You Can't Go Home Again

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Summary: The story of a young man's search for truth, himself
Review: To put it simply, You Can't Go Home Again is one of the best books I have read in my life. Wolfe writes with a beautiful, haunting and musical prose. The journey taken by George Webber, the book's protagonist, is that same journey that we all make. To create and grow and move forward cannot be done without moving away from one's past. The story of George Webber is the trunk of the book, off of which grow many different branches each of which reveal more and different things about Webber and his world. I cannot recommend this book enough, A classic for all times.

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Summary: Unusual Snapshot of America during the Depression Years
Review: What happens when you write a book that is so autobiographical that you not only alienate your entire hometown, but earn their hatred? "You Can't Go Home Again" is a very poignant tale that captures America between the time of the stock market crash of 1929 and the rumblings of WW2. Though the book drags out at times (an insufferable cocktail party seems to consume almost three chapters!), the excellent writing makes it all worthwhile.

As one who did not experience the Great Depression and the rise of Nazi Germany firsthand, this book brought me closer to it than any history book could because these events were seen from the vantage point of ordinary people. The writer (George Webber) pens a successful novel about his hometown that so accurately portrays the scandalous activities of his townfolk that he becomes persona non grata. Shunned by his family and friends, he has a choice to make: Stay with his rich lover and her high-society friends in New York or make his own path in the world while retaining his artistic ability.

His travels take him from Brooklyn to Europe, in particular, Germany where Adolph Hitler has taken power and he witnesses firsthand the disturbing changes that take place.

The character development and fine prose more than compensate for the slow moving plot lines (which is why I gave it four stars instead of five). This is a good book for lazy summer reading. Not a book to rush or skim through. I was fascinated by the attention given to developing minor characters such as the Oriental sculptor neighbor or the friend from back home who was at the tail end of a professional baseball career. You will learn a lot about how ordinary people dealt with the Depression or the rise of the Nazis. You will see the sad but hopeful plight of Americans during the Depression and also the hopelessness that good people had in Germany when Adolph Hitler seized power. I look forward to reading more from Thomas Wolfe.

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Summary: THE WORST FAMOUS AMERICAN WRITER EVER BORN
Review: Without a doubt Thomas Wolfe is the worst...I tried reading this book many years ago...it was awful and dull and boring beyond description...anyone who recomends this book must be a dullard.c

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Summary: Thorough but extraneous, colorful but blinding . . .
Review: Wolfe is an extraneous writer. He wants to tell us about everything from the protoganist's deceased dog, buried three summers ago, to the aunt who died when he was a child. Each comes with a complete history. While some of these tangents of Wolfe's can be fascinating, most of the time it just slows the peice up and makes us want to move onto something faster, something with a better pace. With all this color, all these descriptions of extraneous subject matter, I think we as readers become blinded to the writing's main intentention. This can't be truer in the case of his classic, "You Can't Go Home Again."

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Summary: Review of You Can't Go Home Again
Review: Wolfe weaves, very deliberately, in and out of images and situations from his own lost generation in this, his last novel, largely autobiographical. He was the most lyrical writer of his time, this book no exception, and although at times it's obvious he struggled with structure, Wolfe gives the reader the unique ability to truly understand each of his characters as multi-dimensional and on numerous levels. There's a bit of George Weber in all of us, searching for something we know we've either lost or never found, times when we feel alone, and the world is so large. If you've ever read Fitzgerald, you will enjoy this novel, and even if you haven't, you should. It's a timeless classic, with a theme so prevaliant in literature and society even today, and stated so clearly in the title.