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greenblack's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
wtb_michael's review against another edition
5.0
A mesmerising collection of stories set in stark, cold, wild places filled with people clinging onto, falling into and giving up on love. The descriptions of the natural world are stunning and make me want to pack myself up and go and live in the frozen wilds of Montana (despite my complete inability to survive outside of the cushiest of urban environs). My first Rick Bass book and definitely not my last.
jamiereadthis's review
5.0
The story “Eating” is going to hold a special, special place in my heart. Set right here outside my door in North Carolina, he gets the place and the people just right.
“I’m hungry,” Russell said. They stood there in the blue smoke, letting it bathe them for a while, and looked out at the forest dropping away below them: sweetgum, hickory, oak, loblolly, mountain laurel. They could see more ridges, more knolls and valleys, gold lit, through the framework of green leaves and branches. Tobacco country, down in the lowlands. Russell took another look at the hams. “This is my country,” he said. “Or getting real near it.”
Likewise “The Cave,” the companion story to “Eating,” is tremendous: the two young lovers underground in a coal mine. Likewise “The Fireman,” likewise “Real Town,” likewise “Swans”— the one that killed my heart. I just wish Rick Bass would write a bad story now and then.
“I’m hungry,” Russell said. They stood there in the blue smoke, letting it bathe them for a while, and looked out at the forest dropping away below them: sweetgum, hickory, oak, loblolly, mountain laurel. They could see more ridges, more knolls and valleys, gold lit, through the framework of green leaves and branches. Tobacco country, down in the lowlands. Russell took another look at the hams. “This is my country,” he said. “Or getting real near it.”
Likewise “The Cave,” the companion story to “Eating,” is tremendous: the two young lovers underground in a coal mine. Likewise “The Fireman,” likewise “Real Town,” likewise “Swans”— the one that killed my heart. I just wish Rick Bass would write a bad story now and then.
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