Mar 6, 2012

The Solace of Open Spaces

by Gretel Ehrlich

This is a collection of essays about Wyoming. Similar to The Secret Life of Cowboys, its author was a city girl who moved to the wide open spaces and found she loved the life there. But this one doesn't focus on her journey or her personal story so much as on the landscape, the way of life, the animals, the personalities she encounters. Several essays are about sheepherding- about the work, the lonely remote camps, the eccentric herders. Other essays focus on rodeo, man's relationship with animals, the codes of conduct ranchers live by, the weather that sweeps over the land, the cattle and wildlife... She writes about several Native American communities around her- Crow and Arapaho, Cheynne and Shoshone. She attends several of their important ceremonies and describes it in detail. It's all very interesting. I was thrown off at first; the character sketches in one of the early sheepherding essays unsettled me a bit- but then I found myself enjoying her writing more and more. It's beautiful and evocative. Just this line alone in the introduction made me eager to cherish the rest of the book: The truest art I would strive for in any work would be to give the page the same qualities as earth: weather would land on it harshly; light would elucidate the most difficult truths; wind would sweep away obtuse padding. Her words are lovely and thoughtful, harsh and piercing and grand. It was a book I read through slowly, carefully and appreciatively. May you do the same.

rating: 4/5 ......... 131 pages, 1985

more opinions:
Buddies in the Saddle
Oldwoman's Books
Sarah Sans Terre

8 comments:

  1. This sounds wonderful so I'll be trying to get hold of it.

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  2. It's been a while since I've read an essay collection. This one sounds beautiful. I wonder if our library system has it.

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  3. I've heard good things about this book. I think I even have it on a shelf somewhere. I should probably figure out which one!

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  4. But here is my main question: Were there bears? Bears in Wyoming? I'm petrified of bears.

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  5. Hm. I don't recall any mention of bears.

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  6. I love the title of the book, never mind that it's about Wyoming and looking at nature and people who live in the wide open spaces.....I have to get this book, I think. I like the quote you gave, too, from it. It's not sweet, but it's true (what she says about light, land, weather, living in the outdoors, etc).

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  7. I'm a sucker for these sort of setting-oriented books. Although I'm sort of glad to hear that it doesn't contain bears!

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  8. Oh, I love the sound of this book! I'm going to add it to my wish list, right now. Great review, thanks!

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