The Weir

This is a regional classic, portraying the struggles of life on a fictional small island off the coast of Maine in the years before WWII. Multiple story lines follow characters making their way through different stages of life -- teen boys chafe at being made to stay in school and question the value of Shakespeare to the future they envision as fishermen; young men work at establishing independence from their families and respect in their community; a young woman is caught between the big city allure of Boston where she's an anonymous cannery worker and life at home where she has prestige as a local beauty; the middle-aged weir-tender suffers from years of strain reading the signs of weather and sea to eke out a living; housewives engage in operatic-scale family feuds simply to add spice to a limited social existence; an elderly woman living with her son's family fights the indignities of old age by playing practical jokes on her daughter-in-law. Many on the island wonder if the life is worth it and whether they wouldn't be better off moving to the mainland. The Weir has moments of laugh-out-loud humor and of jaw-dropping drama. It is utterly engaging, and deserves to be widely read and better known.