Sophie's Choice (1979) by William Styron

1,001 Novels: A Library of America

Sophie's Choice (1979)

by William Styron

Brooklyn, New York

Brooklyn/Queens/Long Island/Staten Island: 21/26 

New York: 98/103

   I was really dreading Sophie's Choice, the 1980 National Book Award winner about a doomed romance between Sophie, a Polish-Catholic holocaust survivor and Nathan, a brilliant though erratic Jewish New York city scientist and their relationship with the narrator, a Thomas Wolfe admiring would-be writer from the upper south, who handles narrating duties.  After reading the book, I was proud to announce that I was wrong to dread reading it and in fact it may be my favorite book from the entire New York subchapter- certainly it's a top 10 pick.  Really, Sophie's Choice is two books in one (and at 600 pages that is not an exaggeration) .  

  The first book is Stingo's (the narrator) story.  He is southerner, seeking to become a writer in New York City in 1947.  He moves into a Brooklyn boarding house, attracted, like other southern intellectuals, to the idea of Jewishness.  There he meets sad Sophie and brilliant and erratic Nathan and becomes intertwined in their tumultuous relationship.  The second story is Sophie's recollections about her experiences during World War II, namely being sent off to Auschwitz from Krakow after being caught in possession of a contra-band ham. 

  Sophie's story is gradually revealed over the course of the book, in dribs and drabs, until she finally reveals her famous "choice" (to save one of her two children from the ovens) near the end of the book. Styron expertly intertwines the two tales for maximum dramatic effect- I was not surprised to learn after finishing the book that he won the National Book Award in 1980.  I was totally surprised by the amount of explicit sex, drugs and insanity that Styron portrays- and really enjoyed it.  Sophie's Choice is a no-doubt Holocaust lit classic for the ages and I'm glad the 1,001 Novels project finally forced me to read it!  Recommended!