Bo Mason and his wife and two boys live a transient life of poverty and despair; drifting from town to town, the violent, ruthless Bo seeks his for...
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reviews
Apr 30, 2010
Andrew
rated it: 
What Stegner might call a big three-master, this family saga quasi-autobiographically traces the Mason family from their ignominious Midwestern roots through a series of get-rich-quick blunders that takes them from Oregon to Saskatchewan to Montana to Salt Lake to Reno.
Narrated objectively, the book's emotional compass is the family's youngest son, Stegner's version of himself, and the catharsis of this book is what makes its best moments remarkably fine and what overloads the circu More...
Narrated objectively, the book's emotional compass is the family's youngest son, Stegner's version of himself, and the catharsis of this book is what makes its best moments remarkably fine and what overloads the circu More...
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Nov 18, 2011
Jeanette
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Reading Wallace Stegner is like having a really great first boyfriend. He ruins you for anyone who comes later. Sometimes he's so good that you don't even want anyone after him.
The Big Rock Candy Mountain is the book that should have won Stegner the Pulitzer Prize long before he wrote Angle of Repose. I've read commentary indicating that Big Rock Candy Mountain is largely autobiographical. If that is true, my heart aches for the little boy that was Wallace Stegner. Perhaps those e More...
The Big Rock Candy Mountain is the book that should have won Stegner the Pulitzer Prize long before he wrote Angle of Repose. I've read commentary indicating that Big Rock Candy Mountain is largely autobiographical. If that is true, my heart aches for the little boy that was Wallace Stegner. Perhaps those e More...
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Aug 05, 2008
Scott
rated it: 
This is Stegner's attempt to understand his parents and their making of his identity. He beautifully conceals who the real hero of the tale is until the last pages: the somewhat effeminate, philosophical son, who sees both his mother and his father for what they were, but doesn't ultimately begrudge them their sins. After all, they live on in his own history. He could only condemn them as much as he could condemn himself.
The brilliant and intimate storytelling of Stegner's later nov More...
The brilliant and intimate storytelling of Stegner's later nov More...
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Oct 10, 2007
Rachel
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I'm on a Stegner kick. The Big Rock Candy Mountain drags your heart along for the ride as you read about two generations of the Mason family and their (mis)adventures scratching out a life in succeeding versions of America's western frontier. The patriarch Bo Mason berates his wife Elsa and frightens his sons Chet and Bruce across more states than you can count. But even in the end, his insatiable taste for booms and busts remains endearing, or at least somehow forgivable.
A little l More...
A little l More...
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Sep 12, 2009
Corinne
rated it:
I feel spent, having finished this book. I took more time reading it than any book in recent memory - and it wasn't only its 563 pages that made it a long read. I had to read with a pen at the ready, so many ideas and images and thoughts I wanted to highlight.
The Big Rock Candy Mountain is a western book. A character study. A journey. But not a there-and-back-again book like Bilbo Baggins wrote. It's a go and go again kind of journey, searching ever further afield for that one thing More...
The Big Rock Candy Mountain is a western book. A character study. A journey. But not a there-and-back-again book like Bilbo Baggins wrote. It's a go and go again kind of journey, searching ever further afield for that one thing More...
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Mar 19, 2009
Ellie
rated it:
Wow....what can I say that can do justice to this book? It's quite a journey with Stegner's family, from before he was born until early adulthood. His father has grandiose ideas and a restless spirit and drags the family all over several states as well as Saskatchewan, Canada looking for the next "get rich quick" scheme. Although the book jacket synopsis calls Bo Mason (the character name for Stegner's dad) "ruthless and violent" he is more than that, a multi-layered characte
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(4 people liked it)
Dec 17, 2010
Jen
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This is a difficult book to review because it is the full saga of a man and his wife and then their children. It starts out like a cute Western or a Bonanza episode, and then it switches pretty quickly to a classic Stegner study of relationships: love, loyalty, jealousy, despair, heartache.
The protagonist is a man born after his time, a pioneer and explorer born after the taming of the West, who restlessly searches for the easy life on "the big rock candy mountain" that he's More...
The protagonist is a man born after his time, a pioneer and explorer born after the taming of the West, who restlessly searches for the easy life on "the big rock candy mountain" that he's More...
May 10, 2011
Will
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This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers.
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Aug 24, 2011
Steven
rated it: 
It certainly wasn't what I expected. There were very nice moments, but overall it was just ... lacking. It got worse in the last third where Bruce becomes the focal point and rambles on and on about little things. I was hoping for a book similar in scope to John Steinbeck's East of Eden. At times this one came close, but the canonization of the enduring wife/mother vs. the neglect or brutality of the husband/father wore pretty thin. It's not a horrible story, but I don't see myself ever picking
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Dec 09, 2011
Ensiform
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The only word for this 560-page slice of Americana is "saga." It's a rich, detailed, loving and amazingly authentic portrayal of an American family, the Masons, from the turn of the century to the '30s. In telling the story of this never satisfied, ever-scheming, gambling liquor-runner and his wife and two boys, Stegner recreates vividly and successfully everything that touches them. He describes with care and apparent ease the thrill and trouble of working the first cars with crank
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Aug 02, 2011
Seth
rated it:
I am announcing my new favorite novel. Stegner's critique of the Western US is tremendously insightful. I enjoyed the story because the characters are written with profound compassion and understanding. Its the kind of compassion a son feels towards his flawed parents after years of reconciling their sins with their good intentions. Essentially, Stegner's compassion is synthesized by the theme that we are all products of our environments and cannot describe ourselves merely by the cumulative
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Nov 04, 2009
May-Ling
rated it:
you can sum up this book with one word...struggle.
