward on the way home, Lymie would say something to him, but Lymie was always careful not to put the remark in the form of a question, so there was no actual need for Spud to reply.' This is unrequited love at its most honest. Sadly for Lymie, Spud of course does not appreciate the layers of meaning and feeling behind Lymie's behaviour, and of course there is conflict that ends in tears. The novel ends the only way it should, but there is hope for the friendship and hope for Lymie, forced by circumstance to face the reality that even though his boyhood love may never have lost its intensity of feeling, Spud's certainly has.

Very thought provoking, 12 Feb 2001
I almost floundered and abandoned this book and I'm so glad I didn't. I couldn't see where the book was going at first but I did persevere and was rewarded with one of the most moving books I have ever read.

William Maxwell has a way of making a fairly ordinary subject matter, with few real highpoints in the subject compelling and truly sensitive. He writes with feeling and emotion that men and women alike would enjoy and appreciate.

The book is based around friendships developing through teenage years - how they start and how they end and how they change along the way. It's a very intensely emotional story of the love felt between friends. Very very few books bring tears to my eyes but this is one that did. Anyone with friends should read this book!

A truly exceptional book. Few books are this perfect, 25 Mar 2000
This book is one of the most beautifully written books I have ever read.

Such is the quality of writing, that some part of it will have resonance for everyone. The story is engaging and rewarding to read, the writing is intelligent and elegant.

Maxwell can capture the subtleties of both verbal and non verbal communication and convey them with startling accuracy. His ability to identify the fragile and unredeemed features of human existence is both powerfull and moveing.

Every boy & man should read this book, it will leave them richer than it found them.

Twenty enchanting stories by this mistress of characterisation, saved from archived obscurity by far-sighted American editor, 26 Oct 2007
Sylvia Townsend Warner wrote seven novels, starting with the instantly successful Lolly Willowes. In the end it was her short stories, frequently published in the New Yorker, which brought her the greatest recognition. Although fourteen collections were published, these twenty have never before been issued in book form.

Writing from the 1920s right through to the 1970s, Warner's stories are exquisite vignettes of numinous moments in the lives of ordinary - or extraordinary - English people. Frequently she begins with an ordinary event - a snowstorm, a bicycle ride, an invitation to tea - only for the story to metamorphose into a depiction of the magical, the mythical or the deeply resonant. In The Listening Woman, an elderly lady rediscovers her younger self through a long-forgotten painting; in the title story, two dispossessed gentlefolk find themselves accidental guests in their own home; in Stay, Corydon, Thou Swain a lovelorn draper's innocent rural outing ends in supernatural panic.

The centrepiece of the collection is a cycle of five stories dealing with the Abbey Antique Galleries and its unusual proprietor, Mr Edom, through whose idiosyncratic gaze we see a wealth of miniature dramas play themselves out amongst the objets d'art. A young woman, oppressed by her husband's good taste, steals a Victorian necklace under Edom's approving eye; a sudden power cut plunges the shop into a candlelit interlude which transforms the goods on sale into magical artefacts.

Warner's early life as a musician also surfaces frequently in these stories, with stories of overblown violinists, callow composers and class-ridden choral societies. Funniest of all is In the Absence of Mrs Bullen, in which an ageing diva impersonates her own charwoman, terrifying an impressionable piano tuner.

A treasure - either as an introduction to Warner's work, or as an adjunct to an existing collection.


Perfect, 18 Oct 2004
Just beautiful - I judge people by whether they like this book. Please, please read it.

Beautifully written account of childhood and family life., 25 Apr 2002
Short, almost perfect, a gem of a book, evocative, sad, yet hopeful

Moving and timeless, 17 Apr 2002
It's hard to believe this book was written in the 30s (USA)as it has a timeless feel to it. The book is written in 3 sections by 3 different narrators. It starts with the youngest boy in the family, followed by his older brother & finally the father of the 2. Each portrays their own perspective beautifully. We really feel their emotions. All 3 narratives centre around the narrator's relationship with the mother/wife and tell the family tale with a simplicity that creates an extremely moving work. The childhood evoked is magic. Recommended. It's a short read and best read at one sitting...

You close the book longing to know what happens next., 16 Jan 2001
An ordinary family; Mother, Father and two sons, inhabit a quiet, small midwestern American town. Nothing dramatic seems to happen. You get to know them one by one - the timorous younger boy, his more daring (but 'afflicted') brother and the rather preoccupied Father. The Mother is the bright centre of the family, but you never realize just how important she is until the 1918 influenza epidemic hits the town. The book builds so subtly towards its climax that you are surprised by the depth of your emotional reaction to it. And the characters linger in your mind for days.

