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The Legend of Colton H. Bryant
A heartrending story of the human spirit from the author of the bestselling Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight
Alexandra Fuller returns with the unforgettable true story of Colton H. Bryant, a soulful boy with a mustang-taming heart who comes of age in the oil fields and open plains of Wyoming. After surviving a sometimes cruel adolescence with his own brand of optimistic goofiness, Colton goes to work on an oil rig-and there the biggest heart in the world can't save him from the new, unkind greed that has possessed his beloved Wyoming during the latest boom.
Colton's story could not be told without telling of the land that grew him, where the great high plains meet the Rocky Mountains to create a vista of lonely beauty. It is here that the existence of one boy is a true story as deeply moving as the life that inspired it.
Alexandra Fuller returns with the unforgettable true story of Colton H. Bryant, a soulful boy with a mustang-taming heart who comes of age in the oil fields and open plains of Wyoming. After surviving a sometimes cruel adolescence with his own brand of optimistic goofiness, Colton goes to work on an oil rig-and there the biggest heart in the world can't save him from the new, unkind greed that has possessed his beloved Wyoming during the latest boom.
Colton's story could not be told without telling of the land that grew him, where the great high plains meet the Rocky Mountains to create a vista of lonely beauty. It is here that the existence of one boy is a true story as deeply moving as the life that inspired it.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2008
73 people are currently reading
1696 people want to read
About the author
Alexandra Fuller
16 books1,149 followersAlexandra Fuller has written five books of non-fiction.
Her debut book, Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood (Random House, 2001), was a New York Times Notable Book for 2002, the 2002 Booksense best non-fiction book, a finalist for the Guardian’s First Book Award and the winner of the 2002 Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize.
Her 2004 Scribbling the Cat: Travels with an African Soldier (Penguin Press) won the Ulysses Prize for Art of Reportage.
The Legend of Colton H Bryant was published in May, 2008 by Penguin Press and was a Toronto Globe and Mail, Best Non-Fiction Book of 2008.
Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness was published in August 2011 (Penguin Press).
Her latest book, Leaving Before the Rains Come, was published in January 2015 (Penguin Press).
Fuller has also written extensively for magazines and newspapers including the New Yorker Magazine, National Geographic Magazine, Vogue and Granta Magazine. Her reviews have appeared in the New York Times Book Review; The Financial Times and the Toronto Globe and Mail.
Fuller was born in England in 1969 and moved to Africa with her family when she was two. She married an American river guide in Zambia in 1993. They left Africa in 1994 and moved to Wyoming, where Fuller still resides. She has three children.
Her debut book, Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood (Random House, 2001), was a New York Times Notable Book for 2002, the 2002 Booksense best non-fiction book, a finalist for the Guardian’s First Book Award and the winner of the 2002 Winifred Holtby Memorial Prize.
Her 2004 Scribbling the Cat: Travels with an African Soldier (Penguin Press) won the Ulysses Prize for Art of Reportage.
The Legend of Colton H Bryant was published in May, 2008 by Penguin Press and was a Toronto Globe and Mail, Best Non-Fiction Book of 2008.
Cocktail Hour Under the Tree of Forgetfulness was published in August 2011 (Penguin Press).
Her latest book, Leaving Before the Rains Come, was published in January 2015 (Penguin Press).
Fuller has also written extensively for magazines and newspapers including the New Yorker Magazine, National Geographic Magazine, Vogue and Granta Magazine. Her reviews have appeared in the New York Times Book Review; The Financial Times and the Toronto Globe and Mail.
Fuller was born in England in 1969 and moved to Africa with her family when she was two. She married an American river guide in Zambia in 1993. They left Africa in 1994 and moved to Wyoming, where Fuller still resides. She has three children.
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August 2, 2024
Fueled by Mountain Dew and motivated by the purest intentions, Colton H. Bryant wanted, above all else, to be just like his father. This is what Colton was about, but not ultimately what The Legend of Colton H. Bryant is about. Perhaps this is because the title of Legend is much more mythical-sounding than a story of simple Wyoming frontier life lends itself to. The legend herein is one of infamy; a young man’s avoidable fate—due to unethical business practices—as he innocently does his duty, trying to make a life for himself and his family. It’s a tale replete with monotony, interspersed with tragedy.
Fuller’s purpose in this pseudo-biographical novel becomes clear when, nearly half-way in, we are confronted with the “Anatomy of an Oil Patch”. This is where, if the story begins to feel stagnant or repetitive, Fuller casts her line and reels in.
A character’s demeanor can elicit emotional reactions from readers, positive or negative, especially if said demeanor involves advancing a social message. Fuller doesn’t so much as assume a character to express her discontent. It wouldn’t be unreasonable to conclude that such passages as quoted supra are the author’s viewpoint, this work being an amalgamation of non-fiction and “narrative liberties”. An overly tendentious message can ruin a story, but opinionated characters and social themes can enhance the experience.
Colton is a pawn. It is nowhere indicated that he has an understanding of corporate corruption or human labor exploitation. His limited cognitive capacity was the first indicator that he should not have hopped right on the oil rigs, seemingly accident-prone as he was; nearly freezing to death—twice. At the end of a goose-hunting trip with his friends, Colton walks into waist-deep water to fetch the game and
Regardless of one’s positions on capitalism, Fuller succeeds in indicting corporate greed a la Upton Sinclair. Not only does she hit the heart, as Sinclair targeted in his novel about the meatpacking industry, The Jungle, (which legendarily inspired Theodore Roosevelt to implement the FDA), but also the gut, as Sinclair admitted to having hit accidentally. We are given examples of gruesome incidents out of the oil rigs. The most harrowing of which—to me—involves a man who, while helping to drill “into the ground at such a speed that… [he], poorly trained in a prisoners-to-work program, caught his right hand in the drill, instinctively reached with his left hand to free himself, and had both arms ripped off at the sockets. He died on location”.
The overwhelming success of Fuller’s prose is in her ability to convert the mundane to descriptions of spectacle, specifically regarding landscape. She weaves sensory-rich sentences with near-lyricism:
Presumed shortcomings—such as dialogue—were intentionally repetitive, portraying simple people with a simple way of life. Colton is a boy who lived by clichéd mantra: “mind over matter”. Colton uses his phrase as a psychological comfort when he is abused. Managing character and dialogue in this way is valuable. Even if the character isn’t particularly interesting, his/her portrayal must be honest and consistent. Tense change as well; a fatal flaw if not commanded. We meet “Colton and the Kmart Cowboys” in the present tense, experiencing in real time the bullying Colton endures. After this despairing introduction, Fuller takes us back, letting us know that this has already passed, every so often bending time so that we may observe Colton, his family—his struggles, through a more sympathetic lens. He was, after all, a real human, and is now, in some immortal sense, a real character.
Fuller’s purpose in this pseudo-biographical novel becomes clear when, nearly half-way in, we are confronted with the “Anatomy of an Oil Patch”. This is where, if the story begins to feel stagnant or repetitive, Fuller casts her line and reels in.
“And all the time, the inconvenient biology of human bodies creating logistical and law enforcement challenges for the communities that host the oil-field workers—food and porta-potties, beds and trailers, drugs and sex—because the humans involved in the process of oil drilling aren’t always robotic extensions of their drill bits”.Drawing the reader’s attention to these kinds of consequences is an essential component of this work, and one which this reader cannot ignore. Though potentially dangerous to the story if improperly handled and didactic, I find this particular type of consciousness-raising appropriate.
A character’s demeanor can elicit emotional reactions from readers, positive or negative, especially if said demeanor involves advancing a social message. Fuller doesn’t so much as assume a character to express her discontent. It wouldn’t be unreasonable to conclude that such passages as quoted supra are the author’s viewpoint, this work being an amalgamation of non-fiction and “narrative liberties”. An overly tendentious message can ruin a story, but opinionated characters and social themes can enhance the experience.
Colton is a pawn. It is nowhere indicated that he has an understanding of corporate corruption or human labor exploitation. His limited cognitive capacity was the first indicator that he should not have hopped right on the oil rigs, seemingly accident-prone as he was; nearly freezing to death—twice. At the end of a goose-hunting trip with his friends, Colton walks into waist-deep water to fetch the game and
“By the time [he] climbed back into the pickup he was most definitely starting to lose higher functioning—his systems shutting down from hypothermia—and the way Jake tells it, Colton didn’t have an excess of higher functioning to lose in the first place”.One might assert a workplace mishap was inevitable, especially on a catwalk, with no rails, in high wind. But that doesn’t exonerate the drilling company, Patterson-UTI in this case.
Regardless of one’s positions on capitalism, Fuller succeeds in indicting corporate greed a la Upton Sinclair. Not only does she hit the heart, as Sinclair targeted in his novel about the meatpacking industry, The Jungle, (which legendarily inspired Theodore Roosevelt to implement the FDA), but also the gut, as Sinclair admitted to having hit accidentally. We are given examples of gruesome incidents out of the oil rigs. The most harrowing of which—to me—involves a man who, while helping to drill “into the ground at such a speed that… [he], poorly trained in a prisoners-to-work program, caught his right hand in the drill, instinctively reached with his left hand to free himself, and had both arms ripped off at the sockets. He died on location”.
