Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner

With so many new books to read, it is rare that I re-read a novel. However, for the second time in twenty years, I read Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner, author of The Pulitzer Prize-winning novel Angle of Repose.

Crossing to Safety chronicles the life-long friendship of two couples, the Langs and the Morgans.  At the ripe old age of thirty, I enjoyed the novel, but was rather impatient with the characters.  It all seemed so dysfunctional!  Why did he/she put up with her /his behavior?  Why are these people still friends? Get a job already!   Now from the perch of truly advanced age (do the math,) I have more respect for the complexities of friendship and marriage. An exquisite book about compatibility, sacrifice, and love.