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Mystery Ride
A thoughtful, funny, and penetrating portrait of a modern American family that explores the breaches and bonds between husbands and wives, parents and children—and introduces one of the most incorrigible and affecting teenagers since Holden Caulfield. Author Robert Boswell is the author of the acclaimed books Dancing in the Movies, Crooked Hearts, The Geography of Desire, Mystery Ride and Living to be a Hundred. He is the recipient of many awards for his work, including a National Endowment for the Arts Felloship, a Guggenheim Fellowship and the Iowa School of Letters Award for short fiction. He lives with his wife, the writer Antonya Nelson, and their children in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and Telluride, Colorado.
Hardcover
First published January 1, 1993
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About the author
Robert Boswell
69 books50 followersRobert Boswell is the author of eleven books, including The Heyday of the Insensitive Bastards, a story collection with Graywolf Press, in April 2009. His novels: Century's Son, American Owned Love, Mystery Ride, The Geography of Desire, and Crooked Hearts. His other story collections: Living to Be 100 and Dancing in the Movies. His nonfiction: The Half-Known World, a book on the craft of writing, and What Men Call Treasure: The Search for Gold at Victorio Peak, a book about a real-life treasure hunt in New Mexico (co-written with David Schweidel). His cyberpunk novel Virtual Death (published under the pseudonym Shale Aaron) was a finalist for the Philip K. Dick Award.
His play Tongues won the John Gassner Prize. He has received two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Iowa School of Letters Award for Fiction, the PEN West Award for Fiction, and the Evil Companions Award. His stories have appeared in the New Yorker, Best American Short Stories, O. Henry Prize Stories, Pushcart Prize Stories, Best Stories from the South, Esquire, Ploughshares, Harvard Review, Colorado Review, and many other magazines.
He shares the Cullen Chair in Creative Writing at the University of Houston with his wife, Antonya Nelson.
His play Tongues won the John Gassner Prize. He has received two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the Iowa School of Letters Award for Fiction, the PEN West Award for Fiction, and the Evil Companions Award. His stories have appeared in the New Yorker, Best American Short Stories, O. Henry Prize Stories, Pushcart Prize Stories, Best Stories from the South, Esquire, Ploughshares, Harvard Review, Colorado Review, and many other magazines.
He shares the Cullen Chair in Creative Writing at the University of Houston with his wife, Antonya Nelson.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews
February 22, 2011
I am utterly nonplussed that this book is out of print. This novel, this arresting and wholly authentic portrait of late twentieth-century family life, deserves an emblem that says: timeless, exemplary. Robert Boswell portrayed these contemporary characters originally and credibly, seducing the reader from the opening prologue to the masterful ending. There were no false notes, no manipulations of narrative or person. It germinates beautifully, organically.
Angela and Stephen Landis are divorced, but their six years of marriage produced a daughter, Dulcie, now 15. Angela is remarried to the promiscuous Quin, a theater agent who genuinely loves her, but is a serial cheater. Angela left Stephen because she didn't want to be a farmer's wife anymore. She begged him to give up their farm and their struggle to stay afloat in the farm's punishing Iowa landscape. Even Stephen doesn't like being a cattle farmer, but husbandry got hold of him, and he can't let go.
"True, as he inevitably pointed out, they had chosen the farm together...Now the farm seemed to her a prison, not only because of its isolation, but because it meant her unhappiness had its source in his pleasure. It pitted them against each other."
They still loved each other when Angela left, but her departure was a shattering blow for Stephen.
Dulcie has become incorrigible. Actually, incorrigible is putting it mildly. She could crush Holden Caulfield between her knees. She is wild, sometimes menacing, possibly disturbed, and her mother, approaching forty and fed-up, decides to send Dulcie to spend the summer with Stephen. In the meantime, Stephen has finally allowed himself to engage in a relationship. He has invited Leah, his paralegal girlfriend, and Leah's 14 year-old spiky daughter, Roxanne, to come live with him.
There is a scene toward the beginning of the book, where Angela, naked except for a bathrobe, is forced to follow Dulcie as she sneaks out to skinny dip at the beach with friends. The scene is so appallingly captivating, so riveting, that I knew I was in the hands of a brilliant artist.
This is a solid and often poetic read. Never quirky or breezy or whimsical, this combination of outlaw and marginalized characters are adamantine, fierce, seductive. Even Boswell's secondary characters are powerful, unbreakable.
I was alternately agonized and appalled. Boswell holds your heart in the palm of his hand. I laughed uncomfortably; I was pinned by his savage story; I cried out loud. For a penetrating story and complex characters with real gravitas, Mystery Ride has all the quality elements--ripe and vicious, vulnerable and noble, piercing and singular.
