Winesburg, Ohio; a group of tales of Ohio small town life

I got a recommendation for this book from someone in their mid-20s, when I was in my mid-20s, and I think maybe if I'd read it then I might have found the magic in it? It's a series of interconnected vignettes about people living in small-town Ohio, set about a century ago, and the gist of it is that they are deeply lonely and desperate for connection that they fail to find despite their clumsy attempts to do so. I found it repetitive and kind of boring.

I've been on a quest in the past couple of years to understand America.

Some of the books I've read have been recent nonfiction:

Alienated America: Why Some Places Thrive While Others Collapse by Timothy P. Carney
Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community by Robert D. Putnam
Our Towns: A 100,000 Journey Into the Heart of America by James M. and Deborah Fallows
Love Your Enemies: How Decent People Can Save America from the Culture of Contempt by Arthur C. Brooks
The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It by Robert B. Reich
The Tyranny of Merit: What's Become of the Common Good? by Michael J. Sandel

I've shared my thoughts on my blog here and here.

These nonfiction books have been helpful. But I've also learned a lot about the way America is and the way America was from fiction. I read and reviewed Main Street earlier this year. And now I've just finished an amazing book, Winesburg, Ohio.

Winesburg, Ohio is a series of linked short stories about the people of the small-town Midwest. It was first published in 1919.

What is the common theme of these stories? The characters are all filled with a sense of isolation and loneliness. They are unable to communicate with each other, even within families, even those who are married to each other. Some of the characters try to escape their isolation and loneliness in various ways, but nothing seems to help.

Winesburg, Ohio reminds me a lot of Main Street. Characters in both books are unable to satisfy their deepest needs and settle for living shallow and unfulfilling lives.

It's startling to see America almost exactly a hundred years ago was much as it is today.