cybergrem

Just, Ward. AN UNFINISHED SEASON. (2004). ****. Just is one of those writers who makes sure that he has exactly the right word for what he is trying to tell the reader about. In this novel, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in 2005, Just tells the story of Wilson (Wils) Ravan, a nineteen-year-old young man who lives in a Chicago suburb called Quarterway. Wils has just completed high school and plans to move on to the University of Chicago. The summer of that year, a year in early 1950s, is the last one he will have before the realities of life begin to weigh on his existence. Wils’ family is reasonably well off. His father owns a printing and stationary company which is doing quite well. The first tragedy to strike, however, comes in the form of a workers’ strike against his father’s company. The strike escalates and the family is threatened, with phone calls being made anonomously and a brick being thrown through the window of their house. This changes the tone of the relationships within Wils’ household, and forces Wils to take a close look at his own sense of values that guided his life and choices thus far. One of Wils’ major activities during this summer was attending debutante dances for all the emerging young women of stature on Chicago’s North Shore. He is even fitted out with dancing shoes. At one of these events, he meets a young woman, Aurora, who fits seamlessly into Wils’ core beliefs about life and distinctions about right and wrong. Aurora lives with her father, a psychiatrist who, we later learn, was a survivor of the Bataan Death March. When Wils meets her father, Jack, he realizes that he has encountered a man with secrets, but one with profound insights into human behavior. There was only one meeting, but its effects on Wils were profound. We follow the relationship between Wils and Aurora through the summer, until tragedy strikes, and both of them have to re-evaluate themselves vis-a-vis their partner. Just manages to peel back the outward behavior of his characters to reveal a great number of inner truths about them and of people in general. All of this is done within a framework of a historical period in America where the country was also looking for truths to live by. Recommended.

2022-10-29 03:08