I literally got to the second to last page.

I had this feeling that although I enjoyed the text for some indefinable reason, it never really "clicked" in the way I had been constantly waiting for it to.

However, I did very much appreciate a certain strangeness that was lurking just beneath the ostensible simplicity of the prose.

Then, on the actual last page, something truly remarkable happened.

The emotional weight of the narrative, which had been kind of otherwise floating nervously about, suddenly congealed into a weight of devastating force within the span of a single sentence.

I was almost in a daze as I reread the last several paragraphs several times before finally closing the covers.

I'm still not quite sure whether the work entirely succeeded in achieving its intended effect.

But I simply can't deny the dramatic, almost singular reaction it ultimately managed to elicit from me.

It left me with a sense of wonder and a feeling that I had just experienced something truly unique.

The way the author was able to build up the tension and then release it in such a powerful way was truly impressive.

Even now, as I reflect on it, I find myself still thinking about that last sentence and the impact it had on me.

It's not easy becoming an orphan at any age. Suddenly, your safety net is gone. You are adrift. And no one will ever call you "son" or "daughter" again.

Just like me, Laurel was a middle-aged woman when she was orphaned. Unlike me, Laurel had to cope not only with the death of her father, but the persistent and annoying presence of her "evil" new stepmother, Fay. Fay is as pesky as a gnat and as prone to tantrums as a spoiled child. She is undoubtedly irritating. Nothing passes without Fay having to comment on it, and as Welty explains - "Her flattery and disparagement sounded just alike." When her husband, Judge McKelva is diagnosed with a slipped retina, she declares, "I don't see why this had to happen to me." Annoying as Fay is, she's a great character, and the book could not exist without her. Her embarrassment over the arrival of her white trash relatives from Texas, the relatives she claimed were dead, was almost touching.

Why on earth did Judge Mac marry this woman? Well, he was an optimist...

But, Laurel, of course, carries the soul of the book in her sensible heart. Her return home for the funeral leaves her steeped in memories of her beloved mother. She seems astonishingly accepting of the fact that the horrid Fay has been left the house and all of its possessions. I doubt that I would remain as calm under such circumstances.

Laurel is certainly not as attached to "things" as I am. As she unsentimentally dusts her father's library for the last time, my heart was breaking. I wanted her to pack the whole thing up and take it with her. But Laurel is wise. She realizes that in the end, we are left with nothing but fond memories of things that used to be, and people that have passed through our lives, touching us in ways that will never be forgotten.

Who needs things when you have a memory like this one: When Laurel was a child, in this room and in this bed where she lay now, she closed her eyes like this and the rhythmic, nighttime sound of the two beloved reading voices came rising in turn up the stairs, every night to reach her. She could hardly fall asleep, she tried to keep awake, for pleasure. She cared for her own books, but she cared more for theirs, which meant their voices. In the lateness of the night, their two voices reading to each other where she could hear them, never letting a silence divide or interrupt them, combined into one unceasing voice and wrapped her around as she listened, as still as if she were asleep. She was sent to sleep under a velvety cloak of words, richly patterned and stitched with gold, straight out of a fairy tale, while they went reading on into her dreams.

This beautiful memory is what truly matters to Laurel, and it shows that sometimes, the intangible things in life are the most precious.

On the way through Jackson, Mississippi last weekend, I made a pit stop at the great Lemuria Books. Let me tell you, they had some truly fabulous books. There was a wonderful international lit selection that really caught my eye, as I'm quite into that. Additionally, they prominently featured Mississippi authors, which seemed like a great thing considering we were in Mississippi and all.

I was last in Mississippi five years ago, and I still haven't read the Faulkner book I bought on that trip. I thought that maybe I'd have better luck with something by Jackson native Eudora Welty. So, I picked up "The Optimist's Daughter". According to the blurb in the paperback edition, it's Welty's best book. It also won her the Pulitzer Prize, which seemed like a positive sign.

I started reading it that night. "I'm in Mississippi," I said to myself. "If I don't read this thing while I'm here, it's likely to go to the back of a very long list."

Things started off well enough. The action begins in New Orleans with Laurel, who reads like a version of Welty herself. She's a Mississippi native who's moved to Chicago but has come back south because her father, a retired and well-respected judge, is having eye trouble and needs surgery. Meanwhile, the judge has married a much younger wife named Fay while Laurel's been in Chicago.

Fay is a riot. I don't know what Welty was on when she dreamed her up, but Fay is so hilariously acid-tongued and pugnacious that she makes the judge and his daughter seem positively bland by comparison.

