Staggerford: A Novel

by Jon Hassler

"A writer good enough to restore your faith in fiction."
THE NEW YORK TIMES
It is only a week in the life of a 35-year old bachelor school teacher in a small Minnesota town. But it is an extraodinary week, filled with the poetry of living, the sweetness of expectation, and the glory of surprise that can change a life forever....
"Absolutely smashing....An altogether successful work, witty, intelligent, compassionate."
THE CLEVELAND PLAIN DEALER

Genres: Fiction, Book Club, Novels, Literary Fiction, Literature, Humor, Contemporary

304 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published July 1, 1977

About the author

Jon Hassler was born in Minneapolis, but spent his formative years in the small Minnesota towns of Staples and Plainview, where he graduated from high school. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in English from St. John's University in 1955. While teaching English at three different Minnesota high schools, he received his Master of Arts degree in English from the University of North Dakota in 1960. He continued to teach at the high school level until 1965, when he began his collegiate teaching career: first at Bemidji State University, then Brainerd Community College (now called Central Lakes College), and finally at Saint John's, where he became the Writer-in-Residence in 1980.

During his high-school teaching years, Hassler married and fathered three children. His first marriage lasted 25 years. He had two more marriages; the last was to Gretchen Kresl Hassler.

In 1994, Hassler was diagnosed with progressive supranuclear palsy, a disease similar to Parkinson's. It caused vision and speech problems, as well as difficulty walking, but he was able to continue writing. He was reported to have finished a novel just days before his death. Hassler died in 2008, at the age of 74, at Methodist Hospital in St. Louis Park, Minnesota.[1]

The Jon Hassler Theater in Plainview, Minnesota, is named for him.

Reviews

[Keith · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is more of a confession than a review. A few weeks ago I was overnighting with my next-of-kin, and I had trouble sleeping. So I went out into the basement living space and curled up on the sofa with a book called "Staggerford" by Jon Hassler that I found on a bookshelf in another room. I had read Hassler before, but never any of the Staggerford stuff. I was intrigued. And when I packed up to leave next morning, I packed up Staggerford and too it along. Without asking. It came to me as I read it at home over the next few days that Hassler is sort of a Minnesota Flannery O'Conner. There is true O'Conner humor in some of the chapters, especially the Faculty Party and the Nursing Home visit. There is also the cold reality of O'Conner surprises. Hassler does not coddle his characters, but lays them before the reader in all their glory and in all their depravity.
This is a Catholic thing. The novel is laced with an underlying sense of Roman Catholic morality, in its better manifestations. The lead characters, Miles, a lapsed Catholic and Agatha, a practicing one, provided the moral compass through the morass of a wayward small town somewhere in Minnesota near some Chippewa reservation. I couldn't stop reading. And although pierced by the ending, I was not disappointed. I think I shall read the rest of the "Staggerford" series. And I recommend it also to you. With the above theological caveats which may or may not assist your understanding of Hassler's craft. And as a bonus, anyone who is foolish enough to read this review may also be inclined to dig old copies of O'Conner out of their closets and read or reread them. I highly recommed her Collected Letters.

[Malaya · Rating 4 out of 5]

The worlds Jon Hassler paints are ugly. Something in me recoils from the unprettiness of the scenery - the messiness of the characters' lives. Jane Austen, on the other hand, enthralls me. Her worlds are succinct, neat, tidy orderly. Even the chaos in her novels is well-framed by virtue, and never becomes too unhinged. In contrast, Hassler plays with the dark side of each mind. You never are allowed fully to escape from the fact of chaos. The situations in this book are - messy. The main character, Miles, is in love with a married woman. His student, a high school girl, is in love with him, her teacher. The moralist inside of me wants to run from this - it's ugly, unprintable - at least, I don't really want to admit these things into my fictional backdrop, where everything can be ideal, or balanced, or orderly, the way it never is in real life.

Yet I continued to read, and then I stumbled onto this paragraph:
"'So what I was thinking, Miles, was that maybe there is a similar process going on in human affairs. If you let sunshine stand for goodness in the world and you let rain stand for evil, do goodness and evil mingle like sun and rain to produce something? TO bring something to maturity, like those ferns? Does God permit sin because it's an igredient in something he's concocting and we human beings aren't aware of what it is? Is there sprouting up somewhere a beautiful fern, as it were, composed of goodness and sin?'"

