Things We Once Held Dear

Ann Tatlock
Carver County Library, paperback, 391 pages

My least favorite Tatlock book so far, this chronicles the emotional journey of Neil Sadler's return to his small-town home from NYC after his wife's meningitis death. The back flap made the events of the past sound so compelling, but the book seemed to be more of a genealogy of the entire town than a cohesive narrative.

I did enjoy characters like good old Uncle Bernie and his way of communicating. I also liked some of the descriptive passages - especially of the kids getting lost playing hide and seek in the corn fields. But I was frustrated by the numerous characters (almost literally - every person in the town was listed, referred to, or described), the repetition of certain explanations or phrases (like the smell of "unwashed flesh"), and the number of people who died unusually young (for literary convenience? Caroline at 40, Cal at 44, and Madlyn in her 60s).

Basically, all three Tatlock books that I've read have dealt with the same theme of estrangement and dealing with the past. This one was the least satisfying that I've read. When true resolution of the problem comes decades late . . . it just seems to miss the point.