John Cheever
Paperback | Pages: 352 pages Rating: 3.76 | 6679 Users | 348 Reviews
List Based On Books The Wapshot Chronicle
| Title | : | The Wapshot Chronicle |
| Author | : | John Cheever |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | First Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 352 pages |
| Published | : | June 3rd 2003 by Harper Perennial Modern Classics (first published 1957) |
| Categories | : | Fiction. Classics. Literature |
Chronicle Toward Books The Wapshot Chronicle
Meet the Wapshots of St Botolphs. There is Captain Leander Wapshot, venerable sea-dog and would-be suicide; his licentious older son, Moses; and Moses's adoring and errant younger brother, Coverly. Tragic and funny, ribald and splendidly picaresque, and partly based on Cheever's adolescence in New England, The Wapshot Chronicle is a stirring family narrative in the finest traditions of Trollope, Dickens, and Henry JamesBe Specific About Books In Pursuance Of The Wapshot Chronicle
| Original Title: | The Wapshot Chronicle |
| ISBN: | 0060528877 (ISBN13: 9780060528874) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Characters: | Leander Wapshot, Moses Wapshot, Coverly Wapshot |
| Setting: | Massachusetts(United States) St. Botolphs, Massachusetts(United States) |
| Literary Awards: | National Book Award for Fiction (1958) |
Rating Based On Books The Wapshot Chronicle
Ratings: 3.76 From 6679 Users | 348 ReviewsWeigh Up Based On Books The Wapshot Chronicle
Moses and Coverly Wapshot, dissolute Leander's two sons, have to make their way in the America of the mid-Twentieth Century armed with the airs and attitudes of Nineteenth-Century New England. "St. Botolphs is like a pumpkin pie," says their elderly aunt Honora of their home town, "no upper crust." But there is limited room in St. Botolphs for the two boys, so they set out on their seriocomic adventures. THE WAPSHOT CHRONICLE is a comedy, and often a darn funny one at that in spite of (orI have found at times that the all American novel struggles to be deeply rooted in the social world, that in a Society so fluid and so ever changing fiction hardly has time to digest the way things really happen, tending to tread a path of unrealistic characters journeying through some sort of fantasy life. John Cheever's debut, The Wapshot Chronicle both confirms my suspicions but also contradicts them. The family under the spotlight here get the full treatment, making for a striking read, and
The "chronicle" here is the story of Captain Leander Wapshot and his sons, Coverly and Moses, and their lives on the New England coast. Parts of the story are told through Leander's diary, though other chapters are written as flashes, like pieces of short stories. This is Cheever's first novel, being a short story writer first so an entire novel being written in that format is not particularly surprising. It often reminded me of, ugh, Sinclair Lewis, or, double-ugh, Sherwood Anderson, but for a
I was hesitant to begin reading Cheever (I have no idea why I believed his fiction wouldn't interest me), and even more skeptical about starting with a novel rather than his more well-regarded short stories. However, this novel was nothing short of excellent, and makes me even more excited to turn to his short fiction. The Wapshot Chronicle tells the tale of a single family's existence in and around St. Botolph's, a fishing village on the northern coast of Massachusetts. The novel focuses most
"Man is not simple. Hobgoblin company of love always with us." John Cheever, The Wapshot ChronicleThe Wapshot Chronicle is a twin Bildungsroman of sons Moses and Coverly, framed by the letters, journaling, and loneliness of their father Leander. It is a crazy beautiful 20th Century Great Expectations-like novel of a family's depth and breadth, its secrets and its flaws. The two brothers are saddled with the albatross and obligation to insure ensure that Old Honoras keeps paying the bills
Cheever takes a velvet hammer to the institution of the Olde New England Family, with a case study of the Wapshots, a family with few skills or resources for functioning in modern society. Some shakeups at home lead to them finally getting properly injected into the modern American bloodstream, after a car crash victim upsets the ruling order of the house. Patriarch Leander is first to crumble, falling victim to his domineering Aunt, who tries to turn the family home into a bed and breakfast and
This moves along with humor and old-fashioned New Englandness (is that a word?) and I expected to give it a solid four stars. But the ending made my heart sing and I will not feel stingy. I quibbled with Cheever off and on in this. There are two aging/elderly female characters who are single, wealthy, use that wealth to wield power, and wish to live in a chaste world. Well, almost. Honora Wapshot wants to leave her wealth to her nephews, but only if they produce sons. In any case, I could not
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