Nebraska Books

This book provided great comfort to me during my struggle with loss. I read it three years after the sudden death of my boyfriend in a grisly auto wreck. It has a lot to say about undying love. The beauty of the language is startling; savor it. The author presents the loss of a loved one with a stark and unforgiving realism; it hurts, and you will feel pain. There is no balm for this kind of suffering, only the acceptance of permanent sadness, coupled with a vague hope for continued survival. What is it like to live when you lose, forever, the one you could not live without? And is it even worth doing? Read the book and find out.

The glowing reviews of this book compelled me to buy it. I regret this decision.
I could not identify with any of the characters. Dalva is a character invented by a man who obviously doesn't have a clue as to how a woman thinks. I could not relate to or sympathize with her at all.
Michael is a self-absorbed alcoholic who has a failing academic career and has the sexual maturity of a 13-yr. old boy.
Naomi and her father-in-law were the only characters that engaged me and they were hardly developed in a satisfying way.
The history of the Sioux people seemed to be thrown in as almost an afterthought, though this was the most compelling aspect of the book.

Overall, this book was a disappointment even though the storyline could have made for interesting reading. I threw it away.

The title character of "Dalva" holds the book together, as a finely drawn, if rather unbelievable, woman who can be described by quite a lengthy string of adjectives, mostly positive. She would be an intriguing person to know, and I'm not thinking of her frequent, casual sex life, either. Harrison captures Dalva well at middle age, perhaps struggling with a fairly aimless direction and a fresh desire to find her son given up at birth. Those threads make for a decent novel.

The other characters were responsible for dragging Dalva down to an average score. The self-absorbed academic, Michael, was unappealing to me, even when he had some humorous mis-adventures. His connection with Dalva makes little sense. Michael's narrative forms the second of the three main sections, and adds little value. The other people have their moments of spark and insight, although none especially engaging.

The ancestor's journals about personal involvement with the Sioux and other key moments in the clash between the natives and the white man offered an enlightening view into that unfortunate time. However, I couldn't get into all of that, because at some point the journal entries don't add much to move the story forward, and almost read as extended asides.

3.5 stars, rounded down

I just started reading Jim Harrison's books in May and have now read three and am going onto my 4th book. He is a great writer. This is a good book that drew me in and made me feel the characters were real. It is a very good read.

How many people list Nebraska as a Must-See Vacationland? Read this book and you will. Harrison brings not only his characters but the Nebraska farmland to life. Suddenly, the Niobrara River valley is on my list of places to visit. Not unlike other Harrison novels, birds, animals, even spirits play significant roles in this elaborate, sweeping (like the Plains?) romance as Dalva seeks her child given up years ago for adoption and her own place in her family's rich heritage in this land. Harrison has created an illuminating and tragic love story on many levels.

Stefan Zweig writes a great memoir about the world before the Nazi Destruction of Europe. He was a true international person who tragically could not relate to the severe nationalism that swept the world. He felt comfortable in so many countries; unfortunately his own country disowned him and even though Brazil took him in, he did not have the desire to start over. His descriptions of famous personalities like Freud are the real strength of the book and make the book historically valuable.

This is an interesting book, I grant, particularly for the period-view we get, and particularly since that period is so obscured from view by the enormity of the First World War and its consequences. It is more interesting for an in situ account of how the Austrian or other continental European, living in a centuries-old Empire, should come to regard "nationalism" as a distinct, distinctly evil thing. I say interesting because in fact nationalism simply means the sensibility that one lives in a nation, of which one is a citizen, rather than a monarchy, of which one is a subject - and the consequences which flow from that difference. We are still working them out, as Chou En Lai might say. But it is an especially curious misunderstanding since nationalism was really the RESULT of World War I - all those former provinces and dukedoms and prince-ipalities and colonies become autonomous states (from Czechoslovakia to Iraq) - not the cause. What Zweig and his intellectual brethren fail to acknowledge - more likely, do not want to admit - is that Germany was the aggressor, and Austria her sister in crime. Almost the entirety of subsequent discourse on European, even Modern political life - with all its ramifications for a development of an international political grammar - is in reality a gigantic evasion of this simple fact: German Militarism was to blame. Zweig stands at the dawn of this enterprise, resulting in the jump from "Empire!" to "Internationalism!" or Transnationlism, as epitomized by the intellectual left and UN-adorers, and its significance for the present ought to be obvious to anyone who watches the news. Unfortunately this successor sentiment, whether Communist or your typical Tranzi typically unaware of the provenance of his own ideas, serves political fanaticism equally well, as was demonstrated all throughout the world subsequent to (and largely as a consequence of) Zweig's war.

Anyway, an interesting account, particularly of the STD epidemic that ravaged the unfortunate whore-addicted brats of Franz Joseph's twilight Vienna, which convinced him of the much more natural beauty of Free Love (Achtung!), etc., but also tedious and tendentious, in my opinion.

Zweig provides a unique account of early 20th Century Europe and the feelings of Europeans during two of the most important events in history - World War I and World War II. His references and descriptions to many of the European writers, musicians, etc... were not the reason I wanted to read the book, but it still was an entertaining read.

There is no better book that gives such deep, intimate insight into the Europe of 100 years ago, a Europe unrecognizable for today's man and yet the spring from which all events of this past century flowed. Truly beautiful, written with heartbreaking emotion and melancholy. Buy it!

This is a truly important book. Not only because Stefan Zweig is an intellectual of the highest calibre, but the manner in which he guides you through the years of fundamental change in Europe and the world. From the pre WW1 years of security and intellectual pursuit for a better world, united intellectually and artistically, to its pointless breakdown which gave the twin evils of communism and facism footholds, and kept Europe in fear, ignorance and false intellectualism until the fall of the Berlin Wall, although the shock waves have yet still to fade altogether.

