Wapshaw Chronicle (by John Cheever)

The Wapshaw Chronicle is a very ordinary book that allows us to see the ordinary lives of the American people in 1957 through the paper, mixed with some little humor from the author~ And this book requires patience to read, because most of the books record the trivial matters of our lives. In life, our troubles, our worries, our boredom, but there is also warmth and happiness. No matter what era it is, in fact, life is like this.

"Wapshaw Chronicle" records people's sense of loneliness and distance as the urbanization process in the United States continues to accelerate. One of the protagonists in this novel, Betsy, comes to the city from the countryside. She is particularly lonely. She wants to integrate into the city and make many new friends, but she has repeatedly failed and hit a wall. Urban civilization creates a sense of distance, uneasiness and strangeness, while people influenced by rural civilization have some feelings of inferiority and lack of social skills. Many people feel that the pressure of life is very high when they are employed in the city. They all shout: escape from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, but how many people actually leave? The worry-free and relaxing rural videos on Douyin Kuaishou have given these busy urban people psychological comfort, but in fact they will not return to rural life. Because going back means losing your job and becoming poorer. If you stay in the city, you may still have opportunities. "Wapshaw Chronicles" is a book that you won't fall in love with right away, but once you start reading it, you won't be able to put it down. It describes a long family history in a short amount of words. There are no adventure stories, no ups and downs. It's like a cyclical collection of short stories. It's well worth reading. I hope it can give you some thoughts.

Maybe we have been looking for a loved one throughout our lives, looking for the person who loves you and the person you love. But after searching, we discovered that love is not the only thing, nor is it a necessity of life. Without love, the earth will still turn around, and life will still go on. Who is to say that we must have love to be complete? Who's to say we can't leave everything behind to discover something better? Maybe we can see a broader world when we go out.

Those characters with a bright appearance also live like ordinary people, and they will also be depressed, sad, and encounter setbacks. God is fair to people! Take Leander for example! He was born into a noble family, but he was similar to the descendant of a concubine in ancient China, so he did not inherit much inheritance. He expected his sons to inherit the wealth and help him buy another ship. However, when his sons inherited the wealth and planned to return to his hometown to buy a ship for him, he drowned and had to lament the fate of mankind. The author's writing style is also different from the romance novels we read! There are not so many deep feelings that will last forever, but sometimes they will hit you with a sudden moment of deep affection, and you can survive your whole life for this kind of moment. It feels like I'm describing your life

Various things always happen in life, but we cannot be discouraged and compromise, we need to face them bravely. Life has not stopped, life needs to continue. The characters in "Wapshaw Chronicles" are very emotional. The personalities of female characters are very different from those of male characters, and the two types of people have completely different attitudes towards life. Different character styles reflect different spiritual world lives. Life may trouble you, but it will not abandon you. Face it bravely and discover the true meaning of life.

"Fear is like a rusty knife, don't let fear sneak into your heart. Courage is a strong lesson. Stand upright in the world and praise the world." - John Cheever This book, like most American literature, reveals a pioneering spirit, but it is not written in a popular style like ordinary American novels. The characters and plots in this book are complex, and the various destinies of life are ridiculed in a warm and humorous way. In Cheever's writings, everyone's life becomes small and pitiful, but also reveals a little cuteness in their own will. Cheever's works focus on the lives of the contemporary American middle class, exposing the irrationality contained in common events and showing a rather ironic detached stance. It's just that such a vague description technique may be difficult for the public to accept. However, the rural scenery and customs are described beautifully, and the narrative behind it is full of praise and belief in the world, which is eye-catching. As expected, he is much warmer than Carver and Yates, with less criticism and complaints. He can be called Chekhov in the American countryside. His writing style is unique, distant and affectionate.

The Wapshaw Chronicle actually depicts a group portrait, taking the Wapshaw family in a New England seaside town as the perspective, and actually portrays a series of New England characters. These New England characters are probably the loving elves described by the author. Each of them is a distinct representative of a kind of person, sincere and generous. Each one has his own unique characteristics, and some may be eccentric. Life may be crazy, it may be depressed, it may be hopeless, but there is always the possibility of awakening their nobility. This is the secular style of American suburban cities, an idyllic scenery. The opening chapter is like a video, as if the narrator is holding a video recorder and walking along, recording the natural and cultural scenery of the small town. Each one seems to be expressing something, and the changes in these scenery can even reveal the characters' hearts and feel the slightest changes in their emotions. The plot setting of the novel is very arbitrary, and the material is hidden at the bottom of the writing. When reading, it sometimes feels sudden. Why did it suddenly happen like that? Why did it suddenly turn around and talk about someone else? The story that happened sixty years ago seems to be still happening today, and it may still happen to us. This is the epitome of everything, and it seems that the shadow of the present can still be found.

Life is always full of uncertainties. Maybe you are a billionaire one second and a beggar on the street the next second. This is the so-called trick of fate. The book mainly tells the life experiences of members of the Wapshaw family. Leander was a respectable old sailor, but he could not continue his glory forever. Moses was always lucky in the first half of his life, but he was harmed by others and lost his job, and later he survived. Coverley married a beautiful wife, but when he returned home one day, his wife was nowhere to be found... As the saying goes, extreme happiness breeds sadness, and extreme sadness breeds happiness. There are many different aspects of life, and you cannot experience just one. God is fair. You cannot have your cake and eat it too. If you gain something, you will lose something. The choice is in your own hands. Every decision you make will invisibly affect your future life. So we have to be careful in making decisions. Fate always plays tricks on us, big and small, making our lives ups and downs. We cannot change our destiny, we can only strengthen ourselves and make ourselves indestructible.

A person's life is like playing chess, and he will always encounter many setbacks. Sometimes it's so calm that one can't help but sink into it. Sometimes the waves are so choppy that people can explode in the next second. When playing chess, one wrong move often leads to the wrong move, and the same is true in life. Sometimes you will regret a certain decision you made, and sometimes you will be ecstatic because of a decision. When I look back on the decisions I made in this life in my seventies, all the obstacles that seemed difficult to overcome back then have become a thing of the past. There are no obstacles in life that cannot be overcome, only obstacles that cannot be overcome.

Human life is like this. We should understand from birth that one day we will sleep forever, but why is the meaning of life always like this? Is life just about daily necessities? We should love life, discover and praise the world, and feel the beauty. You will find that when you go through half of your life step by step, you will be shocked to realize how short everyone's life is, but we still have to love everything the whole world has given us.