Is Annie Dillard a philosopher? A poet? A naturalist? Or a storyteller?
It's difficult to determine by the reading of her most recently penned novel, The Maytrees. Of those four distinctions, Annie's storytelling seems to be the weakest, apparently used only as a vehicle by which she might display her other gifts.

The novel is billed as a love story, the romantic history of Lou and Toby Maytree. Dialogue is spare, almost non-existent. In its place we are invited to share the inner ruminatings of the poet Toby and the quiet Lou as they seek their entire adult lives to make sense of love, the shortness of life, and the big questions: How do we make our brief moments count? What is it we are meant to do? Does love come as a gift, or is it an act of will?

I could follow some of the philosophical threads in the story but kept feeling that I was not grasping enough to make sense of it. Is beauty enough? What happens to our cache of knowledge and experience when we die? I felt unsatisfied when the main characters did not come to any final conclusions. The threads of thought seemed never to be woven together, but were left to dangle so that at the end I was left with a big question mark.

The story line was not compelling, the characters were not fully developed, the philosophy was tangled and enigmatic. So what kept me reading this story?

I suppose in the end it was the love of words that kept me reading, because while Annie lacks as a storyteller, she more than compensates as a wordsmith. Her descriptions of the Cape Cod beach, the flora, the fauna, the night sky, the dunes--paint a multi-layered work of beauty, stroke-by-stroke. She has an unusual way of turning words, rather poetical, which for me required slow reading and focused attention.

I'm including some of the quotes that stood out to me.

Will I read more of Annie Dillard? I might read her almost classic Pilgrim at Tinker Creek because I know that to be her thoughts on nature, where she truly excels as a writer. But another novel? No.

The quotes:

Of Lou, the quiet woman:

"After their first year or so, Lou's beauty no longer surprised him. He never stopped looking, because her face was his eyes' home."

"Her mental energy and endurance matched his. She neither competed nor rebelled. Her freedom strengthened him, as did her immeasurable reserve."

Of Maytree, the poet:

"He endorsed Edwin Arlington Robinson's view that anthologies preserve poems by pickling their corpses."

Other:

"What gave adults the cheer to tolerate their hypocrisy? Even his mother praised generosity and hoarded; she preached industry and barely worked. Perhaps every generation passes to the next, to hand down to yet more children, an untouched trunk of virtues. The adults describe the trunk's contents to the young and never open it."

On beauty:

"In her last years Lou puzzled over beauty....She never knew what to make of it. Certainly nothing in Darwin, in chemical evolution, in optics or psychology or even cognitive anthropology gave it a shot. (snip) Philosophy ...had trivialized itself right out of the ballpark. Nothing rose to plug the gap, to address what some called 'ultimate concerns' unless you count the arts, the arts that lacked both epistemological methods and accountability..." -------->

This last quote makes me so thankful for the gift of faith. My faith "plugs the gap" and although some would call it simplistic, I'm grateful that it keeps me from the tortured mental gymnastics that must weary great minds devoid of faith. Keep me simple.

Chesapeake: A Novel by James A. Michener


In his fictional history of Chesapeake Bay, James Michener takes you to the top of a large building and lets you watch the pageant of centuries pass like a parade beneath your gaze. Though you can see the details of individuals as they pass, your perspective predisposes you to see the broad sweep of centuries. It is an amazing amalgam of crooks and colonels, priests and pirates, fishermen and floozies, merchants and mechanics with the natural history of Chesapeake Bay providing the backdrop for it all.

I am amazed by the extensive research and detail contained in this epic work (1,083 pages!), yet never do the facts present themselves overtly. Always, they are packaged as part of the intricate web of life woven within the history of three founding families. Their diverse backgrounds and idiosyncracies are destined to intertwine as the generations unfold and the telling is a treat for all armchair adventurers. I closed the book with a profound sense of awe; Michener brought forth a vivid sense of understanding that individuals are both the product of those who have preceded them and the predictor of what lies ahead.

Each person occupies only a small and fleeting role in history, but one life can color the entire sweep of a generation. What if the first English settler had taken the lovely Indian princess as bride, instead of waiting for his proper English wife to arrive by boat some years later? How would the Quaker family line have been affected if the patriarch had capitulated to the pressure to build boats for the purpose of slave trading?

Momentous decisions face every generation, but seldom are the players cognizant of the truth that their decisions are not trivial---they deeply affect posterity. I'm encouraged by my glimpse into the Chesapeake saga because it is ultimately an affirmation that life matters; and by extension--yes MY life matters, too.


My rating: 4 of 5 stars


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Some random thoughts on the Nebraska State Fair:

• Nebraska's fair features a cheese sculpture, whereas the Iowa fair is known for its butter sculptures. This year there was quite a controversy in Iowa over the butter sculpture, because the plan called for a buttery likeness of Michael Jackson. No sirree, the Iowegians were not happy about this idea and the outcry was so great that the decision was given to the public via an online vote. Sorry Michael, with a margin of 65.24% “no” to 34.76% “yes,” fair goers have voted you out.

• Speaking of bovines, my daughter got to "milk" a cow today. She was made of fiberglass, had rubber teats, and was very patient.

• The Paul Bunyan Lumberjack Show was a hoot! Axe throwing, competitive sawing, chopping, sculpting, and water log rolling comprised a unique and entertaining show.

• Oh my, the quilts were masterpieces. This was hands down the best of the exhibitions, in my opinion. It has primed me to make another trip to Lincoln to visit the International Quilt Study Center and Museum. Quilts are rightly considered serious works of art here.

• My second favorite: the handcrafted furniture in the 4H building. 4H is popular in Nebraska and there is a whole exhibit hall devoted to student contributions, everything from photography to floral arranging to robotics.

• We "met" a real robot who was most cordial and asked to have his picture taken with us! Oscar the robot carried on such an intelligent conversation that we had to tear ourselves away from him so that other people could enjoy him.

• Cotton candy tastes just as good now as it did when I was a kid. Only now it comes in a bag instead of on a cardboard cone. It's not as much fun to eat that way because it only gets your hands sticky and not your nose :0)

This is the last year the State Fair will be held in Lincoln. Next year it is moving to Grand Island, which will make it a lot farther for us to travel. I'm glad we had the chance to take this last summer fling and enjoy the variegated sights and sounds of a venerated Midwestern institution.