The Living: Thoughts on a Novel by Annie Dillard

The Living is about the dying, who happen to be bubbling up from the ground before being turned under again by the universal plow, death. Annie Dillard, as in much of her writing, focuses often on suffering and evil in the world, and the astounding spectacle of life that takes place in the face of all this whirling mayhem. The characters are trying to make sense of it all, as are we readers, right along side them and their stories.


The Living unfolds roughly over the last half of the 19th century in Bellingham Bay, Washington state. The rapidly changing land and settlements are some of the chief characters in the book. But the people still take center stage. This book is about pioneers, settlers, adventures, and a host of others. It is about the hardships they overcame, and the hard things that overcame them, along with the ordinary joys they celebrate along the way.


Dillard brings to life dozens of interesting and vivid characters throughout the story, and kills them off with an often frustrating pace. The Fishburns, particularly Ada and her son Clare, tie the whole story together, but don't take up most of the storytelling. Dillard leaves lots of room to introduce us to new folks. While this could tear the novel apart given its size, the thematic interests of the novel and its setting hold it together and unite the characters.


At times the style of writing struggles to be convincing as a novel, but in the end I must admit the book is a stunning triumph. Comparisons between The Living and War and Peace come to mind: the breadth of characters, the scope of time, the place of the land within the story, and the examination of religion and the meaning of life are all tackled in both books. Dillard covers all these in one third the space of Tolstoy's classic.


Dillard makes good use of the descriptive style and the attention to details that I fell in love with in Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. For the most part it has transfered well to the novel. The Living was a delight to read, and left me feeling connected in some way to Bellingham Bay and the Cascade Mountains of Washington. Beyond this scenic attachment, The Living opened a new window on the universe and the human soul. I feel that is nearly the highest accolade I can give a novel.