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So Little Time A Novel edition by John P Marquand Literature Fiction eBooks

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A father frets over his son’s future while reexamining his own past in John P. Marquand’s enduring portrait of America on the brink of World War II

A script doctor who divides his time between Manhattan, Hollywood, and a country home in New England, Jeffrey Wilson has entered middle age with all the trappings of success. Yet, in the months leading up to the attack on Pearl Harbor, he feels increasingly anxious and isolated. He fears that his eldest son, a college sophomore, will be called to fight before he has had a chance to live on his own terms.
 
Two decades ago, Jeffrey served in World War I, and his life since then seems like a series of accidents. Instead of the journalism career he aspired to, he toils to fix other people’s plays. By marrying into a prominent family, he gained wealth and stature, but sacrificed his autonomy. His friends and acquaintances, most of whom were chosen by his wife, are foolish and vain..
 
Powerless to rewind the clock or hold back the tides of global conflict, Jeffrey offers his son the one piece of advice that is impossible for a young man to hear Time is running out. Witty, moving, and meticulously observed, So Little Time is the story of a crucial period in American history and one man’s attempts to make sense of it all.

So Little Time A Novel edition by John P Marquand Literature Fiction eBooks

John Marquand's novels were big sellers in their time, and while they are as relevant and readable today as when they first appeared, they have fallen into a state of nearly complete neglect (only "The Late George Apley," which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1938, and "Wickford Point" are still in print). Over the last few years, at least two prominent literary critics have written pieces hoping to spark interest in Marquand's work. Jonathan Yardley began a 2003 write-up on Marquand in The Washington Post by saying that "It is just about impossible for me to imagine beginning this series of essays about books of yesterday - books I remember with affection and admiration, but have not read in many years, books I would like to encourage others to discover - with anything except a novel by John Phillips Marquand. His are not the best books I have ever read, but they are among the books I love most, and the neglect into which they have fallen is a literary outrage." A year later Martha Spaulding, in an essay that appeared in "The Atlantic," wrote "To some, Marquand's books may seem period pieces, his sentences old-fashioned and formal, his stories' frameworks too similar. Nevertheless, he reaches out from recent history with an intensity of feeling, a beguiling humor, and a magical facility with the sounds and rhythms of language that can lift readers up and carry them away."

I read the bulk of Marquand's mainstream novels about twenty years ago and enjoyed them so much that I'm reading them again. I decided to start with "So Little Time" and plan to work backwards to "The Late George Apley" and "Wickford Point" and continue on from there. Like Jonathan Yardley, I'm amazed that someone of Marquand's stature, whose work is so substantial and readable, could be practically invisible today.

There's no reason to give a plot summary of "So Little Time," because the story line isn't what's important in Marquand's novels, which have significant autobiographical content. Like the rest of his work, "So Little Time" is a series of set pieces around which the author works out the various themes that preoccupied him, including social status (Marquand came from an upper-crust family who lost their money), ambition and conflict. While Marquand may have idealized, and even envied, the privileged New England-types who populate his books, his admiration of tradition and moneyed comfort goes hand in hand with critical psychological insight and sharp social commentary. Of Jeffrey Wilson, the principal character in "So Little Time," Marquand writes "He did not seem to belong to anything. In leaving the room, he knew that he was trying to leave himself and a large part of his experience behind him, but it was not possible to turn the clock back, or possible to be younger. He could not even tell what he wanted to get away from unless it were a sort of insincerity, an insulation there which shut off all genuine expression. If you wanted to you could call it the way of life everyone was leading - a way of life which had no more depth than a painting on a screen, but that was because you tried to get away from depth. You tried to live graciously and easily. You tried to get as far away as possible from fear or want or death." (p.139)

Marquand must have had a genius for memorizing conversations because his books are filled with dialogue so unique, and voices that are so distinctive, that they cannot possibly have been made up. If his characters seem so real it's because, like the things the author has them say, they must have been lifted from real life. Marquand's ability to call up a sense of place and time is no less remarkable. Reading "So Little Time" seems so familiar because we've been there before. And while it mostly feels warm and comforting, the recollection of Jeffrey Wilson's disturbing experiences in the Great War, and the possibility of his own son repeating them in the new War, provides the central conflict of the book.

This is a wonderful place to start a Marquand journey. If you don't like "So Little Time," you probably won't like his other books - "Apley" excluded, as it's a stylistic one-off.