Being apolitical and non partizan makes Zweigs account all the more powerful. How mundane and everyday and unthought about were the assasination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand ( no one liked him; no one really cared) or the slow rise of Hitler and his National Socialists (They won't last a week) A blind faith in democracy, a belief that reason triumphs all fell due to stupidity of a fading oligharchy and the brutality of communism and facism. (Zweig recalls a conversation with his publisher in Russia who painfully recalled thinking that a load of ignorant Bolsheviks wouldn't last a week!)The manner in which so called 'intellectuals' got caught up in the jingoism abandoned Zweigs company when Hitler started his anti semitic hatreds.How much strength it took for Zweig and fellow pacifist thinkers such as Rolland to resist knowing what they did and how dangerous it was for them.

In this book lays a great message for all people of all times. We are still far away from Zweigs much hoped for age of reason ( the Taleban in Afghanistan, Mugabe in Zimbabwe, our own belief in our 'superior' morals) and are still -and always will be- vulnurable to brutality and ignorance of mob man.

A vital and important book.

I cannot tell you how intense this book is! I just could not stop reading because I was so worried about the characters. I have never felt so much suspense from any book, and this is non fiction! The author writes with skill to keep the pace moving while explaining historical facts and details. Each chapter, whether describing the party's preparations, their adventure through a desert, or their extreme ordeal in the snow, was informative and captivating. I loved how the reader got to know most of the characters, and when it came time for them to suffer their terrible ordeal, you will be left on the edge of your seat rooting for certain people to make it out alive! The decisions these people make are so fascinating, the action so thrilling, and the story so swift, that you will be completely engrossed! This book is as good as it can get!

Ordeal by Hunger is George Stewart's definitive book on the Donner Party. The Donner Party was a pioneer wagon train on it's way to California in the 1840's. After a series of setbacks caused by unfortunate decisions, they are forced to spend the winter high up in the Sierra Nevada. Low on food, and in a harsh environment, the families do unspeakable and sometimes incredible things to survive.

The story is well told. The participants are portrayed neither as heroes or ghouls, but as ordinary people who act both heroic at times and cowardly at others. The travelers were forced by hunger to make decisions and accomplish feats that one finds hard to imagine. Stewart does not center the story around the cannibalism, although he doesn't run away from it either. The book is about survival and human endurance, and the character of men when we are tested. As Stewart writes toward the end of the 1935 edition, "Few, I fear, will find it always easy reading. But after all, the merely pleasant is thin and bloodless; a picnic in the park scarcely gives humanity a chance to show of what it is capable."

For those who seek adventure and history at the same time this book is for you.The tale of the Donner Party is well known, at least to those who find the formation of the west exciting. What makes reading it all worth while is that it truly happened.For want of a shorter route to California this wagon train opted to take a different way.They were informed of it by a well known and respected source they had no reason to doubt.This proved their undoing and in the race against time and weather they most assuredly lost more than they bargained for.The book is practically a day by day chronology of the progress or lack thereof and the flight into cold,dwindling supply,starvation,death and ultimate survival of the fittest over the period of about a year.Then, of course, there is that other notable facet of this particular successful failure which set it apart from the rest.The inclusion of the unspeakable taboo known as cannibalism which got some of them through, just barely.The rescue attempts, the incredible, unbelievable depth of the snow, the arctic type temperatures and the animalistic,subhuman existance these party members had to endure makes for some intense, incredible reading.The book which has undergone several revisions also include actual diaries of some of the party and supplimental material by the author which add to the story and tend to back up the facts which went into the writing of the book. It is clear he took his work seriously. Originally written in 1936, it is a labor of love and truly a definitive reference of the tragedy.If real, actual history coupled with horrible,palpable and dire circumstances is your meat then you have found a winner in Ordeal by Hunger.You won't put it down for long.As you progress you feel as if you are part of the intensity,anxiety and fear as you experience not only one race against time but a second race where each day that passes meant the difference between life and death for young and old alike.Not unlike Scott returning from the South Pole after his struggle toward it only to face second place to Amundsen.Returning was a daily struggle against loss of strength,food and weather that wouldn't let up.He did not make it back and died on the ice frozen harder than a popsicle,but that's another story.There are other books about this unique episode in American history you could read and you should watch the available documentaries but this book has stood the test of time and is all you would need if questions or interest about the Donner Party should come up in your safe,warm,dry,well fed,happy, uncomplicated life.Barbequed ribs,flank steak and beef jerky will never look the same again and you might turn down an offer to spend a winter vacation in a cabin in the woods as well.Read this book to appreciate what you have and what the Donners et al. sacrificed to get some for themselves and their families.Some made it through and some never knew what hit them or bit them.Enjoy!

We bought this book at the Reno Nevada airport after spending a week in the Truckee area. My wife and I both went through the book in record time. It's hard to put down once you start.

Written over 70 years ago, this account of the Donner Party is still captivating and contemporary. Stewart was a fastidious historiographer as well as a gifted storyteller. This fascinating drama unfolds crisply and frankly. Despite the gruesome details, or perhaps because of them, one becomes engrossed and enticed to keep turning the pages to learn what happened next.

The 1960 supplement was interesting but drier than the original 1936 text. The diary entries and letter from three of the survivors provide a unique view into the ordeal, and the reference summaries are useful aids for keeping the characters and itinerary straight.

I've been reading some of the Cather books and have enjoyed all of them. The best part of this book is her story within a story technique. Her descriptions of the American southwest are outstanding. This book held my attention, especially as it progressed. It is not as good as "My Antonia", which to me is her all time best, but it is an excellent reading experience.

Willa Cather is one of the top five American writers. She gets little notice, it seems, today. I find that very strange, given the feminist movement in America. I've read three of her other books and this is the oddest, and most wonderful, or perhaps I forget how O Pioneers, Death Comes for the Archbishop and My Antonia affected me so greatly.