The overwhelming success of Fuller’s prose is in her ability to convert the mundane to descriptions of spectacle, specifically regarding landscape. She weaves sensory-rich sentences with near-lyricism:
“It had turned cold the day Colton drove up to Casper in the heart of Wyoming’s oil and gas country, fall laid a frigid breath over the filtered sun. It was the hunting season of Colton’s twenty-third year and the scented wind off the mountains and the bittersweet smell of turning aspen leaves made him itch to be up at the snowline tracking elk into the deadfall”.
Presumed shortcomings—such as dialogue—were intentionally repetitive, portraying simple people with a simple way of life. Colton is a boy who lived by clichéd mantra: “mind over matter”. Colton uses his phrase as a psychological comfort when he is abused. Managing character and dialogue in this way is valuable. Even if the character isn’t particularly interesting, his/her portrayal must be honest and consistent. Tense change as well; a fatal flaw if not commanded. We meet “Colton and the Kmart Cowboys” in the present tense, experiencing in real time the bullying Colton endures. After this despairing introduction, Fuller takes us back, letting us know that this has already passed, every so often bending time so that we may observe Colton, his family—his struggles, through a more sympathetic lens. He was, after all, a real human, and is now, in some immortal sense, a real character.
January 21, 2022
Un western.
Questo è un western contemporaneo - racconta Alexandra Fuller a François Busnel che la intervista nella puntata Grandi Spazi, dedicata alle terre degli ex territori di Lakota Dakota e Cheyenne, del programma «America tra le righe» - e forse è proprio per questo che una buona metà del romanzo, quello che descrive il contesto sociale, la famiglia e gli amici di Colton H. Bryant (dove l'acca non significa nulla, ma come ammette suo padre quando ne spiega l'origine, serve solo a fare scena), quello che contribuisce a creare l'attesa e a descrivere l'ambiente in cui i protagonisti si muovono e vivono le loro esperienze di vita, ha un incedere forse volutamente piatto - dico forse perché questa è l'idea che mi è balenata in mente da un certo momento in poi, del quale parlerò più avanti, ma riguardo alla quale avrei necessità di confrontarmi, in cerca di eventuali conferme, con chi dovesse decidere di leggerlo in lingua originale - apparentemente ripetitivo e banale, una scrittura che appare elementare, soprattutto se poi confrontata a quella della seconda parte del libro, che esito a definire romanzo perché purtroppo è tutta storia vera, che invece si manifesta in tutta la sua profondità e ricchezza; mi sono detta, allora, nel momento in cui la penna cambia, nel momento in cui esce finalmente fuori la capacità narrativa e descrittiva di Alexandra Fuller, nata in Inghilterra ma vissuta per gran parte della sua vita in Africa e ora negli Stati Uniti, che la prima parte doveva essere raccontata come una leggenda, come quelle storie che un tempo venivano narrate per strada all'assembramento di persone che si riunivano per sentirle raccontare dai cantastorie, come quelle che altri cantastorie, nel lontano west, raccontavano ai pionieri e ai cowboy fuori dai loro carri e dai saloon e che forse era proprio quello che cercava di rievocare, la tradizione orale delle storie tramandate di bocca in bocca, ancora vive dopo molto tempo.
È un western contemporaneo, raccontava Alexandra Fuller, che narra una storia apparentemente banale, ma leggendaria, quella di Colton H. Bryant che a soli ventisei anni muore precipitando da uno di quei pozzi innalzati per estrarre gas naturali dalla terra, quei pozzi che deturpano le praterie del Wyoming e distruggono i campi di artemisia che si stendono e si rincorrono all'infinito, sotto a cieli talmente grandi che la notte le stelle sembrano caderti addosso; una di quelle storie, quella di una morte sul lavoro, alle quali siamo abituati al di qua dell'oceano e che ci avrebbe lasciati indifferenti, se non fosse che al di là, in terra di rodei e di ragazzotti cresciuti tra cavalli e caccia alle antilocapre e alle lepri, di Neil Diamond e Dolly Parton ascoltati nei pickup come se il tempo fosse ancora fermo a trent'anni prima, di lattine di Mountain Dew bevute una dietro l'altra, al di qua, in terra di pellerossa e cowboy i pozzi per l'estrazione di gas dalla terra, i pozzi non c'entrerebbero proprio nulla, ma che c'entrano, invece, perché sembra che ormai, da tre generazioni, questo sia l'unico lavoro possibile per gli uomini del luogo.
L'unico lavoro possibile, dunque, quello certo, ma non il più sicuro, perché come racconta l'autrice, dal momento in cui si dedica a descrivere lo scempio che le società petrolifere, a forza di trivellazioni perforazioni e fratturazioni, stanno facendo delle fino allora incontaminate terre del Wyoming, dal momento in cui dalla narrazione orale passa alla cronaca e alla denuncia di una morte annunciata, paventata e scongiurata, e lo fa attraverso una condanna talmente limpida e ineccepibile da chiedersi in quale maniera avranno potuto mai rispondere alle accuse le società chiamate in causa, è chiaro a tutti che un conto alla rovescia è stato innescato, che un omicidio sta per essere compiuto, un omicidio del quale tutti conoscono i colpevoli, senza però che si possa far nulla per arrestarli, per impedirgli di compierlo.
È un western contemporaneo, allora, un western di quelli che sarà finito su chissà quanti e quali giornali locali, ma di quelli in cui i colpevoli, ammonisce la Fuller, sono anche le vittime stesse: perché non si è mai visto un cowboy senza cavallo e senza vacche, un cowboy costretto a permettere alle perforazioni di deturpare la sua terra, un cowboy, e qui è ovvio che l'autrice non accusa e non si rivolge al solo Colton, al giovane e ingenuo Colton, quello stesso giovane uomo che da bambino era preso in giro dai suoi coetanei per la sua semplicità, tale da farlo sembrare un po' ritardato, e dai quali aveva imparato a difendersi a forza di ripetersi "Mind over Matter, I don't mind so it don't matter" ("Me ne infischio ma non m'invischio", nella discutibile traduzione italiana) e non si è mai visto un cowboy che ceda la sua terra, e con lei il suo futuro, senza difenderla dall'invasore, ma si rivolge a tutti i cowboy, e attraverso essi a tutti gli uomini.
Un cowboy, dice la Fuller, non può essere un cowboy senza la sua terra, senza la sua mandria: non si può essere un cowboy e al tempo stesso lasciare che la propria terra diventi strumento di un progetto di energia non sostenibile.
E quindi, nonostante lo si sappia sin dall'inizio, come andrà a finire, nonostante quei pozzi si staglino alti fino a toccare il cielo e sembrare mulini a vento invincibili, nonostante il rumore assordante delle trivelle sembri giungere fino al cuore della terra per poterlo strappare, nonostante i gas si insinuino e avvelenino le viscere dell'umanità anestetizzandola, nonostante il caldo torrido annebbi la mente e il gelo e la neve paralizzino i pensieri, vien voglia di aprire i polmoni e di urlarlo a squarciagola alle stelle del Wyoming, sperando che almeno loro sappiano illuminare la strada da percorrere e indicare un punto lontano, che la vita di un uomo vale di più, molto di più, e che la terra, questa terra, queste rocce, sono gli esseri spirituali più antichi che esistano.
Qui una recensione che racconta anche la vera storia di Colton H. Bryant.
«Terza generazione agli impianti» disse Colton.
«Allora sei un ragazzo del Wyoming?»
«Sissignora» disse Colton «Quel vento che soffia di traverso è la mia colonna sonora».
Dall'intervista a Alexandra Fuller:
Ciò che mi interessava del paesaggio del Wyoming era trovare un modo per descrivere con efficacia il linguaggio del silenzio. Un silenzio che non riguarda soltanto il paesaggio, ma anche la gente di qui; il silenzio è il protagonista del libro. Ho lasciato parlare le tormente, il vento, il sole, il suo calore implacabile, le estati torride e questi gelidi inverni per trasformarlo in un linguaggio.
Prima hanno massacrato gli indiani, poi i bisonti poi hanno preso la terra e ora stanno prendendo la gente che si era presa la terra; e ora cosa si prenderanno, l'acqua? L'aria? Il solo modo in cui mi sembrava di poter comunicare con i lettori americani era di parlare della vita di un cowboy, che però approvava l'estrazione dei gas dalla sua terra.
Se vuoi essere un cowboy devi esserlo al 100% e questo non vuol dire estrarre il petrolio, ma condurre le mandrie al pascolo.