Product details File Size 3359 KB Print Length 595 pages Publisher Open Road Media (July 14, 2015) Publication Date July 14, 2015 Sold by  Digital Services LLC Language English ASIN B00YBF2GJ8

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So Little Time A Novel edition by John P Marquand Literature Fiction eBooks Reviews

This book tells the story of Jeffrey Wilson, a success writer, who's job is to fix plays that have potential but are lacking something. Jeffrey Wilson lives in New York with his wife and children. However, at the brink of the story, World War II has broken out and there is much debate and anxiety as to whether the United States will enter the war.
The story is actually a series of events as Jeffrey and the nation change their attitudes about their involvement with the war. Jeffrey also deals with his stale marriage and his relationship with his eldest son, Jim, who inevitably will be on the front lines if the United States enters the war. Jeffrey recalls his World War I days and how that changed him and fears what another world war will do to his son. With the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Jeffrey realizes that time is short and he encourages his son to get the most out of life now, as there may be no tomorrow.
This book was a little bit dry. There really wasn't much tension and Jeffrey wasn't all that interesting. Marquand, however, captures the era between World War I and II and writes about it so that there is a tremendous amount of social history contained in this long book. All in all, though, I was glad to put it down and the ending didn't have the impact I would've hoped. If you are interested in learning about the early 40's and the United States' feelings towards the war in Europe, this book is outstanding, otherwise the book is fairly dull.
This book is so well written I wish it could go on forever.

The story is simple, a man looking into the looming shadows of WWII from his seemingly safe perch in the United States. Except... Written in 1943 the author really capture the feelings of foreshadowing that some wiser souls had, with the world changing and so many preferring to pretend otherwise.

As our main character goes through his daily life he questions all around him, including the emptiness of society and how easily people hear what they want. He looks at his wife and children and sees through the facades that gloss over deeper issues.

Absolutely current as we all face global change all of the time and must or should confront the implications to ourselves and those around us.

I can't say enough good about this amazing story.
John Marquand's novels were big sellers in their time, and while they are as relevant and readable today as when they first appeared, they have fallen into a state of nearly complete neglect (only "The Late George Apley," which won the Pulitzer Prize in 1938, and "Wickford Point" are still in print). Over the last few years, at least two prominent literary critics have written pieces hoping to spark interest in Marquand's work. Jonathan Yardley began a 2003 write-up on Marquand in The Washington Post by saying that "It is just about impossible for me to imagine beginning this series of essays about books of yesterday - books I remember with affection and admiration, but have not read in many years, books I would like to encourage others to discover - with anything except a novel by John Phillips Marquand. His are not the best books I have ever read, but they are among the books I love most, and the neglect into which they have fallen is a literary outrage." A year later Martha Spaulding, in an essay that appeared in "The Atlantic," wrote "To some, Marquand's books may seem period pieces, his sentences old-fashioned and formal, his stories' frameworks too similar. Nevertheless, he reaches out from recent history with an intensity of feeling, a beguiling humor, and a magical facility with the sounds and rhythms of language that can lift readers up and carry them away."

I read the bulk of Marquand's mainstream novels about twenty years ago and enjoyed them so much that I'm reading them again. I decided to start with "So Little Time" and plan to work backwards to "The Late George Apley" and "Wickford Point" and continue on from there. Like Jonathan Yardley, I'm amazed that someone of Marquand's stature, whose work is so substantial and readable, could be practically invisible today.

There's no reason to give a plot summary of "So Little Time," because the story line isn't what's important in Marquand's novels, which have significant autobiographical content. Like the rest of his work, "So Little Time" is a series of set pieces around which the author works out the various themes that preoccupied him, including social status (Marquand came from an upper-crust family who lost their money), ambition and conflict. While Marquand may have idealized, and even envied, the privileged New England-types who populate his books, his admiration of tradition and moneyed comfort goes hand in hand with critical psychological insight and sharp social commentary. Of Jeffrey Wilson, the principal character in "So Little Time," Marquand writes "He did not seem to belong to anything. In leaving the room, he knew that he was trying to leave himself and a large part of his experience behind him, but it was not possible to turn the clock back, or possible to be younger. He could not even tell what he wanted to get away from unless it were a sort of insincerity, an insulation there which shut off all genuine expression. If you wanted to you could call it the way of life everyone was leading - a way of life which had no more depth than a painting on a screen, but that was because you tried to get away from depth. You tried to live graciously and easily. You tried to get as far away as possible from fear or want or death." (p.139)

Marquand must have had a genius for memorizing conversations because his books are filled with dialogue so unique, and voices that are so distinctive, that they cannot possibly have been made up. If his characters seem so real it's because, like the things the author has them say, they must have been lifted from real life. Marquand's ability to call up a sense of place and time is no less remarkable. Reading "So Little Time" seems so familiar because we've been there before. And while it mostly feels warm and comforting, the recollection of Jeffrey Wilson's disturbing experiences in the Great War, and the possibility of his own son repeating them in the new War, provides the central conflict of the book.

This is a wonderful place to start a Marquand journey. If you don't like "So Little Time," you probably won't like his other books - "Apley" excluded, as it's a stylistic one-off.