I underwent a transformation in the journey of this book. I found that my taste for Jane Austen and the orderly plot had somewhat limited me from the depths of richness that realism could show me. I found in Jon Hassler that I was running from the often erratic patterns of life itself, unable to see or appreciate that the world has patterns of its own outside of my narrow conception. What he showed me in Staggerford is that there can be poetry and beauty even in a messy world.

[Scott Danielson · Rating 3 out of 5]

My description of this novel: A week in the life of small-town high school teacher Miles Pruitt. There wasn't a fast moving plot. In fact, I'd have trouble explaining what the plot actually was. The only thing that seemed to push this novel forward was time itself.

I enjoyed it immensely, right up until the ending. I thought about it for a couple of days but am unable to convince myself that this ending isn't out of place or that it has a larger worthwhile point.

Yet, like I said, I really liked this book. I enjoyed my time with Miles Pruitt, the high school where he taught, the inept superintendent, the nervous principal. My favorite character was Miss McGee, Miles' Catholic boarder, who once set off a fire alarm at school to prevent students from hearing any more nonsense from a modern poet.

She prays for Miles (Hail Marys for the return of his faith), and she dislikes rain. She wonders about sin after observing that ferns thrive only with sun AND rain. "Does God permit sin because it's an ingredient in something he's concocting and we human beings aren't aware of what it is? Is there sprouting up somewhere a beautiful fern, as it were, composed of goodness and sin?"

She later rejects her own thinking. When I think about this novel, I expect that I'll remember Miss McGee and Miles Pruitt with equal fondness.

[Barry · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somewhere North of the Twin Cities and probably not too far from Lake Wobegone is John Hassler’s fictitious town of Staggerford, Minn.

At the center of Staggerford is one Miles Pruitt, a thirty-something, overweight school teacher. He’s also one of the better and more believable characters I’ve come across in some time. Pruitt is a live-and-let-live sort who rents a room in town, laments the loss of his childhood love to his older brother, and is currently in love with his boss’s wife. But what can you do?

The town of Staggerford is a place of great frustration for the ambitious and short on hiding spots those burdened by family secrets or personal shame. Probably not unlike the place you grew up. Hassler was influenced by John Cheever, whose yarns of small town New England draws parallels. What I recall of Cheever’s writing, I’d say Hassler’s sympathy for his characters, even as he jabs at them, makes him the more human and less satirical.

I was also reminded of Sherwood Anderson’s Winesburg, Ohio. Whereas Anderson excoriates Midwestern life through his impotent characters, Hassler, like his character Pruitt, seems content to let things be while allowing his to unfold.

[Barbara Brien · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would characterize this novel as a (then: 1974) modern day tragedy. I kept imagining how it would be rewritten today. The writing was fine, but the book truly embraced the time in which it was written, and much of the subject matter no longer applies today. On the other hand, some of the subject matter was timeless, and one of the passages spoke to me.

Nadine said, "I think Gone With the Wind has the stupidest ending I've ever read."
"Oh, no. It's inspiring. 'Tomorrow is another day,' says Scarlett. That's inspiring."
"I say it's melodramatic. Scarlett's plantation is a ruin and her daughter is dead and her husband has run away, and we're supposed to believe she's hopeful about her future? She must be out of her mind."
"No, she's doing the only thing a person can do when everything goes wrong. She's putting her faith in tomorrow and hoping things will be better."
"No, it's not, damn it. It's very true to life. It's the only thing a person can do when everything goes wrong. You probably haven't had anything go wrong in your life, Nadine. Well, I have, and that's how I get through it. I say tomorrow's going to be better."

I never read Gone With the Wind, I never wanted to, but I did see (and dislike) the movie. I never really understood the phrase about tomorrow being another day, not from Scarlett's perspective, but today I do. I myself have had occasion to put my faith in tomorrow.

I also think this passage, and the rest of the scene in which it takes place, are positioned perfectly in the book.

[Dianne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had a hard time with this book, and also a hard time deciding on a rating. Not sure what I expected the book to be, but as I got into it I decided it was one of those quirky, glimpse-of-small-town-life books, with lots of wry, tongue-in-cheek humor and a fairly plotless, meandering style. This all changed drastically in the last 15% or so of the book, catching me off guard.

No spoilers, since I don't believe in doing that. Still, in spite of some amusing moments along the way, I don't think I'll be searching out another Hassler book soon...

