The Spectator Bird is an exquisitely written novel that truly captivates the reader. What I found most enchanting was Stegner's masterful and profound depiction of a mature, complex, and deeply affectionate relationship between a married couple. His writing is so细腻 and入微 that it allows us to peer into the inner lives and emotions of the characters with astonishing clarity. It's as if we are right there with them, experiencing their joys, sorrows, and the countless nuances of their connection. To steal a line from The Troggs, "Wallace Stegner, you make my heart sing!" His words have the power to touch our souls and leave us with a sense of wonder and appreciation for the beauty and complexity of human relationships.

Joe has become extremely grumpy, and it seems as if he can no longer find any pleasure in life.

He just sits there, passively watching and waiting.

All around him, couples who have been in long-term relationships are fading away.

And some of his old friends are living their lives to the fullest, running circles around the quiet, content grave that he has been steadily digging for himself.

It's a sad sight to see Joe so defeated and withdrawn.

One wonders what could have happened to cause such a drastic change in his demeanor.

Perhaps he has lost faith in love and life, or maybe he is simply tired of the same old routine.

Whatever the reason, it's clear that Joe needs to find a way to break free from this cycle of grumpiness and find some joy in his life again.

Maybe he should reach out to his old friends and try to reconnect, or find a new hobby that will give him a sense of purpose and fulfillment.

Only time will tell if Joe can turn his life around and find the happiness that he so desperately seeks.

4.5 Stars

I don't think people under 40 will appreciate this book as much as those who are 60 or older.

For us, the ones with fewer years ahead than behind, especially if you have managed to have a long-term marriage, a great deal of this book will resonate deeply and touch home.

We all make decisions as we journey through life, some are good and some are bad. In our old age, we are the consequence of those decisions.

At several moments in this book, I recalled my path that led me to where I am now. It also enabled me to reflect on how fortunate and happy I am to be who I am and where I am.

This was my second book by Wallace Senger, and he was an outstanding talent. I have the intention of reading more of his works.

I believe that this book offers valuable insights and emotions that are particularly relevant to those who have lived a significant portion of their lives.

It makes us think about our past choices and how they have shaped us.

Wallace Senger has a unique way of presenting these ideas that keeps the reader engaged and interested.

I look forward to exploring more of his literary contributions in the future.

**Title: The Importance of Regular Review**

In our daily lives, whether it's in learning, work, or any other aspect, regular review is of utmost importance.

Reviewing helps us to consolidate our knowledge and skills. It allows us to go over what we have learned or done, identify any areas that we may have missed or not fully understood. By doing so, we can fill in the gaps and improve our understanding and performance.

Moreover, review also helps us to remember information better. When we review regularly, the information becomes more firmly embedded in our minds, making it easier for us to recall when we need it. This is especially important for students who need to remember a large amount of information for exams.

In addition, review can also help us to identify our strengths and weaknesses. By analyzing our performance during the review process, we can see where we are doing well and where we need to improve. This can help us to focus our efforts and resources on the areas that need the most attention, thereby achieving better results.

In conclusion, regular review is an essential part of our learning and growth. It helps us to consolidate our knowledge, remember information better, and identify our strengths and weaknesses. So, let's make review a regular habit in our lives and reap the benefits it has to offer.

"Nobody in the universe ever promised you anything. Most things break, including hearts. The lessons of a life amount not to wisdom but to scar tissue and callus."

Joe, a curmudgeonly man on the verge of 70, contemplates these words as he looks back on his life. A postcard from Denmark arrives, triggering memories and prompting him to unearth some old journals. His wife, noticing the journals, requests that he read them to her. Together, they embark on a journey through their past, specifically the time they spent in Denmark years ago, following the tragic loss of their son.

This book is exquisitely written and captivating. Although I'm not typically a fan of relationship stories, this one completely drew me in. Joe is highly intelligent, and I adored his reflections and the way he evaluated his past choices in light of his current circumstances.

This was my first encounter with Stegner's work, and it will most definitely not be my last! I'm eager to explore more of his writing and see what other profound insights and engaging stories he has to offer.

Sartre wrote: We are our choices.

At a particular time of the year when people of different ages tend to take stock of their lives, Stegner's story of ageing Joe Allston holds a special kind of poignancy. No matter what age one is, we have all experienced those crucial moments in life when we chose one path over another, and then either lived with regret or felt a sense of relief. Even those who believe they have led uneventful lives have, at some point, actively made decisions that have forever altered everything.

I sometimes get the feeling my whole life happened to somebody else.

Stegner was a master at creating characters who seem completely normal because not much truly extraordinary happens to them. They are quietly despondent and repressed. They don't typically explode in anger or frustration but rather accept the finality of their circumstances. It may not be the most inspiring message, but it is undoubtedly realistic.

It comes as a shock to realize that I am just killing time 'til time gets around to killing me.

