Review
Read for my ongoing Pulitzer challenge.
His Family was published in the late 1910s and is a contemporary story for the time; now we're likely to view it more as an historical with the time and setting. Roger Gale is a middle-aged businessman, more viewed as an old man given the era, who focuses on his wife's dying words and how he must relate to his adult daughters. He regrets not really "knowing" his children, though he appears to communicate with them often, and this story offers an interesting take on the generation gap.
Gale's daughters represent the spectrum of change in female sensibilities happening in this era: Edith is the non-working mother in a "traditional" role, Deborah is career-driven, and Laura is spontaneous and not very responsible, arguably still a child. Through the course of the story Roger takes in a handicapped young man, John, with the intent of helping him succeed. Roger's relationships with everyone here shape the story, which is written in a way that draws you into the family as well. There aren't any villains to speak of, and few conflicts beyond economic woes, which may explain why some readers today can relate.
So far I find this is one of the better books in the early Pulitzer era.
His Family was published in the late 1910s and is a contemporary story for the time; now we're likely to view it more as an historical with the time and setting. Roger Gale is a middle-aged businessman, more viewed as an old man given the era, who focuses on his wife's dying words and how he must relate to his adult daughters. He regrets not really "knowing" his children, though he appears to communicate with them often, and this story offers an interesting take on the generation gap.
Gale's daughters represent the spectrum of change in female sensibilities happening in this era: Edith is the non-working mother in a "traditional" role, Deborah is career-driven, and Laura is spontaneous and not very responsible, arguably still a child. Through the course of the story Roger takes in a handicapped young man, John, with the intent of helping him succeed. Roger's relationships with everyone here shape the story, which is written in a way that draws you into the family as well. There aren't any villains to speak of, and few conflicts beyond economic woes, which may explain why some readers today can relate.
So far I find this is one of the better books in the early Pulitzer era.
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