High Plains Tango

Very good transaction. Excellent novel and the seller was excellent to deal with.

High Plains Tango is a story that will fascinate you from the beginning, turn you on and anger you in the middle, confuse you in a few small areas, and leave you satisfied at the end. I have never before read Robert James Waller, therefore I am not trying to compare it to "Bridges of Madison County". Perhaps this is the key to enjoying this novel (it also helps to read the book before you judge it...). To understand the meaning of the title you have to read the whole thing, but I absolutely love how the story ties all of the characters lives together so neatly. I finished this book in 3 days, I read as my 5 month old daughter napped, and I had a hard time putting it down. Sometimes the detail and the dialogue (especially involving the elderly gentleman) got a little monotonous, but in general it's a real page turner. If you are looking for a novel of purely romance and no other substance this is not the book for you. However if you are wanting to read something that brings out all of your emotions, truly brings to life all of the characters and leaves you wanting more then by all means read this book!

I just finished reading HIGH PLAINS TANGO an hour ago, and I'm still swirling in all the imagery and sensuousness of the South Dakota setting and characters. Waller once again has helped me view my life in a much bigger perspective than I did before reading his book. For awhile at least, I will exist in a world of wild tangos, high plains, and all the attendant romance they encompass. For awhile, I can forget the heartbreaking truth that "the mass of men live lives of quiet desperation." Let's hope it will not be long before Waller offers another of his romantic, hauntingly beautiful, soul-touching novels.

Forget all the publicity about this title being a spinoff of "The Bridges of Madison County." Its tether to that book is quite thin, strung by the mere fact that Carlisle McMillan is the son of Robert Kincaid, photographer. Carlisle McMillan is the kind of character who appeals to both male and female readers. He's masculine, he's sexy without being overtly so, and he does great work as a carpenter. This California boy somehow lands in the rural central U.S. plains and decides he likes the place. The plot follows a typical big-city-boy-settles-down-in-small-town-and-falls-in-love-with-hometown-girl format until the news gets out that an unnecessary interstate highway is planned to plow through Carlisle's new digs. Suddenly a casual romance turns into an environmental mission in which the bad guys wear suits and drive vehicles with official logos on the doors. Yes, Carlisle likes tango music and Susanna likes to do freeform naked gyrations on Wolf Butte, but it's the suits who take temporary center stage as they tapdance their way around ethical behavior. Once that battle is over, Life resumes, albeit just a bit differently. Waller's descriptions are among the most vivid in literature today. But the book is not without its difficulties. The story unravels through several varying and overlapping viewpoints that might confuse the reader. The identity of the occasional first-person reporter is never revealed, which was personally frustrating to me. And though a heavy environmental message is thrust into the middle of the book, that segment winds up without a clear and satisfying conclusion. Nevertheless: decorated with a few Native American stories and mystical speculations, "High Plains Tango" is a decent read that can stand on its own merit.

The book is wonderful. There will, of course, be plenty of people who will say exactly what they've said about all of the author's work. That it's sentimental and romantic and fanciful, as if those were bad words or bad things. (If you think they are, then simply don't read the book. Choose something more cynical. There's plenty of it out there.) This book is about how individual lives, though seemingly so unconnected, intertwine and influence each other. It's about finding out who you are, and what your life is about. It's a story of discovering what really matters and deciding what's worth fighting for. It's both a sad commentary on the state of the country and the level at which, sadly it seems, most people live their lives. At the same time it's a reminder that there is much to be thankful for and much to be hopeful about. Waller has a way of writing characters so that they become not just characters, but people, and of turning their everyday lives from the simply mundane into the mythical. Sentimental or not, I'm so glad he still thinks it's worth doing, and doing so well.