LITERATURE

Should I Still Wish

by John W. Evans
Univ. of Nebraska.(American Lives). Jan. 2017. 160p. ISBN 9780803295223. pap. $19.95; ebk. ISBN 9780803295797.MEMOIR
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After his wife is killed in a violent bear attack, Evans (creative writing, Stanford Univ.) spends a year grieving, at a loss for what to do with his life. Then, as a way to pick himself up and begin again, he takes a cross-country journey—from Indiana to California—during which he reunites with an old friend whom he eventually marries and has a family. The loss of Evans first wife hovers over the entire book, but there is something cathartic in his writing about her and his new life without her. In the end, he comes to see how she made his fresh start possible and is able to arrive at some sense of acceptance.
VERDICT Evans's prose is often pedestrian, and his insights don't always resonate. This is a book that would be more enjoyable to pick up and read in increments rather than all the way through.
Reviewed by Derek Sanderson, Mount Saint Mary Coll. Lib., Newburgh, NY , Nov 17, 2016
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