Crossing to Safety

Content Warning: This section of the guide contains discussion of illness or death

Gather initial thoughts and broad opinions about the book.

1. Stegner structures Crossing to Safety through Larry’s memories, creating a non-linear narrative that spans decades. How did this approach to storytelling affect your experience of the novel, and did you find it effective for exploring the evolution of friendship?

2. How would you characterize the tone of Crossing to Safety compared to Stegner’s other acclaimed work, Angle of Repose? Both novels explore long marriages and friendships across decades, but what differences do you notice in how Stegner approaches these relationships?

3. The title Crossing to Safety comes from Robert Frost’s poem “I Could Give All to Time,” about preserving what matters most while time takes everything else. What aspects of the novel do you think this title illuminates most clearly?

Encourage readers to connect the book’s themes and characters with their personal experiences.

1. Throughout the novel, Larry struggles with feeling inferior to the Langs due to his humble background. When have you navigated relationships with people from different social or educational backgrounds, and what insights did you gain from those experiences?