Other than a brief digression into a rather bizarre “pure race” and incest side story, this novel is subtle and beautifully written. It delves deep into the human psyche, exploring the choices we make, the regrets we carry, and the acceptance we ultimately reach as we face the inevitable passage of time.

The characters in Stegner's work are so well-developed that we can easily identify with their emotions and experiences. We see ourselves in their moments of indecision, their struggles with self-acceptance, and their attempts to come to terms with the choices they have made.

Overall, this novel offers a profound and thought-provoking look at the human condition, reminding us that our choices shape our lives and that we must learn to live with the consequences, whether they are good or bad.

This story took a rather unexpected turn towards the end, a turn that I'm not entirely convinced was necessary. However, aside from that, everything else was simply magnificent,展现出 Stegner's unique splendor.

The way the parallel stories were framed was truly wonderful, and it all felt so incredibly real. I have a deep affection for his sense of humor, as well as the wisdom of his insights. The particular combination of these two talents is what makes his writing truly his own.

For me, when compared to how much I cared about the way the thoughts and words were crafted and laid out in the spaces between the plotted events, the machinations of the plot itself seem almost inconsequential. (Perhaps, in a sense, the thoughts and words are indeed the furrows that build up and define the fertile plots between them?)

My hesitation in wholeheartedly recommending this far and wide lies in the fact that the subjects he covers don't seem especially timely or crucial in 2021, considering all the other pressing issues we have to grapple with. (I'm even a bit surprised that it won the NBA in 1977, but that probably tells us more about the composition of the judging panel that year than about the state of the world outside of them.)

I mean, do we really need to spend time listening to the lamentations of an aging white man who has retired to his dream property with his lovely, forgiving, tolerant, and encouraging wife? Definitely not. And yet, you too might find some comfort in the timelessness of this point of view, which will always be relevant to some extent for anyone who looks forward into (and backward away from) old age with any degree of resentment and regret.

I made marks of agreement, amusement, and/or astonishment on probably every single page. But the one passage that I dog-eared and feel is worth transcribing here is a bit of a thesis statement (coming three-quarters of the way in):

“I was reminded of a remark of Willa Cather’s, that you can’t paint sunlight, you can only paint what it does with shadows on the wall. If you examine a life, as Socrates has been so tediously advising us to do for so many centuries, do you really examine the life, or do you examine the shadows it casts on other lives? Entity or relationships? Objective reality or the vanishing point of a multiple perspective exercise? Prism or the rainbows it refracts? And what if you’re the wall? What if you never cast a shadow or rainbow of your own, but have only caught those cast by others?”

It's not a perfect work, but I still loved it.

Wallace Stegner's The Spectator Bird marks the return of the curmudgeonly Joe Allston from All the Little Live Things. This companion book is more tightly scripted, presenting a story that is both introspective and retrospective. In it, Stegner, through the 69-year-old Joe, contemplates growing old and death while quietly celebrating a long-term marriage.

As I near my 60th year, I can empathize with Joe's feelings regarding friends who are failing and the ups and downs, joys, and solidarity of my 35-year marriage.

The unexpected arrival of a postcard from a Danish friend prompts Joe to look back 20 years. Motivated, he retrieves his journals from the trip he and his wife took to Denmark at that time, and at Ruth's request, begins to read them aloud. Stegner employs this device to shuttle back and forth between the Allstons' current life in rural California - enduring bad news about a neighbor, coping with storm damage, and handling an unexpected visitor - and 1950s Denmark and their involvement with Astrid, a Danish countess, and her family. (In the 1970s when this novel was published, this technique was relatively novel.)

It is here that we gain a good understanding of the Allstons' marriage - their survival after the death of their son, their ability to communicate with just a look or gesture, their gentle care for each other, their mutual support as their friends age and die, and the resolution of a long-held worry.

\\"It is something - it can be everything - to have found a fellow bird with whom you can sit among the rafters while the drinking and boasting and reciting and fighting go on below; a fellow bird whom you can look after and find bugs and seeds for; one who will patch your bruises and straighten your ruffled feathers and mourn over your hurts when you accidentally fly into something you can't handle.\\"

As with all of Stegner's works, the writing is exquisite, the descriptions of nature are beautifully rendered, wry humor is interspersed throughout, and there are true and perceptive insights into the human heart.

Everything that Stegner writes has its origin in his own life, making it autobiographical. His stories are beautifully crafted, like the one about an old man grappling with the challenges of age, his marriage, and his past. Stegner is my favorite Western writer. Western writers seem to have the freedom to choose their own narrative controls, which is different from Southern writers. I'm specifically thinking of Pat Conroy.

On page 63, it is written: "I can't see that Danish episode as an adventure, or a crisis survived, or a serious quest for anything definable. It was just another happening like today's luncheon, something I got into and got out of. And it reminds me too much of how little life changes; how, without dramatic events or high resolves, without tragedy, without even pathos, a reasonably endowed, well-intentioned man can walk through the world's great kitchen from end to end and arrive at the back door hungry."