[Valerie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a book that gave me a book hangover as I read it. I found myself in Staggerford at odd times of the day. I wondered how a week in the life of Miles Pruitt would end. In otherwords, it was an engrossing book. Not only was it engrossing, it was well-written. A review I read mentioned a plot and as I sat here I also wondered about a plot. Does your life have a plot? Seven days in the life of one man. Seven days filled with ordinary, everyday things like everyone's lives are. Seven days filled with school classes and classwork. This book does have it all, because even though there are seven days, there are memories. There are looks into others' lives. There is loss and redemption, comedy and tragedy, and just plain humaness. And like all lives, days that are filled with surprise and change. And everyone gets by with the hope that "Tomorrow is another day," brings to the people of Staggerford, and to the rest of us humans.

[Mmars · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny. I read this when I was in my early 20s and Miles Pruett seemed like an old man, skimming reviews and I now realize he's only in his mid-30s & young! This is another small town book that I loved. Found it a fast and amusing read. Hassler knows rural Minnesota well & his characters are true, perhaps a bit exaggerated or quirky, but still loveable on the edges. If you've ever spent time in the northern half of Minnesota you've known these people. Nosy, yet guarded. Conservative on the outside, wanting to break out on the inside. And the Hassler's small town ethical tangles are spot on.

[T Carlson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was never drawn into this book but I was never sick of reading and wanting to put it down. Following the life of a man with many faults who has made many mistakes and makes some within the book. At one point I actually said aloud oh fuck while reading. Despite outdated views and definitely being written in a way that only men can write (not a good thing) the book does a good job of making me think of my connections, and paints a nice picture of what its like to live in a small town

[Bernadette · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this brilliantly written novel, writer Jon Hassler introduces us to his fictional small town of Staggerford in northern Minnesota in the 1970s. Hassler, who himself taught high school English, gives us one week in the life of Miles Pruitt, a 35-year-old bachelor English teacher, born, raised and now in his 12th year of teaching in Staggerford. Witty, profound and a champion for injustice Miles is the moral center of the school and town, but he is misunderstood and often taken advantage of because he doesn't speak up for himself. Hassler populates Staggerford with vulnerable, believable characters like Agatha McGee, no-nonsense 40-year veteran 6th grade Catholic school teacher; Imogene Kite, a gangly, spinster librarian who is Miles' social companion; Thanatopsis Workman, whom Miles loves from afar; Supt. Stevenson who long ago gave up on his campaign to increase attendance of the Indian student population; violence-prone Bennie Bird, owner of the general store on the Sandhill Chippewa Reservation. I got attached to the people and issues of Staggerford and apparently Hassler did too as he wrote additional novels about them. I have only recently discovered this author's work, but I am excited to read more about Staggerford, a metaphor for all of life's challenges, big, tragic and sometimes humorously small. A faculty Halloween party and a visit to a nursing home had me laughing out loud with their bittersweet humor. In the end good seems to triumph over the bad; people in Staggerford eventually do the right thing but sometimes at great cost.

[Thierry Sagnier · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read all of Hassler's works and genuinely mourned his death some three years ago. To me, he remains a largely undiscovered treasure of American literature. His books are wonderfully written and shine with the innocence of a time long gone. Staggerford is probably his best work, though all his small-town tales are well worth reading. If Goodreads had six stars, I'd give them all to this phenomenal author.

[Nancy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Found this at a book giveaway, and read it for the second time after maybe 35 years. I've given it 5 stars not necessarily for literary merit, but because it has stayed in my mind as a favorite book for all this time, and I still chuckled out loud at Miles' descriptions of faculty meetings, costume parties, small town personalities, etc., and ached at the tragedies involved.

[Greg Giles · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's as if Kurt Vonnegut rewrote Garrison Keillor. Quirky, homespun, off-kilter, humorous - all with a pervasive sense of something about to go very much wrong. Very much enjoyed this book, which provided several laugh-out-loud moments, as well as times that gave me a new lens through which to look at life.

[JULI STJOHN · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love Jon Hasslers writing but the ending wasn’t my fave. Other books of his are better (like his novel Grand Opening).

