A Death in the Family by James Agee

This 1958 Pulitzer Prize winner centers around Jay Follet and the void his sudden death leaves in his family.  Set in Knoxville in the early part of the 20th century, the narrative skips back and forth between Jay (pre-mortem), his wife, his young son, his wife's spinster aunt, and his young son (with a few other characters thrown in there for effect).

Agee's prose is eloquent and moving at times.  Yet I wonder if I would have read the book differently and gotten a different sense from it had I not read the introduction first.  The author of the introduction reveals that this book was not finished at the time of Agee's death (how fitting to his subject).  The book had not been altered from the final version submitted by Agee and the chapters on the end of the novel had not yet been placed where they were meant to ultimately go. 

In knowing this, I did feel a sense of the novel not really being finished.  There were times when the narrative felt a little too bloated or too frenetic.  I don't know if that was me reading too far into the prose, or trying deliberately to find those situations.  Either way, I did leave the novel with a sense of unease, like the story was not fully formed.

Agee's characters were satisfyingly human though, he expertly portrayed each one's inner monologue of doubt, anger, insecurity, and more.  I enjoyed the character studies of each one and would have loved to see them more polished.  As it was, they did each have a very raw emotional quality to them that was heartbreaking and real.

Overall impression: great characters, if a little unfinished.