Don't get me wrong, Fay is terrible, with not a single redeemable quality on display, but she's hilarious and just so much fun to read.

The problem is, Fay is almost completely absent in the book's second half. With her gone, we take a long, meandering, monotonous journey into Laurel's mind that makes this book's 170-odd-page length feel about double that.

More Fay would have done "The Optimist's Daughter" a whole lot of good!

I feel that this work could potentially have had an impact equal to or even greater than that of a short story, rather than stretching to a full 180 pages.

In fact, I've read that it was originally more in the nature of a short story before being published as a book.

Some of the scenes within it are repetitive or perhaps even unnecessary. For instance, we are repeatedly told that Fay is horrid and that everyone detests her. Also, the description of what a funeral is like seems overly familiar.

However, I did find it interesting that despite Laurel barely saying anything or narrating from her own perspective until the stream of consciousness section towards the end, I still knew precisely how she felt.

The back of the book reveals all the events that occur in the story without making it blatantly obvious. As a result, I had expected a bit more from this particular book.

I think that if this story had a different writing style or structure, I could easily have fallen in love with it.

I mainly read this book because it is featured on Gilmore Girls and is a Pulitzer Prize winner. But unfortunately, it just wasn't the right book for me.

I own The Collected Stories of Eudora Welty for the same reasons, but I'm not entirely sure that I'll enjoy it much more.

The Optimist's Daughter is a truly remarkable and nuanced novel. Set in the South, it delicately delves into complex themes such as social class, the inevitability of death, and the evolution of values. The central conflict revolves around Laurel, the middle-aged, widowed, and refined daughter of a judge, and her younger, ignorant, and redneck stepmother, Fay. When the judge passes away under somewhat mysterious circumstances, the old world represented by Laurel and her bridesmaids finds itself at odds with the encroaching new world of Fay and her unrefined relatives.

Yet, the past refuses to stay buried. As Eudora Welty so poetically phrases it, "Memory returned like spring...". Both Laurel and Fay must grapple with the ghosts of their shared history.

Perhaps if I had read this novel when it was first published in the 70s, it would have had a more profound emotional impact on me. Instead, it left me with a sense of detachment, like a distant cousin observing a macabre funeral from the sidelines. Although it vividly transported me to the vibrant cities of New Orleans and Mississippi, it wasn't until Laurel discovered the breadboard that I felt a glimmer of connection. Interestingly, the discussions this novel sparked at our book club were far more engaging than the story itself. Nevertheless, one cannot deny the power of Welty's writing, which was clearly worthy of the Pulitzer Prize.

Overall, The Optimist's Daughter is a thought-provoking and beautifully crafted work that offers valuable insights into the human condition.

While this work was indeed well-written, to be frank, it was a bit of a struggle to get through. The writing style transitions from realism to inner dialogue, which makes it rather challenging to follow after a while. The contrasting characters of Faye and Laurel are quite interesting. The plot centers around these two women who lose their husband and father respectively after an eye operation. The first half of the book focuses on the dying man in the hospital, while the second half deals with the funeral and its aftermath. Another darkly humorous element is the Chisom family, Faye's family, who visit from Texas and are, as some Texans can be, typically boisterous and ignorant. Overall, however, it was not a completely satisfying read. Other reviewers have suggested that it requires multiple readings. I'll have to see if I decide to come back to this one.

Pulitzer Winner 1973. When considering other works that might have been competing with this one, perhaps I should read Mumbo Jumbo by Ismael Reed. It looks really fascinating!

My rating of all the Pulitzer Winners: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/1...

I'm truly sorry, but I just don't seem to understand.

This book initially had a promising start. It began in a way that captured my attention and made me eager to continue reading. However, as I delved further into it, it seemed to take a turn for the worse. It was like being caught in a heatwave - everything felt sticky, slow, and overly dense. The story seemed to plod along without much direction or excitement.

Thankfully, it managed to rise again towards the end. When the bird entered the house and the confrontation between the two women took place, it was truly excellent. It was a real climax that added a much-needed spark to the narrative. Still, that huge chunk of the story that occurred between the surgery and the end of the funeral was extremely hard to follow. It felt convoluted and disjointed, making it a struggle to stay engaged.

Overall, this book had its moments of brilliance, but also had significant flaws that made it a less than enjoyable read for me.

3.5 stars.

I think this book is truly gorgeous. It's one of those rare gems that I have a hunch will be 200% more meaningful upon a reread. In fact, I'm already planning to pick it up again next year.

