Recapitulation

By: Wallace Stegner

Narrated by: Mark Bramhall

Length: 10 hrs and 52 mins

Publisher's summary

In this moving sequel to Big Rock Candy Mountain, Bruce Mason returns to Salt Lake City, not for his aunt's funeral but to encounter after 45 years the place he fled in bitterness. A successful statesman and diplomat, Mason had buried his awkward and lonely childhood and sealed himself off from the thrills and torments of adolescence to become a figure who commanded international respect.

But the realities of the present recede in the face of the ghosts of his past. As he makes the perfunctory arrangements for the funeral, we enter with him on an intensely personal and painful inner pilgrimage, meeting the father who darkened his childhood, the mother whose support was both redeeming and embarrassing, the friend who drew him into the respectable world of which he so craved to be a part, and the woman he nearly married.

In this profoundly moving book, Stegner has drawn an intimate portrait of a man understanding how his life has been shaped by experiences seemingly remote and inconsequential.

Public Domain (P)2017 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Excellent writer

Stegner had an unusual ability to use language to describe and explain. His sentences are rich and engaging. His story of the coming of age of a man in a complex and largely dysfunctional family is compelling.

Well written

I read Marcel Proust and I say this book stands up to “A la Recherche du temps Perdu.” Stagner’s writing ability is impressive.

Same book again

This book is well written and had I not read Big Rock Candy Mountain, I would like it better. Too much of it is repetitive..

AMAZING NARRATION!

Wallace Stegner’s writing style is to be sought after, no matter the story it makes one think. There is a deep history in his work. The narration is a huge part of keeping this audible in its correct time frame. Good listen.

Nothing beats Stegner

Real dialogue flows from real characters. pensive and foreboding Bruce Mason visits his past. A reader does an excellent job with all of the characters.

I beautifully written story within times of Salt Lake City

Stegner is a masterful writer, his descriptions are mesmerizing. And to have this story happen in my hometown was a complete joy. He described the town as it was in 1979, when I was a young adult and living there. Then his character recalled his life back in the 1920’s of Salt Lake City. All this within a beautiful gut-wrenching story of his character’s memories of growing up within a turbulent family. One of my favorite Stegner books and it makes a great follow-up book to his, “The Big Rock Candy Mountain”.

Wonderful

A perfect conclusion to Big Rock Candy Mountain. A lovely, thoughtful and moving meditation on aging and the passing of time and the accumulated losses we experience.

Big Rock Candy Part 2 but not

Trapped in memory the book feels weighted and heavy. Not very pleasurable. I LOVED Big Rock Candy Mountain and was so excited when I found out there was a sequel. So disappointed with the result.

Wallace Stegner never disappoints

I have to submit a review in contrast to the last in which Goldilocks notes that “nothing happens”.
I am a Wallace Stegner fan. Stegner’s stories are all about the inner human story.
If you are a fan of Stegner’s touching insightful narrative you will not be disappointed, particularly if you have already read Big Rick Candy Mountain.

Big Rock Candy Overload

Just way too much of the Mason
narrative from the major work
BR Candy Mtn. I just stuck with
it hoping there would be something
more of interest. The character Bruce Mason is just plain boring
and you don’t really care about him
Of course I love Stegner but he
double dipped this story line beyond its limits.