Nothing seems to happens in her books and yet they blow me away and I remember them always. I do not exaggerate that they haunt me. I know that sounds dramatic, but that is what a good book does.

I struggled with this book. I'd read twenty pages, put it down for weeks, come back and read twenty more pages and then, finally I said I was going to finish it. As I was starting to read the last sixty pages -- it is a short book -- I was thinking to myself: 'I'm sorry I ever started to read this.' I was merely finishing it as a sense of duty. But then, the last thirty-five pages had me by my heart and it 'explained' all that I had plodded through previously.

I don't know if I can recommend this book. I'd fear that it would bore to tears any friend who would read it. But for me, it's effect is monumental --- and it has been a while that I can say that about most books I've read. I suspect that this book does not move younger readers as it does older readers, as it is a summing up of a man's life and how he has lived it. I'm not sure that a person who has not put many years into living would understand Miss Cather's brilliance in how she does this through --ironically--a quite ordinary professor's life.

I am a huge Willa Cather fan and have been reading her novels in the order she wrote them. I started "The Professor's House" in eager anticipation, because I just LOVED "A Lost Lady," the book that preceded it.

"The Professor's House" has many, many good elements, but ultimately I was disappointed. The last part of the book was unworthy of what had gone before. In the end, I felt as though I'd invested a lot in the Professor and that that investment had not paid off. I'm glad I read it, but think it's nowhere close to one of Cather's best.

I thought the first two section of the book were excellent. I believed almost everything about the Professor's life and his relationships. My only criticism of the beginning portion of the novel was Cather's superficial and, yes, bigoted attitude toward the Jewish son-in-law, Louie Marsellus. I didn't have a problem accepting Louie as a real person. But Cather could only see him and comment on him as "the other." One of Cather's great strengths is her understanding of how the world looks to the different characters in her novels. She may not agree with who they are and how they act, but she is usually deeply empathetic. Not so with Louie. The fact that he is a Jew is somehow taken as an explanation for everything. Even in 1925, I expect better of a writer of Cather's insight and talent. Interestingly, Louie is ultimately one of the most sympathetic and generous characters in the novel. But Cather writes as though she'd never had a close Jewish friend, or never applied her prodigious imagination to contemplate Louie's psychology and point of view.

Still, even with the problem with Louie, I thought the first book was very good. It was filled with the wonderful writing and the psychological, sociological and philosophical depth that I so admire in Cather.

I also enjoyed the second book, Tom Outland's story. I agree with an earlier reviewer that the section set in Washington, D.C. was particularly good. I was raised in Washington, and my mother's family has lived there since the 1840's. Cather just NAILED the town.

But it all came to a crashing halt in the final section, when we return to the Professor's story. Did Cather lose interest? Did she not know where to go with the Professor? This section was too short and undeveloped. The first two parts of the book deserved a more thorough and satisfying conclusion. I particularly objected to the section about how the Professor had gotten back in touch with the unthinking boy he'd been back in Kansas. Hogwash. Not credible. This guy's an intellectual. He might come to see the limits of what many academics pretentiously call "the life of the mind." But jettison it entirely for some romantic, unreal Tom Sawyer fantasy? I don't think so.

My advice: do read "The Professor's House," but don't make it your first Cather book.

Those expecting something as vivid and moving as "My Antonia" will be sorely disappointed by this book. Ms. Cather was at her worst when she wrote in imitation of earlier lady novelists such as Edith Wharton or Henry James, and the entire first half of this novel concerns the intrigues of a Midwest Brahmin family. During this part there is absolutely no plot, just tedious description and some of the most stilted dialogue ever written. The cardboard characters include the good-natured protagonist, Professor St. James, and his two daughters, one sweet (Cordelia?) and one rapacious (Goneril?). The bad daughter is lolling in luxury due to the avaricious machinations of her husband, who, naturally, is a Jew - a stereotypical Jew, the worst kind.

If that weren't bad enough, when a plot is finally introduced it concerns a preposterous device (or substance) called "the Outland vacuum" which is said to concern bulkheads and be a boon to aviation. It seems as though the novel will now hinge on the moral issue of who is entitled to the rewards for this great discovery (the Outland vacuum may also be a gas), but I suspect that at this point Ms. Cather realized that she had gone in over her head, and the novel comes to a sudden halt. The next page begins a second novel, about as bad as the first but which takes place among cowboys out West who discover a lost Indian city.

Alas, this likewise amounts to little, and we eventually return to the warmhearted professor who comes to the good-ol' American conclusion that being rich and famous is not all it's cracked up to be, and real happiness is found among the plain folk.

Y'know, people, just because something is old and ostensibly literature doesn't mean it's really great. My only worry is that schoolkids will be forced to read this - under the theory that classic fiction is "good" for them - and they will thus be alienated from reading books because they're so dull.

I read My Antonia and loved it so much that I consider it one of my favorite books. And, that's why I really really really wanted to like this book. But after giving it a chance for about 218 pages, I couldn't bear it any longer.

The problems I have with this book are as follows:

1) I understand the book's plot of the professor trying to find meaning in his life. That's the book I was looking for. The problem is that the Tom Outland character does not get you there and most of the text of the book is on this character.