If you were ever a child, read it., 24 Oct 1997
The novel is split into three sections and each uses a different point of view--first Bunny, then Robert, then the father. The points of view are extraordinarily well realized. An authentic, believable young child's point of view is difficult for any writer to achieve--Maxwell's Bunny rings true--so true it could be the tuning fork. It has no equal.
My only caveat is that I find the original version better than the current edition, which changed a scene or two. (Why?) Read the current edition and go to the library or haunt your used bookstore for the original.

Perfect short novel, 01 Mar 2007
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.

Why aren't all books written like this!, 31 Aug 2000
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.

A subtle, inspiring masterpiece, 26 Feb 1999
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. I strongly recommend this book to every reader. I'd write more but I want to order his next book now...

Perfect, 18 Oct 2004
Just beautiful - I judge people by whether they like this book. Please, please read it.

Beautifully written account of childhood and family life., 25 Apr 2002
Short, almost perfect, a gem of a book, evocative, sad, yet hopeful

Moving and timeless, 17 Apr 2002
It's hard to believe this book was written in the 30s (USA)as it has a timeless feel to it. The book is written in 3 sections by 3 different narrators. It starts with the youngest boy in the family, followed by his older brother & finally the father of the 2. Each portrays their own perspective beautifully. We really feel their emotions. All 3 narratives centre around the narrator's relationship with the mother/wife and tell the family tale with a simplicity that creates an extremely moving work. The childhood evoked is magic. Recommended. It's a short read and best read at one sitting...

You close the book longing to know what happens next., 16 Jan 2001
An ordinary family; Mother, Father and two sons, inhabit a quiet, small midwestern American town. Nothing dramatic seems to happen. You get to know them one by one - the timorous younger boy, his more daring (but 'afflicted') brother and the rather preoccupied Father. The Mother is the bright centre of the family, but you never realize just how important she is until the 1918 influenza epidemic hits the town. The book builds so subtly towards its climax that you are surprised by the depth of your emotional reaction to it. And the characters linger in your mind for days.

If you were ever a child, read it., 24 Oct 1997
The novel is split into three sections and each uses a different point of view--first Bunny, then Robert, then the father. The points of view are extraordinarily well realized. An authentic, believable young child's point of view is difficult for any writer to achieve--Maxwell's Bunny rings true--so true it could be the tuning fork. It has no equal.
My only caveat is that I find the original version better than the current edition, which changed a scene or two. (Why?) Read the current edition and go to the library or haunt your used bookstore for the original.

Intriguing in places- but I'm not convinced, 07 Jun 2007
This book was chosen by my book club this month - but none of us appear to be totally convinced by it. In fact, thus far i am the only one to have completed it; and there are members of the group who have read 30 or 40 pages and have really had enough! Some cannot get beyond the sections that are written in French - others find the style and the lack of action discouraging.

For me, the book was an insight into the early post war years in France. A naive American couple arrive in France at the start of a 4 month European tour, ready to explore and expecting to be welcomed with open arms as part of the nation that 'won the war' and 'liberated their country'.
Initially, they appear to be well received; but on arriving at 'The Chateau' (Beaumesnil) the welcome becomes somewhat cooler. They have to arrange their own transport to the Chateau, and the greeting they receive on arrival is far from effusive.
The rest of the book (at least two thirds) reverberates around this; knocking us from pillar to post as they are first received, then accepted, then barely acknowledged. Their knowledge of the language is limiting and restricitve. They never appear to know where they stand in any relationship; but never quite know how to deal with 'the family'. In their naivety, they cannot grasp what the French have had to cope with and so cannot understand why their reception should be so lukewarm in many ways. They are totally unaware of what their hostess has been through - and of what she is still going through in having to let rooms out in order to keep the Chateau going! They are also unaware of the fact that, as a friend of mine said when we were discussing the book, 'A paying guest is never as welcome either as a friend or as a true guest.' They try hard with the language, but find it hard to follow discussions, and feel more and more excluded - particularly during dinner.

They move on to Paris - where they remain equally confused and unsure of their status; although they prefer it as a base. Expecting to be 'hail fellow well met' with all they see; it is anathema to them to discover that it is not quite so.

I know that the French can be rather insular, even today; however I'm afraid that I found Harold and his wife to be rather brash, naive and a little uncouth - not unlike some of the less pleasant of their compatriots that one still encounters in Europe (unfortunately). I would not wish this particular couple on anyone - even the French! (oops!)

