Books That Inspire 2005
 
A Life
Wright Morris


As with many works by Wright Morris, A Life begins with an image almost photographically rendered. This is not unusual given that Morris was as skilled a photographer as he was a novelist. A Life follows the last days of Floyd Warner, an 82 year-old man who has returned to his native Nebraska not to die but to make an inquiry in the life he has lived thus far. Throughout the novel the question arises: “What did he want?” Readers used to traipsing after frantic, Mona Lisa-obsessed protagonists will likely find Morris’ pace slow, but by page 152, when this beautiful novel draws to a startling close, we have come to see how very rich Floyd Warner’s life has been.
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Jerry Jerman
Director of Development
University Outreach