Angela and Stephen Landis are divorced, but their six years of marriage produced a daughter, Dulcie, now 15. Angela is remarried to the promiscuous Quin, a theater agent who genuinely loves her, but is a serial cheater. Angela left Stephen because she didn't want to be a farmer's wife anymore. She begged him to give up their farm and their struggle to stay afloat in the farm's punishing Iowa landscape. Even Stephen doesn't like being a cattle farmer, but husbandry got hold of him, and he can't let go.
"True, as he inevitably pointed out, they had chosen the farm together...Now the farm seemed to her a prison, not only because of its isolation, but because it meant her unhappiness had its source in his pleasure. It pitted them against each other."
They still loved each other when Angela left, but her departure was a shattering blow for Stephen.
Dulcie has become incorrigible. Actually, incorrigible is putting it mildly. She could crush Holden Caulfield between her knees. She is wild, sometimes menacing, possibly disturbed, and her mother, approaching forty and fed-up, decides to send Dulcie to spend the summer with Stephen. In the meantime, Stephen has finally allowed himself to engage in a relationship. He has invited Leah, his paralegal girlfriend, and Leah's 14 year-old spiky daughter, Roxanne, to come live with him.
There is a scene toward the beginning of the book, where Angela, naked except for a bathrobe, is forced to follow Dulcie as she sneaks out to skinny dip at the beach with friends. The scene is so appallingly captivating, so riveting, that I knew I was in the hands of a brilliant artist.
This is a solid and often poetic read. Never quirky or breezy or whimsical, this combination of outlaw and marginalized characters are adamantine, fierce, seductive. Even Boswell's secondary characters are powerful, unbreakable.
I was alternately agonized and appalled. Boswell holds your heart in the palm of his hand. I laughed uncomfortably; I was pinned by his savage story; I cried out loud. For a penetrating story and complex characters with real gravitas, Mystery Ride has all the quality elements--ripe and vicious, vulnerable and noble, piercing and singular.
June 5, 2017
it was going along so well... but that daughter was truly a girl I wanted to strangle. and the farming descriptions... i love a good bucolic story as much as any other but I really got so distracted towards the end that anything would make me close the book. Like watching previews for shows that aired 20 years ago was more interesting.
but the guy has an eye for relationships and writing and I appreciated it so much for that. I think it was more my fault than the authors.
Just imagine what it would be like to be friends with an ex, to live with a longing that you'd like to be back together with this person.
and this person, this ex has moved on- to a person who has repeated affairs you stay with this person, and then have his baby.
What does this say about the first person? Who is decent and stable and loyal.
I liked that the story showed that not all crafted tales make sense. The good guy does not get the girl he wants but the reader learns that the girl must not be worth much since she's chosen to stay with a guy who's a douche. and that's the way it stays. sorry if this spoils it. sigh. at least the book is old so chances are if you're reading this you're just bored, not really trying to read this book.
it's incredibly 80's anyway.
but the guy has an eye for relationships and writing and I appreciated it so much for that. I think it was more my fault than the authors.
Just imagine what it would be like to be friends with an ex, to live with a longing that you'd like to be back together with this person.
and this person, this ex has moved on- to a person who has repeated affairs you stay with this person, and then have his baby.
What does this say about the first person? Who is decent and stable and loyal.
I liked that the story showed that not all crafted tales make sense. The good guy does not get the girl he wants but the reader learns that the girl must not be worth much since she's chosen to stay with a guy who's a douche. and that's the way it stays. sorry if this spoils it. sigh. at least the book is old so chances are if you're reading this you're just bored, not really trying to read this book.
it's incredibly 80's anyway.
August 13, 2009
Deeply disturbing on one level, but, even after all these years, I remember it as a masterfully written work. Highly recommended.
August 16, 2012
This book started out fantastic. Great characters. BUT, the ending was so terrible that I am mad I finished it. Total disappointment. Too bad, could have been great.
August 26, 2017
I was disappointed in this book. The reviews said it gave insight into the American family,however, it did not seem to end with any insights or observations. How many of us live on small Iowa farms? Most of the characters were still unsettled and unsatisfied with their lives at the end. I also found some of the actions of the young protagonist to be included for shock value. You never got a sense of why she had such strong feels about people or sex. I would not recommend this book.
May 22, 2008
Felt like the 1970s. Crazy teenagers trying to figure out how to be in the world, questions of integrity and ethics, lingering connections between ex-spouses, difficult parent-child relationships....Well-written and absorbing read.
April 30, 2015
Boswell is a dialog master. The ways in which we listen, ignore, speak over and mishear are all amazingly revealed in this novel of relationships. A wonderful read.
July 21, 2011
Did not like the characters at all! Not a fun read, very depressing family and am very glad that mine didn't grow up like that.