Questo è un western contemporaneo - racconta Alexandra Fuller a François Busnel che la intervista nella puntata Grandi Spazi, dedicata alle terre degli ex territori di Lakota Dakota e Cheyenne, del programma «America tra le righe» - e forse è proprio per questo che una buona metà del romanzo, quello che descrive il contesto sociale, la famiglia e gli amici di Colton H. Bryant (dove l'acca non significa nulla, ma come ammette suo padre quando ne spiega l'origine, serve solo a fare scena), quello che contribuisce a creare l'attesa e a descrivere l'ambiente in cui i protagonisti si muovono e vivono le loro esperienze di vita, ha un incedere forse volutamente piatto - dico forse perché questa è l'idea che mi è balenata in mente da un certo momento in poi, del quale parlerò più avanti, ma riguardo alla quale avrei necessità di confrontarmi, in cerca di eventuali conferme, con chi dovesse decidere di leggerlo in lingua originale - apparentemente ripetitivo e banale, una scrittura che appare elementare, soprattutto se poi confrontata a quella della seconda parte del libro, che esito a definire romanzo perché purtroppo è tutta storia vera, che invece si manifesta in tutta la sua profondità e ricchezza; mi sono detta, allora, nel momento in cui la penna cambia, nel momento in cui esce finalmente fuori la capacità narrativa e descrittiva di Alexandra Fuller, nata in Inghilterra ma vissuta per gran parte della sua vita in Africa e ora negli Stati Uniti, che la prima parte doveva essere raccontata come una leggenda, come quelle storie che un tempo venivano narrate per strada all'assembramento di persone che si riunivano per sentirle raccontare dai cantastorie, come quelle che altri cantastorie, nel lontano west, raccontavano ai pionieri e ai cowboy fuori dai loro carri e dai saloon e che forse era proprio quello che cercava di rievocare, la tradizione orale delle storie tramandate di bocca in bocca, ancora vive dopo molto tempo.
È un western contemporaneo, raccontava Alexandra Fuller, che narra una storia apparentemente banale, ma leggendaria, quella di Colton H. Bryant che a soli ventisei anni muore precipitando da uno di quei pozzi innalzati per estrarre gas naturali dalla terra, quei pozzi che deturpano le praterie del Wyoming e distruggono i campi di artemisia che si stendono e si rincorrono all'infinito, sotto a cieli talmente grandi che la notte le stelle sembrano caderti addosso; una di quelle storie, quella di una morte sul lavoro, alle quali siamo abituati al di qua dell'oceano e che ci avrebbe lasciati indifferenti, se non fosse che al di là, in terra di rodei e di ragazzotti cresciuti tra cavalli e caccia alle antilocapre e alle lepri, di Neil Diamond e Dolly Parton ascoltati nei pickup come se il tempo fosse ancora fermo a trent'anni prima, di lattine di Mountain Dew bevute una dietro l'altra, al di qua, in terra di pellerossa e cowboy i pozzi per l'estrazione di gas dalla terra, i pozzi non c'entrerebbero proprio nulla, ma che c'entrano, invece, perché sembra che ormai, da tre generazioni, questo sia l'unico lavoro possibile per gli uomini del luogo.
L'unico lavoro possibile, dunque, quello certo, ma non il più sicuro, perché come racconta l'autrice, dal momento in cui si dedica a descrivere lo scempio che le società petrolifere, a forza di trivellazioni perforazioni e fratturazioni, stanno facendo delle fino allora incontaminate terre del Wyoming, dal momento in cui dalla narrazione orale passa alla cronaca e alla denuncia di una morte annunciata, paventata e scongiurata, e lo fa attraverso una condanna talmente limpida e ineccepibile da chiedersi in quale maniera avranno potuto mai rispondere alle accuse le società chiamate in causa, è chiaro a tutti che un conto alla rovescia è stato innescato, che un omicidio sta per essere compiuto, un omicidio del quale tutti conoscono i colpevoli, senza però che si possa far nulla per arrestarli, per impedirgli di compierlo.
È un western contemporaneo, allora, un western di quelli che sarà finito su chissà quanti e quali giornali locali, ma di quelli in cui i colpevoli, ammonisce la Fuller, sono anche le vittime stesse: perché non si è mai visto un cowboy senza cavallo e senza vacche, un cowboy costretto a permettere alle perforazioni di deturpare la sua terra, un cowboy, e qui è ovvio che l'autrice non accusa e non si rivolge al solo Colton, al giovane e ingenuo Colton, quello stesso giovane uomo che da bambino era preso in giro dai suoi coetanei per la sua semplicità, tale da farlo sembrare un po' ritardato, e dai quali aveva imparato a difendersi a forza di ripetersi "Mind over Matter, I don't mind so it don't matter" ("Me ne infischio ma non m'invischio", nella discutibile traduzione italiana) e non si è mai visto un cowboy che ceda la sua terra, e con lei il suo futuro, senza difenderla dall'invasore, ma si rivolge a tutti i cowboy, e attraverso essi a tutti gli uomini.
Un cowboy, dice la Fuller, non può essere un cowboy senza la sua terra, senza la sua mandria: non si può essere un cowboy e al tempo stesso lasciare che la propria terra diventi strumento di un progetto di energia non sostenibile.
E quindi, nonostante lo si sappia sin dall'inizio, come andrà a finire, nonostante quei pozzi si staglino alti fino a toccare il cielo e sembrare mulini a vento invincibili, nonostante il rumore assordante delle trivelle sembri giungere fino al cuore della terra per poterlo strappare, nonostante i gas si insinuino e avvelenino le viscere dell'umanità anestetizzandola, nonostante il caldo torrido annebbi la mente e il gelo e la neve paralizzino i pensieri, vien voglia di aprire i polmoni e di urlarlo a squarciagola alle stelle del Wyoming, sperando che almeno loro sappiano illuminare la strada da percorrere e indicare un punto lontano, che la vita di un uomo vale di più, molto di più, e che la terra, questa terra, queste rocce, sono gli esseri spirituali più antichi che esistano.
Qui una recensione che racconta anche la vera storia di Colton H. Bryant.
«Terza generazione agli impianti» disse Colton.
«Allora sei un ragazzo del Wyoming?»
«Sissignora» disse Colton «Quel vento che soffia di traverso è la mia colonna sonora».
Dall'intervista a Alexandra Fuller:
Ciò che mi interessava del paesaggio del Wyoming era trovare un modo per descrivere con efficacia il linguaggio del silenzio. Un silenzio che non riguarda soltanto il paesaggio, ma anche la gente di qui; il silenzio è il protagonista del libro. Ho lasciato parlare le tormente, il vento, il sole, il suo calore implacabile, le estati torride e questi gelidi inverni per trasformarlo in un linguaggio.
Prima hanno massacrato gli indiani, poi i bisonti poi hanno preso la terra e ora stanno prendendo la gente che si era presa la terra; e ora cosa si prenderanno, l'acqua? L'aria? Il solo modo in cui mi sembrava di poter comunicare con i lettori americani era di parlare della vita di un cowboy, che però approvava l'estrazione dei gas dalla sua terra.
Se vuoi essere un cowboy devi esserlo al 100% e questo non vuol dire estrarre il petrolio, ma condurre le mandrie al pascolo.
June 13, 2008
Whoa. I was not expecting this book. I love Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight, but this book reached another level of poignancy and relevance for me. The only tricky part about it is how to convince other people that they should read a story about a cowboy in Wyoming, because it is not really about being a cowboy, and it is not necessarily a tribute to Wyoming. That said, it should probably be added to your reading list, because Fuller tells a story that needs to be told, and she does so beautifully.
April 27, 2014
Although I enjoyed this book and can point at no glaring fault, my overall reaction to it was simply that I liked it. No more, no less. This is a biography written by Alexandra Fuller about someone other than herself, her family or closest friends, as all of her other books are. In those books her relationships with her parents, childhood memories and her emotional ties to Africa (Zambia and Zimbabwe) became so intimate they became my experiences. In this tragic book about Colton H. Bryant, who worked on the oil rigs in Wyoming and fell to his death in 2006 at the age of 26, I looked observed his life and was fascinated, but his life never became mine.
I liked that the beginning of the book begins with a character list, so you know right away who is who and the author didn’t need to introduce each. It was not necessary for me to return to this list to keep track of who was who. You remember!
Fuller is extraordinarily talented in her ability to make a landscape palpable. Here she captures Wyoming - the constant drum of the winds, the icy cold freezing temperatures of winter and the sizzling heat of summers.
Although a book of non-fiction, Fuller has invented dialogs. This bothered me at first because the story reads as fiction, and it was supposed to be non-fiction! In the author’s note at the end this is clarified. I wish that author’s note had preceded the story. I spent too much time wondering about the authenticity of the dialogs rather than sinking into the story. I do think the author remarkably well captured through her invented dialogs the character of Colton, his family and friends. His mother, his father, his wife and his best friend are all here. Who each is comes through by what they say and by what they do. The goodness and strength of his idolized father. His loving mother, who never accepted any funny business. Drugs and drinking were simply not accepted. Mountain Dew, the energy drink , that is what he lived on….. and his wild horse, Cocoa. The harsh landscape has toughened, hardened, “salted” these people. All of them. And Colton, a hyper-active kid who couldn’t sit still and was bullied by classmates. In fact he went by the name of ”retard”! Sweet as kids always are, he was harassed on account of his being in special ed, and that was because of how “his “brain worked”, because he was different, because he was always going full-speed ahead and couldn’t sit still for two seconds. Give it the proper medical term ADHD - Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. This shaped who he was, in good ways and bad. The good being his mantra and life-save:, think ”mind over matter” when trouble comes knocking. Nobody can hurt you if you tell yourself you just don’t care. “Mind over matter” – it makes you invincible. Well, only so far. When there are no safety rails, when the oil companies’ sole aim is to get that oil / natural gas as quickly, as efficiently as economically as possible, then nothing can save you.
