Early Warning is the second volume in the century trilogy by Jane Smiley. Picking up where Some Luck, the first volume ended, it is now 1953 and Walter Langdon, the patriarch of the family, has passed away leaving his wife to carry on the family farm. Only one child of the five Langdon children remains on the farm now; the rest have scattered and are living in Washington DC and California and various places in between. It is a time of uncertainty, with the threat of Cold War looming and the post war economy struggling.

Following the pattern Smiley established in the first book, each chapter is a new year and we now follow the Langdon children who are starting their own families and confronting the social unrest of the 60’s and 70’s. This new generation of children are a product of their times, pushing the new values that are emerging to their limits. One child leaves college to fight in Vietnam, a rebellious daughter finds comfort in the message of Reverend Jim Jones at the People’s Temple in San Francisco and twin brothers vacillate between being best friends and fierce rivals. As the 80’s begin (and this book ends,) the family basks in the unexpected wealth of a booming economy and the seemingly endless optimism it brings.

Smiley’s task is a complicated one. In this second book the number of characters she must follow has grown exponentially and thus we are unable to spend as much time with each one or get as close to them as we we were able to in her first book.  However, Smiley does an excellent job in taking these characters and growing them up from children to adults in the span of one book.  Overall she does weave the historical events into the fabric of her characters quite seamlessly but there were a few times when I felt that she was just ticking off these events without grounding them in a cohesive way. I found it quite fascinating to have had my own experiences during this time and to now have the opportunity to engage them again from the viewpoint of one of the characters. It was sometimes a bit disconcerting but always enlightening. Smiley’s writing is as always, a joy to read and her research is impeccable. I am looking forward to reading the conclusion to this series,  the Golden Age!

Brenda’s Rating: ****(4 out of 5 Stars)  

Recommend this book to: Keith, Ken Sharon and Marian

Book Study Worthy? Yes

Read in ebook format.