2) Which brings me to my biggest gripe about this book, and Cather in particular. Cather cannot, to save her life, write a believable male character. Tom Outland is supposed to be an orphaned boy turned cowboy around the turn of the century, but Cather managed to make him out to be so unbelievably feminine that I found myself in wonder at how little she knows about men. She holds Outland out to be the hero of the story, the inspiration behind the Professor's motivation. That's fine, but if I'm supposed to conclude the Professor part of the story, then I have to buy Outland's character and it's just not possible. Here are some examples of Cather not being believable:

a) When she describes Tom Outland's hands through the professor's eyes, she describes them as beautiful and delicate. Worse still, she bothers to describe them in detail. Men don't do that.

b) Around page 218 when she begins Outland's tirade against Blake she makes Outland sound off like a nagging wife about how Blake shouldn't have sold the pottery etc. Men don't argue this way with friends; they don't have hissy fits - they stay quiet!

c) After the argument in (b) above, as Blake leaves the scene, she describes Outland wishing to run after him and hold him in his arms. Men just don't think like that.

d) When Outland is in Washington D.C. trying to get people to take interest in the pottery he discovered, he lets himself get ignored, disrespected, and he waits by tolerantly while being stepped on by people in positions of power. That's not a description of a turn of the century orphaned cowboy; that's a description of a turn of the century well-to-do woman of society - the only world Cather appears to know.

e) Whenever Tom Outland meets other men in his life as a cowboy, they are always really "nice and pleasant". Indeed they are overly accommodating. Huh? I could see cowboys being really respectful and accommodating to a beautiful woman of society (like Cather) but an orphaned cowboy? She just puts too much of herself in this character. I couldn't buy it.

3) Now before reviewers think my gripes are based on some sort of homophobia, let me just say that if it had been a story about men in love with each other, I would have accepted that as at least being believable. But that's not Cather's intention. Outland ends up marrying the professor's daughter. Is Cather trying to send out a bisexual message of some kind? Was the professor gay? The text just does not support any kind of homosexual message either explicitly or implicitly.

4) Cather plays out Outland to be this super human being. Indeed he is the inspiration to the Professor and all the other characters in the book. But if that's the case, why is he on the wrong side of the moral debate on the Dreyfus affair? Cather wrote this book in 1925; twenty five years after all the facts had already come out on that case and yet Cather has Outland take the side of bigots?

5) In Outland's tirade against Blake, Outland chews him out for selling ancient pottery belonging to native Indian tribes. Earlier in the book it's concluded that the tribe was decimated by outsiders. In chastising Blake, Outland declares that Blake was wrong to sell the pottery because it was not his. He says that the pottery belongs to his country, to the State etc. That's the best our hero can do? Wouldn't the right thing to do be to leave the ruins to themselves and not dig up the belongings of the decimated people - i.e. let them rest in peace?

Anyway, I was sorely disappointed. I gave The Professor's House one star more than it deserves only because My Antonia deserves six.

I think I first tried to read BRCM more than 20 years ago, but set it aside for something shorter and more immediate. Maybe I just needed the extra years under my belt to fully appreciate Stegner's accomplishment with this book. Four major characters, all members of the same family, are fully fleshed out and just as human as fictional characters get. Bo and Elsa Mason and their two sons, Chet and Bruce, form a kind of microcosm of American society during the hard times that stretched from the turn of the century into the Depression. And there are no real "bad guys" in this story; only people who are victims of their own appetites and dreams, and of their own heritage and hardscrabble surroundings. This is still a powerful story, even after 65 years. I recommend it highly. - Tim Bazzett, author of Reed City Boy

There is no denying Stegner's iconic status as the dean of "western writers." While Big Rock Candy Mountain isn't actually his first novel- it feels like a first novel, and a startling, impressive effort to boot. Big Rock is supposed to be an autobiograhical tale that charts the travails of Stegner's own nuclear family- Dad Bo- a rough and ready frontiersman who is always a day late and a dollar short, his mom Elsa- a near runaway from the Scandanavian settlements of Minnesota- who married the first man she fell in love with, brother Chet and little Bruce- who, as it turns out, is the Stegner character.

Despite some peculiar narrative technique (including a tedious lapse into second person narration "You take the hose to the cellar, you wash the potatoes by hand" etc during a few chapters of the book, the pacing and observation is first rate, as you would expect from a master of american literature. Three or four times during the course of reading Big Rock, I found myself looking at the copyright to verify that this book had indeed been published in 1943.

Stegner's style is certainly "naturalism" and it's hard not to hear the echoes of Theodore Dreiser's "Sister Carrie" in the character of the Elsa. However, the beautiful, evocative descriptions of little towns in North Dakota, wheat farms in Saskatschewan, Montana roads during the prohbition era, and depression era Salt Lake City are what kept me reading to the very one.

Although big rock is 500+ pages, it's a pretty quick read- I managed to read all but the last hundred pages over the course of a hot, lazy labor day weekend sunday.

I enjoyed the book. Stegner does a good job evoking life around this period (1900-1930s), and describing realistic characters. However, the mother - she was portrayed as a saint - was exasperating with her infinite patience and understanding of her husband's inexcusable behavior.

I'm sure there were and are women like Elsa, but I would characterize them as co-dependent and lacking an iota of self-respect/esteem, rather than as extraordinarily kind and wise. For example, it's truly pathetic how she apologizes to one and all for being so much trouble when she's deathly ill.

This is probably one of the darkest, most merciless books I've ever read -- exceeded only in bleakness by Sigrid Undset's "Master of Hestviken." I picked it up expecting a book about pioneers, but "Little House on the Prairie" this is not, though it was written around the same time (early 1940's). Imagine pioneering not with the gentle, kind, intelligent, and progressive Charles Ingalls as your father -- but with his unstable, bipolar, obsessive-compulsive, violent, abusive and sadistic twin. This book could serve as a nifty handbook for women on the perils of marrying a sexy baseball-playing "bad boy." The mother suffers, and suffers, and suffers some more -- the father acts horrible, and more horrible, then redeems himself somewhat, but eventually devolves into one of the most truly despicable characters in modern fiction, whilst mom is martyred by her own bad choice in a man. Seriously, there were moments in this book when I was shocked -- SHOCKED! -- and I don't consider myself a lightweight. All the same, I just couldn't put this book down! It's an incredibly interesting portrayal of the tragectory of a f***ed-up American family 1880-1920, including the infamous 1918 flu epidemic. And the father really is a fascinating character; if you are an amateur psychologist it's fun to identify his various pathologies.

