The Lone Pilgrim

this was a pretty solid collection, overall, with nothing too standout that i will remember for long. mostly about marriage, relationships, fidelity.

"In ordinary times, devils are ordinary."

One of the techniques I use with story collections is to jot a one- or two-sentence reaction in a notebook at the end of each story, so that even when it takes me nearly a year to finish the book, I can jog my memory of the earlier stories. These are the notes I took for this book, along with a sprinkling of my favorite quotes:

The Lone Pilgrim — A young single woman prides herself on being the ideal houseguest for her married friends — until she falls in love herself.

The Boyish Lover — How can a love affair between two attractive graduate instructors who seem to be made for each other possibly go wrong?

Sentimental Memory — My post-reading summary in this case was just a quote: The trouble with second marriages is rather like show more the trouble with new shoes: They don't fit the way your old ones did. They pinch in places you are not used to feeling pinched in.

A Girl Skating — Bernadette, daughter of professors at a small liberal-arts college, finds herself the target of the benevolent obsession of the campus' celebrated resident poet.

An Old-Fashioned Story — Nelson and Elizabeth, whose parents have plotted their entire lives to make them fall in love, do everything they can to resist.

Intimacy — An encounter with the man she loved before she married causes Martha to reflect on where her loyalty — and her faithfulness — really lie.

Travel — Marguerite accompanies her husband on his travels despite a fear of flying, believing that it is shared memories, no matter how traumatic, that make a marriage.

Delia's Father — Georgia contemplates crossing the divide between childhood and adulthood in the company of her friend's exotically foreign father.

A Mythological Subject — Nellie, a woman who prides herself on her sense of order and morality, is torn apart when she falls in love with a man not her husband.

Saint Anthony of the Desert — A young woman who describes her personality as "haphazard" mistakes an affair with her polar opposite as a melding of two lives instead of a tourist dallying in the sketchy part of town.

The Smile Beneath the Smile — Another quote description: Andrew felt it as a power and a pull — a pull toward Rachel and the power to affect her. Rachel, who had spent a year amazed that she could not get over Andrew, now realized that the bond they shared was one of awful sadness. Nothing good would every happen to them again, no matter with what ardent innocence they approached each other.

The Achieve of, the Mastery of the Thing — Another quote: Once upon a time I was Professor Thorne Speizer's stoned wife, and what a time that was.

Family Happiness — Polly grows up in an eccentric but close-knit family. She deeply loves her husband and appears to have the perfect family. So why is she having a passionate affair with another man? show less

Laurie Colwin is one of my favorite authors. She describes the physical world in a lovely way, from the color of the sky to a baked apple sitting on the window sill with a full moon outside. She also is very witty, and her books are consistently upbeat. When I picked up my new york times and saw her photo under the obituaries section when she was only 48 it was a sad day for me and all of her fans.

I love Colwin's light touch and her world of emotions and simple pleasures. In my perfect day, I would be sitting in a window seat watching the snow, eating oranges and reading these stories.

An elegant collection of stories, both funny and profound.

There are thirteen stories within The Lone Pilgrim and they are as follows:

1. The Lone Pilgrim - Children's book illustrator Paula Price is the perfect house guest, a student of human conduct. Vicariously, she lives through her hosts. But really, all she is doing is looking for love. I found her constant questioning "that was love, wasn't it?" endearing. Favorite line, "He had never so much as brushed my arm with his sleeve, and here we were locked in an embrace on an empty street" (p 14).


2. The Boyish Lover - Jane and Cordy seem to be the perfect couple...until they get to know one another. Cordy comes from money but thinks Jane is too lavish. She lives paycheck to paycheck but knows how to live life to the fullest. It's this difference of

show more

1. prosperity that drives them apart. Favorite line, "Love, in its initial stages, takes care of everything" (p 25). True.


2. Sentimental Memory - Unidentified twice divorced woman runs away to Scotland to figure out her life. She's only 31 so the idea of two fail marriages behind her is startling. In Scotland she meets a young Scottish student, home on holiday. He's madly in love with an Italian girl. Without realizing it, he teaches her about the meaning of love. Best lines (for you who know me you'll know why there are two): "The very least I could do was to catch up to myself" (p 43) and "I realized that there were times when the only appropriate response to Billy would have been to strangle him" (p 44).


3. A Girl Skating - Bernadette Spaeth tells the creepy story of a famous poet/professor obsessed with her during her childhood and teen years. It's an ominous story with slightly sinister statements like, "I was the child he loved best and there was no escaping him" (p 51) and "There was no way I could duck him" (p 54).


4. An Old Fashioned Story - Everyone knows a priss like this, "Elizabeth's friends came down with measles, chicken pox, and mumps, but Elizabeth considered Nelson her childhood disease" (p 60). Coming from a high-society culture Elizabeth Leopold was supposed to date only good boys (like Nelson; possibly only Nelson). She wanted anyone but Nelson.


5. Intimacy - Martha Howard is a woman wrangling old emotions. William Sutherland had been a married man when he and Martha first had an affair. Now she's the married woman. Is it cheating when William's love came first? "For a moment they were simply lovers with a past between them" (p 89).


6. Travel - Another story about relationships and marriage, "He knew if he wasn't around I would step back and run my life as if he never walked into it" (p 96).


7. Delia's Father - Georgia Levy remembers her childhood friend's seductive and exotic father and how she ends up kissing him. I had to wonder how much childhood innocence was really lost when Georgia skipped school that day. Best line, "Children are a tribe, and childhood is there tribal home" (p 116).


8. A Mythological Subject - Interesting tale about a cousin who falls in love with a colleague. "Of all the terrible things in life, living with a divided heart is the most terrible for an honorable person" (p 127).


9. St Anthony of the Desert - Another story about a relationship gone awry except this one has a very subtle twist. He's separated and wants to give his wife another chance. She only mentions it once so if you aren't paying attention you might miss it, "After all, no one knew I was married" (p 145). Best line from the story, "In ordinary times, devils are ordinary" (p 142).


10. The Smile Beneath the Smile - Another story about a married individual having an affair with a single one. One pines away for the other. Favorite line, "If you live in a city, you cannot avoid inadvertently opening your life to strangers in public places" (p 154).


11. The Achieve of, the Mastery of the Thing - a professor's wife is having an affair with marijuana. Interesting tidbit: the title of the story comes from a Gerard Manley Hopkins poem. That's cool.


12. Family Happiness - Yet another story about a married individual (Polly) having an affair with a single one. This time there is the burden of a quirky family. Her love life consists of one man who makes her life normal while the other man makes her life natural. Polly's boyfriend always gets her name right while her family is always nicknaming. Lines I liked, "The family doted on her, but no one paid much attention to her" (p 191) and "I like my mole-like life with you" (p 206).

There is a pattern to Colwin's stories and a common theme. Family and relationships (and someone always running off to Paris). show less

bought the book for less than half a dollar. best buy... :D