There are, however a couple of quotes that, to me, appear to summarise the book.

p.264 "What it amounts to is thar you cannot be friends with somebody, no matter how much you like them, if it turns out that you don't really understand each other." (This, to me, summarises the whole idea of the book!)

p.358 "But, if you concentrate on details, you lose sight of the whole." - oops - was this William Maxwell's mistake?

For me I'm afraid, there was nothing special about this book at all. i will not be looking for anything else by this author, I fear.

Maxwell: a superb writer, 25 Apr 2001
I cannot recommend this novel highly enough. Maxwell's prose is lucid without being sparse and the form of the novel is entirely compatible with its content. Its refusal to supply explanations for events, or hints of events, mirrors the confusion, and the suspended world of the tourists. I found it a hugely satisfying read, one which, like the wines of the region it concerns, contains both subleties and depth.

Beautifully written but unfortunately overlooked, 18 Jul 1998
The Chateau is a wonderful "travelogue" for people who love well written novels. The story begins with the interesting premise of vacationing in France just after the war. The novel shows the tensions of the "haves" and "have nots" between financially war torn France and the booming post war U.S. The Chateau serves to remind us of the graciousness of everyday life and the small luxuries afforded by simply being American. All of the American insecurities of traveling abroad crop up throughout the novel: (e.g. the gaucheness of being an American, the lack of a long history or the U.S's place in Western Culture). No one character is entirely lovable or wretched. That is precisely what makes it such a thought provoking novel. It is perfect for those who travel or have been to France on an extended trip. Enjoy the book and recommend it to a friend. The story can stand on its own but the writing remains the feast.

The Folded Leaf, 03 Jan 2008
William Maxwell writes in the small spaces. He explores the little sad areas of our lives that are comprised of looks that are not returned, thoughts that remain unuttered because we simply cannot figure out how to say them, and embraces we wish we have shared but did not because we lack the courage to put our arms around the person we love. The Folded Leaf is a beautiful, melancholy story by an author whose understated value has sadly caused a lack of popular appreciation compared to his flashier contemporaries - Hemingway, Nabokov, Bellow, Updike, Roth.

The Folded Leaf is the story of Lymie and Spud, two young boys who share a strong friendship, even though they seem utterly different. The novel is told primarily from the perspective of Lymie, a shy, withdrawn, introverted and very sensitive young man who loves Spud with all of his heart. Spud, on the other hand, is something of a strong man, an athlete who does not understand, but is able to appreciate, the sensitivity of his friend. They compliment one another, with Lymie taking security from Spud's strength while Spud draws another kind of strength from his friend.

The two boys love one another, with Lymie's love much the stronger, but the love remains platonic. It is the casual, affectionate, innocently physical love of young boys who become college men understanding that there is nobody else in the world more compatible with them than the other. A girl, of course, shatters this, but even though Spud may lose that first blush of pre-sexual affection, Lymie does not. The novel moves very slowly from the boys' strong relationship to a rather one-sided, heartbreaking examination of what happens when one friend moves on and the other cannot.

Is the story a homosexual one? It is hard to say. Spud and Lymie are physically affectionate, going so far as to spend almost their entire college life sleeping in the same bed. Note: Sleeping. While there is a lot left unsaid about Lymie's true feelings - he wonders, every now and again, when he shall meet a woman of his own to marry, but the wondering is academic rather than passionate - my reading of the novel is that Maxwell was happy to have Lymie's feelings remain ambiguous. Lymie is very much in love, and it is to the author's credit that the love does not have to be defined as sexual or emotional - it is simply what we see on the page. Lymie loves Spud and Spud loves Lymie: in different ways, it is true, but what they both feel is what we would call love. Maxwell is shrewd in avoiding the question of romantic or platonic love - what we have is love, just love, and it is shown to be enough. I highly doubt Lymie would have considered his feelings for Spud as anything wrong, and Spud - athletic, not very intelligent, given to boisterousness - certainly has no problem with his diminutive friend.