Wallace Stegner wrote "The Big Rock Candy Mountain" relatively early in his career (1943, at age 34), and the book reflects the author's enormous talents, which were still developing at that time. Stegner tells the tale of Bo Mason, who leads a rootless life on the fringes of the law. Mason is a bootlegger, gambler and precious metals speculator. Each peak he achieves is higher than his last, and each valley is deeper. This is true both financially and in his relationship with his wife, Elsa, and two sons, Chet and Bruce. Some reviewers point out that the story is somewhat autobiographical. That's probably a safe assumption. But it's also the story of the American West a century ago, where raw optimism, the struggle for acceptance, and harsh realities shaped people's existence.

The harsh reality of "The Big Rock Candy Mountain" is that it isn't one of Stegner's best works. Of course, that's a very high standard. Readers will understandably have great expectations when diving into this book, and some may be disappointed. For example, the younger son's seething hatred towards his father is introduced early in the book and is central to the conclusion, but is poorly developed in the interim chapters. Likewise, the voice of the book drifts between the 3rd person and the 2nd person. This gives the reader a voyeuristic glimpse into each character's personal thoughts. It's a nice gimmick, but awkwardly executed.

On an absolute scale, this book is a no-brainer 5 stars. But relative to other Stegner novels, "The Big Rock Candy Mountain" has some minor flaws. Read it and you'll certainly enjoy it. But you'll appreciate even more the experience of reading the early efforts of one of America's greatest 20th century writers.

He's done it again and I find that surprising because most writers have maybe one good book in them and the others are just lame copies of the good one, but Wiltse has written a lot of books and everyone of them is at the very least very good and some of them well beyond that. This one comes after Heartland, which was terrific and this one is even deeper, more complex, and intensely interesting. Billy Tree is a great protagonist, extremely human, no superman he, Falls City is a fascinating ambiance, and the story with its interplay of the past and the present and social justice paired with criminal justice is a mix I've never see before.

He doesn't carry a gun because he's afraid. He quit the Secret Service after killing his partner to save his own skin, an act that causes Billy to lose all self esteem he previously had. He believes himself, perhaps rightly so, a coward, a loser, and a worthless piece of garbage. The reason he doesn't kill himself, i believe, is to rid himself of this burdon he decides is his 'raison d'etre'.

Doesn't sound like a pretty good cop (not really a cop, more of an unpaid 'advisor'). WRONG. He still posesses great investigating skills. You kind of like this character in spite of himself: his being funny at the wrong time, telling jokes to relieve pressure situations, talking in his Irish brogue for no apparent reason, speaking to people over their intellectual powers without insulting them.

This second book in the Billy Tree series involves the lynching of a black man some 50 years in the past and the repercussions today. Excellent writing - the kind you have to read a bit more slowly than normal to appreciate to gift that David Wiltse posseses.

Billy Tree is the hero of Heartland, from a couple of years ago. He's a small-town boy who joined the Secret Service, and became a hero for his actions in a shootout with a lunatic. Unknown to virtually everyone, he completely lost control of himself in the shootout and basically now is a complete coward. He's terrified of guns and confrontations, and will do anything to avoid them, so he's decided to pass his time working as a deputy sheriff in his small hometown. In this second book he goes a long way to avoid things he didn't need to, and gets himself in way over his head when things don't go the way he thinks they will.

This book is mostly about a lynching that happened over 50 years before the time the book took place, and the repercussions that result from it, through the years. It involves one whopper of a coincidence, and a lot of misconceptions, mistaken identities, and confused motives. At the end of the book you're still not entirely certain what happened, and it's apparent that the main characters aren't sure either. While the book does have an interesting plot, and some action that keeps it moving, it also can be just annoying. There's a scene where one character repeatedly refers to the "weapon" because saying anything else would give away to the reader something the author wishes to conceal, for instance. Anyway, I enjoyed the book, but not that much, and I think I'd be wary of recommending it.

This is a story of a small-town investigation into a lynching that took place 50 years ago. Our hero, and the hero of his hometown of Falls City, Nebraska is sheriff's deputy Billy Tree and he is urged to investigate by an unknown person who uses a very unconventional method in which to grab his attention. The lynching from so long ago is destined to affect Billy and others close to him in more ways than he can imagine.

Although Billy is a good man who is admired by his fellow townsfolk, he constantly battles his own feelings of jealousy and prejudice and never believes that he his worthy of their admiration. This book deals quite sensitively with race issues and prejudices and the way, not only Billy tries to fight them, but the way the greater population still accepts them.

Wiltse manages to describe rural Nebraska so poetically that he makes what would normally be considered a boring landscape of flat fields of corn seem beautiful and special to behold. His description of a Nebraska sunset had me ready to pack up my belongings and head straight to the cornfields myself.

This is a great, entertaining and thought provoking read. Wiltse's characters are always very introspective. I found this to be an honest representation of a man keenly aware of and working through his feelings about race. This is an old mystery solved in the present with a realistic perspective. Wiltse writes this type of character so very well and, as always, weaves a solid mystery plot.

Many other reviewers have expressed more or less my sentiments about this book, but I shall add my own voice. 'A Lost Lady' is very short but extremely rich, with the elegance of a waltz but the depth and richness of a symphony. The style is capable, but limpid and graceful; the characters are sympathetic and their experiences meaningful. Cather paints a beautiful picture of a 'golden age' in decline. This is rightfully a classic. Highly recommended for all interested in American fiction, or good literature in general.

Critic Leon Edel wrote of Cather, "The time will come when she'll be ranked above Hemingway." Well, I'm there! In fact, I've been there since I finished "O Pioneers." For the last several years, I've been reading her books in order and just marvel at Cather's talent, her insights, and the economy of her writing.