Still, the characterizations only went so far. It’s a short book; you can delve only so far in so few pages. I don’t really understand why he so adored his father, although childhood hunting and riding tales are shared. I do understand why he chose to work on the oil rigs. The danger in fact attracted him, and what else could he do to live and feed a family on? The men in his family had chosen this for generations; it was quite simply what they did. I don’t understand how it felt up there on those rigs though, and that Fuller should have imparted.
I liked that the beginning of the book begins with a character list, so you know right away who is who and the author didn’t need to introduce each. It was not necessary for me to return to this list to keep track of who was who. You remember!
Fuller is extraordinarily talented in her ability to make a landscape palpable. Here she captures Wyoming - the constant drum of the winds, the icy cold freezing temperatures of winter and the sizzling heat of summers.
Although a book of non-fiction, Fuller has invented dialogs. This bothered me at first because the story reads as fiction, and it was supposed to be non-fiction! In the author’s note at the end this is clarified. I wish that author’s note had preceded the story. I spent too much time wondering about the authenticity of the dialogs rather than sinking into the story. I do think the author remarkably well captured through her invented dialogs the character of Colton, his family and friends. His mother, his father, his wife and his best friend are all here. Who each is comes through by what they say and by what they do. The goodness and strength of his idolized father. His loving mother, who never accepted any funny business. Drugs and drinking were simply not accepted. Mountain Dew, the energy drink , that is what he lived on….. and his wild horse, Cocoa. The harsh landscape has toughened, hardened, “salted” these people. All of them. And Colton, a hyper-active kid who couldn’t sit still and was bullied by classmates. In fact he went by the name of ”retard”! Sweet as kids always are, he was harassed on account of his being in special ed, and that was because of how “his “brain worked”, because he was different, because he was always going full-speed ahead and couldn’t sit still for two seconds. Give it the proper medical term ADHD - Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. This shaped who he was, in good ways and bad. The good being his mantra and life-save:, think ”mind over matter” when trouble comes knocking. Nobody can hurt you if you tell yourself you just don’t care. “Mind over matter” – it makes you invincible. Well, only so far. When there are no safety rails, when the oil companies’ sole aim is to get that oil / natural gas as quickly, as efficiently as economically as possible, then nothing can save you.
Still, the characterizations only went so far. It’s a short book; you can delve only so far in so few pages. I don’t really understand why he so adored his father, although childhood hunting and riding tales are shared. I do understand why he chose to work on the oil rigs. The danger in fact attracted him, and what else could he do to live and feed a family on? The men in his family had chosen this for generations; it was quite simply what they did. I don’t understand how it felt up there on those rigs though, and that Fuller should have imparted.
June 13, 2009
My family found me crying uncontrollably on the couch during the last few chapters. Perhaps this book touched a little too close to home for me. I’m from Wyoming; I know first-hand about cowboys, the land, and the draw of money. I've known lots of friends who have stayed there to accept those $60,000/yr jobs, just as Colton did, only to find themselves stuck in a job which just about kills them. Everyone jokes about the "smell of money" when you drive by an oil patch.
Geez. The first car accident I was ever in was when I rear-ended an oil rig truck. They're everywhere in Wyoming.
Between coal and oil, I’ve known a lot of roughnecks. A boyfriend who used to take me on dates to the laundrymat so we could wash his “greasers” (filthy, greasy clothes from the oil field – just as described in the book). He was from Evanston – same as Colton! And another boyfriend who had a derrick (the huge part of the oil rig that goes up and down) break loose and land on his leg thus ending his oil patch days.
So yes, I think I’ve known many a boy/man just like Colton. None with as heartbreaking a tale as Colton. But many with the same spirit.
Fuller did an incredible job describing Colton’s life, his heart, and his beautiful blue eyes. And she did just as great a job capturing Wyoming – how harsh and dry and cruel it can be. As well as how it can suck you in and make you love it in the same way you can love another human.
Geez. The first car accident I was ever in was when I rear-ended an oil rig truck. They're everywhere in Wyoming.
Between coal and oil, I’ve known a lot of roughnecks. A boyfriend who used to take me on dates to the laundrymat so we could wash his “greasers” (filthy, greasy clothes from the oil field – just as described in the book). He was from Evanston – same as Colton! And another boyfriend who had a derrick (the huge part of the oil rig that goes up and down) break loose and land on his leg thus ending his oil patch days.
So yes, I think I’ve known many a boy/man just like Colton. None with as heartbreaking a tale as Colton. But many with the same spirit.
Fuller did an incredible job describing Colton’s life, his heart, and his beautiful blue eyes. And she did just as great a job capturing Wyoming – how harsh and dry and cruel it can be. As well as how it can suck you in and make you love it in the same way you can love another human.
May 1, 2012
This is a heartbreaker of a book that will also make you angry. Based on a true story - though the author herself says at the end that she took some liberties with the material, so it's hard to know how "creative" the book is as creative nonfiction. Nonetheless, you come to know its central character, Colton, as a young man who's the product of an LDS upbringing in small-town and rural Wyoming. Not much of a student and pegged as a "slow learner," he compensates for the meager hand he's been dealt with an enthusiasm for living, a love of his friends and family, and a talent for overcoming obstacles ("Mind over matter" is his motto - "I don't mind, so it don't matter") that leaves everyone else shaking their heads in disbelief.
We learn a lot about southwestern Wyoming, the winds, the extremes of weather, and the limited opportunities for a young man, which are mostly comprised of the ups and downs of oil extraction in desolate areas of the state. Here, at the age of 25, he is employed and working to make ends meet for a young wife, her son that he's adopted, and their own infant boy. And that's where the story ends. Although not without a final comment about the indifference to human safety in the pursuit of profits by Colton's employer, Patterson-UTI. This is a slim volume, made up of short chapters that are often little more than vignettes, each capturing a moment in a young life and ending up finally as a eulogy.
We learn a lot about southwestern Wyoming, the winds, the extremes of weather, and the limited opportunities for a young man, which are mostly comprised of the ups and downs of oil extraction in desolate areas of the state. Here, at the age of 25, he is employed and working to make ends meet for a young wife, her son that he's adopted, and their own infant boy. And that's where the story ends. Although not without a final comment about the indifference to human safety in the pursuit of profits by Colton's employer, Patterson-UTI. This is a slim volume, made up of short chapters that are often little more than vignettes, each capturing a moment in a young life and ending up finally as a eulogy.
December 23, 2019
I think this is the last Fuller book that I haven’t read. I loved this one, as is the case with all her books. This one was non-fiction but had some things that were fictionalized. It was about a young #cowboy in #Wyoming that worked in the #Oil industry. It basically told his life story and it was beautiful and poetic, as all of Fuller’s writing is. It was about different kind of American hero, one that we don’t hear much about. Pick this up if you love Fuller, or pick it up if you haven’t read any of her books!
May 20, 2011
Quite simply one of the best books I have ever read. It's short, simply stunning and entirely moving. And it's the only novel that has ever caused me to weep publicly (I was on a train, it was a tad embarrassing). I gave it to my (very masculine) little brother, he wept; he gave it to his Greek best friend, he wept; I gave it to my mum, who doesn't read much, she read it twice; I gave it to my friend who is doing a pHD on poetry, he wept; I gave it to another friend who is a doctor, she apparently recommends it left, right and centre throughout the hospital she works in. But don't go thinking this is simply easy "therapeutic literature." Before you've even got to the "weepy bit" you will discover that The Legend of Colton H. Bryant is a brief tale of epic proportion. Like the best of them, it provides an intelligent and compassionate insight into our favorite subject, the ways and wonders of humanity. And it is an example of honest, beautiful writing... Ignore everything I've said, just read the book, I implore you! Whether you are old or young, male or female, you will at the very least heartily enjoy it (and probably have a good old weep!).
March 4, 2025
50 States 50 Books #8: Wyoming
I keep trying to get into westerns in a fun, campy way and only end up getting into them in a heartbreaking, poetic way; but I’m not complaining. This was such a good pick for my Wyoming book because I actually learned more about the state and its inhabitants. Fuller brings you into the landscape of Wyoming and its oil workers with so much clarity.
However, for all its beauty, this book is a gut punch. It pulls you in with a funny and charming (real life!) protagonist with rich supporting characters (who are all real! this is a true story!!), and then hits you where it hurts most with a tragic ending. The crazy thing is that as soon as I started the book, I knew how it would end, but during those short 197 pages, Fuller sent me free falling (sorry) into a pit of denial and bargaining. I loved it.
I keep trying to get into westerns in a fun, campy way and only end up getting into them in a heartbreaking, poetic way; but I’m not complaining. This was such a good pick for my Wyoming book because I actually learned more about the state and its inhabitants. Fuller brings you into the landscape of Wyoming and its oil workers with so much clarity.
