Finished We 12/14/22
This was one of my ancient paperbacks that I had apparently never read.
Basically, it is the story of an older man falling in love with a much younger woman. The book was published in 1945 and I suppose this premise was pretty shocking, but today it isn't such a big deal.
Cass Timberlane is a young judge at 41 years old and the love of his live, Ginny is about a decade younger. But, Lewis also focuses on the attitudes and points of view of the people in the town of Grand Republic, Minnesota. Some of his characterizations are absolutely hilarious.
From a review at Kirkus:
"It is a story of marriage, the focus on Judge Timberlane and the lovely, somewhat unstable young wife, Jinny, who alternately stimulated his passion, his worship, his jealousy. But it is too the story of a community, of various types of people, patterns of marriage -- a story of an average mid-western small city today."
From Wikipedia:
"Judge Cass Timberlane is a middle-aged, incorruptible, highly respected man who enjoys good books and playing the flute. He falls for Ginny, a much younger girl from the lower class in his small Minnesota town. At first, the marriage is happy, but Ginny becomes bored with the small town and with the judge's friends. She leaves him for an affair with a lawyer, Timberlane's boyhood friend. Eventually, disillusioned with her lover, Ginny returns to her husband and becomes his loyal wife. The novel is Lewis's examination of marriage, love, romance, heartache and trust."
I enjoyed the novel a lot more than I thought that I would. Cass's affection for Ginny was hard to believe, but Lewis's observations of the people in the town were insightful and humorous.
This was one of the last books that Sinclair Lewis wrote.
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