So Long, See You Tomorrow: National Book Award Winner

. . . but still we are haunted by it. By the memories of commonplace objects, events, and places from our youth. And by the recollection of minor failings of our youthful self - instances when, in retrospect, we wish we had acted differently (and acting differently truly was within the realm of possible behavior; it would not have required anything gallant or extraordinary on our part).That is the subject of William Maxwell's gem, SO LONG, SEE YOU TOMORROW. The setting of the story is 1921 in Lincoln, Illinois. The book begins with the nameless narrator telling the story of events of his boyhood from the perspective, and with the imperfect memory, of fifty years hence. He first tells of the murder of a farmer, shot in the early morning while milking cows in his barn. He acknowledges that the event would not bulk so large in memory if "(1) the murderer hadn't been the father of somebody I knew, and (2) I hadn't later on done something I was ashamed of afterward." It is soon revealed who the murderer was - Clarence Smith, the farmer on the adjoining farm, with whose son the narrator had recently formed a boyhood friendship. But the second mystery - whatever the narrator had done that he was ashamed of - is not really made clear until the end of the book. Well before then, the story, now proceeding in the form of an omniscient third-person narrative, has been transformed into an imaginative reconstruction of how the close friendship of Lloyd Wilson and Clarence Smith was sundered by Wilson's obsession with Smith's wife Fern (which she welcomed), and how both families unraveled after their affair became known.William Maxwell was born in Lincoln, Illinois in 1908, and many of the biographical facts of the narrator (for example, his mother dying of influenza after giving birth to a younger brother and his family then moving from his childhood home) are facts of Maxwell's life. Certainly many of the plangent memories of boyhood contained in the novel are Maxwell's memories, and their telling evokes for me (and I am sure, mutatis mutandis, for others as well) memories of my own boyhood - utterly prosaic matters, but because they are the details from life at such an innocent time, full of promise of the life ahead, their irretrievable pastness is now keenly felt and missed.For the most part (the far greater part) the writing is superb. Spare and simple, wise and tender. I have two minor complaints. First, there are a few instances in which the book is over-written, where Maxwell gave too free rein to his authorial skills for what the story could bear. Second, I was somewhat irritated by the way he wrung a little extra (and therefore false) pathos from his story by telling snippets of it from the perspective of Trixie, an abandoned farmdog. Perfection in fiction is rare, but in SO LONG, SEE YOU TOMORROW Maxwell approximates it.

"So long" and "See you tomorrow," and went our separate ways in the dusk. And one evening this casual parting turned out to be for the last time. We were separated by that pistol shot." (p. 31). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.The unnamed narrator is researching and recalling a friendship, a murder, and relationships among tenant farmer families in Lincoln, Illinois, during the 1920s. Fifty years after they occurred, he relies on memory, newspaper articles, and archives to piece together the story and events that have been haunting him and occupying his therapy sessions.The storyteller did not have friends as a child and adolescent and believes he betrayed his only true friend, Cletus. The tale is dark and explores youthful friendships as well as bullying, loneliness, and guilt. The narrator suffered several childhood tragedies, including the death of his mother, and his misfortunes occurred while he witnessed but did not fully comprehend the marriages and divorces of Cletus's parents and those of Lloyd and Marie Wilson, neighbors and fellow tenant farmers. He is convinced as an older adult that having a better understanding of the relationships will set his mind at ease.The author mentions more than once that childhood memories are often inaccurate, and children rarely have all aspects of a story in their mental databases. Also, the concept of home, figuratively and literally, and the loss of "home" and its accompanying security as a child, figure into the novel's essence. Thus, this national book award winner is the author's semi-autobiographical narration of a sad endeavor to recreate the past, make amends with his friend and settle his conscience. Maxwell forces us to consider times we have assumed we could see someone "tomorrow" and life interfered.

Having enjoyed a couple of his earlier works this one threw me a little. Whilst I appreciated the tight prose, acute philosophical statements and wonderful descriptive lines I felt the narrative framework a bit off-putting. There were for me just too many diversions within diversions to fill in background on peripheral characters who didn't really move the plot on. A section from the dog's perspective was an emotional high point.For such a short novel I was embarrassed to find that I had to keep reminding myself which character belonged to which family. There are lots of them.Ultimately I felt let down that there hadn't been some big secret between the two boys. Was his only regret walking past Cletus in that corridor? They weren't even portrayed as having been that close as teenagers. Playing on scaffolding might be a nice metaphor for being unsupported in a fragile world etc but there was no sense that they'd enjoyed a close brotherly bond or even that much time together.Possibly one of those books you wouldn't read twice or even say you enjoyed BUT moments from it will linger.

I saw someone recommend this book on Twitter, and bought it on impulse and I'm so glad I did. The writing is so beautiful, the emotional intensity so great and the story so simple, but compelling, that I can't recommend it enough. Two small-town boys, one of whom has lost a mother to 1918 flu pandemic, the other whose family is caught up in a murder. It's gentle and slow-moving, no surprises as the stories of both tragedies are outlined in the first pages, but it's tender and moving.

So Long, See You Tomorrow is a high quality short novel that shows very effectively how children can be impacted by traumatic events in their families. The story is about two boys in the same small town who experience such traumas - one boy is deeply affected by the death of his mother, and the other boy is severely victimised by the effects of an affair and murder involving his parents. This is an entertaining and dramatic story, with quality writing. I have only given it 4 stars because in telling story the author jumps around between the two families and between points in time such that it is confusing and, like another reviewer who pointed this out, I find it hard to believe that someone could feel long-term guilt as a result of, while a teenager, not having acknowledged another boy in a school hallway (which is perhaps the central incident for the story). Overall, I have no hesitation in recommending this book to anyone with an interest in good American literature.

What Maxwell does so well in this story is both give you a clear, engaging account of what happened in a boy's life and how it felt at the time, and then qualify it with the insights, wisdom and compassion of an older man looking back. It is poignant and meaningful in the way that we all live with the experiences that shaped us for good and bad, and part of that is gaining insight as we grow older but also the inevitable element of living with not-knowing. So good to come a piece of excellent writing.

This is a genuine American classic that you can read in 3 hours, but where's the hurry? Take an extra hour to admire how the story builds by each and every crisp, concise sentence.