Maxwell shines the brightest when he is delving into Lymie's thoughts. We understand most of the novels scenes, from their school days to when they bunk together at university to when Spud becomes a (rather ignoble) boxer to Spud's engagement with Sally, from Lymie's perspective, allowing us to see the friendship in a way that Spud, and an outsider, never would. Consider this long quote: 'Lymie didn't know what the trouble was, but he was not dismayed. He had worn Spud down once before and he was sure he could do it again. Every day between four-fifteen and four-thirty he appeared at the gymnasium and stood a few feet away from the punching bag where Spud, if he wanted his gloves tied on or any small service like that, wouldn't have to go far to find him. When Spud came up from the showers, Lymie was there waiting by the locker, like a faithful hound. He made no move to open the lock, or to touch anything inside the locker that belonged to Spud. Occasionally while Spud was dressing and afterward on the way home, Lymie would say something to him, but Lymie was always careful not to put the remark in the form of a question, so there was no actual need for Spud to reply.' This is unrequited love at its most honest. Sadly for Lymie, Spud of course does not appreciate the layers of meaning and feeling behind Lymie's behaviour, and of course there is conflict that ends in tears. The novel ends the only way it should, but there is hope for the friendship and hope for Lymie, forced by circumstance to face the reality that even though his boyhood love may never have lost its intensity of feeling, Spud's certainly has.

Very thought provoking, 12 Feb 2001
I almost floundered and abandoned this book and I'm so glad I didn't. I couldn't see where the book was going at first but I did persevere and was rewarded with one of the most moving books I have ever read.

William Maxwell has a way of making a fairly ordinary subject matter, with few real highpoints in the subject compelling and truly sensitive. He writes with feeling and emotion that men and women alike would enjoy and appreciate.

The book is based around friendships developing through teenage years - how they start and how they end and how they change along the way. It's a very intensely emotional story of the love felt between friends. Very very few books bring tears to my eyes but this is one that did. Anyone with friends should read this book!

A truly exceptional book. Few books are this perfect, 25 Mar 2000
This book is one of the most beautifully written books I have ever read.

Such is the quality of writing, that some part of it will have resonance for everyone. The story is engaging and rewarding to read, the writing is intelligent and elegant.

Maxwell can capture the subtleties of both verbal and non verbal communication and convey them with startling accuracy. His ability to identify the fragile and unredeemed features of human existence is both powerfull and moveing.

Every boy & man should read this book, it will leave them richer than it found them.

Twenty enchanting stories by this mistress of characterisation, saved from archived obscurity by far-sighted American editor, 26 Oct 2007
Sylvia Townsend Warner wrote seven novels, starting with the instantly successful Lolly Willowes. In the end it was her short stories, frequently published in the New Yorker, which brought her the greatest recognition. Although fourteen collections were published, these twenty have never before been issued in book form.

Writing from the 1920s right through to the 1970s, Warner's stories are exquisite vignettes of numinous moments in the lives of ordinary - or extraordinary - English people. Frequently she begins with an ordinary event - a snowstorm, a bicycle ride, an invitation to tea - only for the story to metamorphose into a depiction of the magical, the mythical or the deeply resonant. In The Listening Woman, an elderly lady rediscovers her younger self through a long-forgotten painting; in the title story, two dispossessed gentlefolk find themselves accidental guests in their own home; in Stay, Corydon, Thou Swain a lovelorn draper's innocent rural outing ends in supernatural panic.

The centrepiece of the collection is a cycle of five stories dealing with the Abbey Antique Galleries and its unusual proprietor, Mr Edom, through whose idiosyncratic gaze we see a wealth of miniature dramas play themselves out amongst the objets d'art. A young woman, oppressed by her husband's good taste, steals a Victorian necklace under Edom's approving eye; a sudden power cut plunges the shop into a candlelit interlude which transforms the goods on sale into magical artefacts.

Warner's early life as a musician also surfaces frequently in these stories, with stories of overblown violinists, callow composers and class-ridden choral societies. Funniest of all is In the Absence of Mrs Bullen, in which an ageing diva impersonates her own charwoman, terrifying an impressionable piano tuner.

A treasure - either as an introduction to Warner's work, or as an adjunct to an existing collection.


Perfect, 18 Oct 2004
Just beautiful - I judge people by whether they like this book. Please, please read it.

Beautifully written account of childhood and family life., 25 Apr 2002
Short, almost perfect, a gem of a book, evocative, sad, yet hopeful

Moving and timeless, 17 Apr 2002
It's hard to believe this book was written in the 30s (USA)as it has a timeless feel to it. The book is written in 3 sections by 3 different narrators. It starts with the youngest boy in the family, followed by his older brother & finally the father of the 2. Each portrays their own perspective beautifully. We really feel their emotions. All 3 narratives centre around the narrator's relationship with the mother/wife and tell the family tale with a simplicity that creates an extremely moving work. The childhood evoked is magic. Recommended. It's a short read and best read at one sitting...

