I wasn't at all prepared for this book.

Back in my mid-twenties, I bought it in a bookstore simply based on its title and a grand idea that popped into my mind at that time. However, it just sat on my shelf and never got picked up.

If I had known that Thomas Wolfe was essentially a meandering, trailing, train-of-thought author, I probably would have never purchased it in the first place.

That being said, many parts of this book, especially the second half, truly floored me. It was a much-needed surprise and a welcome reprieve from my initial expectations.

The first half was rather difficult to get through. It seemed like a tedious chronicle of a tedious young man surrounded by equally tedious people.

Thankfully, George Webber, Thomas Wolfe, and I all stuck with it.

Now, I'm left feeling emboldened in idealism and its merits. I have a cache of well-written prosaic ammunition, ready to face all the tomorrows.

This book is well worth the read.

I was completely hooked from the very first page and truly savored the entire 700+ page experience. Wolfe is astonishingly insightful, delving right into the core of human nature and our numerous pretensions. He vividly describes a wide variety of people, and you can recognize each and every one of them. The book possesses a remarkable timeless quality. From the overspeculation in the real estate market to the media's strange fixation with celebrities, this book could have been written just yesterday, despite being penned in the 1930s. Wolfe's powers of observation are truly astounding, along with his incredible ear for dialogue, dialect, and every细微的语言差别. This autobiographical epic rightfully deserves a very special place in American literature.

I think every accomplished writer of fiction should be permitted one exploration of self-pity, and this is precisely what Wolfe presents. Fortunately, as Wolfe has the ability to detach his rather large head from his wide posterior, he is able to construct a quite captivating portrayal of the Jazz Age gradually disintegrating into the Great Depression in the United States. Moreover, he effectively evokes the atmosphere of pre-WWII Europe. Given that Wolfe passed away in 1938, his experience in Nazi Germany is astonishingly poignant. The substantial travelogue, nevertheless, is wedged between thick layers of self-absorption. However, when it comes to accounts of writerly martyrdom, Wolfe's is not significantly worse than that of others. (I'm aware this is rather faint praise.)

This work by Wolfe offers a unique perspective on a crucial period in history. His descriptions of the changing social and economic landscapes are vivid and engaging. The contrast between the vibrant Jazz Age and the bleakness of the Great Depression is brought to life through his words.

While the element of self-pity may be present, it does not overshadow the overall value of the piece. Instead, it adds a layer of complexity to the narrative, making it a more interesting and multi-faceted exploration.

Thomas Wolfe’s \\"You Can’t Go Home Again\\" is a deeply poignant exploration of the themes of identity, nostalgia, and change. Published posthumously in 1940, this novel holds a significant place in American literature, reflecting Wolfe's unique style and his profound concern with the nature of personal and communal transformation.

The story follows George Webber, a writer who, after achieving literary success, decides to return to his hometown of Libby, North Carolina. His homecoming, initially intended to reconnect with his roots and regain a sense of belonging, turns into a journey filled with disillusionment. Wolfe uses Webber’s return to explore the central theme of the book: the idea that once a person leaves a place, it is impossible to return to it in the same way.

Wolfe's narrative is rich with his signature prose style, which is both lyrical and sprawling, and intensely descriptive. His portrayal of Libby is a combination of nostalgia and criticism, capturing the town’s essence while also highlighting the changes that have taken place since Webber's departure. The novel delves deep into the dynamics of small-town life and how it contrasts with the broader changes in society.

The characters in the novel are vividly drawn, each representing different aspects of the community and reflecting broader human experiences. Webber’s interactions with them reveal the gap between his idealized memories and the present reality. His sense of estrangement is palpable, making his struggles relatable to anyone who has experienced the bittersweet nature of returning to one's roots.

Wolfe's examination of the themes of change and identity is both profound and unsettling. The novel suggests that while a person may physically return to a familiar place, the emotional and psychological changes that occur in the meantime prevent a complete reconnection with the past. This exploration is presented with Wolfe’s characteristic depth and emotional intensity, offering a rich and thought-provoking reading experience.

However, some readers may find Wolfe’s dense prose and extensive digressions challenging. His stylistic choices, although powerful, can sometimes overshadow the narrative, making the novel a demanding read. Nevertheless, for those who are willing to engage with Wolfe’s intricate style, \\"You Can’t Go Home Again\\" provides a rewarding and insightful reflection on the complexities of identity and belonging.

In conclusion, \\"You Can’t Go Home Again\\" is a masterful work that encapsulates the essence of Wolfe’s literary vision. Its exploration of the impossibility of recapturing the past and the profound impact of change makes it a significant and enduring piece of American literature.