March 9, 2014
I felt that this story jumped around too much and I didn't feel there was a point or closure after I read it.
February 21, 2016
Had a hard time working up any sympathy at all for Dulcie. Just go away please so that I can find out what happened to the rest of the characters!
August 6, 2017
Second read. What a great writer Boswell is. His ear for dialogue is wonderful. I loved this book, was sad when it ended.
February 17, 2020
teenage girl behaves oddly, goes to live w dad in Iowa - good but blah ending
December 29, 2024
My feelings for this book ranged from really enjoying parts of it to hating parts of it and wishing that I was done with it so that I could move on to something else. The first nine chapters were a very good read but when I got to chapter ten, I felt like the author just ran out of material to write about, or maybe had a bad writing day. Chapter eleven made me think he had a chapter quota that he needed to fill. There were other chapters later on that made me wonder if he was high while he was writing them. A lot of the stuff he threw in the book was a lot of drivel. The character of Dulcie was thoroughly obnoxious. She made me thank God that my daughter wasn’t that awful as a teenager. The ending of the book was entirely unsatisfactory. As I sit here and think about this book, I believe that despite the good chapters, there are so many other pointless details thrown in the story (Angela’s time in the bar on the night she met Stephen, the camping scene with Stephen, Leah, Ron and his wife to name just a couple), that I will drop my rating from 3 stars to 2 stars. If I could figure out half stars, I’d give it two and a half stars. Just too many irritating and irrelevant things going on in the story.
June 4, 2020
This is a quiet story about the little events that shape the bigger picture of our lives. It is always something just out of our sight or reach, and as soon as we think we are starting to understand, the daily events, joys, troubles, catastrophes pull us away from ever really coming to see some greater purpose. We cling to each other or to fantasy or faith, but in the end we are only left with the work of the moment.
This is a slow moving story about people who are not always very likable, but I found it worthwhile to stick with it.
Also, the picnic scene is just fucking fantastic!
This is a slow moving story about people who are not always very likable, but I found it worthwhile to stick with it.
Also, the picnic scene is just fucking fantastic!
May 13, 2021
A long and painfully winding road. Boswell is an interesting writer who draws a scene as well as anyone and sometimes you get the feeling that each chapter is so well crafted and detailed it is its own short story. But, the story-telling itself is slow and the characters too malignant or indifferent. It was really hard to care about any of them. The ending is worth your patience, but be prepared for a frustrating ride to get there.
July 21, 2023
I found this incredibly boring. I didn't think any of the characters had any redeeming qualities at all. Bad stuff happens to the only decent people in the book which just made it worse. There's a TV movie version of this called 12 Mile Road and this is the first time I can honestly say the movie is better than the book. (Not that the movie was great, but it's Wendy Crewson so how bad could it be?) I do not recommend this book at all.
July 15, 2022
I started reading this one then put it down because of the slow start. I didn't have another handy so decided to give it a try and about midway it picked up and got really interesting. This is the story of Angela & Stephen and their daughter. Not everything is hunky dory but surprises happen.
March 4, 2019
Divorced couple with father a farmer in Iowa. Dulcie, their teenager, who deals with her wild side.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 11, 2021
Interesting story but not a satisfying ending.
February 16, 2024
Wasn’t for me. Started it, read some in the middle and set it aside.
June 27, 2024
Banger. Dulcie I feel ya lmao. Made me think about life and relationships and all that.
August 14, 2016
"That's a unique way to think about it," Stephen said. Henrietta disagreed. "There's not a unique bne in my body," she said.
It was not a good poem, but it touched her that he had written it. Love seemed to have so little to do with accomplishment and so much to do with intention.
Dulcie was sick of the way sex jutted out ahead and bloomed behind women's bodies, the first thing you noticed and the last thing you saw.
It was not a good poem, but it touched her that he had written it. Love seemed to have so little to do with accomplishment and so much to do with intention.
Dulcie was sick of the way sex jutted out ahead and bloomed behind women's bodies, the first thing you noticed and the last thing you saw.
August 3, 2007
A weird little story about a family (mom, dad, girl) and the other people in their lives. Daughter acts cray/unstable, hateful, but she gets better. Parents split, mom remarries, faces childrearing again at 40. Father tries to move on.
Things happen, but very little gets resolved.
Things happen, but very little gets resolved.
May 7, 2009
No plot to the book. Not a good book to read.
September 3, 2009
Why is this book out of print? What a shame.
December 22, 2009
A large cast of interesting characters whose stories are deftly told.
August 5, 2011
I really enjoyed the characters even though the story had some weird moments.
August 18, 2011
This book is the reason I moved to Las Cruces, NM.
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June 21, 2012Passed on to me from Mom.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 36 reviews