You close the book longing to know what happens next., 16 Jan 2001
An ordinary family; Mother, Father and two sons, inhabit a quiet, small midwestern American town. Nothing dramatic seems to happen. You get to know them one by one - the timorous younger boy, his more daring (but 'afflicted') brother and the rather preoccupied Father. The Mother is the bright centre of the family, but you never realize just how important she is until the 1918 influenza epidemic hits the town. The book builds so subtly towards its climax that you are surprised by the depth of your emotional reaction to it. And the characters linger in your mind for days.

If you were ever a child, read it., 24 Oct 1997
The novel is split into three sections and each uses a different point of view--first Bunny, then Robert, then the father. The points of view are extraordinarily well realized. An authentic, believable young child's point of view is difficult for any writer to achieve--Maxwell's Bunny rings true--so true it could be the tuning fork. It has no equal.
My only caveat is that I find the original version better than the current edition, which changed a scene or two. (Why?) Read the current edition and go to the library or haunt your used bookstore for the original.

Perfect short novel, 01 Mar 2007
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.

Why aren't all books written like this!, 31 Aug 2000
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.

A subtle, inspiring masterpiece, 26 Feb 1999
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. I strongly recommend this book to every reader. I'd write more but I want to order his next book now...

Perfect short novel, 01 Mar 2007
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.

Why aren't all books written like this!, 31 Aug 2000
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.

A subtle, inspiring masterpiece, 26 Feb 1999
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. I strongly recommend this book to every reader. I'd write more but I want to order his next book now...

Perfect, 18 Oct 2004
Just beautiful - I judge people by whether they like this book. Please, please read it.

Beautifully written account of childhood and family life., 25 Apr 2002
Short, almost perfect, a gem of a book, evocative, sad, yet hopeful

Moving and timeless, 17 Apr 2002
It's hard to believe this book was written in the 30s (USA)as it has a timeless feel to it. The book is written in 3 sections by 3 different narrators. It starts with the youngest boy in the family, followed by his older brother & finally the father of the 2. Each portrays their own perspective beautifully. We really feel their emotions. All 3 narratives centre around the narrator's relationship with the mother/wife and tell the family tale with a simplicity that creates an extremely moving work. The childhood evoked is magic. Recommended. It's a short read and best read at one sitting...

You close the book longing to know what happens next., 16 Jan 2001
An ordinary family; Mother, Father and two sons, inhabit a quiet, small midwestern American town. Nothing dramatic seems to happen. You get to know them one by one - the timorous younger boy, his more daring (but 'afflicted') brother and the rather preoccupied Father. The Mother is the bright centre of the family, but you never realize just how important she is until the 1918 influenza epidemic hits the town. The book builds so subtly towards its climax that you are surprised by the depth of your emotional reaction to it. And the characters linger in your mind for days.

If you were ever a child, read it., 24 Oct 1997
The novel is split into three sections and each uses a different point of view--first Bunny, then Robert, then the father. The points of view are extraordinarily well realized. An authentic, believable young child's point of view is difficult for any writer to achieve--Maxwell's Bunny rings true--so true it could be the tuning fork. It has no equal.
My only caveat is that I find the original version better than the current edition, which changed a scene or two. (Why?) Read the current edition and go to the library or haunt your used bookstore for the original.

Intriguing in places- but I'm not convinced, 07 Jun 2007
This book was chosen by my book club this month - but none of us appear to be totally convinced by it. In fact, thus far i am the only one to have completed it; and there are members of the group who have read 30 or 40 pages and have really had enough! Some cannot get beyond the sections that are written in French - others find the style and the lack of action discouraging.

For me, the book was an insight into the early post war years in France. A naive American couple arrive in France at the start of a 4 month European tour, ready to explore and expecting to be welcomed with open arms as part of the nation that 'won the war' and 'liberated their country'.
Initially, they appear to be well received; but on arriving at 'The Chateau' (Beaumesnil) the welcome becomes somewhat cooler. They have to arrange their own transport to the Chateau, and the greeting they receive on arrival is far from effusive.
The rest of the book (at least two thirds) reverberates around this; knocking us from pillar to post as they are first received, then accepted, then barely acknowledged. Their knowledge of the language is limiting and restricitve. They never appear to know where they stand in any relationship; but never quite know how to deal with 'the family'. In their naivety, they cannot grasp what the French have had to cope with and so cannot understand why their reception should be so lukewarm in many ways. They are totally unaware of what their hostess has been through - and of what she is still going through in having to let rooms out in order to keep the Chateau going! They are also unaware of the fact that, as a friend of mine said when we were discussing the book, 'A paying guest is never as welcome either as a friend or as a true guest.' They try hard with the language, but find it hard to foll