I was disappointed in "One of Ours," the Pulitzer-Prize winning book that preceded "A Lost Lady.' The Midwest sequences in "One of Ours" were fine, but Cather seemed lost in unfamiliar territory when the setting switched to World War I France. "One of Ours" was a memorial tribute to a beloved relative of Cather's, so perhaps her emotions got the better of her writing and her observations.

I was glad that she returned to the land and people she knew best with "A Lost Lady."

Every word in this little book rang true to me. Every character - major and minor - was alive and fully realized. The events and settings - all vivid and deeply credible.

In fact, I stayed in bed all one morning to finish this book. Like a great mystery - this was a "page turner" for me. Cather sprinkles delicious hints throughout that propelled me forward. The satsifaction I felt at the end was similar to what one feels after finishing a first-rate mystery - only here the satisfaction was on the much higher plane of great literature.

If you've read "O Pioneers," "Song of the Lark," or "My Antonia," you know that Cather understood strong, admirable women. What a revelation that she could ALSO write a great book with a charming but weak woman as its central character. We admire and like Marian Forrester for her wit and grace, while at the same time we deplore her superficiality and hypocrisy.

Like Neil, we never are quite sure who Mrs. Forrester is, what she thinks, or what motivates her. But that is precisely what makes this book such a work of art - and so true to life. I expect to reflect on Mrs. Forrester, Neil, the Captain - even Ivy Peters - and the others for many years to come.

This probably should not be the first Cather book you read. "O Pioneers" or "My Antonia" are probably better choices. But don't lose sight of this small but dazzling jewel.

Once again Willa Cather vividly and yet quietly brings out the inherent loneliness of the American homesteading West.

Set in a small railroad town, the story focuses on one young man's perception of a "lady" who he sees as unlike any other that he has know. Beautiful, lively, kind, aloof yet she shows a warmth and depth that Neil (the protaganist) was unused to in his frontier town.

Over time, heart-ache and isolation eventually cause her to lose her soul.

Cather is a genious in her quiet portrayial of this lonely woman and the on-going breaking of her spirit. Loneliness invades every word, every image and every character in "The Lost Woman".

I would recommend that this novel be listened to as well as read. Reading Cather is a joy, but there are so many details of language that are easy to dismiss unless you can hear the words.

Wonderful.

Compelling in its description of time and place, A Lost Lady is about old railroad society and chronicles the graceful standout Marian Forrester, a great lady of the old school. In a time where ladies wore dresses and were hosts to house parties and dinner parties, Mrs. Forrester, the second wife of Daniel Forrester, comes from California to a small railroad town in the midwest called Sweet Water to homestead and receive great men of the railroad at her home. She falls upon hard times and new money takes over old money, but she is always revered by Neil Forrester, a young boy who watches her downfall. Mrs. Forrester is the last holdout from old times, and she remains a fixture in Neil's memory long after the last railroad has been built.

What a beautiful story! What a magnificent writer Willa Cather is. This relatively short story is sure to captivate any fan of hers who has not had the pleasure of perusing this gem yet. If you enjoyed "My Antonia" and/or "O Pioneers!", then I can guaranty you, you will simply love this novella.

"A Lost Lady" is the story of Marian Forrester and her much older, but very charming and amicable husband Captain Daniel Forrester. The Forrester's live in the small Western town of Sweet Water. The novel is written through the eyes of a young man Niel Herbert who also lives in Sweet Water and is good friends with the Forrester's. Ever since he was a young boy, Niel, along with just about everyone else in Sweet Water, is truly entranced by the grace, charm and beauty of Mrs. Forrester. She is the true embodiment, the aesthetic ideal of the perfect woman. However, as Niel grows up and becomes a young man he slowly but surely learns that this goddess is not without her flaws and short comings. In many ways, Marian Forrester, is our American version of Flaubert's Emma Bovary. However, Cather paints for us a much more simplistic, endearing, and sympathetic character than the latter in my opinion.

This is such a beautiful piece of literature. It may not take the average bibliophile long to finish this work, but the favorable impression it will leave upon you makes this one to good to pass up. My only knock, I wish the story was longer, for I was truly absorbed from the first page to the last.

5 STARS without thinking twice!

Not since I read "Walden" has a book so moved me. If you ever loved a river, or a piece of land, or ever felt at home in the presence of Nature, then you will delight in this book. But if you are a Texan, then heaven help you, this book is nothing less than magic.

As another reviewer suggested, Mr. Graves should be considered a National Treasure, or nothing less than a Texas Treasure.

I lived in Texas for 8 years and have seen the Brazos and the alligators and armadillos on its banks (although the Brazos that I saw was the section close to its mouth to the gulf and not the part that's described in this book). I have left Texas for a while now. On a recent trip back to Austin, I picked up this book in a local bookstore and I am glad I did.

In this book Graves blends travelogue, history, folklore and personal reflections in a highly readable account. It is personal, anecdotal, sentimental, but not overly melancholy. The language is relaxed, yet well crafted, it gives you the feel of an intimate dialog, but the author also has tight control over what he chooses to say instead of rambling to endless tedium. The conversations, though few, carry the authentic flavor of western Texas, and as other reviewers alluded to, remind one of Steinbeck's writing. In a sense Graves was the last link to that frontier era -- although he was too late himself for the bygone days, he looked backward into those days, and personally talked to people who were its last ruminants. Even this book was written nearly 50 years ago now. Today we can get some glimpses of replicas and trinkets from museums, souvenir shops and Hollywood movies, but to get a real feel, one has to resort to books like this one. What is lost is not just another river.

(A side note: if you like river rafting stories, you may want to check out Colin Fletcher's River)

As a native Texan, I grew up with the stories of the wild frontier and I'm sure that Graves did too. But he takes those stories and, with beautiful prose, shows the really hardscrabble life that folks overcame on the edge of the frontier. Not the stories of Texas Rangers, but of ordinary pioneers who made a life for themselves despite drought, snowstorms and other natural disasters. But the book is also a wonderful "painting" of a part of Texas that is rich in history and natural beauty. A must-read for anyone who wants to know what Texas was like before the arrival of air conditioning and the discovery of oil.

