The Reef (167 books remain)

I had a post with some comments on The Reef all ready to go, but then I actually finished the book and realized that I had it all wrong. I let the blurb on the back of the book make me think the core commentary of the novel was social criticism and critique of The Patriarchy. It's a much more internal drama. You could read the characters as representing some larger social movement, but the drama is much more personal. The characters are not neat symbols with clearly defined characteristics portraying a single value. They suffer from the complexities and ambiguities inherent in life. Their choices, a consequence of time and circumstances, have consequences. The consequence of choice is really at the core of the novel. You can choose to trust somebody, but do you ever really know what they're thinking or feeling? One person can cause bring you joy and happiness, but the same person can also bring you pain. There is no simple explanation or foolproof method to divine the truth of a person's heart and soul. The novel ends without a neat resolution to the conflict that drives the narrative. There really isn't a story as much as a slow unfolding of a relationship. It's a book that improves after reading. It was hard to read. The pace was slow and the indecision and uncertainty of Anna Leath was frustrating. If I had been quicker to pick up on the reality captured in the novel I may have found it more enjoyable to read. 

It's remarkable that a book written almost a century ago can capture so much of what happens in our modern life. Our human struggles defy time and place. They are constant and universal. Works of art like this do not exist outside of our emotional life. They capture and express our emotions in a way that makes them more understandable and accessible. Edith Wharton can still speak to me years after her death. A shard of her experience matches a small portion of my own life. I can see some of my experience in her's. This peak makes my life a little deeper and meaningful. This is why I read.