You Can't Go Home Again by Thomas Wolfe (Harper and Brow 1940) (Fiction - Autobiographical Fiction).

This remarkable novel was published posthumously, pieced together from the incomplete work of Thomas Wolfe. The story commences when a renowned author, fresh from the publication of a novel that vividly描绘s his hometown, returns there in a blaze of glory. However, to his great dismay and chagrin, the town greets him with hostility. His novel has seemingly aired the town's dirty laundry, causing resentment among its residents.

Disheartened, the author departs and embarks on a journey to explore many other famous cities around the world. He wanders from one place to another, seeking new experiences and perhaps a sense of belonging. But as time passes, he gradually realizes the profound truth that "you can't go home again."

My personal rating for this novel is 6.5/10. I completed reading it in 1985, and it left a lasting impression on me. The story's exploration of the complex relationship between an individual and his hometown, as well as the themes of nostalgia and the inescapability of the past, make it a thought-provoking read.

More than 700 pages, the book is beautifully written yet it could have been reduced by half. To be just, this final work of Thomas Wolfe was published posthumously from a large amount of manuscript and notes compiled by his editor. When a talented individual passes away, one hates to not utilize every last bit possible. However, there are indeed many good and interesting characters here, along with accounts of brief segments of their lives. The good editor, enduring in a household filled with women - 5 daughters, servants, and a wife, constantly coming home to discover remodeling underway, rooms painted in different colors than when he last left. He does hit the mark accurately: women enjoy doing such things and men truly despise it when they return home to find their furniture relocated and blue walls instead of white ones. They find this disturbing and perplexing. And the account of a crazy impromptu road trip with the feverishly hyperactive writer McHaig and a terrified chauffeur was extremely vivid. Lost on a stormy night in the English countryside, for the protagonist George (presumably a thinly disguised Wolfe), the episode is tiring, baffling, and as always, an opportunity for the author to narrate numerous philosophical musings, all skillfully presented, some stimulating, but ultimately numbing in quantity. Except for a very good portrayal of his housekeeper in London, Wolfe's female characters tend to be rather one-dimensional. Which is not as much of a deterrent as it could be. As mentioned previously, I believe this book is highly autobiographical and if that's how he perceived women, that's fine. It is well worth reading, and now I must go back and reread his earlier work, Look Homeward Angel, which apparently caused a stir in his hometown and led many of its not-so-fictional character models to seek his downfall.

I picture Thomas Wolfe as a precocious 15-year-old on the playground. He carries around a 2000-page magnum opus in his lunch pail, shoving other kids aside as he surveys the vast soccer fields. He watches clumsy Philistines dangling like cherubs from the monkey bars.

Fast forward a few years. He has found a generous and encouraging editor. He has traveled widely, dabbled in play writing. Now he carts around a wheelbarrow with his unpublished masterpiece balanced like a paper pyramid. He is still observing the human beings in his vicinity critically, sniffing out myths and legends, legacies and crumbling empires, between the close-printed lines of newspaper articles.

"Look Homeward, Angel" was a very powerful book. It influenced me when I read it. I was utterly convinced by Wolfe's skewed Romanticism. Right away, "You Can't Go Home Again" seems like the same kind of novel, or perhaps another chapter from the same vast novel.

This novel encapsulates Wolfe's mind, or seems to, in all of its labyrinthine wanderings. It is an especially good example of his eccentricities. The characters are caricatures, cartoonish, amusing mash-ups. George Webber, the protagonist, is sometimes vain and self-serving. He fritters away countless hours scaling the obelisks of his imagined destiny. The scenes are transparently autobiographical or achieve that effect through manipulation.

Luckily, there are many side characters, all charming, each exemplifying a certain downfall of forthright American monsters. Nonetheless, the texture woven through these absurd descriptions and even absurder soliloquies was at times almost painfully beautiful to me. I don't easily tire of Wolfe's sprawling nature.

Reading his books is like sailing a sea. You glimpse glittering treasures beneath the surface and legions of sea monsters. But the tides carry you along and you must leave them behind.

So you see this brilliant America vanishing as you turn the pages. If you look up from the words, true life suddenly appears bland. There is a certain mesmerism at work in the rhythm of his words, perhaps unlike anything else in literature. At least, you won't easily find a book so captivating, in so many ways, so angelically bound by its own laws of passion, that it sabotages your sense of proportion and glues your eyes to the page.

Wolfe is indeed a remarkable American writer.

However, the classification of him as being on the B List of our nation's leading authors is highly debatable.

He does possess certain flaws. Foremost among them is his lack of ability to control and restrain his work.

The blatant autobiographical nature of this and his other great novel, "Look Homeward, Angel," is yet another concerning aspect.

