This book made me think of As I Lay Dying. Obviously Minot isn't another Faulkner, but the story line has definite similarities. Evening tells the story of Ann Lord, who is bedridden and dying. It tells some of the things that are happening with her family while she is there (like Faulkner's story), but it the most linear and coherent story line is her memory of the great love of her life, Harris Arden. Even though she only knew him briefly, at the end of her life that was where her focus went. It is well written and mostly interesting. It does have paragraphs/small sections of rambling that doesn't mean much if anything. I don't enjoy that sort of thing and prefer a narrative style, but they are short enough and infrequent enough to be tolerable.
Ann's reminisces include some sexual activity with Arden, so it isn't a squeaky clean book, which I prefer. It is also quite sad as Arden is engaged before he meets Ann and stays with his pregnant fiance, even though Ann at least seems to feel a very important connection.
It is a fairly quick read and well written but not wonderful.
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