in a grapes of wrath kind of way, this book is all about making it, and after being introduced to bo and his radiant energy and ambition, it feels promising. about fifty pages in, you realize that the book is only about struggle and that bo is truly searching for the big rock candy mountain, which always lies beyond the family's fingertips.
although the novel is framed back in the day, it's a telltale story of keeping up w More...
in a grapes of wrath kind of way, this book is all about making it, and after being introduced to bo and his radiant energy and ambition, it feels promising. about fifty pages in, you realize that the book is only about struggle and that bo is truly searching for the big rock candy mountain, which always lies beyond the family's fingertips.
although the novel is framed back in the day, it's a telltale story of keeping up w More...
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Jan 30, 2011
Kate
rated it:
I am embarrassed to say I had not heard of Wallace Stegner before listening to a program about him on NPR a while back. I arbitrarily chose "The Big Rock Candy Mountain" as my introduction to his writing. Having just finished it this morning, I have to say I believe it deserves a place on the shelves of famous American classics, next to Steinbeck, Hemingway and our other most beloved American authors. In this book, the trials of the Mason family in the early 20th century American West
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Sep 24, 2011
Sonia
rated it:
Big Rock Candy Mountain is my 2011 must-read recommendation. And we still have months to go before the end the year, and many books to read! But I just know that I will not read another book that is as big and real as BRCM for some time to come. Written in 1935 by one of our foremost American authors, this book has plenty of characters struggling with self-esteem, childhood demons and marital woes against a historical and political backdrop of The Depression, Prohibition and development in the n
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Mar 21, 2011
Petrea
rated it:
I'm glad I finally got around to reading this book. Other people around me disliked it because of the abusive father and sadness, but I loved the lyrical way Stegner writes about the Canadian wilderness, and even Utah. His people are pretty intense--as they are in all his books. While his was far from an ordinary family he struggled with the same things that we all do as we examine our parents, and grandparents, siblings, environment and try to sort it all out and find ourselves in the mix---
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Apr 29, 2011
Debbie
rated it:
As the stars above indicate, I "really liked it"! There really were some "amazing" bits (5 stars, even!) -- including the late-discovered fact that this book has an initial copyright of 1947! [N.B. I'm an avid audio-book listener, and as such, do not always have a copyright page readily at hand!] This I found to be an amazing fact because Stegner did such a masterful job of creating thoroughly real and (to this day), pertinent and quintessentially American characters. Stegne
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Jan 24, 2009
Julie
rated it:
I love Wallace Stegner but this isn’t quite as brilliant as Angle of Repose. It was a great book but also very long and pretty dense. It is long and takes a while to get through. It is the story of a family trying to make it in the West. The father is kind of a loser and struggles to make a real home for his family. His wife’s whole life is spent wishing for something she never has… a real home. He becomes a bootlegger and shames his family. In the end, he dies alone and one son is left to try a
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Oct 16, 2011
Mary Etta
rated it:
I always wonder what the difference might be in a book in print vs. an audio book. In any case I always like a Stegner book. He writes so much better than many others I currently read.
I happen to be also reading in print "Look Homeward Angel", Thomas Wolfe. Apparently, both writing biographically. Both had abusive childhoods. Wolfe takes a very long time to tell his story, much description and detail. Both great writers. I prefer Stegner's telling though both are hard More...
I happen to be also reading in print "Look Homeward Angel", Thomas Wolfe. Apparently, both writing biographically. Both had abusive childhoods. Wolfe takes a very long time to tell his story, much description and detail. Both great writers. I prefer Stegner's telling though both are hard More...
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Mar 22, 2011
Benedict
rated it:
This is a superbly written, powerfully emotional story about a man and a woman who begin their lives at the beginning of the last century. They are an unlikely couple. She is a decent, caring woman, and her new husband is a bad-tempered man who is looking for the “big rock candy mountain,” yet they both love and support each other through their lives.
The emotional punch here is so strong I had to put the ‘pod down for a day a couple of times just so I could go on with it.
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The emotional punch here is so strong I had to put the ‘pod down for a day a couple of times just so I could go on with it.
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Feb 05, 2011
blake
rated it:
This is a strange book. It is simultaneously depressing, irritating, and utterly engrossing. I did not really like it but I couldn't stop reading it. It is extremely well-written yet I found myself disgusted by the plot. Like I said, strange.
