Through writing the biography of his grandparents, Lyman Ward is able to gain the strength to live his life and re-examine the choices he has made as an adult. Besides being a story of one man fight against his own inner demons, it is also one of the best "moving out west" stories I've read in a long time. Lyman's grandparents remind me of the stories my grandmother used to tell me of her move to California. The "present" day (early 1970s) descriptions of Berkeley and the Bay Area are still spot on for the first decade of the 21st century. Of course the industries have changed some but the general personalities of the towns and neighborhoods remain the same.

I've made a vow to read EVERYTHING Wallace Stegner has ever written. Once again I have been walking around in another world created by this masterful author. His character development, sense of place, plot construction and luscious language forces you out to the west and down into the dusty dangerous mining towns of the Victorian age. I loved these people I met despite their obvious flaws. I watched through the forced-to-the-front eyes of grandson Lyman as he pieced together a history of his family - with their mistakes so apparent - and running so closely aside his own petrified life.

I read this book years ago and didn't really like it...this time around, I hoped my reading level had advanced enough so that I could get more out of it. Good news! While I still felt it was a chore to read at times, I appreciated the content and writing so much more. As the main character states, this is not primarily a story about Western history, but a story about a marriage that just happens to contain the story of the beginnings of life in the West. I found the marital dilemma that Susan faced very applicable to the present day...as a woman, do you marry the nice guy who worships the ground you walk on or the more manly man who takes care of business (sometimes we get lucky and find both of these characteristics in the same man!)? This story brings to light that there are issues with both types of men and with a woman's desire for both personality types.