However, for all its beauty, this book is a gut punch. It pulls you in with a funny and charming (real life!) protagonist with rich supporting characters (who are all real! this is a true story!!), and then hits you where it hurts most with a tragic ending. The crazy thing is that as soon as I started the book, I knew how it would end, but during those short 197 pages, Fuller sent me free falling (sorry) into a pit of denial and bargaining. I loved it.
May 3, 2023
A curio in the Alexandra Fuller trophy case. Essentially a work of compassion of a kind that feels alien to us now, just a few decades on. A very old fashioned book. Two-thirds in, as Colton reaches adulthood, the perspective zooms out to take in some of the context of the Mountain West--painful for me to read, personally, but consummately summoned by Fuller's unerring eye for just the right details. Political sympathies emerge, but subtly; the book never feels didactic. Labor, exploitation of people and of the earth, landscapes and human lives spoiled.
November 3, 2008
In this non-fiction novel, Fuller somberly tells the story of an unsung American hero, Colton H.Bryant, a young oil drill rig worker; one of many who support this country's oil industry, thereby providing much of the country's wealth. You might call this a true crime novel—the crime being capitalist greed and unfair treatment of workers; or you might call it a modern western for all the broad sweeping Wyoming landscapes, and the timeless struggle of its inhabitants ("who appear as tiny dots against the great swell of land") to work and prosper.
Getting into this book was really slow for me. It was kind of like watching a boring documentary...There is no plot focus at first, just short snippets of people and scenery. Also, I thought the writing was pretentious. We are told Colton's walk was "like he had never really found the difference between sky and earth." Another sentence was about a wild mare "tossing its head in serpentines of willfullness." I thought, why not: "willfully tossed its head in snake-like motions"? This is not to pick on someone's style—I'm just giving examples of why I didn't love this book. I stuck with it because my friend liked it, and the chapters are short.
I was indifferent to Colton's character for the first half of the book. This is a boy who "put ketchup on his ketchup" and almost froze himself to death—twice. Things pick up when his horse runs away and he searches for her everyday; but mainly I just thought he was a goofball.
What saved this book for me is that Colton grew as a person, into a responsible husband and father. I liked this last third of the book, and also the descriptions of the weather that takes on a life of its own; but I can't give it three stars because the first half annoyed me so much. It took me six weeks to read this because I could only take so much of it at one time. Even so, I have to admit that Fuller is a good and effective writer. Even though her writing don't get an approving "Whee-haw" out of me, it got the job done.
Getting into this book was really slow for me. It was kind of like watching a boring documentary...There is no plot focus at first, just short snippets of people and scenery. Also, I thought the writing was pretentious. We are told Colton's walk was "like he had never really found the difference between sky and earth." Another sentence was about a wild mare "tossing its head in serpentines of willfullness." I thought, why not: "willfully tossed its head in snake-like motions"? This is not to pick on someone's style—I'm just giving examples of why I didn't love this book. I stuck with it because my friend liked it, and the chapters are short.
I was indifferent to Colton's character for the first half of the book. This is a boy who "put ketchup on his ketchup" and almost froze himself to death—twice. Things pick up when his horse runs away and he searches for her everyday; but mainly I just thought he was a goofball.
What saved this book for me is that Colton grew as a person, into a responsible husband and father. I liked this last third of the book, and also the descriptions of the weather that takes on a life of its own; but I can't give it three stars because the first half annoyed me so much. It took me six weeks to read this because I could only take so much of it at one time. Even so, I have to admit that Fuller is a good and effective writer. Even though her writing don't get an approving "Whee-haw" out of me, it got the job done.
October 15, 2011
I'm also a huge fan of Alexandra Fuller. I would probably read her grocery lists and find something deeply poetic about them. She is, I think, one of the most lyrical writers I've discovered, and this account of a third-generation Wyoming roughneck only continues to cement my opinion.
Most of her work deals with her life in Zimbabwe, so I was surprised to see this one but then I found out she was living in Wyoming, so it made more sense. Before I started reading it, too, I had a feeling she'd "get" the West and I think, after reading this, she does.
Here we have the creative nonfiction account of Colton H. Bryant, a Wyoming cowboy who ended up working western oil rigs as a roughneck, a job that would ultimately cut his young life too short. Fuller acknowledges that she took narrative liberties with Bryant's story, as one might see in a movie adaptation of a biography. She is a consummate painter with words, and in the telling of Bryant's life, and her skillful evocation of harsh but supremely beautiful western landscapes, a reader might come away blaming the oil industry and life on the rigs as a villain. In some ways, that's probably true. There are many deaths and injuries in this industry, but ultimately what Fuller does in this book is to give Bryant a voice of sorts, perhaps, that he didn't have in life, and she shows us the many sides of a young man whose life ended tragically. So yes, bringing some attention to the western conundrum -- selling our souls to industries that might not have our best interests at heart in an effort to make a living and make a life -- is never a bad thing.
Most of her work deals with her life in Zimbabwe, so I was surprised to see this one but then I found out she was living in Wyoming, so it made more sense. Before I started reading it, too, I had a feeling she'd "get" the West and I think, after reading this, she does.
Here we have the creative nonfiction account of Colton H. Bryant, a Wyoming cowboy who ended up working western oil rigs as a roughneck, a job that would ultimately cut his young life too short. Fuller acknowledges that she took narrative liberties with Bryant's story, as one might see in a movie adaptation of a biography. She is a consummate painter with words, and in the telling of Bryant's life, and her skillful evocation of harsh but supremely beautiful western landscapes, a reader might come away blaming the oil industry and life on the rigs as a villain. In some ways, that's probably true. There are many deaths and injuries in this industry, but ultimately what Fuller does in this book is to give Bryant a voice of sorts, perhaps, that he didn't have in life, and she shows us the many sides of a young man whose life ended tragically. So yes, bringing some attention to the western conundrum -- selling our souls to industries that might not have our best interests at heart in an effort to make a living and make a life -- is never a bad thing.
March 20, 2009
Maybe it was the steady diet of John Wayne that I was fed as a child (much to my distaste at the time) but there is just something about cowboys. Colton is a far cry from John, though. He's an updated version, a modern cowboy, the kind of cowboy who breaks in his first horse at 12 and then goes to work on the oil rigs.
Fuller's treatment of Colton was phenomenal. She describes him in reverent tones, as befits a legend, and yet with the understanding that he was, like any man, flawed. As a reader I, in turn, loved him not as a hero but as a person.
And oh, how I cried! The first page warns that the book is a western and therefore a tragedy, but I was still woefully unprepared for how attached to the character I became. I desperately wish I'd met Colton before he died. His friendship with Jake, his love for his sisters, his adoration of his father...tears, tears, tears. The last 20 pages left me sobbing.
Her treatment of Wyoming is also phenomenal. Genius all around. Not a book for everyone; perhaps not even a book for the mainstream, but a brilliant book nevertheless.
Fuller's treatment of Colton was phenomenal. She describes him in reverent tones, as befits a legend, and yet with the understanding that he was, like any man, flawed. As a reader I, in turn, loved him not as a hero but as a person.
And oh, how I cried! The first page warns that the book is a western and therefore a tragedy, but I was still woefully unprepared for how attached to the character I became. I desperately wish I'd met Colton before he died. His friendship with Jake, his love for his sisters, his adoration of his father...tears, tears, tears. The last 20 pages left me sobbing.
Her treatment of Wyoming is also phenomenal. Genius all around. Not a book for everyone; perhaps not even a book for the mainstream, but a brilliant book nevertheless.
July 1, 2010
oh my gosh - what a wonderful story. True story. The main character made me wish I had had a son. The author is a political animal (Don't Lets Go To the Dogs Tonight)so it's not just a piece about an outstanding young man in Wyoming - it's a burn on the oil drilling industry in Wyoming where safety for the employees (EXTREMELY DANGEROUS WORK)is of absolutely no importance to the companies that drill. When you think about all our rights and safety measures in the workplace - I am a certified OSHA member - you are shocked at how these companies get away with what they get away with and how they treat their employees...I hope this book gets change underway and kudos to Alexandra Fuller for breaking our hearts while exposing greed and heartlessness.
May 14, 2009
I read this book because a friend recommended it on the basis of Fuller's excellent writing, which certainly deserves the praise. It chronicles the history of a modern-day cowboy on the open ranges of Wyoming. The word "legend" somewhat overstates the story, because the series of vignettes that compose the book don't convey the sense of grandness or outrageousness one would expect from a Legend. The account of Bryant's funeral made me feel like this person was extraordinary in a way that affected everyone who met him, but the book itself didn't make me feel this way. My lingering impression was instead of a horse-riding Mountain Dew drinker.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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January 23, 2009slim, beautiful true story that reads like poetry and conjures the modern american west like nothing else i've read.
April 25, 2019
''Questa è la storia di Colton H. Bryant e della terra che l'ha allevato. E, trattandosi del Wyoming, questa storia è un western. Ma, come tutti i western, questa storia è una tragedia prima ancora di cominciare perché qui le avversità non hanno mai lasciato scampo. Inutile negare che gli altipiani del Wyoming sono come l'alto mare: riducono alla fame, avari nel difendere la vita, prodighi nel riprendersela.''
