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The Sky, the Stars, the Wilderness
by
Rick Bass
GQ called the three short novels in this collection "wondrous." A woman returns to live on her family's west Texas ranch . . . a man tracks his wife through a winter wilderness . . . an ancient ocean buried in the foothills of the Appalachians becomes a battleground for a young wildcat oilman and his aging mentor. Here is Bass at his magical, passionate, and lyri...more
Paperback, 208 pages
Published
September 30th 1998
by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
(first published 1997)
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Rule #1, if you’re going to write a book for me to read, take all the guesswork out of it, eliminate all chances otherwise, name it “The Sky, The Stars, The Wilderness.”
A few years ago I unearthed The Watch in the bargain bin of the local used bookstore. Rick Bass I’d never heard of, but it was short stories, it was the south and west, and Clyde Edgerton (I had never read him, but he’s our local Durham author) said “There is enough energy in this book to shake a house.” Well, okay th...more
A few years ago I unearthed The Watch in the bargain bin of the local used bookstore. Rick Bass I’d never heard of, but it was short stories, it was the south and west, and Clyde Edgerton (I had never read him, but he’s our local Durham author) said “There is enough energy in this book to shake a house.” Well, okay th...more
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This author took me by surprise. I became his characters. Their stories were my stories. I could smell the air, the trees... I could count all the stars. Rick Bass found a way to take me there (any "there") and wrap me in his subtle and deliberate choice of words. And when I finished reading, I was strangely uncomfortable.
He signed my book. Be jealous. =)
He signed my book. Be jealous. =)
Three novellas about characters in a western landscape. The first two were great: a woman escapes from her lover, a trapper who is slowly going mad, and hides out in the Canadian wilderness-and a young man competes with the wealthiest man around as he drills for successful oil well after oil well.
Jesus Villa
added it
Bass has a great voice. His stories blur the line between the characters and the landscape they inhabit. The stories are cinematic and stir imagination. I would love to fill out these stories -- each would make a great full-length novel.
I've only read the first story "The Myths of Bears" which was disturbing, visceral, sensual, repulsive.
I was lured by the ebb and flow of the story, but also anxious, almost wishing I would slap the cover shut (which I could not).
I was lured by the ebb and flow of the story, but also anxious, almost wishing I would slap the cover shut (which I could not).
Britt
rated it
Recommends it for:
lovers of the earth and good writing!
Recommended to Britt by:
meghan
Wow. This book gave me a breath I havent been able to take in a long time. If you like camping, you'll love this book. If you like nature and being in the wild, you will adore it. This is beautifully written. Poetic prose. 3 novellas, the last one is the longest, and my favorite. They are all wonderfully detailed without being too wordy. I read it in my bed or at a coffee shop or waiting somewhere for a friend, and I was immediately transported to the woods, out on land far away from a city.....more
Wow. I took this book with me backpacking last week, I recommend you do too. I was completely griped by the beautiful narrative stories of the natural process. The third novella is be best.
Lovely. Vintage Bass. Three long stories (or short novellas). Gorgeous description and excellent characterization.
collection of 3 novellas - all excellent, lyrical, rhythmic, an incredble storyteller without fuss of the extraneous.
It's a collection of three stories, the last one is the best. First one is interesting.
A very solid, beautifully written collection.
Title story . . . gorgeous
Title story is a beautiful tribute to the land and animals and people of Central Texas!
All three of the novellas in this book are quite good, but the third one really stands out. On the surface, it's the story of a woman growing up on a ranch in Texas. But really it's a an homage to a beloved and beautiful place. Bass does a wonderful job of bringing the ranch--its history, plants, animals, and more--to life through the eyes of the narrator. A lot of the fiction I read is about places more than people, but I can think of few books that brought a place to life better than this ...more
Rick Bass introduced me to the Yaak, Montana. It's just north of Libby, where my friend Sarah Beck grew up, a few miles south of Canada and a few miles east of Idaho. Right up there in the corner. It's probably one of the greatest places on earth. I don't think these three novellas are necessarily his best writing, but there's something about the way he understands the outdoors that makes me feel right at home.
This is another writer who will be at ODU's lit fest in October. I am interested in the novella form (which seems to be gaining some momentum in the publishing world), and these are three good ones. Beautifully rendered sense of place and character.
Bass has written a lot of non-fiction as well (Joanna -- you might want to check it out...you could find some through Info-Track or Project Muse on library's website).
Bass has written a lot of non-fiction as well (Joanna -- you might want to check it out...you could find some through Info-Track or Project Muse on library's website).
Three novellas. The book is worth reading solely for the second one (the one the book is titled for). In it, Bass portrays a character who is more in touch with a sense of place than any other writing I can recall. Her relationship with the land she grew up on is as formative and important as are the strong bonds with her small three-generational family. I have yet to get tired of reading this.
This book is beautiful. The writing is so refreshing, so peaceful and calming. It really makes you feel... not feel any one thing in particular, but, just feel. Almost as if the words are transporting you to another place and time, this book is like an escape. I feel like his books are the kind you can read again and again and again, never tiring of them. I'm really glad I found Rick Bass.
This was my first acquaintance with Bass's work, and it blew me away. Incredible depth,ambition,lyricism and a love for the natural world which, given the terms in which Bass sets it, seems at once richly emotional and deeply moral. Also a tonic for any writer who occasionally feels dry. Bass reminds us all what we ought to be reaching for.
Author Laura Pritchett recommended this as part of the Rocky Mountain Land Library's "A Reading List For the President Elect: A Western Primer for the Next Administration".
I read short stories before they were the 21st century rage. He writes about the outdoors and how it affects us. A worthy read.
Brutal and beautiful. The first novella, "The Myths of Bears," has haunted me since I read it several weeks ago.
The Sky, the Stars and the Wilderness is the most haunting, fragile and painful short story I've ever read. Read it.
If you love to just get lost in nature, you'll love this book - especially the last story.
My favorite Rick Bass book. Small novellas here...the last being the very best.
Think about the thought of walking over hibernating bears.....
Rick Bass knows nature the way Jim Harrison knows food.
Beautiful portrait of Texas Hill Country within novella.
rick bass is AMAZING and such a dynamic reader live.
An absolutely wonderful trio of stories.
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Rick Bass was born in Fort Worth, Texas, and grew up in Houston, the son of a geologist. He studied petroleum geology at Utah State University and while working as a petroleum geologist in Jackson, Mississippi, began writing short stories on his lunch breaks. In 1987, he moved with his wife, the artist Elizabeth Hughes Bass, to Montana’s remote Yaak Valley and became an active environmentalist, wo...more
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“There are none among us who have not been, even for a moment, cruel to those whom we love most, as if unable, in that moment, to shoulder any longer the magnificent weight and burden, the responsibility, of that love.”
—
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“The heart of it all is mystery, and science is at best only the peripheral trappings to that mystery--a ragged barbed-wire fence through which mystery travels, back and forth, unencumbered by anything so frail as man's knowledge.”
—
3 people liked it
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