Winesburg, Ohio – Sherwood Anderson

Rating: 5 stars

This book is near the finest I’ve ever read, even after what I’m about to say. I hadn’t heard of it until like two weeks ago, so I was kinda surprised that such a masterpiece could be so hidden. That’s what I thought when I began reading and for about the first third. It gets a little tedious after awhile, and the ending has one big flaw I didn’t like.

So, first complaint: the book is written in an early 20th century style. It did not age well, and it made reading it pretty annoying. Yes, it was written back then, but I’ve read other books from that time and swear I  wasn’t annoyed by them as much. Second complaint: the book tries to develop a bit of a plot towards the end. Maybe I just had put my own beliefs that it didn’t have one foremost. It didn’t have a hook, that’s for sure, and I’m certain it would’ve been better without George willard being the sort-of protagonist.

Okay, now I’m gonna say all the things I liked. The stories really give you a feel for these people, most of them just normal (or weird but normal in how they’re weird) live their lives, their secret passions, and foremost how much difficulty they have in expressing their frustrations and desires because they never learned how to. They just exist, whether they want to or not. A lot of the characters are relatable, people we know or famous people we know. The book deserves a lot more recognition than it gets. I think it doesn’t because it certainly isn’t an easy read, even on a superficial level.