Feels Like Far: A Rancher's Life on the Great Plains

by Linda M. Hasselstrom

In Feels Like Far, award-winning author Linda Hasselstrom paints an intimate portrait of family, love, work, nature, and survival against the backdrop of the far-flung South Dakota prairie. Sixteen linked stories tell of the joy of training a first horse, the heartbreak of finding a fatally injured cow, the beauty of cavorting nighthawks, the stubbornness of her father, a rigid old rancher who bucks at old age, the deep, almost spiritual bond she shares with a friend who is diagnosed with AIDS.
“In deliciously direct and unsentimental style” (Kathleen Norris), Hasselstrom maps the landscape of her life, demarcating the same beauties and brutalities that intermingle on the Great Plains she calls home.

Genres: Memoir, Nonfiction, Biography

240 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1999

About the author

Linda M. Hasselstrom is an award-winning poet and writer of the High Plains whose work is rooted in the arid landscape of southwestern South Dakota. She writes, ranches, and conducts writing retreats on the South Dakota ranch homesteaded by her grandfather, a Swedish cobbler, in 1899.

Her website, www.windbreakhouse.com, provides details about her writing retreats, online consulting and her published poetry and nonfiction.

Contact her at info@windbreakhouse.com

Reviews

[Kaycee Monnens]

Excellent writing by a South Dakota rancher and writer. Definitely an author and work I can look up to.

[Margo Solod]

almost as good as i wanted it to be

[Robin]

Beautiful, haunting memoir of a rancher devoted to every animal and acre of her ranch.

[Kim Williams]

Chronicles the challenges (and dangers) of ranch life in South Dakota, as well as the challenges of dealing with elderly parents who hold on to their ranch to the very end.

[MarkedWoman]

The book combines tales of ranch life with memoirs. The memoirs are an introspective account of the author’s experience during her father’s failing health and death, with brilliant descriptions of rural life from a thinking woman’s point of view. While the reflective to rid the memoirs was occasionally a bit much, the word pictures painted in the rest of it make this book well worth reading.

[Sheila Rocha]

Hasselstrom’s memoir of her life on the plains resonates with images I have come to understand as part of a portrait of relationships that engages the human spirit with the geography of both flora and fauna. In particular, for me, this work resounds in necessity of the human life to learn how to coextist with gaia.


“…a northern Black Hillls town, saw the temperature rise forty-nine


degrees in two minutes, setting a world record for swift temperature


change. The only consistent plains weather pattern is variety” (76).


The human soul must shift and eddy with the elements of the plains. Hasselstrom meanders with agile purpose through her life on her father’s ranch demonstrating over and over again how she has learned to interface her life with the unpredictable regularity of not just her parents’ strange ways, but with the volatile nature of the earth she inhabits.

[Ann-maree]

In this beautifully written and powerful book,Linda Hasselstrom embarks upon a voyage of self-discovery and along the way, paints an intimate portrait of family,love, ranching,community,and survival on the Great Plains. It is a story as dramatic and breathtaking as the feirce storms that rip across her ranch.
It is suprising to know that it had taken Linda eight years to write this autobiography.

[Deborah]

This was a book that I didn't choose (for my couples'book group). I was completely surprised when I found the setting so fascinating. Of course, it helps that the author is also a poet. She created a prairie landscape that went beyond anything else I have read.
I also connected with her stories about her aging parents.

[Vivian Sotomayor]

I enjoy the way this connected collection of essays/stories is put together. The writing is strong, raw, and often gut-wrenching, so I had to take time between each essay, unable to read the book all at once. All in all this left me feeling very appreciative of the author and her work, allowing me to really understand a view point and experience so different from mine and yet so relatable.

[Diane]

A great biographical memoir of this woman's life. It has been a decade since I read this book, but passages of the book have stayed with me and come to mind often. The author's descriptions of ranch life, the land, its animals and people are vivid and enchanting.

[Jean]

Autobiographical linked story collection by a woman who grew up on a ranch in South Dakota. Very good on nature - prairie, livestock, and weather - and also good on family relationships and mortality.

[Robert]

A compelling memoir rooted in the challenges of life on the plains. You feel like you have been through hell when you complete this book but bruised and bleeding and depressed you realize you've got to get some rest and be ready for whatever comes next.

[Rogue Reader]

Lyrical loving narrative of western South Dakota's great plains. Pain and frustration too of a father lost to dementia, without having planned for the succession of his ranch. The beauty of this place is unbounded, beautifully detailed by Hasselstrom.

[Alicia]

This book reminds me somewhat of my family's ranch in SD, which is about 70 miles from where this book is set. Good writing and interesting topic.

[Kim]

I loved this book - I learned so much about the daily lives and work of ranchers.

[Ann Sauer]

Suprised how great a book it was. About growing up in general...and especially inspiring about growing up on a ranch in the wide open West.

[Laurie Simmons]

Very straight-forward account of the challenges and pleasures of being a woman in ranching. Interesting description of dealing with aging parents. Hasselstrom is a talented writer.

[summershots]

This one will stay with me.
Resonated on many levels.
Makes me want to saddle up and ride away.