Nonetheless, some of his sentences and individual episodes are crafted with great skill and artistry.

He shines brightest when he is engaged in creating vivid characters and satirizing American customs and values.

Although, it must be noted that his character portraits often lack a significant organic connection to the novel as a whole.

In the end, what we have is a sprawling and at times tenuously connected collection of material.

Reading it can feel like a sort of arduous Bataan Death March.

The story takes us on a journey from New York to North Carolina, then to Brooklyn, and even to Germany and England, with numerous rhapsodic, Whitmanesque flights of fancy interspersed throughout.

It truly is a strange and eclectic mix.

A young and talented author manages to pen a remarkable bestseller that takes the literary world by storm. However, much to his dismay, upon returning to his hometown, he is met with unexpected hostility. The very people who should have been proud of his achievement seem to turn against him for reasons unknown.

Feeling disheartened and seeking a new perspective, he decides to embark on a journey to Germany. Little does he know that this trip will expose him to the terrifying rise of Nazism. As he witnesses the growing power and influence of the Nazi Party, he is deeply shaken by the events unfolding before his eyes.

This captivating story is currently being meticulously edited by Distributed Proofreaders Canada. Once the editing process is complete, it will be made available to readers at FadedPage, where they can delve into the author's experiences and gain a deeper understanding of this tumultuous period in history.

It is necessary to establish a separate police force for such books.

Name it Literature with a capital "L".

These are works that are thick and heavy in all senses of the word, with philosophy, reflections,

and characters described so meticulously that you start to believe in their existence.

And what is even more terrifying is that all these personalities are used by the author in his mind.

Separate people with the stories of whole lives.

These literary works are like a complex and mysterious world. They hold profound ideas and emotions that can touch the deepest parts of our hearts. The detailed descriptions of the characters make them come alive on the pages, as if they are real individuals with their own joys, sorrows, and struggles. The author's use of these characters in his mind is like a creative alchemy, transforming them into something truly remarkable. With a separate police force dedicated to Literature, we can ensure that these precious works are protected and cherished for generations to come.

There are few books that I have ever perused which have been more exquisitely written than "You Can't Go Home Again".

The characters within it are full-bodied and richly delineated. The plot, when it progresses, is an engaging one, and Wolfe's perception is profound and inspiring.

The sole aspect that prevented me from awarding this book five stars is its density, its verbosity, and its incredibly overwrought nature, making it nearly insurmountable to complete.

Being an autobiographical novel, I found it highly intriguing that the main character expounds on how he declined to edit or abbreviate any part of his book, and as a result, it endured numerous years and rejections from publishers before it was ultimately accepted.

I was never more firmly convinced than upon reading that page regarding the fact that this is an autobiographical novel. The man made no choices.

It seems that Wolfe's unwavering commitment to his original vision, while perhaps admirable in some respects, also led to a work that is both a literary masterpiece and a challenging read.

Nevertheless, despite its flaws, "You Can't Go Home Again" remains a significant and thought-provoking work that offers valuable insights into the human condition.

Finally, I'm done!!!!

Dear reader, you have no idea how long I've been longing to say these words while reading this book. My feelings about it are rather complex, leaning more towards the negative than the positive.

I believe the greatest flaw of this novel is that Wolfe truly overreached and attempted to cover too many aspects of the main character's life and his surroundings. Essentially, in my humble opinion, the central point gets lost amidst the excessive digressions into the various other facets related to the main character, George.

The premise of the book is decent. Judging from the title and the synopsis, it's an intriguing story. It takes the perspective of a writer who writes about his small town, leading to his success as he writes about what he knows, but inevitably ruining his ties with the town. However, the problem is that George doesn't even care! He has no desire or need to return to his small town. Not only that, the fact that he gets ostracized isn't even properly addressed.

After the first publishing, the book tells us about George's experiences in the world of his newfound fame. It was interesting to see how the cosmopolites treated him well but for their own selfish reasons. However, the rest of the story becomes increasingly dull and, worst of all, less and less related to the main point that you can't return home.

Another major concern I had with the story was the large number of characters introduced and described in detail but with no real significance to the story. For example, what was the purpose of the Japanese artist living under George's apartment? "Tramp-ling, Tramp-ling!" So what? How does this affect the story? McHarg's friend who takes them in also has no major connection to the plot yet has almost a novel dedicated to him.

On a positive note, I did appreciate the reflections on the times in which the story took place, especially people's mentality during the initial stages of the Depression. That was perhaps the best part, showing how people were overly enthusiastic about the real-estate boom, counting imaginary money they'd never see, and losing jobs without realizing they wouldn't be able to find another.