The book is a story about friendship and in the process of telling that story it also presented different approaches to life and death. The characters were entirely believable with their numerous faults and were people I recognized from my own experience. It's one that I will carry with me in my thoughts for a long time. ( )

This novel was recommended to as a few peoples' "best of all times" in contemporary fiction, so I gave it a try. I did like it, quite a bit. It is a rather simple story of the friendship between two couples (protagonist Larry and Sally; and their friends Sid and Charity), from the '30s through to 1972. But I felt, almost as importantly, it had a lot to say on the institution of marriage and the foundations of family. I had sort of a difficult time really "liking" Larry and Charity, so at times, this book became a struggle, to care about what happened to them. However, the writing, language, observations are all so good, that was easy to get swept back up in all when I did pick it back up. There is a quiet beauty here, a lot about loving imperfect people and accepting them as they are. The end chapters try to tackle way too much material about life and death, with huge jumps in time/space, but having just lost a dear friend to cancer, much of it felt incredibly real. This book does resonate with you a bit, but overall I found it "good" not "great." ( )

Of course there are a multitude of novels out there that explore the complexities of friendship but I don't feel many probe as deep and perceptibly as Stegner does here. This story follows two couples over several decades, as they deal with life's highs and unexpected lows. The author's beatific prose is a joy to behold and he has created a wonderful character in Charity Lang, who along with the indomitable Olive Kitteridge, are two of my favorite literary creations this year! Here is a lovely description of Charity:
"Our last impression of her as she turned the corner was that smile, flung backward like a handful of flowers." ( )

So I read this book in Boise just before moving to Madison to start grad school. I had purchased it at Pioneer books in Provo (I think that's what the place with the millions of books and the tall strange owner who wears sandals with socks) a few years ago and then had never read it. I was at my parents' house one day when I decided to go out to their garage and try to find a couple of interesting books to read. I just felt like I should read this book, and I did. I felt like I had been purposefully directed to the book at a specific time in my life when it was most useful to me. It tells the story of a young married man beginning grad school in Madison, Wisconsin and his life-long friendship with another couple that he and his wife met there. Our first day in Madison, the EQ had tons of people arrive to help us move it, and we stayed up late talking with a couple named the Stock's. They were really really good to us the first few days as we were getting settled. A couple of nights later I mentioned to Dave that I had just read Crossing to Safety and they reminded me of that family. He confessed to having read the book a few months before when they were moving to Madison and having the same sensation. So this book, although worthy enough in its own right of five stars, has a special sentimental and deeply personal resonance for me. ( )

There are a handful of books I can read over and over again. These are rarely given as Christmas gifts (an odd practice, but one my children find amusing and typical of their father), and when they are, they are quickly purchased again and restored to the place of honor on the shelf beside my bed. This is one of those books. I find it almost a perfect book in its humanity and insight into a long-time friendship. My wife and I have similar, somewhat difficult friends, with whom we have shared nearly 35 years of Thanksgiving dinners. It is hard to imagine what our lives would have been like without them. Not so interesting or thought-provoking, certainly, to name just one difference. Anyway, this is one book I would take to a desert island and read over and over again, enjoying it each and every time as if I were reading it for the first time. ( )