Postcards (Scribner Classics) (vuoden 1996 painos)

I am not a big fan of Annie Proulx but I have to say she knows her stuff. She can evoke a time and place and character like few others, especially characters from times past. My difficulty with her is more to do with her subjects and my own "causes" than anything else, really. She writes about the wild west and all of the animal-related beliefs that go with it. In this novel she writes about farms, mines, trapping, and more, and she naturally endows her characters with the type of belief system that you'd expect from the backgrounds they had.

The main character here is Loyal Blood. His parents are Minkton and Jewell. His sister and brother are Mernelle and Marvin (called Dub). Loyal carries the story through but he is shadowed by the lives of many others - his family as well as friends and neighbors.

Loyal's family lives in Vermont on a small farm. They are just getting by in 1944, when Loyal accidentally kills his girlfriend. Loyal buries her in a remote part of the farm and sets off for parts unknown, leaving a note. The note says that he and his girlfriend have taken off to try their luck elsewhere.

He sends postcards from time to time to let his folks know he is okay, and then to say his girlfriend has taken off with another man. From here on he is on his own, unreachable by others.

Loyal's postcards are part of it. The rest of the story is headed up by other postcards. A card reminding someone of an appointment, a card from an insurance agent, cards of all sorts. From 1944 to some time in the 1970s. Main chapters are each headed with a postcard. In between these main chapters are others titled "What I See", that describe Loyal's view of wherever he is at the time, told in the third person.

It works, but I found the postcard theme gimmicky. It does, of course, remind us that people actually sent postcards in the past. Not so much now.

The postcards and their chapters tell of Loyal's travels across the country, doing whatever he can, as well as the lives of his family back in Vermont. Loyal has adventures, interesting adventures. He does very well at some occupations but eventually moves on every time. Meanwhile, at home, life on the farm gets harder and harder. It was no picnic carrying on without Loyal, but when his brother Dub takes off it's nearly impossible to keep it going. Life is hard for almost everyone in the family.

In a way it's the story of a family business that has become less and less relevant and profitable as progress marches on elsewhere. It's also a good look at how so much in our world has changed in such a short time, particularly for those "on the ground". Those doing the grunt work, the pyramid-builders, in a way. The forgotten. And it's the story of one man who was afraid of his own power. ( )

Postcards captures the frontier of America in a post-World War II landscape that is bleak and beautiful. Beautiful because of the rich and specific detail and bleak because, well life can be hard at home and on the road. If Loyal's last postcard home doesn't break your heart a little I'm not sure what will. ( )

It's hard to believe this is a debut novel. Proulx writes with such assurance and mastery that you would think she had been writing for decades. It's not hard to see why this book won the Pen/Faulkner award in 1992.

The Blood family of Vermont has been farming the same small plot of land for generations. They grow a little grain, have an orchard and keep dairy cows. Loyal, the oldest son, is the person who has the knowledge to keep the farm going. But Loyal has to leave the farm after he kills his girlfriend by accident. He hides her body under the stone fence that surrounds the property and takes off in 1944, telling his family that he and Billy, the girlfriend, have decided to pursue their fortunes elsewhere. After that the farm declines. Loyal sends postcards home from wherever he is on a sporadic basis. He is the quintessential loner, moving from job to job and place to place. Sometimes he mines, other times he traps but wherever he goes it seems disaster follows him. His siblings, Dub and Mernelle, also have some hard times but they both find love whereas Loyal is unable to have a relationship. He can't be all that bad though because his dog, Little Girl, loves him with all her heart and he loves her.

Proulx's eye for detail is amazing. Her descriptions of rooms are so vivid I could see them. She describes people as clearly too. Here is her description of Loyal at a point when he is out of work again:
The mirror drew his eyes like a tunnel opening into another world. He had not looked in so long, still thought of himself as a young man, strong arms, the black fine hair and hot blue eyes. His face, he saw had gaunted out. The blue mirror frame enclosed his fixed features. The ruddy liveliness, the quick rage of the eyes had faded. here was the skin of the ascetic whose neck is never marred with sucking kisses, the rigid facial planes of someone who spends time alone, untwisted by the squinting disguises of social life. His eyes did not change when women walked past. It could be, he thought, that spark was finally dead. But did not believe it.

I think I am going have to read Proulx's latest novel, Barkskins, to see if she still has her writing chops. ( )

Set in Vermont over the years 1944-1980 ( )

Een treffende beschrijving van het divers zoeken naar 'geluk' door verschillende familieleden die elk hun eigen weg gaan. Een boeiend verhaal dat voldoende steunt op de realiteit om zich te kunnen inleven in het modale leven van een gemiddelde Amerikaan van na de tweede wereldoorlog tot de jaren tachtig van de twintigste eeuw. ( )