Con mio padre stiamo guardando un ciclo di western, tra film che lui ha visto anni fa e si ricorda poco e film scoperti da me che entrambi vediamo per la prima volta. Quale lettura migliore per accompagnare questi film di Alexandra Fuller? Del suo libro avevo sentito parlare, e letto una bellissima recensione, anni fa e mi ero sempre ripromessa di leggerlo, quando si fosse presentata l'occasione. E finalmente è arrivata l'occasione e iniziato il libro l'ho finito in due giorni, cosa che a essere sincera non mi succedeva da molto. La storia è un western, una biografia di Colton H. Bryant, vero cowboy del Wyoming, dall'adolescenza all'età adulta, dalle avventure a cavallo tra i monti al matrimonio e al lavoro nell'estrazione petrolifera. Verso metà libro al western, che poi è western nel senso più puro, di ambientazione nell'Ovest e di dominio incontrastato della natura contro cui gli uomini poco possono e alla fin fine poco provano a fare, diventa anche critica sociale. Critica delle società petrolifere, che sfruttano quelle terre e i loro abitanti, complici la povertà e la scarsità di lavoro, se non nell'estrazione di gas e petrolio, di cui Stati come il Wyoming sono ricchissimi.
Il tutto raccontato benissimo da Alexandra Fuller, con una scrittura travolgente e poetica, che trascina il lettore lungo la storia, nel mezzo del gelo e del vento del Wyoming.
Peccato che della Fuller sia stata tradotta solo un'altra opera in Italia, spero che alla cosa venga presto posto rimedio.
Con mio padre stiamo guardando un ciclo di western, tra film che lui ha visto anni fa e si ricorda poco e film scoperti da me che entrambi vediamo per la prima volta. Quale lettura migliore per accompagnare questi film di Alexandra Fuller? Del suo libro avevo sentito parlare, e letto una bellissima recensione, anni fa e mi ero sempre ripromessa di leggerlo, quando si fosse presentata l'occasione. E finalmente è arrivata l'occasione e iniziato il libro l'ho finito in due giorni, cosa che a essere sincera non mi succedeva da molto. La storia è un western, una biografia di Colton H. Bryant, vero cowboy del Wyoming, dall'adolescenza all'età adulta, dalle avventure a cavallo tra i monti al matrimonio e al lavoro nell'estrazione petrolifera. Verso metà libro al western, che poi è western nel senso più puro, di ambientazione nell'Ovest e di dominio incontrastato della natura contro cui gli uomini poco possono e alla fin fine poco provano a fare, diventa anche critica sociale. Critica delle società petrolifere, che sfruttano quelle terre e i loro abitanti, complici la povertà e la scarsità di lavoro, se non nell'estrazione di gas e petrolio, di cui Stati come il Wyoming sono ricchissimi.
Il tutto raccontato benissimo da Alexandra Fuller, con una scrittura travolgente e poetica, che trascina il lettore lungo la storia, nel mezzo del gelo e del vento del Wyoming.
Peccato che della Fuller sia stata tradotta solo un'altra opera in Italia, spero che alla cosa venga presto posto rimedio.
December 3, 2017
This non-fiction book should have a subtitle of "A Wyoming Tragedy." It starts Colton's narrative in Evanston and ends in the gas & oil fields south of Pinedale. In between, its narrative is so true that it cuts through my heart and anything I write is inadequate. It's the story of my family, whether they live in Evanston, Mountain View, Kemmerer, or Star Valley Wyoming. The author is an outsider, but she gets the culture and respects it in her telling.
February 10, 2019
The life of a young man growing up doing cowboy work, who grew up in Wyoming; land of oil, cattle, hard work. A life where that is all they know. And a kid who is proud to do hard work. Colton was a good natured kid, always happy, always looking for the best in people. You get to like this kid. Good read.
September 16, 2019
Good read, for sure. Listened to the audiobook while on a road trip through Wyoming. Worthwhile anyway, but especially liked learning about where we were, and learning about someone from Wyoming. Enjoyed "meeting" Colton H Bryant, his family, and friends - and I look forward to other books by Fuller.
March 12, 2023
Marvelous and heart breaking. Bawled like a baby for the last 30 pages. Long live Colton H Bryant.
October 22, 2022
Colton is a native son, so the weather and mountains, horses and guns, pickup trucks and oil rigs are what he must use to measure himself against manhood. And year by year he's growing up by this time-tested, rough-hewn method because there's truly no easy rite of passage in Wyoming. It's all bucking broncos and four-wheelers in the middle of nowhere and sub-zero and sheer ice and too fast everything and high, voracious winds.
'The Legend of Colton H Bryant' tells the too-short life story of its titular character, a man born and bred in Wyoming, amongst cowboys and oil rig workers, hunters and family men. Colton is slow in intelligence, but fast in life, with a big heart and the bluest eyes you'll ever dive into. Men like him could never go far from Wyoming and Colton is no different. We follow his life through memories and excerpts from his time being bullied at school, the coming-of-age episodes with his father and horse Cocoa, and the defining relationships with the fellow Wyoming boys he grew up with.
Alexandra Fuller has written this as a true story, in a fictional style, with both imagined and verbatim dialogue provided and inspired by Colton's real family and friends. It truly does make a moving read to hear the affect this one, ordinary cowboy had on those he loved and was close to. The chapters are short, quick, but impactful, each with a story or a lesson from Colton's life, slowly building and fleshing out the man behind the name. I'm very familiar with Fuller's work, having read her biopics of life growing up in Africa and this does read differently to those - as the chapters and novel itself are shorter, it doesn't pack as much in or go as deep as her previous work. That's not to say it doesn't still hold her beautiful grasp of the written work - each page coming just short of poetry. An example;
Anchored to the shadowy swell of the high plains there are maybe fifteen, twenty drilling rigs, lit up like so many Eiffel towers, with fresh-cut roads like veins going deep into the high plains to the heart of each pad. The headlights of so many company trucks bob along into the darkness, like lost, disembodied orbs looking for a place to roost.
It really makes a beautiful read with so many passages to pause at and soak in.
I also found she embodied the talk and style of Wyoming natives throughout the novel. As someone who knows she is African I found this a touch patronising at first, as though she was putting on a voice for a character, but to readers unfamiliar with her previous work, it certainly captures the characters and their thoughts.
Colton is a leading archetype we are to fall for and love and, don't get me wrong, I did - but I also found parts a touch jarring. If Fuller quoted his mantra (mind over matter) or his laugh (he-he-he) once, she quoted it a thousand times. (Not to mention Mountain Dew..) For a good few chapters I felt this over-simplified the character and became quite repetitive, making me lose interest a touch, or consider Colton a bit too simple to be a hero. Of course, I was inevitably drawn back in by the relationships he holds and the atmospheric descriptions of the state he lives in. However, maybe it took me a little longer than most to settle into his narrative.
This novel is about a man. A kind, simple man, who wants to work, who wants to live wildly off the land, and who want to love. It's as simple and as complicated as that, for it is also a novel about 'folk' who come from nothing, who have very few paths in life, who are just a number on a rig, whose life can only begin and end one way. It is also a love note to the wild plains of Wyoming and all who roam there. On this level, Fuller's novel is as political as it is poetical. It's a snapshot through the window of a man's soul, and a mirror to those who bred and buried him.
(3.5 stars)
'The Legend of Colton H Bryant' tells the too-short life story of its titular character, a man born and bred in Wyoming, amongst cowboys and oil rig workers, hunters and family men. Colton is slow in intelligence, but fast in life, with a big heart and the bluest eyes you'll ever dive into. Men like him could never go far from Wyoming and Colton is no different. We follow his life through memories and excerpts from his time being bullied at school, the coming-of-age episodes with his father and horse Cocoa, and the defining relationships with the fellow Wyoming boys he grew up with.
Alexandra Fuller has written this as a true story, in a fictional style, with both imagined and verbatim dialogue provided and inspired by Colton's real family and friends. It truly does make a moving read to hear the affect this one, ordinary cowboy had on those he loved and was close to. The chapters are short, quick, but impactful, each with a story or a lesson from Colton's life, slowly building and fleshing out the man behind the name. I'm very familiar with Fuller's work, having read her biopics of life growing up in Africa and this does read differently to those - as the chapters and novel itself are shorter, it doesn't pack as much in or go as deep as her previous work. That's not to say it doesn't still hold her beautiful grasp of the written work - each page coming just short of poetry. An example;
Anchored to the shadowy swell of the high plains there are maybe fifteen, twenty drilling rigs, lit up like so many Eiffel towers, with fresh-cut roads like veins going deep into the high plains to the heart of each pad. The headlights of so many company trucks bob along into the darkness, like lost, disembodied orbs looking for a place to roost.
It really makes a beautiful read with so many passages to pause at and soak in.
I also found she embodied the talk and style of Wyoming natives throughout the novel. As someone who knows she is African I found this a touch patronising at first, as though she was putting on a voice for a character, but to readers unfamiliar with her previous work, it certainly captures the characters and their thoughts.
