Love Among the Ruins

Robert Clark's characters are so authentically identifiable that, upon reading his novels, you sometimes have the haunting feeling that he somehow knows you, too -- and knows exactly how to reach you. His portrayals of his fellow humans, so dignified by precise, loving language, make you feel honored to be included. (And a little grateful, too: He has a gift for compassion and forgiveness.)I neither know Clark, nor am in the habit of writing reviews unless I'm especially moved. This is such a special case: an author who conveys universes with a handful of sweetly drawn individuals.

This book is easy to read, and not-so-easy to read at the same time. It's easy to read because the characters are so real, and there are just two major (intertwined) story lines. The reader is drawn in to the story through the narrative and attention to detail. It's difficult to read because Mr. Clark seems to display an uncanny knack for getting in the mind of 16-17 year olds - he accurately portrays the stage of life without becoming histrionic (like many other writers do). Be warned: some of the thoughts and feelings described may hit close to the bone. If you like literature that will have you examining your own feelings long after reading the final page, read this book.

Robert Clark has become one of my two or three favorite contemporary American writers. I loved "In Deep Midwinter" -- having grown up in Minnesota and having experienced the environment and the people he described in that tale. And now this -- growing up and wising up -- in Minnesota in the late 1960s. Clark is a careful and thoughtful writer and his ruminations on our times, on growing old, on the whims and fancies of fate and history, of our illusions of control and of the afflictions of melancholy and the glories of love -- love of a boy for a girl, a man for a woman, a mother and father for children -- is incomparable among other writers today. I am always sad to come to the end of his books -- both because they ring so true in the end in a sad (but true) way and beause I want the story to go on and on and on. Bravo Mr. Clark. Please give us more.

it really took me to a kind of place where i wish i spent my teens. it was hard not to feel good through even the worst of times.