Jackalope Dreams

by Mary Clearman Blew

Book Overview

The departed men in her life still have plenty to say to Corey. Her father, a legendary rodeo cowboy who punctuated his lifelong pronouncements with a bullet to his head, may be the loudest. But in this story of Montana--a story in which the old West meets the new and tradition has its way with just about everyone--it is Corey's voice we listen to. In this tour de force of voices big and small, sure and faltering, hers comes across resonant and clear,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0803237685
• ISBN13: 9780803237681
• Release Date: September 2011
• Publisher: Bison Books
• Length: 408 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.3" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

Fun Read

Enjoyed this one immensely. The characters are memorable and likeable. One thing though, I don't consider it a western (computers in westerns?). But it kept me entertained.

One of the Best Novels on the West

Just loved this; she is an amazing writer and the novel flows, keeps you intrigued, and has well drawn characters. I look forward to reading more from this writer....

"Or she can sit here all night. Sit until she turns to stone."

Closing down her school in rural Montana for the last time, Corey Henry believes life has passed her by. Giving up art school years before to spend the following decades with her dad on their ranch, Corey has contented herself with lower expectations and few dreams. But when she returns home that last day, yet another trauma awaits, her father's suicide, neither expected nor explained. A dilapidated house and a few mares her only possessions, the almost-sixty Corey faces an unpredictable future. Although her small world is filled with the fascinating details of nature's indifference to man's pretensions, the larger concerns of encroaching gentrification are lapping at the edges of a once-pristine environment. New landowners are purchasing defaulted ranch property, subdivisions and exploitations not far behind, a breed represented by Hailey Doggett and his family, aggressive newcomers secretly planning another way of life than they found in California. Meanwhile, Corey carries on a dialog with the voices in her head, her dead father, Loren, and a former lover. Suddenly alone, Corey is at odds with the future, enjoying some solace in returning to her painting, searching through stacks of generations-old receipts for some explanation of Loren's ending and drinking whiskey to put herself to sleep at night. When runaway thirteen-year-old Ariel Doggett hides on Henry land, Corey finds herself befriending the young girl who gave the school board an excuse to fire Corey. Sleeping rough, Ariel shows herself only occasionally to the eccentric school teacher, creating a strange bond between outcasts, each isolated and wandering in a temporary respite from reality. Corey exemplifies a way of life embraced by her neighbors, austere existences on open space threatened by progress, small ranches unable to hold out against corporate interests that have no use for the independent landowners. Although loathe to interfere, increasing activity on the Doggett property has not escaped the attention of those who live nearby. But Hailey is up to something and it doesn't bode well for those who have relied on the simple ways that have served them well. As his teen-aged daughter hides from her family, gravitating toward the gruff Corey, a bizarre plot unfolds, neighborly suspicions proving all too accurate. Caught up in her own concerns, Corey engages the services of a local attorney to untangle her father's messy affairs, leading to an unexpected complication for a woman long past any idea of happiness. Past and present collide in a tale that pays homage to the old days of the Wild West in a century of progress, the pristine countryside yielding to the demands and greed of outsiders. Yet Corey personifies the proud, independent spirit that imbues this part of the country, grappling with the perceptions of a lifetime and the untapped promises of the unknown, pushed kicking and screaming into the next phase of her life, the troubled Ariel following in her shadow. A uni