A World Lost

So our good friend Wendell Berry takes us back among his Kentucky people. The year is 1944 but it ranges through the narrator into the present time. Nine-year-old Andy Catlett weaves the tale of his beloved Uncle Andrew, taken from him by a ruthless act yet with him still in the life he makes for himself in that space which great compassion give. Berry is a master of looking and listening close, and his story is really about not losing but gaining a life ground, but that is the puzzle and secret of this fine tale. I strongly recommend it.

Nine-year-old Andy Catlett's sweet and comfortable childhood is turned upside down in the summer of 1944 when his favorite uncle, for whom he is named, is murdered. Determined to learn the truth behind the crime, the now grown-up Andy examines the evidence, which consists mainly of the recollections of his uncle's family and friends in the town of Port William, Kentucky. The truth proves elusive, but the portrait of Uncle Andrew and the world he inhabited that emerges from this small jewel of a book is beautifully wrought, and the love that exists among family members and among friends is the real truth after all. A good mystery and deeply emotional.

With a heart, a clear sense of life, an artistic ability to craft words from images, and a distinctive knowlege of all things inter-connected, Wendell Berry has presented us with yet another captivating and thoughtful work of fiction. The same artistic creation of thoughts, images, and feelings as earlier works of Memory of Old Jack and Watch With Me. A true gift. The memories of an adult man, reflecting to his life as a ten-year old boy, with love and compassion for an Uncle, a father, grandparents, and small town friends. The memories come from the small boy, but the story touches something basic that lies within all of us.

Wendell Berry is a truly great writer. He tells a simple story : how a young boy's life changes forever because of his favorite uncle's sudden death, and more importantly, how one event can shape the remainder of a person's life. In these days of relentless, horrific tragedies which are never fully assimilated or understood, Berry sets a timeless stage in the small town of Port William, Kentucky, where the same events are felt for generations. In his books there is all the time in the world, to feel, to adjust, to accept. He uses just the right words and not too many of them. His language has a clarity and spaciousness that leaves a reader deeply refreshed. I would highly recommend his book of short stories, "Fidelity" ( and that story in particular). As in the best classics of literature, the reader is transported to another world and comes away a better person for it.