An older book and a well-written classic, So Long, See You Tomorrow by William Maxwell paints a picture of life in the Midwest in
the 1920s. It is the story of two thirteen-year old boys who become friends
when each is drawn to spend time at a home-construction site after school. Each
boy is experiencing upheaval in his life and seeks a release from family
distress at the half-built home. The
house is to be the home of the story’s narrator, a middle-class town boy. He had lost his mother to the flu epidemic of
1919. His father, after remarrying, wanted a new home for his new wife and so
contracts for the building of the new house. The other boy, Cletus, is the son
of a tenant farmer. He spends time at the house to escape the palpable tension
between his mother and father. Every afternoon the boys meet and climb on the
frame of the house. They become friends although they scarcely exchange a word.
Then Cletus’s world is destroyed by a murder and he disappears from the
narrator’s life. The power of this book lies in the author’s ability to create
a sympathetic inner life for each of his characters. Although the book is
peopled with stoic, taciturn Midwesterners, the reader is easily able to
empathize with everyone in this book as they deal with pain, confusion and
loss, even the family dog.
Check out So Long, See You Tomorrow @ the library!