[Drick · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautifully written book about a small town in northern Minnesota with a surprise ending that left me wondering. The main character is Miles Pruitt, a high school English teacher, who grew up in the small northern Minnesota town of Staggeford, and then returned to live and teach there. He lives with Ms. Agatha McGee the dauntless 2nd grade teacher at St. Isidore's Roman Catholic elementary. Through Miles' eyes, we see the quirky, sincere lives of the people of the town. For those familiar with Garrison Keilor's Lake Wobegon, Staggerford has a similar feel. Anyone who grew up in or around rural Minnesota will recognize the unique Minnesota flavor of this book.

I first read this book over 30 years ago when I lived in a medium-sized rural Minnesota town and found Staggeford's characters so much like the people I knew at that time. I found the book hilarious at the time because of that familiarity. Reading it now, I wonder what the author Jon Hassler was doing in writing the book. He too was a high school English teacher for a time; was he telling us about his teaching experience?

And the ending - it shocked me 30 years ago and it shocked me again this time. I will ponder that for a while to come.

[LisaZAnderson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can almost give this book 5 stars! I really, really loved it! It takes place in a small town! It take place in Autumn! The main character is an English teacher! The characters are dear! I laughed! I cried! You should read it!

[A.K. Frailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very powerful story that carried me into the heart, mind, and souls of the characters. It really glimpsed the inside story of the human experience—how much we need each other but so often fail to understand each other. Tragic yet poignant. Beautifully written work of literary brilliance.

[Candice · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was recommended by a new member of our book group. She is from Minnesota and Jon Hassler taught her sister in high school! The book takes place over just a few days in the life of high school English teacher Miles Pruitt. The characters come alive in this story of a small town and its many problems both with the white citizens and the Indian (this was written in 1974 before Native American became the term of choice). I loved the way it began with Miles describing each of his English classes - first period is dull because all the smart kids are in the band which practices first period. He rents a room in Miss McGee's house. Miss McGee has taught sixth grade in the Catholic school since forever and once met the poet Joyce Kilmer. One of his Native American students, Beverly Bingham, has more problems than a girl her age should have. And then there are the Bone Woman and the other teachers in the school. It's funny at times and disturbing at others.

[El · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm often drawn to books about people, often living in small towns, whose lives are bigger than may seem to the eye of the casual observer. And while I'm drawn to them I'm also often disappointed (Sherwood Anderson, anyone?) and like I could do better (well, duh...). Staggerford is one of those books.

On the outside it has great potential. Miles Pruitt is a 35-year-old teacher in Staggerford, Minnesota, a small town with a supposedly big heart, if you can just get past the neuroses of the characters. You have an old Catholic school marm, a student in love with Miles whose mother is the town crazy going door-to-door to collect bones from dinner plates in order to make chicken feed, a gym coach who just can't get past the idea of not coming in first, and on it goes. As far as plot, there is not much of one in Staggerford. The people come and go and do as people do, but beneath their simple exteriors the reader comes to find all of the characters are hiding something from the rest of the town. Everyone has experienced deceit, whether at the hands of another person in the town, or at the hands of themselves. The secrets start coming out as the Indian Reservation nearby creates an uprising over the treatment of one of their children in the school.

I wanted to like Miles more than I did. But I think that's also the point. He isn't a very productive teacher, and he is in love with the married teacher across the hall, and he has very little spine and even less direction. The fact that Staggerford is a small town makes it seem that Hassler was trying to portray small town people as unambitious and unfocused.

I will say, however, that I read one of the funniest bits I have read in a long time:

...[Miles] listened to Roxie Booth, who had never read a book in her life, review Love Story, which had been last night's late show on TV. She concluded her review by saying, "It would be almost worth it to die young so you could see how hard your boyfriends take it. Boys make me cry all the time. Just once I'd like to see them cry."

Miles asked her if she saw the movie on TV.

"No, I never did."

"You read the book?"

"Yeah, I read the book." She adjusted the ropes and chains and spangles that hung around her neck.

"Then why do you refer to one of the characters as Ali MacGraw?"

"Because that's who took the part in the book."

Miles gave her an F.

[Snickerdoodle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I almost quit this book. It started off as something I was judging as less than average and considered dropping. There was something about it though, something I couldn't quite put my finger on, that kept drawing me back to it. By midway through, I found my opinion considerably changed.

The signs for me that a book is really good:
* it's all I want to read (I usually have more than one going)
*I'd rather read it than do anything else
*I think about it when I'm not reading it

... and it's easy to recommend.

