Jayber Crow

Russell has been wanting me to read Wendell Berry for a long time, so I finally did. I read most of Jayber Crow while in the hospital with David. I really liked it. It reminded me of the Mitford books, Willie Morris, and Eudora Welty all rolled into one. As a matter of fact, one of the parallels that I was talking to Russell about this morning was "Thy will be done." Father Tim and Cynthia call this the "prayer that never fails" in the Mitford novels. Jaybe calls it the prayer that scares him to death. How true are both!!

I liked the portrait of the townspeople of Port William; they are all typical country, Southern folks whom I can easily picture and imagine the way Berry describes them. Jayber, as the narrator of the novel, is a wonderful character who manages to tell the reader a lot about himself as he tells about the people that he knows and the lives of those with whom he interacts. As the town barber, Jayber is not only a participant in much of the action, but also an omniscient narrator of the plot. Berry even manages to cover a pet topic, the mechanization of farming and the death of the small farmer, without being heavy-handed or preachy. This was a unique, wonderful story which I highly recommend. I will definitely read some more of Berry when I can.

As a side note, David is home from the hospital, out of pain, and doing well.