This is one of my favorite books. I went to YMCA and Scout camp in the Palo Pinto country. Back then, the divide that exists today between the so-called "cultural elite" and rural Texas didn't exist (or at least both sides respected each other enough to be civil, as a funny episode from the book relates), and Graves lived in both worlds. His is a lost generation, and although only one or two of the dams along his route got built, the country is now part of the vast exurb of Dallas-Fort Worth, filled with rural retreats for the city folk, 5 acre ranchettes, and driveways lined with 40-thousand-dollar pickup trucks. Graves doesn't mourn its loss, but commemorates what seemed like "progress" in the 60s and has only accelerated thousandfold since. If you pass through that country, or want to know what rural Texas used to be like, read this book. It's a bit long in the telling, but if you trace the journey on a map, it was no small trip.

I was very impressed with this book. Graves does so much in this enjoyable volume. As he takes a canoe trip down the Brazos near where he grew up, he shares the history of the land--both recent and not-so-recent. Through him, we learn the reality of life for the average settler on the edge of the frontier. He also seems to be detailing a life that in his time was declining and in our age is nearly completely gone. His writing is difficult to describe and unlike anything I have ever read. It flows smoothly with a combination of regional speech and erudition. As you read you feel like you are in the canoe with an incomparable guide to this region of our state. A great book that deserves to be read much more widely than it is.

I'm not much of a reader honestly, but I really loved this book! The author really has a way with word play that I really like. This is an example of one of my favorite exchanges from the book that gives you an idea of what I'm talking about.

"Well, I don't see how that's any of your business...and the name's not Mister, it's Eddie. Eddie Kreezer." "I smile and make a bashful act, bending over myself, trying to let him sneak a peek at my newfound bubbles, hoping for a free ride. I figure I can turn his none-of-your-business into Las Vegas with a little bit of sugar."

Seeeeeeeeeeee. I love that! Well written and a VERY solid debut from young Miss Portes. I zipped through this book in 2 days and I imagine that you'll do the same. Pick this one up, I highly recommend it!

Andrea Portes has created an unforgettable narrator with an extraordinary voice. Luli is talking a mile a minute even if most of the talk is in her head as she recounts her life and makes big plans. Luli has been looking out for herself from day one because goodness knows no one else has been. The opening scenes in the Alibi as her parents and the other regulars drink the night away are unforgettable as they proceed from drink one on down the list and she describes each stage and gives advice to the reader. Luli knows exactly where they are going and it is no place good. Her powers of observation and her foul-mouthed analysis are diamond sharp and totally engaging. Luli talks tough, she's witty, she's brilliant, she's bumping along and then something happens or is said that reminds you that she is only 13 and your heart breaks. The encounter with Clement is a terrific piece of economical writing that digs that scalpel into your heart. Luli would have every reason to be a bitter, whiny, mess sitting in a corner somewhere, but this mess is rolling on down the road.

I read Hick in one sitting. It wasn't that the plot had me in suspense (it moved along just fine), but that the writing is so vivid and fresh, I never felt like putting it down. Every line is smart. There's no fat here... no boring descriptions of the scenery to skim over before getting to the action. In fact, I often found myself rereading sections and was even tempted to pull out the highlighter and start marking the best parts.

Though some described this book as dark, the main character Luli maintained a hopeful, practical attitude throughout, which set the tone of the book. She was constantly adapting and making the most of her situation, even in the face of bad circumstances. She never adopted a "poor me" mentality and was not a victim but a survivor.

The one doubt I had was that Luli's voice is a little too wise for a 13 year old. But then I think back to when I was 13, and I can see how a smart girl with no shelter from adult issues would have an older way of thinking. Actually, her naivete about sex was a little out of character for someone who grew up in bars, surrounded by domestic disputes. And, she sometimes seemed to know more about drugs than at other times. I don't think these attempts at naivete were needed. Luli's childlike innocence showed in her literal and honest descriptions of people and places.

Overall, this is an entertaining, thought-provoking, and uplifting piece of work... a real treasure from a first-time author! It's well worth a read!

I started reading Hick on a flight and resented arriving to my destination because I wanted to continue reading. The narrator takes you back to an America you may or may not know personally, but makes you feel at home there. And she takes you to places which are entirely uncomfortable as well, though with a resigned and non judgemental voice which has the effect of drawing you in even more to Luli's journey. The book is captivating. The metaphors, descriptions, and in your face foreshadowing are so well written that I often found myself saying "good one" and rereading just for the pleasure of it, before turing to see what jems the next page offered. I look forward to Ms. Portes next book.

This book was very interesting to read. I have 14 year old daughters, and am always trying to gain some perspective on them. Although the story is told in the first person perspective of the child, the words and language and ideas are those of a much older person. This made the story a little less believable, but no less entertaining. I would recommend this book to those with an interest in how life is different for those who make bad choices.The Glass Castle: A Memoir

Mr. Utley is one of the leading Billy the Kid and Lincoln County War historians and authors. In this book, he tends to lean toward accepting ideas from some of the earlier authors without further research. This book has a lot of information on Billy, some factual and some very doubtful. It does give some idea of how Billy became a fearless outlaw and is well worth reading. The reader will come away with a little better understanding of Billy's predicament and the reasons why he probably turned outlaw..

An understanding of Billy the Kid's life is greatly enhanced with a study of the Lincoln County War, and Robert Utley's knowledge of the Lincoln Couty War is unsurpassed, (see his other book, "High Noon in Lincoln.") Utley's genius is his ability to bring these complicated historical moments to life, and weave the thread of a person's life through the moment. With this information you can better understand Billy the Kid's thought process, and the details of the jail breaks and shootings become more meaningful. Robert Utley is the most scholarly of all outlaw historians, and this book reveals his ability to bring his knowledge home to the rest of us.

