John Thorndike’s Reviews > The Maytrees > Status Update

I'll never be finished---because I read it over and over. Or listen to the beautiful audio edition read by David Rasche. It's in my car, and I'm on about my 15th listen. This sounds absurd, but this book is what I want when I tire of the modern world. I've never done anything like this, but I keep wanting to hear about Lou and Toby Maytree. I keep turning it on. I listen briefly. I calm down. I'm swept away, again.

For me, this is pretty much an eternal read. The reason: while I've read the book a couple of times, I have the CD in my car (beautifully read by David Rasche), and I listen to it over and over. I've heard it now about 15 times. Yes. this sounds absurd. But for me it's not. Whenever I tire of the modern world, I want to go back to the simple, intense life on Cape Cod in the 40s, 50s and 60s. So I do, again and again.

I've listened to the audible edition of this great novel about a dozen times. Really, it's true. I don't always understand it myself, but again and again I want to go back, in this go back, in this version so beautifully narrated by David Rasche, to the simple world of Provincetown in the 40s, 50s and 60s. The book grabs me from the first sentence: "The Maytrees were young long ago."