On page 26, it states that regret and guilt are selfish and secret emotions.

On page 34, after her husband dies suddenly on the ship, it says: "And a strange thing: now that she is stricken, people avoid her more than they did when she was only cowlike and uninteresting. Me too. Ruth sat by her for an hour and tried to talk to her, but I couldn't. What would I have said? I thought her husband foolish and bigoted and dull, and now that he is dead it would be hypocrisy to pretend differently. I would like to be able to suffer fools more gladly."

Another delightful book from Wallace Stegner.

Even though I have some that I favor more than this one, such as Angle of Repose, The Big Rock Candy Mountain, and All the Little Live Things.

Stegner is able to capture the essence of getting old in a way that I don't think anyone else can. He portrays the fear that comes with aging, but also the intimacy of couples who have been married for a long time. There are regrets and memories, and friends who are going away, either by passing away, losing their health, or simply moving far away.

Joe is more funny yet grumpy in All the Little Live Things, but we have the opportunity to get to know him better by reading both books about him and his wife Ruth.

So, as usual, it's a Stegner's, which is pretty self-explanatory and promises joy from beautiful prose.

Published some 45 years ago in 1976, this story appears to be a timeless account of a marriage in numerous aspects. It also has reference points related to specific eras, and many of the negative opinions are shared by Joe Allston, a retired literary agent throughout. At the core of the story is the narrative of a marriage, the accommodations made, the secrets concealed from each other to maintain a relatively happy union, and the memories created along the way.

Joe, no longer young, feels somewhat betrayed by his body's loss of limberness and health. His family has shrunk in size. He has lost both of his parents and his only son. He never took pleasure in his work, helping others refine their talents, watching them be lauded while receiving no credit for his assistance in getting them there. And now it is too late to start anew and reverse what has been done.

When Joe receives a postcard from an old friend, he commences revisiting his old journals from years past, including his trip to Denmark, his mother's birthplace, in an effort to learn more about his mother's life before he was born. At his wife Ruth's request, he reads these old journals to her, somewhat reluctantly it seems - at least initially.

Gradually, the story of this trip is disclosed as he shares his journal with Ruth. It is a timeless tale. There is an honest and gentle sharing of feelings about that period. They can finally, freely discuss their marriage and thoughts about the 'what-ifs' that might have been.

A contemplative story about the journey of life, memories, age, and the relationships forged along the way. The gift of granting forgiveness to others, as well as oneself, perhaps especially within a marriage.

This story delves deep into the human psyche, exploring the complex emotions and experiences that come with a long life and a marriage. It makes the reader reflect on their own relationships and the choices they have made. It shows that even in the face of loss and disappointment, there is still hope for growth and understanding. The sharing of memories between Joe and Ruth is a powerful reminder of the importance of communication and connection in a marriage. It also highlights the value of forgiveness, both for others and for ourselves. Overall, this is a beautiful and thought-provoking story that will stay with the reader long after they have finished reading.

The novel starts off promisingly, but soon loses its charm and becomes disjointed and uncomfortable. It's basically a tale of retirement and the aging process, set within a happy marriage yet an unfulfilling life. Joe Allston, a retired literary agent with rheumatoid arthritis, feels he has achieved nothing of significance. His only son is gone, and he regrets how he treated his mother. His career was out of necessity, not choice. But he has Ruth, the woman he loves and who worries about him. She is all he has left in the world.

However, the book has several flaws. Joe's constant complaining and grouchiness become tiresome. He rants about young people, bad drivers, not wanting to go out, not enjoying interactions, and his insignificant life. A large portion of the book is Joe reading his diary to Ruth about a trip to Denmark, which is extremely dull. And then, out of nowhere, there's a long and unnecessary bit about incest that actually harms the story.

“I remember too much. I remember a futile life.” (p. 83)
“I really am getting old. It comes a shock to realize that I am just killing time till time gets around to killing me … It is just the general comprehension that nothing is building, everything is running down, there are no more chances for improvement.” (p. 82)
“It is something—it can be everything—to have found a fellow bird with whom you can sit among the rafters while the drinking and boasting and reciting and fighting go on below.” (p. 203)
“We find it easier to stay home and watch television, or read, than go out, and these days when we entertain visitors we find them less a pleasure than an anxiety.” (p. 49)
“Ruth tells me at least once a day that old people, or people getting old, tend to disengage, back away, turn inward, listen only to themselves, and get self-righteous and censorious … She hates to drive anywhere with me because I am inclined to cuss out drivers who don’t please me.” (p. 7)
“What if they were father and daughter? Is there some species wisdom that forbids such matings? … Anyway they certainly wouldn’t have had any intention of having children, so why not? Love is love, I try to tell myself. She is a generous and affectionate women, and her father was a great man.” (p. 175)
“To the in-and-in breeders, the mating of half brother and half sister is the best combination of all.” (p. 184)