In the 1960s, the world is evolving faster than anyone can quite comprehend. Though, for Bert and Trudy, the turmoil of war in Vietnam and the rising political tension in America seem peripheral to their own struggles to live peacefully in rural Vermont, particularly after the tragic death of their child. Following such a monumental loss, the subtle symptoms of unresolved grief come to infect an otherwise loving and optimistic marriage. The American dream as lived by the two young idealists begins to lose its charm, and Bert and Trudy's relationship begins to suffer under the weight of monotony and unfulfilled ambition. As they struggle to come to terms with their own discontent and disappointment---both in themselves and each other--the story delicately unfolds and beautifully articulates the reality of quiet and confused despair. The couple ultimately attempt to reignite their youth with a change in scenery, but their conflicting desires come to be embodied by the energetic but demanding optimism of urban New York City contrasted with the serene but imposing silence of rural Vermont.
South reveals the often unidentified and unspoken trauma induced by American attitudes towards loss, love, and meaning throughout the latter half of the twentieth century. With beautiful prose and utterly convincing characters, Richard Ploetz provides what the American novel has been missing since Faulkner: a story about normal people told with enough intelligence and curiosity to remind us what colossal emotional lives are lived under the veil of normalcy.