Colton is a leading archetype we are to fall for and love and, don't get me wrong, I did - but I also found parts a touch jarring. If Fuller quoted his mantra (mind over matter) or his laugh (he-he-he) once, she quoted it a thousand times. (Not to mention Mountain Dew..) For a good few chapters I felt this over-simplified the character and became quite repetitive, making me lose interest a touch, or consider Colton a bit too simple to be a hero. Of course, I was inevitably drawn back in by the relationships he holds and the atmospheric descriptions of the state he lives in. However, maybe it took me a little longer than most to settle into his narrative.
This novel is about a man. A kind, simple man, who wants to work, who wants to live wildly off the land, and who want to love. It's as simple and as complicated as that, for it is also a novel about 'folk' who come from nothing, who have very few paths in life, who are just a number on a rig, whose life can only begin and end one way. It is also a love note to the wild plains of Wyoming and all who roam there. On this level, Fuller's novel is as political as it is poetical. It's a snapshot through the window of a man's soul, and a mirror to those who bred and buried him.
(3.5 stars)
March 3, 2013
Colton H. Bryant è vissuto veramente. E neanche molto tempo fa: non stiamo parlando di decenni addietro, ma di qualche anno appena. E saperlo - specie a posteriori, dopo aver letto tutta la sua storia, ti lascia addosso una strana sensazione di rabbia e malessere, una specie di magone che non riesci a mandar giù - forse è proprio lui a non voler andare giù, in un certo senso.
C'è qualcosa in questa storia che vuole rimanere, che non vuol farsi dimenticare.
Colton è appena un bambino quando l'autrice ce lo presenta: sfreccia sulla sua bicicletta scassata in un Wyoming indifferente, accecato dalla luce e sferzato dal vento, vuoto e bianco da far paura; Colton corre, scappa via dal suo dolore, un pò come farebbe Forrest Gump. E anche lui ha il suo motto, anche lui nasconde il pianto sotto strati e strati di fiduciosa autodifesa: me ne infischio e non m'invischia. Ma t'invischia eccome, carino, anche se non vuoi farlo vedere a nessuno.
Chi è Colton? Per le prime 100 pagine seguiamo le peripezie di questo strambo ragazzo senza capirci molto, nè affezionarci a questo tipo decisamente sulle righe: un tipo che si fa quasi ammazzare per recuperare un'anatra morta, che passa il suo tempo a rubacchiare l'auto della sorella Merinda per portare a spasso i suoi amici in giro per rodei, oppure per andare a caccia d'alci, talvolta insieme alla sua cavalla Cocoa, scapestrata quanto il padrone. Non proviamo nessuna emozione per lui, nè disprezzo nè noia ma neppure coinvolgimento o interesse. Niente. Lo seguiamo perchè è così che deve essere.
Superate le prime 100 pagine, ecco il cambio di tendeza: la curiosità comincia a prevalere sul piatto sfondo della lettura. Dove sta andando Colton? Ed è davvero possibile che sia sempre così sereno, sempre pronto a ridere e dimenticare, e forse anche perdonare? Cosa vuole fare Colton? Ma Colton è un tipo normale, o è davvero un ritardato come dice (affettuosamente) anche il suo miglior amico Jake?
Colton è un Cowboy, uno degli ultimi, che insegue il suo sogno di una vita piena e "normale" - essere un bravo padre, un bravo marito, un bravo ragazzo in blue jeans timorato da Dio. Ama passeggiare in sella a Cocoa, ma la vita è quella che è e lui si ritrova a lavorare negli impianti di Trivellazione che perforano anno dopo anno gli sconfinati altopiani del Wyoming. Anche lui puzza di diesel e petrolio, e il suo sorriso adesso è un pò più sporco. Ma è pur sempre il ragazzo che, nei club di spogliarelliste, punta i suoi occhi incredibilmente azzurri sul cheeseburger con doppio ketchup e chiama la cameriera "Signora", con dolce educazione.
Dove stai andando, Colton? Lo sai pure tu, dove stai andando.
E quando il lettore comincia a capirlo, un pò non vuole, un pò si ribella, perchè anche lui si è affezionato a Colton - a questo ragazzo che s'innamora sin dal primo istante di Melissa e le chiede di sposarlo per telefono - , e non vuole sapere come andrà a finire, perchè andrà a finire male, come sempre. Come sempre.
Ed alla fine è proprio così che va a finire: e si rimane straziati e dolenti davanti ad una fine tanto evitabile, quanto futile. Inutile chiedersi il perchè: non c'è un perchè. O, se c'è, allora il perchè sono i soldi. Frase da moralisti? Assoluta verità.
Un libro da leggere. Non mi aspettavo una storia tanto bella, nè una lettura così semplice e scorrevole.
Bellissimo e straziante. Dolente. Malinconico.
****
Colton disse a Nathanial di avvicinarsi. Smontò il fucile sul giornale e mostrò i pezzi al bambino. Poi prese l'olio per il fucile e uno straccio di montone e ne diede un pezzo pulito al figlio. "Okay" gli disse. "Non ha senso avere un fucile se non te ne occupi e lo stesso vale per tutte le altre cose nella vita".
C'è qualcosa in questa storia che vuole rimanere, che non vuol farsi dimenticare.
Colton è appena un bambino quando l'autrice ce lo presenta: sfreccia sulla sua bicicletta scassata in un Wyoming indifferente, accecato dalla luce e sferzato dal vento, vuoto e bianco da far paura; Colton corre, scappa via dal suo dolore, un pò come farebbe Forrest Gump. E anche lui ha il suo motto, anche lui nasconde il pianto sotto strati e strati di fiduciosa autodifesa: me ne infischio e non m'invischia. Ma t'invischia eccome, carino, anche se non vuoi farlo vedere a nessuno.
Chi è Colton? Per le prime 100 pagine seguiamo le peripezie di questo strambo ragazzo senza capirci molto, nè affezionarci a questo tipo decisamente sulle righe: un tipo che si fa quasi ammazzare per recuperare un'anatra morta, che passa il suo tempo a rubacchiare l'auto della sorella Merinda per portare a spasso i suoi amici in giro per rodei, oppure per andare a caccia d'alci, talvolta insieme alla sua cavalla Cocoa, scapestrata quanto il padrone. Non proviamo nessuna emozione per lui, nè disprezzo nè noia ma neppure coinvolgimento o interesse. Niente. Lo seguiamo perchè è così che deve essere.
Superate le prime 100 pagine, ecco il cambio di tendeza: la curiosità comincia a prevalere sul piatto sfondo della lettura. Dove sta andando Colton? Ed è davvero possibile che sia sempre così sereno, sempre pronto a ridere e dimenticare, e forse anche perdonare? Cosa vuole fare Colton? Ma Colton è un tipo normale, o è davvero un ritardato come dice (affettuosamente) anche il suo miglior amico Jake?
Colton è un Cowboy, uno degli ultimi, che insegue il suo sogno di una vita piena e "normale" - essere un bravo padre, un bravo marito, un bravo ragazzo in blue jeans timorato da Dio. Ama passeggiare in sella a Cocoa, ma la vita è quella che è e lui si ritrova a lavorare negli impianti di Trivellazione che perforano anno dopo anno gli sconfinati altopiani del Wyoming. Anche lui puzza di diesel e petrolio, e il suo sorriso adesso è un pò più sporco. Ma è pur sempre il ragazzo che, nei club di spogliarelliste, punta i suoi occhi incredibilmente azzurri sul cheeseburger con doppio ketchup e chiama la cameriera "Signora", con dolce educazione.
Dove stai andando, Colton? Lo sai pure tu, dove stai andando.
E quando il lettore comincia a capirlo, un pò non vuole, un pò si ribella, perchè anche lui si è affezionato a Colton - a questo ragazzo che s'innamora sin dal primo istante di Melissa e le chiede di sposarlo per telefono - , e non vuole sapere come andrà a finire, perchè andrà a finire male, come sempre. Come sempre.
Ed alla fine è proprio così che va a finire: e si rimane straziati e dolenti davanti ad una fine tanto evitabile, quanto futile. Inutile chiedersi il perchè: non c'è un perchè. O, se c'è, allora il perchè sono i soldi. Frase da moralisti? Assoluta verità.
Un libro da leggere. Non mi aspettavo una storia tanto bella, nè una lettura così semplice e scorrevole.
Bellissimo e straziante. Dolente. Malinconico.
****
Colton disse a Nathanial di avvicinarsi. Smontò il fucile sul giornale e mostrò i pezzi al bambino. Poi prese l'olio per il fucile e uno straccio di montone e ne diede un pezzo pulito al figlio. "Okay" gli disse. "Non ha senso avere un fucile se non te ne occupi e lo stesso vale per tutte le altre cose nella vita".
August 18, 2008
I have to say, I was a little disappointed in this one. I'm a huge fan of Alexandra Fuller's other two books because of their personal nature (they're about her directly or her experiences with someone else in a personal way--memoir, in short), the creativity with language, the sincerity and passion. This one departs from that a bit, leaves the African continent, does not feature Fuller herself at all, and features a style of writing that is supposed to reflect the redneck, country-boy aspect of her subject. In this she does a fine job, but it's not what I was used to and ultimately I think it's not as moving.
