Starting Out in the Evening

By Brian Morton

Book Overview

Leonard Schiller is a writer in his seventies. All of his books are out of print; he's left no mark in literary history; a lifetime of dedicated labor has brought him few rewards. Heather Wolfe is a graduate student in her twenties. She read Schiller's novels when she was growing up, and they changed her life. She decides to write her master's thesis about Schiller's work, and she sets out to meet him.Starting Out in the Evening is a novel about the unexpected consequences of that meeting--and the unexpected consequences of art. Heather blows into Schiller's life like a whirlwind and overturns everything in it. After years of obscurity, he finds himself dreaming of literary immortality; after a lifetime of restraint, he finds himself infatuated with a woman so young she seemed like an emissary from the future.For Heather, meeting Schiller has even more complicated results. Finding it hard to believe that this cautious, habit-bound man wrote the books that taught her so much about the beauty of taking risks, she begins to suspect that her idol has failed to understand the deepest lessons of his own art.In the course of the novel, we also come to know Schiller's daughter, Ariel, a spirited and tender-hearted former dancer, and her lover, Casey, a restlessly self-questioning black intellectual. Though deeply committed to each other, they are pursuing irreconcilable dreams, and together they are facing the fear that their conflicts will prove greater than their love. When Schiller's fortunes change dramatically, Ariel and Casey are put to a test that neither of them could have prepared for.With a startling sureness of touch, Morton illuminates the inner lives of a variedcast of characters--male and female, young and old, black and white--all of whom are striving to live out their ideals in a world that seems to have little room for idealism. And in Leonard Schiller, Morton has given us one of the most remarkable characters to appear in recent American fiction--an unforgettable portrait of an artist as an old man.Written with breathtaking insight and loving humor, Starting Out in the Evening is an exhilaratingly intelligent and powerful novel--an extraordinary triumph of the novelist's art.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0517708620
• ISBN13: 9780517708620
• Release Date: December 1997
• Publisher: Crown Publishing Group, The
• Length: 325 Pages
• Weight: 1.08 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.8" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

beautiful story of life, love and passion

This book sat on my bookshelf for nearly five years, and I cannot believe I allowed it to. It is one of the most beautifully written books I've ever read. It is deep and sentimental in topic, and yet it reads like a fast paced novel. The characters are intense and mulit-dimensional: Leonard Schiller, a seventy something writer who's life has been dedicated to his art; Ariel, his forty year old daughter in search of her life's meaning and someone to father a child; and Heather, a twenty something aspiring writer and critic who decides to write a master's thesis on Schiller's work.The relationship of the two women will Schiller is incredibly portrayed, as with Ariel Schiller is a loving and nurturing man, and with Heather, his passions are reignited and she makes him feel young. Also interesting is the way Heather and Ariel portray Schiller, and also the way these two women change as Schiller's life circumstances change.The parallels drawn between the three characters is fascinating, especially since each person is so different, and at such a different place in life. Ironically, even though each feels so different from the other, when the older two are compared to Heather in their memories, it seems they are more similar then they think. At the end of this beautiful book, one cannot help but wonder what happens to the characters. Schiller's life goal at the end is to complete his final novel, and I so wish he were a real person so that I could read it. He is a beautiful charcter that brings memories of Morrie Schwartz from Tuesdays With Morrie. If you are looking for a touching, moving, beautifully written book, don't wait any longer. Pick this book up and you will not put it down. Even when you are finished, the characters live on.

Can we get a sixth or seventh star just for this one?

It's been a long, long time since I've ready anything that hit me with the emotional impact that STARTING OUT IN THE EVENING had. THE VIGIL by Clay Reynolds (sadly, out of print the last time I checked) was the last book before this that had me singing its praises so loudly.STARTING OUT IN THE EVENING doesn't use any sort of formula to get the reader involved. Instead, it depends of three-dimensional characters in complicated but life-like situations.As an aspiring writer, I enjoyed a chance to get a glimpse into the creative process and find out what the inner life of a 'real' writer is like. Although it's a book about ideas, it sure isn't dry.This is one I'd recommend to any reader of any age.Bravo.

Luminous Prose

Though much positive already appears here, sometimes you have to add yourself to the crowd. I am a writer and teacher of writing. This prose is truly beautiful and luminous. The clear loving portraits of his characters are unique in that they never veer into the sort of touchy-feely take that so many books do. His characters are distinct and cantankerous, broken and striving for connection, doomed and lovely and by this somehow more whole and human than is at first, seemingly possible. This is a writer who writes a book until it is finished, not until deadline is met. A beauty. Something he can have as a triumph of his own art -- always -- no matter sales, no matter what may come.

Only l6 Reviews?

I should think hundreds of people would have written in praise of this novel. I am 65 years old and was in wonder how an author could so accurately portray both youth and old age. I give it 5 stars because of the joy it brought to me. Am buying paperbacks to give to friends. Sometimes it seemed a bit choppy to me - but this is just my opinion - it still is a wonderful novel and I hope the author thinks about a sequel.

A memorable, profound, tender, lyrical tour de force.

This is an astonishing book. My only disappointment is that it ended. The characters are wonderful, unique, warty, tender and assertive. The insights into the daughter/father relationship and the lover/lover relationship are memorable and profound. From the first sentence to the last, this novel is a reader's fondest dream--a book one cannot put down, for it crystalizes ordinary life so lyrically, so adeptly, so lovingly that leaving it is like leaving a lover whose persona makes daily life a joy.