Reviews

• Why do weak, cruel people always survive? True character remains hidden until called upon to step forward against family solidarity. Asa and Roy are tormented characters who will survive and thrive in spite of all the drama. Maybe only Parry is the real victim.

• I've started reading Pulitzer Prize-winning novels from the early and mid-20th century. What strikes me most as I look over the many PP winners I've read from the 1920s up through the early 40s is the insight I've gotten into the unvarnished issues of race and gender. This novel, while it somewhat laboriously tells the story of the dysfunctional and downtrodden Timberlake family, was to me more about race issues than about anything else. The young African American, Parry, was at risk throughout the book largely because of his racial vulnerability. Throughout In This Our Life, I (like other reviewers) was somewhat put off by its dolorous and desultory tone. It was loaded with existential questions like, "what is man's place in the universe?" and "does time mean less today than it did a generation ago?" And these questions were not answered, except in an indirect way with the glacially slow personal development of Asa and his daughter Roy. I did admire the writing style and can well understand that this would have been a noteworthy piece of literature in 1942. It is definitely the first of the PP winners that deals with race in a way that is not at all flattering to the whites. In that it rips off the veil I've seen in many earlier books, it is one of the first novels to deal candidly and condemningly with the insidious nature of racial bias.

• I really would give this 31/2 stars. This novel consists mostly of the interior thoughts of the characters, although there is an arc to the plot. The characters ask a lot of internal questions - a device that grew old for me as nothing was ever answered. This novel is certainly depressing, and only a couple of the characters are likable. Stanley is a self-centered egoist who always gets the sympathy of her mother and uncle. Asa, the father, is the most sympathetic character, but is weak. The subplot with Minerva, the black laundress, and her son Parry is not well developed. The author was certainly a talented writer. Glasgow wrote some beautiful passages (some that I highlighted), such as: "In the white stillness, through the hurrying snowflakes, the street and the bared branches of the trees and the fronts of the houses appeared as fugitive as shapes that float between waking and sleeping. Only when a horn tooted, and the lights of a car crashed through the pallid dusk, did the scene and the March afternoon wear a look of reality." I had wanted to read this novel after seeing the John Huston directed movie of the same name starring Bette Davis as Stanley (a perfect actress for the part!). Until late last year, this was a difficult book to find for a reasonable price even though it won a Pulitzer Prize in 1942. Thanks for the kindle version! The novel does end on a hopeful note, at least "hopeful" in the context of the book. I enjoyed reading this, but don't know whether I would recommend it to everyone. If you like novels with a heavy atmosphere, including the weather described in the book - almost everyday was rainy, cold and windy - then you might find it interesting. I liked this well enough to be interested in reading another of her novels.

• Years ago I watched the Bette Davis movie that was based on this book. The film was fantastic and Ms. Davis was at her "crooked" best! Then, I came across the book and, although I'd seen the film first, I just had to read it! I was disappointed, but I'm not sure if my disappointment is in the book or movie. They are almost two different entities, neither really matching the other. I don't want to give the endings away but, they couldn't be farther apart! Not even remotely familiar. Where as some characters die in one, they live in the other. Some get their comeuppance in one, yet almost go unpunished in the other! What we're they thinking? Certainly cannot blame the Author, after all, she came first! And, I understand that directors take "dramatic pause" to make the movie exciting, but, in this instance, I feel they went way too far! If you read the book, don't watch the movie. If you watch the movie, don't read the book. If you do, the only thing awaiting you is disappointment.

• Her novels are no doubt bleak,but she’s such a fine writer. The characters are trapped, but largely for reasons of their own.its long, maybe too long for some reassert, but worth it. Another great Glasgow novel is BARREN GROUND.

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