Orchard

In his novel, "Orchard", Larry Watson's wonderfully descriptive writing pulls you into the physical surroundings of the story and through the character's minds. He led me to feel, but never quite understand, Sonja and Henry House's loss of, not only their young son when he died, but the soul of their relationship. They then struggled individually to replace the emptiness that could have been healed if they'd only allowed themselves to come together. Then, there is Ned Weaver, the indulgent and self-absorbed artist whom has convinced himself that nothing is too great a sacrifice for his art. His wife, Harriet, has resigned herself to this dogma as well, plodding on through her seemingly joyless life since the realization of her husband's ongoing faithlessness. The lives of these four inevitably intertwine, with surprising, but not too unpredictable results. It was a few chapters (maybe more) before I was actually able to sort out the individual stories within the story. This was during the scene setting, the history behind the characters that later deepened your understanding of their choices and behaviors. It may just be me as I read this over the course of a couple of weeks rather than days, but when it finally came together for me, I found it difficult to put down. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and will probably reread it, if only for the sheer pleasure of being transported to this other time and place by Watson's eloquent writing. I recommend Orchard, and would definitely consider Watson's other books.

"Orchard" left me almost breathless. Larry Watson has an amazingly complicated way of writing about several rather ordinary and decent people in Wisconsin (mostly farmers)and one scum of an international artist whose core of own wistful longing for what he sees as perfect beauty will determine his own strange destiny. Sonja, a Norwegian immigrant, marries Henry, an earnest, kindly young apple farmer who is nevertheless simple in his views, moral standards and expectations...and in his inability to comprehend her depth, no matter how sincerely he loves her. The accidental death of her young son leaves her bereft in ways he cannot begin to follow, nor does he understand his own bereavement. She begins to model for the internationally acclaimed painter Ned Weaver and though she will easily strip nude for him to paint her, she does not allow him to seduce her. Neither husband or painter can understand her removed purity, her desire to be looked at but not possessed. This is an extraordinary portrait of a woman who is complex in ways neither she nor the two men can understand. To neither man is Sonja the way they feel she should be: the prudent wife or the wanton mistress. She is merely herself and that is everything. The author jumps back and forth many years in time: quite unsequential, we are one moment staring close up at the sunburned back of a woman and then the camera draws back to see ahead thirty years and then jumps again. Rather amazing. I feel the need to stroke the closed covers of "Orchard," and try to understand how the pages of this one book can contain so many kinds of passion. Stephanie Cowell author of "Marrying Mozart" and "The Players"

Orchard owner Henry House marries the Norwegian immigrant Sonja. They settle down to family life in 1950s Wisconsin and suffer the tragic loss of their son. When the famous resident artist and womanizer Ned Weaver sees Sonja, he insists she model for him. She decides to accept his offer but doesn't tell Henry she is doing so. Ned becomes fascinated with Sonja, and he is driven to capture every facet of her body and moods on canvas. Henry eventually learns from his neighbors about her posing in the nude, and he becomes angry. Sonja is soon caught between the obsessions and jealousy of both men. The situation seems destined to come to confrontation. This novel is written in a lyrical style that drew me in and held me spellbound. Larry Watson is as artistic with his prose as Ned is with his paintbrush. The characters come alive: the down-to-earth Henry, the enigmatic Sonja, the eccentric Ned, and Ned's long-suffering wife Harriet, as well as the other family members and residents of Door County. The details of the town are described as though through an artist's eye, and readers cannot help but feel that they are there sitting in the Top Deck Tavern, or watching Ned working in his cluttered studio, or braving the wintry weather to gaze at the ice-crusted harbor. This is a book to savor. I recommend it highly. Eileen Rieback

I don't know much about Wyeth, his muse Helga, or even other novels with art as a main character (unless you count "The Da Vinci Code," which looks like a poorly crafted nursery rhyme compared to Watson's book), but I DO know Door County, Wisconsin, and I can attest that Watson has captured this dramatically picturesque region as it was in the 1950s with deft and a sad and lovely nostalgia. Sad because, like most once gorgeous North American seaside areas, Door County is now a crowded, over-developed, and cynical exploitation of itself. That Watson grieves the loss of northern Wisconsin as it used to be is evident in nearly every chapter of "Orchard," with his loving descriptions of rocky (and gloriously empty!) beaches, his acolades to the rough winters and the hardy "year-rounders" who could tolerate them, and his detailed, insider portraits of apple picking, ice fishing, and small-town Christmas pageantry. The post-war Door County he captures is innocent and still dominated by nature's mood swings. In the decades since it has become over-run with condos, golf courses, tourist traps and, yes, superficial art gallaries for the rich and naive (a few of them may even have decent art). It may not yet be a Wisconsin Dells but, to hear natives tell it, it's clearly well on the way. In this Watson compares favorably to Dennis Lahane's "Mystic River," which captured pre-yuppie Baltimore with a similarly nostalgic view. I do appreciate the respect and compassion with which he treats a now long-gone region. Door County is as much a main character here as the two couples. But it was Sonja's perceptions and lonely grief that moved me the most, even to the point of weeping a few times while reading this. I'm a sucker for great character portraits, and here Watson excels. Maybe, as others here have mentioned, the men aren't as fully drawn and believable. His handling of Sonja's grief, yearnings, regrets, and growing self-awareness more than makes up for it. She'll stay with me a long time. Thank you, Mr. Watson, for a great read!

As connected to the earth as the orchardist who is one of the main characters, this powerful novel weaves the intimate details of everyday lives in rural Door County, Wisconsin, into a riveting domestic tragedy. In simple, spare language author Larry Watson depicts the lives of two couples, very different from each other, each trying to fulfill dreams and cope with the silences and miscommunications which arise in their marriages, then brings the two couples together to make connections with each other. Henry House is the orchardist, laboriously tending his apple trees and harvesting his crop, a hard-working man living close to the earth. He and his wife Sonja have been devastated by the death of their four-year-old son from a blow to the head. Consumed by grief, they are unable to reach out to each other in their need, each reliving the trauma separately. Ned Weaver, their neighbor, is a talented and respected artist who is willing to subordinate all other aspects of his life to his art. Despite his reputation for womanizing and his many betrayals, especially with his models, his wife Harriet loves him and has found some satisfaction in the role of caretaker of his creative flame.Watson tells his story of these four people and their interactions obliquely, moving back and forth in time, building the drama and tension to a high pitch as the reader is presented with vivid scenes of danger and violence which sometimes have no context. We do not know, at first, who the characters are, how they may be connected, why they are behaving as they do, or in what order these scenes take place, and it is not until late in the novel that some of these mysterious events are explained. Contemplating how the scenes are connected, the reader becomes intimately involved in the narrative, an involvement which never lets up as the story becomes more complex. Watson is an exceptionally "clean," no-frills writer, creating many layers of meaning in homely details and images which advance the themes and intensify the emotion. In one of the most unusual scenes in modern fiction, for example, Ned, sun-burned and peeling from an afternoon of painting along the lake, asks his wife to peel his back, a scene laden with far more significance than the simple need to scratch an itch. Themes of love and betrayal, freedom and control, suffering and redemption, innocence and guilt-all universal themes from the beginning of human history-are seen through the prism of an artist's life and his desire to leave a lasting legacy. In all its simplicity, Watson's novel carries the power and resonance of the very best of dramatic fiction. Mary Whipple