Jane Smiley's 'Early Warning' continues her family trilogy
A sequel to Jane Smiley鈥檚 critically acclaimed novel 鈥淪ome Luck鈥� is hitting bookstores.
鈥淓arly Warning,鈥� which is released today, is the second in Smiley鈥檚 series about the Langdon family. The books follow family members through the decades of American history. Smiley鈥檚 first book in the series, 鈥淪ome Luck,鈥� begins in the 1920s with patriarch Walter and matriarch Rosanna. 鈥淪ome Luck鈥� was released this past October. 鈥淓arly Warning,鈥� the Pulitzer Prize-winning author鈥檚 second book, opens in the 1950s. Walter and Rosanna鈥檚 children are now adults, and their own children will go on to experience the turbulent 1960s and 1970s.聽
The Monitor named "Some Luck" as one of the best books of the month when it was released last fall. Critic Heller McAlpin wrote of 鈥淪ome Luck鈥� for the Barnes & Noble Review, 鈥淔ans of old-fashioned family sagas featuring historical sweep are in 鈥� ahem 鈥� some luck鈥�. 鈥楽ome Luck鈥� occasionally succumbs to a plodding 鈥渁nd-then鈥� syndrome. But the book鈥檚 pace quickens in the war scenes, and the writing positively soars with Smiley鈥檚 description of Rosanna鈥檚 reflections during a Thanksgiving gathering in 1948鈥�. This perfectly written scene, the climax and beating heart of 鈥楽ome Luck,鈥� captures the payoff, the sudden moments of grace that can astonish and melt even the most exhausted, unsentimental parents 鈥� and readers.鈥�
鈥淪ome Luck鈥� made the longlist for the National Book Award for fiction.
Now reviews for 鈥淓arly Warning鈥� are coming in. McAlpin wrote about 鈥淓arly Warning鈥� for and noted that 鈥渋t's a challenge to keep everyone straight鈥�. Smiley throws a lot at us in the opening chapters鈥�. But as Smiley continues her year-by-year march 鈥� remarkably, never a slog 鈥� through the twentieth century, we're pulled into her characters' absorbing dramas鈥�. so many benchmarks are mentioned in passing that聽'Early Warning' occasionally feels like a flipbook of history-on-the-fly. Fortunately, Smiley's sharp details 鈥� help pinpoint changing times with more than just landmark events. The novel's cumulative power lies in the unfolding lives of characters who share a home base and DNA鈥�. Smiley's signature achievement in this by turns wry and wise old-fashioned yarn is her skill at deftly shifting focus between the long and short views.鈥澛�
Meanwhile, Ellen Akins of the called the book 鈥淒ickensian in its breadth and detail," although adding that "the novel is distinctly un-Dickensian in its sense of purpose 鈥� or lack thereof. It reflects a distinctly modern understanding of life 鈥� and fiction 鈥� as unplotted except in the direction and shape that each character, in uneasy alliance with chance, chooses and views as a meaningful pattern 鈥� among the daily maneuvers and mundane details the arc of [Smiley鈥檚] narrative lifts us, and we see for an instant how anything might happen.鈥�
