"My father was wrong. He said that life was a great adventure - a fine show. He said the more things that happen to you the richer you are, even if they're not pleasant things ... Well, it isn't true. He had brains and charm, and knowledge and he died in a gambling house, shot by looking on at someone else who was to have been killed .. My little So Big... Asleep on a pile of potato sacks because his mother thought that life was a grand adventure Well it's going to be different with him. I mustn't call him So Big anymore. He doesn't like it. Dirk. That's a fine name Dirk DeLong".
I have been meaning to read Edna Ferber for many years. She was a very popular writer in her day and many of her bestselling novels were made into successful films, most notably Giant which continues to be shown on Turner Classic Movies. And so at first I thought I might choose Giant, a big sprawling novel set in the 1950's about a wealthy Texas oil family for the 2021 Back to the Classic's Challenge - choose a classic by a woman author.
I was hesitant to choose her more critically acclaimed novel So Big (published 1924) which tells the story of a mid-western farm woman because small town/rural fiction has been a hit or a miss for me. I enjoyed Fidelity by Susan Glaspell for example but My Antonia by Willa Cather set in the Nebraskan prairie I found, despite it's greatness, rather dull and melancholy.
But I decided in the end to go with So Big because it's Ms. Ferber's most critically acclaimed novel. Winner of the 1925 Pulitzer Prize and the number one bestseller n the US in 1924. And so now having read So Big I can see what all the fuss was about. It's a detailed and fascinating story about what life was like for a woman on her own raising her young son in late nineteenth and early twentieth century America. You get to experience life on a farm in Illinois during the turn of the last century but also life in Chicago during the Roaring Twenties and as Selina's son Dirk grows into a man he makes choices that differ in how his mother lived her life and the dreams she had for him. Selina is advised by a friend that you can't live another person's life for them. They will have to find their own way.
And so as the book progresses and Dirk makes his own way you are presented with the question of what defines a successful life? Is it a career that can provide you with the wealth and security you desire as you climb the corporate ladder or is it doing what you love, what you are passionate about, even if it means you may have to struggle. We go on quite a journey with the two main characters, Selina DeLong and her son Dirk (So Big) DeJong and it's a journey I enjoyed taking. I finished this novel knowing I will be reading more from Edna Ferber and I am really looking forward to it.
This is a book I've been meaning to read for years, too. But I've hesitated because I wasn't sure I'd like her writing. But your review makes me think I will. Selina's and Dirk's story does sound interesting.
ReplyDeleteHi Lark, I do recommend So Big and it's primarily Selina's story though the last third of the book focuses on Dirk. We meet Selina as a young 19 year old woman who is on her own when her father dies. She becomes a school teacher, marries a farmer and we trace her life until she is an elderly woman and still full of life. It's a very well drawn portrait.
ReplyDeleteI've been rather lazily going back and reading Pulitzer Prize winners for the last several years, and this is one of the ones I've still not gotten to. Your review is encouraging; it sounds much more "readable" than I had feared it might be.
ReplyDeleteHi Sam, it is more readable and interesting than I thought it would be and I found Selina DeJong and also her son Dirk very well drawn as characters. And to be frank by the end of the novel my sympathy was with Dirk. This is not to say that Selina was not a good mother. She was but she needed to accept Dirk for who he was, not who she hoped he would be.
DeleteSeveral years ago I read Giant with a library book group. I enjoyed the novel, but was not compelled to pursue any of Ferber's other novels. This sounds like one I might also enjoy reading.
ReplyDeleteHi James, I recommend it. You also get a detailed view of what Chicago was like in the 1920's. Edna Ferber published this novel in 1924 so she was writing in real time about the high life, parties, everyone buying stocks etc going on in Chicago and everywhere and one can't help thinking about the Great Depression which was around the corner. Mainly though Selina and her son are very well drawn characters.
DeleteI loved My Antonia! Which makes me totally rethink how I didn't like Death Comes for the Archbishop 25 years ago. But I think as I age, I tend toward melancholy.
ReplyDeleteSo Big sounds SO GOOD! LOL. Particularly the look at Chicago. I recently read Sister Carrie (haven't blogged about it yet, but I think I will use it for the 2021 challenge) and one of the thinks I particularly liked was its portrayal of the Second City in the late 19th century. I could visit the city now in person, but only books can provide that time travel ability to see it as it was.
Hi Lark, Willa Cather is a great writer and you have me thinking that I need to try another book of hers. For example One of Ours which won the Pulitzer in 2023. So Big I enjoyed a great deal and later in the book you do get a good view of what Chicago was like and the office skyscraper where Dirk DeLong works and particularly the office workers and their hopes and dreams and how little has changed about work life in an office
DeleteAfter reading Giant earlier this year, I stopped by my favorite new/used bookstore to see if they had any other books by Ferber. They had So Big, and the owner made a point of telling me that it is one of her all-time favorites. I've read Showboat a number of times, and I cannot understand why Ferber is so forgotten these days.
ReplyDeleteSo Big does sound terrific--I love characters that get under your skin and into your heart.
Hi Jane, I enjoyed So Big and it certainly was popular in its day. Showboat sounds like it might be good too and the last book Ferber wrote The Ice Palace set in Alaska is one I see myself reading.
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