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Gallatin Canyon
A superb collection of stories—his first in twenty years—from one of our most acclaimed literary figures, whom The New York Times Book Review has called “a writer of the first magnitude.”
Place exerts the power of destiny in these ten stories of lives uncannily recognizable and unforgettably strange: a boy makes a surprising discovery skating at night on Lake Michigan; an Irish clan in Massachusetts gather at the bedside of their dying matriarch; a battered survivor of the glory days of Key West washes up on other shores. Several of the stories unfold in Big Sky country, McGuane’s signature landscape: a father tries to buy his adult son out of virginity; a convict turned cowhand finds refuge at a ranch in ruination; a couple makes a fateful drive through the perilous gorge of the title story before parting ways. McGuane’s people are seekers, beguiled by the land’s beauty and myth, compelled by the fantasy of what a locale can offer, forced to reconcile dream and truth.
The stories of Gallatin Canyon are alternately comical, dark, and poignant. Rich in the wit, compassion, and matchless language for which McGuane is celebrated, they are the work of a master.
Place exerts the power of destiny in these ten stories of lives uncannily recognizable and unforgettably strange: a boy makes a surprising discovery skating at night on Lake Michigan; an Irish clan in Massachusetts gather at the bedside of their dying matriarch; a battered survivor of the glory days of Key West washes up on other shores. Several of the stories unfold in Big Sky country, McGuane’s signature landscape: a father tries to buy his adult son out of virginity; a convict turned cowhand finds refuge at a ranch in ruination; a couple makes a fateful drive through the perilous gorge of the title story before parting ways. McGuane’s people are seekers, beguiled by the land’s beauty and myth, compelled by the fantasy of what a locale can offer, forced to reconcile dream and truth.
The stories of Gallatin Canyon are alternately comical, dark, and poignant. Rich in the wit, compassion, and matchless language for which McGuane is celebrated, they are the work of a master.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2006
About the author
Thomas McGuane
62 books350 followersThomas Francis McGuane III is an American writer. His work includes ten novels, short fiction and screenplays, as well as three collections of essays devoted to his life in the outdoors. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, National Cutting Horse Association Members Hall of Fame and the Fly-Fishing Hall of Fame.
McGuane's early novels were noted for a comic appreciation for the irrational core of many human endeavors, multiple takes on the counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s. His later writing reflected an increasing devotion to family relationships and relationships with the natural world in the changing American West, primarily Montana, where he has made his home since 1968, and where his last five novels and many of his essays are set. He has three children, Annie, Maggie and Thomas.
McGuane's early novels were noted for a comic appreciation for the irrational core of many human endeavors, multiple takes on the counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s. His later writing reflected an increasing devotion to family relationships and relationships with the natural world in the changing American West, primarily Montana, where he has made his home since 1968, and where his last five novels and many of his essays are set. He has three children, Annie, Maggie and Thomas.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 84 reviews
January 2, 2012
When I moved to Arizona to go to college I supported myself working in bookstores and Jim Harrison and Thomas McGuane were the first modern writers that I read and identified with. So picking up this collection of short stories for me was like slipping on that ancient, comfortable pair of wear-bleached white blue jeans.
The Montana based stories in this collection are vintage McGuane. The two stories Vicious Circle and Old Friends featuring John Briggs were probably my favorite. I would have easily given this collection four stars based on those stories, but the longest story The Refugee really didn't work for me at all. If you are a boat person, you might love the nautical jargon that weighs this story down. All of that would even be fine, but I reach the end of the story and was left with the feeling that McGuane never did grab hold of the story.
If you have never read McGuane this is not the place to start. I would suggest his earlier novels, The Bushwhacked Piano or Ninety-two in the Shade.
The Montana based stories in this collection are vintage McGuane. The two stories Vicious Circle and Old Friends featuring John Briggs were probably my favorite. I would have easily given this collection four stars based on those stories, but the longest story The Refugee really didn't work for me at all. If you are a boat person, you might love the nautical jargon that weighs this story down. All of that would even be fine, but I reach the end of the story and was left with the feeling that McGuane never did grab hold of the story.
If you have never read McGuane this is not the place to start. I would suggest his earlier novels, The Bushwhacked Piano or Ninety-two in the Shade.
