That Old Ace in the Hole

I read this book soon after it was published. I also stood under a collection of windmills with the author. Annie Proulx does capture the feel of the land.

proulx writes of believable people, events, and quandries. after reading "open range" with some sad stories of life hitting hard i was happy to pick up the beautiful prose in a happy story. the ending leaves me wishing it was non-fiction and that i could pick up something that would enable me to move to the texas panhandle (and i don't like texas). although this novel does remain true to showing that people aren't perfect, it definately leaves me with a positive feeling about people rather than some of her previous more sorrowful works.

Once again, Annie has managed to capture a picture of a region. Her descriptiveness is so complete and detailed, yet not in the least boring, that one is drawn back to the book until it is finished. Annie shows real life on the Texas and Oklahoma panhandle, not just the scenery or a few characters, but the entire panarama and the true feelings, emotions and perceptions of those who spent generations in the panhandle.Annie also does something that few authors do as well as she does. She writes wonderful dialogue. But not just plain old dialogue, but dialogue in dialect. To do this with authenticism is very difficult, but Annie does it like it is just another note on the refrigerator.Annie shows a true brilliance for modern day fictional literature and no one who has a love for the genre should go without reading this book, as well as her others.

'All mills catch the wind', is the translation of the Dutch motto of Annie Proulx latest novel, and as a Dutchman, and a devoted reader of her books, I couldn't resist buying it.To my surprise, reviews of this book tend to be not so positive. To me, admittedly it's not as great as The Shipping News, but how could one improve on that novel? But it's a great book, vintage Annie Proulx.I read it as a kaleidoscope of life and people and stories from the Texas panhandle, like Postcards was a kaleidoscope of large parts of the USA.So, its scope may be smaller than Postcards, its characters are unforgettable, real, and very very funny. As a Dutchman I was struck by Habakuk van Melkebeek, the Dutchman in the book, who speaks nearly correct Dutch, with just a few spelling mistakes in the writing, a rare thing when Dutchmen are put on the stage in an American novel. He clearly is a Netherlands character, but also fully adapted to panhandle life.Over the years I have traveled many parts of the US and I've grown to love it and the people that I've met. This book makes me look forward to visiting the panhandle, although ... I'll make sure to be low profile. Strangers are few and conspicuous over there, and appear not to be liked that much all of the time.

Arliss Howard, who directed and starred in "Big Bad Love" (2002), gives a deft and able reading to Annie Proulx's latest tale set in the great southwest, the panhandles of Oklahoma and Texas. Howard's take on the slight twang and pacing of voices native to this part of the world is on target. A Pulitzer Prize winner for "The Shipping News," novelist Proulx can paint a character inside and out with the best of them. Such is the case with our narrator, Bob Dollar, whose parents dropped him on a Colorado doorstep when he was 8-years-old. He grows into manhood a bit unfocused and unchallenged. Bob does land a paying job with Global Pork Rind, a company that dispatches him to the hinterlands in search of large sections of land, ranches, that can be bought by Global Pork and converted to hog farms. He is cautioned that most take a dim view of hog raisers for neighbors so he must be very circumspect in looking around. He comes upon Woolybucket, Texas (don't you love that name? Welcome to Woolybucket! But, I digress. No five, four, three, two or even one star motels there, so he rents a dilapidated bunkhouse from a widow, LaVon Fronk, and hires out to Cy Frease, proud proprietor of the Old Dog Café. There's a lot to be learned for Bob - beyond the historical documents that LaVon has stashed in her house. The locals aren't dweebs or ineffectuals; they're a proud lot who want to hold on to their land no matter what. Does Bob get their land or does their land get to Bob? Listen to this tale rich in portraits of working class America and see. - Gail Cooke