Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner

For those who missed book club or those who had a thought they didn't express, this is a summary of our discussion of this book and your chance to chime in. We met at Bob W's house and were happy to meet our newest member, Roger Kaspar. We are looking forward to getting to know him and Ruth much better.
Andrea had a wealth of information about Stegner and his life. She had many pictures to explain parts of the book, such as their car, the Marmon, and Piero's painting of the resurrected Christ. We had a lively discussion regarding Charity's seeming domination of Sid. Bob R reminded us that a first person narrative is notoriously unreliable and that the author tells us at one point that the beginnings and endings of novels cannot be trusted. We are left to wonder if the picture painted by Larry of himself and the other principles of the novel are accurate. We also discussed the idea that according to Sid, both he and Larry were enslaved by their situations, but have learned from one of our previous books, Stumbling on Happiness, that Larry and Sally would have been no more happy had Sally not contracted polio. Bob R thought that Larry was not a very caring husband, but most of us felt that his failings paled in comparison to Charity's treatment of Sid. We also discussed the matriarchy at Battel pond, the Adam/Eve/Garden of Eden metaphor, the experience of going through the tenure process . . . None of us were sure what Stegner meant by the title, Crossing to Safety. What do you think?
Bob made one of Janice's favorite recipes, a berry cobbler with ice cream. We adjourned after 11:00 which proves we were having fun.