This book presents a series of spare and beautiful snapshots. It offers a vivid portrayal of a Southern town and a quietly fractured family. The writing is so subtle, gentle, and wise. However, my mind was unfortunately too cluttered at the time of reading to fully appreciate all the little gestures and astute observations it was making.

I would strongly recommend this book to any fans of Cranford by Elizabeth Gaskell, Gilead by Marilynne Robinson, or The Past by Tessa Hadley. If you have a penchant for beautifully written, character-driven stories that explore the nuances of human relationships and the fabric of small communities, then this book is definitely worth your time.

Give it a chance, and you might just discover a new literary favorite.

Achingly beautiful.

There is indeed a profound reason why this book was honored with the Pulitzer Prize.

The words on the page seem to have vast amounts of space between them.

As a reader, one has to engage in some filling in, and in doing so, you find yourself becoming more deeply involved.

Consequently, you start to merge with Laurel, the narrator.

All of Laurel's thoughts and feelings then become that much more poignant and revealing.

The story is also richly imbued with the melancholy and fatalism that are so often characteristic of excellent Southern literature.

Despite its brevity, this remarkable book truly deserves to be read multiple times.

Each reading offers new insights and a deeper appreciation of the masterful storytelling and the complex emotions it evokes.

It is a literary gem that lingers in the mind long after the final page has been turned.

**"The Optimist's Daughter" by Eudora Welty: A Deep Dive**

Eudora Welty's "The Optimist's Daughter" is a profound work that won the Pulitzer Prize in 1973. Written later in her career, it shows that she still had a gem left in her pen. The story can be confusing at first as we are outsiders, missing the beginning and much of the context. The characters, who have known each other for a lifetime, have conversations that flit from decade to decade without pausing to fill in the gaps for us.

  "Memory lived not in initial possession but in the freed hands, pardoned and freed, and in the heart that can empty but fill again, in the patterns restored by dreams."

Laurel Hand returns to Mississippi to support her father, Judge McKelva, during eye surgery. His young wife, Fay, is more of a hindrance. Unexpectedly, the judge takes a turn for the worse. Laurel stays at the hospital, experiencing its strange, condensed existence. She reads to her father,回忆起童年时听父母读书的美好时光.

After the judge's death, the struggle between Laurel and Fay becomes painful. Fay makes all the arrangements, including where to bury the judge. Laurel has lost so much in life - her mother, husband, and now her father. The book makes the reader think about their own losses.

The people at the viewing tell stories about the judge, but Laurel is amazed at how little they understand about his real accomplishments. It is a scary thought to be so misunderstood after we are gone.

This book may be confusing, but it is worth hanging in there. Let the language become more familiar as the story progresses. It may very well haunt you and leave you with a rollercoaster of emotions.

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Middle-aged widow Laurel makes a journey from her home in Chicago to New Orleans to visit her father who is about to have an operation. However, unfortunately, he passes away. As a result, she has to return to her childhood home in Mississippi. There, her young and brash stepmother Wanda Fay is not only taking over the house but also intruding into Laurel's memories of her parents. Surrounded by her childhood friends, Laurel begins to deeply contemplate her past and the nature of her attachment to her family home and possessions.

I am well aware that time and memory are indeed extremely popular themes among authors. Nevertheless, I truly relished the way Welty handled them. She skillfully blended comedy, as Wanda Fay's Texan family is truly unforgettable, with poignancy. Moreover, she undermined her own protagonist's assumptions and certainties.

The ending of the story is uplifting. I felt that Laurel's journey towards an understanding of her place in her parents' life was a highly convincing one. The only minor complaint I had was regarding the metaphor of freeing the trapped bird. It seemed a little too blatant. I have a genuine preference for understated writing, and this story was a great illustration of that.

People think that the louder they raise their voices, the more they will be heard. How sad! They don't know the value of silence.

This is what I thought when I read "The Optimist's Daughter". The daughter, who hears about Judge McKelva's illness, goes to visit her father.

This is now the place where many bittersweet days of her life have passed. Her father, the neighbors, and the house are the same. But her father's wife is no longer her mother.

It seems that the old and the new are in conflict.

So are pity and hatred, death and life.

Eudora Welty seems to tell an end while opening new wounds. She makes the reader a bit confused, leaves them in curiosity, and especially annoys them a lot with the character of Fay.

I'm glad I read "The Optimist's Daughter" as I said.

With Zeynep Baransel's translation and Utku Lomlu's cover design ~