You have to wonder sometimes why some people become legends. What was it about the Kid that attracted so much attention, especially at the time of his death? A very short time after he was shot to death by Pat Garrett, newspaper accounts flashed around the country about the demise of the great "desperado" and five dime-novel "biographies" appeared, getting most of the facts wrong but creating a "hero." Life is strange.

The Kid was born Henry McCarty in NYC (!) in 1859. He began being called Billy after his mother married William Antrim in 1873 in Santa Fe. (At times he also assumed the name Bonney, but no one knows why.) He gained a reputation early for escaping arrest; one time he escaped custody within hours after being arrested for horse stealing, and another time he escaped out of jail by crawling up the chimney. He escaped again in 1877 (aged 18) after being jailed for killing an army blacksmith at Fort Grant. He was in Lincoln County, NM, at the outbreak of the so-called Lincoln County War. He was involved or at least present during many of the violent incidents that plagued Lincoln County in 1878, and was wounded twice.

Deep in trouble by now and getting deeper, he was wanted for a number of crimes, some of which he did not commit. Governor Lew Wallace offered him immunity for testimony in one killing, but the Kid saw a double-cross and escaped. He added cattle rustling to his criminal activities, which brought the enmity of local ranchers down upon him. Pat Garrett was elected sheriff in Lincoln County with the special task of bringing the Kid in. He was captured in December 1880 and brought to trial in Mesilla in March 1881; he was charged with murder, found guilty, and sentenced to hang in May. While in jail in Lincoln he killed the two guards and escaped; for three months Garrett tracked him down, finding and shooting him in a ranch house at Fort Sumner, NM. The Kid was 21 years old. Then the legend exploded onto the scene.

They say he shot a man at age 12 (false); that he killed lawyer Billy Chapman (innocent); that he led the Regulators during the Lincoln County War (false); that he was a deadly shot (probably good, but not extraordinary). It's true that he killed at least four men. He loved to laugh and was a big hit with the senoritas (despite his buck teeth). He spoke Spanish fluently. He was an excellent monte dealer. He was "slim, muscular, wiry, and erect, weighing 135 pounds and standing 5'7" tall; he had deep blue eyes and wavy brown hair. He fancied wearing a Mexican sombrero." Chances are good (I think) if it weren't for the dime-novelists he would forgotten today.

But he's not forgotten and Utley's account of his life (and legend) is magnificent. Definitive is the word for it, replacing Maurice Fulton's HISTORY OF THE LINCOLN COUNTY WAR as the best work on the Kid. (It wasn't until the last few months of his life that he was known as Billy the Kid.) Utley's scholarship is renown in the Western field; his series of books on the military history of the West is likewise definitive. If you're interested in the Kid and want to learn all there is to know about him (fact and fiction), this is the book to get. Highly recommended.

In 1988, 'Young Guns' was released in theatres and followed by it's sequel 'Young Guns 2: Blaze of Glory" in 1990. The popularity of these films gave birth to a re-newed interest in the story of Billy the Kid. Despite all the factual errors throughout the movies, they remained popular. Meanwhile, 1989 saw the made-for-tv movie "Gore Vidal's Billy the Kid" starring Val Kilmer as the Kid. This version was a bit more historical in its telling of the legend. Unfortunately, many people seem to think that the 'Young Guns' versions are the truth and will pass off their "expertise" to other people based on these, admittedly entertaining movies.

In 1991, however, Robert Utley put forth the book "Billy the Kid: A short and violent life", in my opinion, to help disclaim all the accepted myths about the young Henry McCarty aka Henry/William Antrim aka William Bonney aka Billy the Kid. Utley is a well-researched southwest historian, focusing on the Lincoln County War and inevitably, Billy the Kid. This book is pretty simple in its layout, giving a nicely done and researched biography on the outlaw Kid. Utley gives straight facts, pieced together from old newspapers, books, and three other Billy-specialists that are generally regard as THE authorities on Billy the Kid. When finishing the book, you can't help but realize just how wrong many of the movies are, especially the two Young Guns movies. The story is a bit dry in places, but then, if not for the growing myths and greatly exaggerated stories of the Kid, he never would have been of any consequence in the history books. The Lincoln County War would have ended the same and about the only real influence the Kid had was to make Pat Garrett slightly better known.

The most telling bit of this biography is dispelling the myth of the Kid's death toll. Popular myth says 21 people were killed by the Kid when in reality, he can only solely by attributed with four kills. He had a hand in 5 others but nowhere can it be proved that the Kid made the killing shot. And lastly was James Carlyle who was shot by his own posse after a random gunshot sounded out which may or maynot have come from Billy. Being generous, thats only 10 deaths that he MIGHT have had a hand in.

Overall, this is a well done research biography by a respected western historian who bypasses the enflamed stories of the Kid and presents the truth as best he can. Excellent footnotes and references are included. Whether professional or just have a mild interest, this text should be in any western historian's library.

I became curious about William Bonney, AKA Billy the Kid, when I first saw the movie Young Guns starring Emilio Estevez. I loved the movie but wanted to know how much of the story was Hollywood hype and how much of it was history.

Accordingly I found Utley's book on Billy the Kid and found, to my satisfaction, that not only was much of the Young Guns story was accurate but that the life of Billy the Kid was as interesting and complex as any to be found in the annals of the Old West.

The debate rages on as to whether young Billy was a poor, misunderstood folk hero or whether he was an ignorant, bloodthirsty miscreant who needs to be vilified and forgotten. Utley's well-researched and well-written book takes a multi-faceted approach to considering the complex history of young man who, despite is very short life and his even briefer career, continue to spark the imagination over a century after his death.