Maybe the project is too ambitious. As the title implies, this character is larger than life, someone about whom songs are written and stories are told. Colton is an interesting guy, but he is so glorified and built up that it feels false in a way, like his faults and limitations are glossed over or dismissed in an effort to make him a hero.
At several points in the book the story seems to lose direction, too, and there is a lot of time devoted to Colton's friends and family that, while interesting, seem to serve no other purpose than to try to make the reader think 'Gee what a nice, good bunch of people.' If Fuller had made more of a point to focus on the unjust treatment of the drilling companies that the characters work for and how these nice people got screwed over, it would have had more impact. (To be fair, she does bring this out, but not in any major way, it seems).
This is certainly a must-read for fans of Fuller, but just be warned that it is very unlike her previous efforts.
Maybe the project is too ambitious. As the title implies, this character is larger than life, someone about whom songs are written and stories are told. Colton is an interesting guy, but he is so glorified and built up that it feels false in a way, like his faults and limitations are glossed over or dismissed in an effort to make him a hero.
At several points in the book the story seems to lose direction, too, and there is a lot of time devoted to Colton's friends and family that, while interesting, seem to serve no other purpose than to try to make the reader think 'Gee what a nice, good bunch of people.' If Fuller had made more of a point to focus on the unjust treatment of the drilling companies that the characters work for and how these nice people got screwed over, it would have had more impact. (To be fair, she does bring this out, but not in any major way, it seems).
This is certainly a must-read for fans of Fuller, but just be warned that it is very unlike her previous efforts.
October 7, 2008
While I enjoyed this book, I would be hesitant to recommend it to others. It’s a odd little work of non-fiction - with “narrative liberties” - comprised of short chapters (usually 2-3 pages). It actually felt more like a series of super short stories that are put together to give you a snapshot of the life of Colton H. Bryant – a modern day cowboy, working the rigs in Wyoming. I enjoyed learning about this little corner of our country and I thought her descriptions were very well written. I could see it land, feel the wind, feel the cold. I’ve never been to Wyoming so I don’t know how accurate it was, but her descriptions took me somewhere in my head that was beautiful, windy, and cold. I also came to truly feel for Bryant’s family and friends – a hard working group of people living in a tough, tough place. You can’t help but respect these people. It was also interesting to read about the simple reality of where our energy comes from. Especially in this election time, I feel like I read about energy a lot, but this book makes you think about the people that are bringing that energy to you, and the land it is coming out of. The way Fuller describes the sounds of the rigs drilling into the earth – it was painful. I liked this book and found it interesting, but not a page turner. I was glad that I read it, but also glad that it was only about 200 pages.
February 13, 2011
4 stars
I liked lots of things about this book: the writing, the different writing style, the characters, the relationships, the story, the setting, the images it evoked as I read it.
Here's an example of her concise, yet evocative writing style. It made me picture images and feel things in a strong way. Sometimes I wanted to cry. How did she do that with just a sentence or two?
"It isn't just plain poverty-an ordinary lack of money- that keeps you on the wrong side of despair. It's a whole raft of poverties-a poverty of choice and a poverty of support and a poverty that comes with the certain knowledge that no one's going to take you seriously when you're invisibly decked out in an apron, working the night shift."
One more:
"He was wondering what it would be to possess a girl the way you could possess a horse. Not in the crude, manhandling way, but in the wordless, miraculous way, where there was no end to either of you, and the possibilities of you, together, were more than double of what they were of you, apart."
I liked lots of things about this book: the writing, the different writing style, the characters, the relationships, the story, the setting, the images it evoked as I read it.
Here's an example of her concise, yet evocative writing style. It made me picture images and feel things in a strong way. Sometimes I wanted to cry. How did she do that with just a sentence or two?
"It isn't just plain poverty-an ordinary lack of money- that keeps you on the wrong side of despair. It's a whole raft of poverties-a poverty of choice and a poverty of support and a poverty that comes with the certain knowledge that no one's going to take you seriously when you're invisibly decked out in an apron, working the night shift."
One more:
"He was wondering what it would be to possess a girl the way you could possess a horse. Not in the crude, manhandling way, but in the wordless, miraculous way, where there was no end to either of you, and the possibilities of you, together, were more than double of what they were of you, apart."
August 15, 2008
I loved this book. It is the story of a young cowboy, for lack of a better term and, yes, apparently they do still exist--growing up in hardscrabble Wyoming in the 1990s and early 2000s. The book is the more remarkable because its author was a total outsider when she arrived in Wyoming to live in 1994. An Englishwoman who grew up in Africa, Fuller's knack for capturing the spirit and sound of the rural West seems unerring to my admittedly non-expert eye. The book comprises a series of small, intensely personal vignettes that rely for their impact on detailed reconstructions of characters' thoughts and conversations. It's a very tall order to pull off with the sense of reality that its success depends upon. That she so thoroughly succeeds is her triumph in this small but powerful, deeply evocative book. Only very, very occasionally does her dialogue slip into the caricatured and less sincere-sounding that would be the likely and recurring fate of a lesser author.
July 1, 2009
I finished this book last month but a book discussion lead by the author last night compelled me to write this review.
I am not an expert on Wyoming or the writings of Alexandra, but yet I do feel a gained knowledge simply because of my proximity to both. I think she captures Wyoming and the modern cowboy quite effectively, both with some very rough edges. I think Alexandra does an amazing job of painting the picture of Colton and his sphere of influence, so beautifully at times you think you are reading a finely crafted novel.
Where I do think the non-fiction piece fails is in the delivery of its message. Alexandra, in my humble opinion, is offering to expose the oil and gas exploration industry. Anger and sadness are the reasons for writing the book. Her incredible character study, however, takes center stage -- and based on Colton and her previous works, I think the reader is gently and lyrically lulled into more of a biography mindset than an environmental studies piece.
I am not an expert on Wyoming or the writings of Alexandra, but yet I do feel a gained knowledge simply because of my proximity to both. I think she captures Wyoming and the modern cowboy quite effectively, both with some very rough edges. I think Alexandra does an amazing job of painting the picture of Colton and his sphere of influence, so beautifully at times you think you are reading a finely crafted novel.
Where I do think the non-fiction piece fails is in the delivery of its message. Alexandra, in my humble opinion, is offering to expose the oil and gas exploration industry. Anger and sadness are the reasons for writing the book. Her incredible character study, however, takes center stage -- and based on Colton and her previous works, I think the reader is gently and lyrically lulled into more of a biography mindset than an environmental studies piece.
August 23, 2019
this book was actually terrible.
i picked it up from a hotel in pattaya,thailand.
it is about colton h.bryant and the place he grew up in which was wyoming.
his brother is preston.
this is a story about cow boys and about wyoming.
he falls in love with melissa
his father is called bill.
he then stars working on a rig.
one day he falls down while he is working and he is hurt.
he is rushed to the hospital and all his relatives.
his wife is there and so is his father bill.
they pray that he does not die but the doctors dont know what to do.
eventually he passes away and his family is shattered.
these incidents of people dying occur in many states of america and also in wyoming.
his family is given no compensation for their loss.
this is a work of non fiction.
the beginning was terrible , the end was better but it was still a terrible book.
it was a short read but i would not recommend it!.
i picked it up from a hotel in pattaya,thailand.
it is about colton h.bryant and the place he grew up in which was wyoming.
his brother is preston.
this is a story about cow boys and about wyoming.
he falls in love with melissa
his father is called bill.
he then stars working on a rig.
one day he falls down while he is working and he is hurt.
he is rushed to the hospital and all his relatives.
his wife is there and so is his father bill.
they pray that he does not die but the doctors dont know what to do.
eventually he passes away and his family is shattered.
these incidents of people dying occur in many states of america and also in wyoming.
his family is given no compensation for their loss.
this is a work of non fiction.
the beginning was terrible , the end was better but it was still a terrible book.
it was a short read but i would not recommend it!.
June 11, 2013
This book was a huge surprise; I had bought it because I am a fan of Alexandria Fuller's writing. I knew that it was set in Wyoming and having little interest in that part of the country, I thought it would be dry and dull. It turned out to be stunning; a slow starter which gradually became addictive reading as the personality of the protagonist came into focus. I was left sobbing through the last few chapters. It is non-fiction, and tells the story of a simple, unsophisticated country boy who goes to work on the oil rigs like his Dad.
The final facts and statistics about the Ultra Petroleum well sites in Wyoming are hard to take. I hope that this book, published in 2008, shines a ray of light into this world. I am a supporter of natural gas as an energy source; I will have to do research to find out how the industry is operating today, five years later. Sobering and harrowing.
The final facts and statistics about the Ultra Petroleum well sites in Wyoming are hard to take. I hope that this book, published in 2008, shines a ray of light into this world. I am a supporter of natural gas as an energy source; I will have to do research to find out how the industry is operating today, five years later. Sobering and harrowing.
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