**spoilers ahead**
In the next pages, Edwin announced his interest in architecture to his father and then felt bullied enough by his father’s disappointment to drop it and join his dad’s printing business. Then he met Hilda, who kissed him one day and married another man the very next. Next, his father’s brain began to deteriorate, and for the following two years, he had to pay extra attention to both his dad and the printing business. Then his dad died.
While these things were happening, Edwin did little with his private projects. I didn’t mind: I was as distracted as Edwin by all that life imposed on him to take him away from his plans.
Hilda reappears in the story, trailing a rumor that she was widowed and we’re off again—Hilda’s son is sick and needs Edwin’s care, Hilda’s bankrupt and needs Edwin’s money—and the projects are once again neglected. Neglected until the end of the story, when Edwin deals with them a final time, this time with nothing more than a few bitter sentences of regret.
Somehow though, this failure didn’t make the book a disappointment. I was pleased, quite simply, with the idea that someone would try to sustain a private program to enrich his life with no promise of reward for his efforts. To have Edwin succeed at his projects would have required some breaks—a less imposing daily life, chancing upon an activity exciting enough to inspire him to sacrifice his other commitments for it. It was enough for me to spend time in the company of someone extraordinary enough to think to try.
Clayhanger: 3.5 stars. Almost one of my favorite books
Recommended by: David Wright, Seattle Public Library, based on my reactions to Middlemarch, North and South and A Town Like Alice
