Wallace Stegner's ALL the LITTLE LIVE THINGS-A Major Masterpiece

ALL the LITTLE LIVE THINGS is a major literary work by one of America's most highly regarded writers.  Stegner won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction & a Nat'l Book Award for Non-F.  In this novel written in 1967, Joe & Ruth are 2 seniors who have retired to the serenity of northern California for their waning years. Their peaceful solitude is shattered by a young rebel, James who charms them into letting him just camp out on their land.  As soon as this motorcycle riding, bearded granola eater plants himself on their land, he commandeers it for his own self-serving commune that sparks Joe's rage to combustion.  New neighbors, Marion, John & young daughter move into the property next to Joe & Ruth and immediately ingratiate themselves deep into their lives, reviving familial feelings of love.  Stegner's theme of generational divides are prevalent and buffer the underlying melancholy due to the loss of Joe & Ruth's son Curtis, who struggled to find himself.  "I shall be richer all my life for this sorrow."  Idealism, frustrated science & thwarted aspirations are also themes that Stegner's prose eloquently articulates.  Stegner's story telling is both captivating & potent.  The beauty of his writing is on every page.  "Sometimes my heart grows tired with beating, it wants rest like my eyelids."  Read this magnificent work ALL the LITTLE LIVE THINGS & anything written by Stegner.