Still, I realize that not all books appeal to all readers and this one is different from the usual.

The story is a week in the life of this high school English teacher in the small town of Staggerford, Minnesota. The author was born in 1933. Like the main character, Miles Pruitt, he was also a HS English teacher in the late 50's/early 60's so maybe that's meant to be the time period of this novel, published in 1977.

He seems so far like an author I'd like to read more of - although I don't know how easy his books will be to find.

[Tim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel a little guilty giving Jon Hassler's debut only four stars. I suppose the knockdown from five is for scale. Yeah, it's a small novel in some ways, but this tale of a week in the life of a bachelor school teacher and other small-town Midwesterners is by turns funny as hell and quite moving. Regional writing doesn't get a whole lot better. For me, Hassler finds just the right mix of darkness and light in the hearts of his characters, and as his first venture into 10-plus novels of the exploration of average-but-interesting Minnesotans, "Staggerford," some of whose characters we will meet again later, really hits the spot.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of a week in the life of a thirty-five year old school teacher in the small town of Staggerford, Minnesota. The New York Times said, "A writer good enough to restore your faith in fiction." That's what got me to read this book. It's an old book. It's been around a few decades, so your sure to find it on your library's shelves. This was a book filled with rich descriptions, hilarious scenarios, and an engrossing story. I don't want to give away too much, but if you want a great read, you must read this.

[Jane Mackay · Rating 5 out of 5]

Going to send this to a good friend who's a high school English teacher when I've finished it. She has been in my mind the whole time I've been reading and sometimes I've laughed aloud at the thought of how hard she'll laugh at some of the passages describing the protagonist's life as a high school English teacher. She will *so* relate!

Great book. Thoroughly enjoying it. Thinking of putting Jon Hassler on my "read anything by this author" list.

[Martie Nees Record · Rating 4 out of 5]

The protagonist is a 35 year old male high school teacher in a rural Minnesota town. The entire book revolves around just one week of his life. The novel affectionately satirizes academia and small-town living; there is lots of lemonade and raspberry sundaes. At first all characters seemed too quirky to be real. By the end of the book I saw them as ordinary people sympathizing with their struggles, their failures and their successes. An utterly charming as well as deeply poignant read.

[Derek Emerson · Rating 4 out of 5]

An outstanding book. This was the first book I read by Hassler and I've read several since, but this is his best. Hassler manages to explore issues of faith subtly -- in fact, you could read this book and miss some of the Catholic connections. But he has a good grasp on people and his main characters show a complexity that many writers cannot create. Strongly recommend.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, wow. Thoroughly enjoyed this, though it took an unexpected turn. Frankly, I'm not sure I've been more surprised by a twist, but the book still held together marvelously. Endearingly human characters who do grow and evolve throughout the book, which is always a surefire hook for me. Looking forward to reading additional stories about the town of Staggerford.

[Sallie Dunn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was the best book I’ve read in ages. It is so good that I’m adding to my list of best 5 or 10 books I have ever read. It’s about a high school English teacher in a small town I. Minnesota. I don’t want to tell too much! I will definitely check this author’s other works. This one is outstanding.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

[Marjorie Hogan · Rating 1 out of 5]

I started reading with anticipation, but stopped - I found the attitude toward Native American characters difficult to read.

[Alan Kercinik · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'd never heard of Jon Hassler until reading a collection of essays about writing by Richard Russo.

You can trace a direct line from Hassler to Russo. They both concerned themselves with stories of small towns and found the grace and grandeur of everyday people, even in their pettiness. They both write with clear love and affection for their characters, and while their writing is clearly warm-hearted, it isn't sentimental. These are not perfect people they write about.

Staggerford is more of a sketch than a novel, really, of the people of this small Minnesota town. Most of the perspective is that of Miles Pruitt, the town's 35-year old high school English teacher. There's not much of a plot, really. Things happen. But Miles is a passive guy. He has no great quest, really, that energizes the story, which takes place over a single week.

What there is, instead, is a kind of story that I think is somewhat unique to 1970's fiction. A series of events, some of them entirely random, that are meant to leave a collective impression about the meaning of life. Seemingly major happenings -- Mile's terrible toothache -- seem to simply drop away.

Still.

I appreciated his writing and perspective enough to want to seek out more of his writing, which seems like it may be a task. Most of his work appears out of print. This is only his first novel and I think a quest to read more would be worth it.