It is basically the story of a family that, due to the vagabonding, grass-is-greener nature of the father, endures a constantly upended home life over the course of three or so decades. That description makes it sound less depressing than it a More...
It is basically the story of a family that, due to the vagabonding, grass-is-greener nature of the father, endures a constantly upended home life over the course of three or so decades. That description makes it sound less depressing than it a More...
Oct 13, 2011
James (JD)
rated it:
This is an epic look into the American mindset, and Bo Mason is one of the great characters in American letters--one a par with such flawed obsessives like Captain Ahab and the speaker in "The Raven."
Big Rock Candy Mountain follows Mason, his bride Elsa, and their two suns on a restless odyssey through the West. Ever in search of the next Big Thing, Mason misses out on the Yukon Gold Rush, tries his hand at homesteading and property speculation, and eventually "makes i More...
Big Rock Candy Mountain follows Mason, his bride Elsa, and their two suns on a restless odyssey through the West. Ever in search of the next Big Thing, Mason misses out on the Yukon Gold Rush, tries his hand at homesteading and property speculation, and eventually "makes i More...
Aug 04, 2011
Marcus
rated it:
Why couldn't Stegner be decent and write a book with an antagonist toward whom I could detachedly direct my righteous indignation? Instead, he wrote the Big Rock Candy Mountain with Bo, who is not one of Cormac McCarthy's depraved evil doers. Jarringly, and despite what you might believe otherwise, Bo is me, only in different circumstances. When Bo lashes out at his children or disappoints his wife or goes after another pipe dream that will have him raking in the dollars, it is me. How could he
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Aug 31, 2011
Chrissie
rated it: 
I cannot say I enjoyed reading this book. It is depressing, The family is doomed, there isn't much humor and the author's writing has a melancholic tone. Furthermore, each episode went on and on and on; the author used too many words to get his message across.
Nevertheless, I left the novel with a vivid awaresness of each character's being. I really came to know them. I felt like I had known these people, grown alongside them. As the novel neared its end, I was jolted when I recalled More...
Nevertheless, I left the novel with a vivid awaresness of each character's being. I really came to know them. I felt like I had known these people, grown alongside them. As the novel neared its end, I was jolted when I recalled More...
May 30, 2011
Sarah
rated it:
I loved this book. I’d never heard of the author – and all I’d heard about the book was a brief “just read ‘Grapes of Wrath’.” Considering I’ve never been able to get into “Grapes of Wrath” past the first 2 sections, that wasn’t encouraging. But fortunately, I loved this book. I love stories about people’s lives which don’t seem to have a specific point – a moral point even…they just tell about a lifelong journey without prettying it up at all. I cared for each and every one of the main characte
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Aug 25, 2007
Fritz
rated it:
My gnat-length attention span made this a bit of a long march, but it was worth every second. This is one of the best books I've ever read on the ever-elusive national dream our baby boomer parents tell us about. You can also use it to weigh down a pie crust (don't tell the library).
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Feb 11, 2008
Heather
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I love Wallace Stegner! This is the second book I read by him, after the Angle of Repose. I really enjoy his writing style and Pioneer America settings. His focus on female characters and love stories in addition to the very accurate historical details make his works must reads.
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Jan 10, 2008
Sue
rated it:
It has a Western, rural feel which I love. I feel as if I know these people and their world. I love the way Stegner changes voices from one character to the other, so that the reader comes to know and understand each one. I understand this book is highly autobiographical.
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Mar 19, 2010
Tim
rated it:
I have always desired a first edition copy of this book. First, and most importantly, I think it is the finest bit of literature ever written. Scoff if you must, but this book really hit me hard as a young aspiring writer. This is Stegner at his finest and its his first piece.
Why is it so good? Its Grapes of Wrath type literature with characters that you don't want to like, but you find yourself simply engrossed in their actions. It's the book that ranks highly up there as an era that we More...
Why is it so good? Its Grapes of Wrath type literature with characters that you don't want to like, but you find yourself simply engrossed in their actions. It's the book that ranks highly up there as an era that we More...
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Feb 18, 2011
Steve
rated it:
Stegner's books (at least the ones I have read) are a bit slow starting off but become more and more interesting and thought provoking as they progress. I enjoy Stegner's books because they weave fiction with western history; and sometimes include personal experiences. This book is rather dark but it includes many segments from which the reader can gain some inspiration. This novel is set in many western locations (Nebraska, Saskatchewan, Montana, Utah, California, and Nevada) from the early
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Feb 08, 2011
Jon
rated it:
This is a long read (listen), over 25 hours. If it were on T.V., it would be quite the mini-series. I almost bailed on the story early on because it looked like it was shaping up to be a romance story. Well, I am glad I hung in there because it was not.
Written in 1943, this story chronicles the life of a family from the early 1900’s. As the husband purposes to strike it rich with various enterprises that promise quick money, the family quickly becomes nomadic. Drifting from p More...
Written in 1943, this story chronicles the life of a family from the early 1900’s. As the husband purposes to strike it rich with various enterprises that promise quick money, the family quickly becomes nomadic. Drifting from p More...
