A finalist for the 2021 National Book Award, Laird Hunt’s quiet novel Zorrie penetrates the resilient soul of a woman living on the Indiana plains. Hunt’s inspired description of Zorrie Underwood’s interior is incisive. The story begins in the Depression and spans much of the 20th century. Echoing the sparse prose of Kent Haruf or Elizabeth Strout, this novel is about emotional resilience, an appreciation of simpler times, and a reminder to savor life’s small gifts.

Zorrie Underwood was orphaned when her parents died of diphtheria. She was sent to live with a cold and distant Aunt, who died of a stroke when she was 21. The year is 1930. With no family, Zorrie is left to fend for herself. After living in barns and taking odd jobs in Illinois, including a stint in a radium plant, the Indiana land calls her home.

When Zorrie finds a community in Hillisburg, Indiana, her life improves. She falls in love and she and her husband farm the fertile Indiana soil like the neighbors surrounding her. Though loneliness and sadness stalk her life, she is embraced by a community that looks out for one another.

Zorrie and the other characters take time to think before uttering their thoughts. They spend time ruminating. They find solace in pondering their encounters or remembering loved ones who have passed. A restraint permeates this Indiana farm culture, which is such a contrast to our current times when people impulsively post anything and everything they think on social media.

Laird Hunt’s beautiful novel is about one woman’s perseverance and resilience despite her losses. It is also an homage to a simpler time when community socials, the beauty of the landscape, singing and cooking provided solace and meaning. This story is a reminder to slow down, embrace human connection and appreciate the small joys of being alive. 4/5

Happy Holidays!

Few playwrights engage with the concept of the passing of time better than Thornton Wilder. Published in 1931, The Long Christmas Dinner is a moving play about time’s transitory nature. The story spans ninety years and shows how generations of one family evolve while staying the same over decades of Christmas dinners. The short but powerful drama is less than 30 pages in written form and less than an hour when performed. Wilder seems to remind readers that though the days can seem dull, the cumulation of life’s mundane moments is sacred and should be savored.

The story begins in 1875 and ends in 1975. There is one continuous stream of conversation between members of the Bayard family around the dining room table of their Midwest home. Throughout the play, new babies and spouses arrive at the Christmas dinner from stage left while those who die leave on stage right. The first, Mother Bayard, speaks about crossing the Mississippi River on a newly made raft and the presence of Indians on the land where their new house sits. By 1975, her great-grandchildren discussed how the surrounding factories emit too much soot.

Bayard family members sometimes aren’t aware that they are repeating the language and stories of past generations. It is not that the dialogue is that interesting; it is not. There are comments about the wine, the turkey, or the ice outside. And yet, it is not any one Christmas dinner that offers insightful dialogue or observations, but the cumulation of Christmas dinners is unforgettable. Time keeps passing; young people are born and old people die. Wilder seems to be saying - whether or not you realize it - time is going by quicker than you know so appreciate your lives. Though seeing the play performed is preferred, The Long Christmas Dinner, in whatever form, crescendos to a finale of transcendence. 4.5/5