a valuable story - miserable and tedious to read

Look Homeward, Angel by Thomas Wolfe
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I picked up "Look Homeward, Angel" because it was on one of my "must read" lists, and because i found it referenced in a Ron Rash novel I recently read. "Look Homeward, Angel" is the early life biography of Thomas Wolfe, told as fiction (character name Eugene Gant), changing the names to protect both the innocent, and the not-so-innocent. The story, being firmly rooted in fact, not only lends us personal insight into the roots of one of America's respected authors, but it also gives insight into life in Asheville North Carolina, and the Carolinas in general circa the beginning of the 20th century. The bulk of the story takes place from 1900-1920. The place names have been changed, but having lived in NC for over 30 years, are easily recognized.

Altamont = Asheville
Pulpit Hill = Chapel Hill
Exeter = Durham
Sydney = Raleigh

The Asheville culture portrayed is grim on many levels. The relationships within the Gant family are often strained, resentful, and combative. Illness, both mental and physical are prevalent both within the Gant family and throughout the community. Many people died very young before the widespread practice of vaccination, a fact we easily forget in our age of modern medicine and healthcare. Altamont served as a "sanitarium" for people from other climates suffering from TB and other common and serious maladies. Not a pretty picture. All in all, the story is depressing, yet instructional from the standpoint of history, both general and related to Thomas Wolfe.

So here i am a month later, have finished reading it and find myself wondering "why?". At the risk of sounding disrespectful of a very widely respected author, i found his story telling in "Look Homeward, Angel" too cluttered with extra words and phrases. While much of this "extra" verbiage may be nicely worded, it distracted significantly from the story being told. It is not just length that bothered me. I have read 1400+ pages in the unabridged "Les Miserables" and never got the feeling of pages and pages of extra unnecessary words. This story is overwhelmed with extra, unneeded and confusing material. Much of the time, i got the feeling that he was writing just to "hear himself talk". To me it made a valuable story miserable and tedious to read. I do not recommend this book, it is too much.

http://www.nchistoricsites.org/wolfe/

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