Crossing to Safety

Review

This book reminded me of Stoner - steady, uneventful, but still insightful and interesting. I liked Larry as a narrator and I especially liked reading about Sid and Charity, their personalities and marriage, through his eyes. This book felt like the opposite of glamorous - it was focused on the day-to-day, up-and-down moments of lives spent voluntarily tangled up in each other. My favorite scene is the argument between Sid and Charity about packing the tea before the hike; it felt so incredibly vivid and real to me.

There is nothing like a doorbell to precipitate the potential into the kinetic. When you stand outside a door and push the button, something has to happen. Someone must respond; whatever is inside must be revealed. Questions will be answered, uncertainties or mysteries dispelled. A situation will be started on its way through unknown complications to an unpredictable conclusion.