James T. Farrell (1904–1979)

Another book from my 1951 reading list and this time I have been introduced to an American writer from the realist school. This man and this woman is a demoralising and depressing read. The man in question is Walt Callahan and at 63 years old he is thinking of soon taking a peaceful and well earned retirement. He works as a supervisor in an express company and has been through tough times during the depression in America, but him and his wife Peg have raised a family and Walt is considered to be comfortably off. Now that the children have left home Peg has time on her hands and she realises that she has never liked Walt that much and now his very presence around the house causes her to lash out at him. Walt wanting peace and quiet does his best to calm his wife, whom he still loves, but it is becoming an impossible situation. Most of the time he does not know what to say to her, as anything he does say is twisted by Peg against him.

This is a sad story of a woman who feels that she has wasted her life with Walt and now feeling trapped she boils over into frustration. She spends her day cleaning the house and preparing herself for her husbands return, a man whom now she despises. Walt escapes into his job which keeps him busy and occupied and he dreads having to go home. The verbal abuse, the name calling, the insults are unremitting from Peg and Walt does not know how to deal with the situation, especially as Peg reverts occasionally to being a 'good wife'. James T Farrell dialogue is realistic and expresses all the tensions that lie beneath this unhappy couple. Farrell writes from Walt's point of view and he comes across as a kindly man well liked by his family and colleagues, but now seriously out of his depth in his relationship with Peg.

This short novel forges ahead to its logical conclusion and along the way introduces two people struggling to make sense of their lives. It is well written and effortlessly wraps the readers into the miserable existence of this failing relationship. It is written from the mans point of view, but does touch on Peg's early life. The reader has to come to his/her own conclusions to account for a deeply unhappy woman. I was impressed by the quality of Farrell's writing and If I was in the mood for another dose of realism I would turn to him to lead me through the misery: 4 stars… (mere)

The first time I read this novel I was in high school while a subsequent reading was for a book group. Farrell is one of the American naturalists. He chose to use his own personal knowledge of Irish-American life on the South Side of Chicago to create a description of an average American slowly destroyed by the "spiritual poverty" of his environment. Both Chicago and the Irish-American Roman Catholic Church of that era are described in detail, and faulted. Farrell describes Studs sympathetically as Studs slowly deteriorates, changing from a tough but fundamentally good-hearted, adventurous teenage boy to an embittered, physically weak alcoholic.
While Farrell exhibits a gritty realism in his story of Chicago his prose has too many "rough" edges for my taste. The book seems dated in a way that does not happen with Dreiser or Norris, both of whom I admire more than Farrell.… (mere)

Best known for his wonderfully searing portrait of Irish American life in his Studs Lonigan Trilogy this work is a novel featuring the more self aware Danny O'Neill. Once read there is no way one forgets these works by Farrell, one of the USA's best writers so far. Danny is supporting himself by working in a gas station and endures many of the traumas associated with youth and penury. The failure of American society to meet the needs of so many Americans are laid out. You will find insights, and some guilts in a mesmerizing experience. There are four more novels in this series, if you have the nerve.… (mere)