August 8, 2013
Here is a fine writer who tells quirky stories and enlivens archaic words in the process. These stories are well-written by an author who either has a superb imagination or whose life experiences trump mine by a longshot. My favorite of the bunch was "Cowboy", and I can tell you that McGuane's mastery of idiom in that story is notable. Take for instance: "Eveything a cow does is to make itself into meat as fast as it can so somebody can eat it. It's a terrible life, and a cowboy is its little helper." Or this: "Most places we salted had old buffalo wallers where them buffalo wallered. They done wallered their last, had to get out of the way for the cow and the man on the bay horse."
In "Old Friends", McGuane tells us about Hoyt: "...Hoyt was paralyzed by a sense of generational inertia. It was said that if he hand't got into Yale, he would not have gone to college at all but would have remained at home, waiting to bury his parents." Further on in this story, McGuane describes an American boarding school where "...the boys were made to see America through some British fantasy and believe that the true work of the nation fell to pencil-wristed Episcopalians who send their babies to sleep with Blake's 'Jerusalem' or uttered mild orotundities like 'great good fortune' and 'safe as houses.'" McGuane goes on to note in this story that, "It was Erik who'd said that a Yale education consisted of learning to conceal the fact that you were drunk."
Other stories give us these: "According to the law, water has no reality except its use. In Montana, water isn't even wet. Every time some misguided soul suggests that fish need it, it ends up in the supreme court." "I am always encouraged when I see animals doing something other than running for their lives." "Bob's from the South. For men, it's a full-time job being Southern."
I've read some of the other reviews of this work, and don't necessarily disagree with some of the three and four-star ratings. But, I do so love this man's wit, his irony, his words, and his resurrection of words more at home in centuries past. This is a worthwhile collection.
In "Old Friends", McGuane tells us about Hoyt: "...Hoyt was paralyzed by a sense of generational inertia. It was said that if he hand't got into Yale, he would not have gone to college at all but would have remained at home, waiting to bury his parents." Further on in this story, McGuane describes an American boarding school where "...the boys were made to see America through some British fantasy and believe that the true work of the nation fell to pencil-wristed Episcopalians who send their babies to sleep with Blake's 'Jerusalem' or uttered mild orotundities like 'great good fortune' and 'safe as houses.'" McGuane goes on to note in this story that, "It was Erik who'd said that a Yale education consisted of learning to conceal the fact that you were drunk."
Other stories give us these: "According to the law, water has no reality except its use. In Montana, water isn't even wet. Every time some misguided soul suggests that fish need it, it ends up in the supreme court." "I am always encouraged when I see animals doing something other than running for their lives." "Bob's from the South. For men, it's a full-time job being Southern."
I've read some of the other reviews of this work, and don't necessarily disagree with some of the three and four-star ratings. But, I do so love this man's wit, his irony, his words, and his resurrection of words more at home in centuries past. This is a worthwhile collection.
April 4, 2008
Solid collection of late-period McGuane. The stories are largely oblong---that is, you can't find the center, and the endings come from odd angles that give a new perspective on the main conflict. The best here is "Cowboy," which succeeds largely because of the clever voice and the telescoping action. There are also at least two nostalgic childhood stories in the classic "Araby" mode---"Ice" in particular is affecting. A couple of the stories are a little too in the old absurdist manner of The Bushwacked Piano, which has aged badly in my humble view: "The Zombie" is an effort to plumb that old Stranger mode of "writing degree zero," but it feels perfunctory. The near-novella length "The Refugee" will make McGuane fans nostalgic for his Captain Berserko days in the Keys happy---it's a Hemingwayesque story about a man trying to ground himself through the rituals of sport (in this case, sailing---which I think is a sport, right?). The title story is also humorous/vaguely offsetting, though the last paragraph seems a bit glib of a note to end a book on. Otherwise, reliably good stuff if you like McGuane.
October 2, 2022
A collection of short stories often tend to run together into a retrospective blur., especially in commenting on them. But that’s not the case with these eleven stories by McGuane ,a Montana-based writer, which have markedly different settings and characters, even though there are some thematic similarities-
The title story, “Gallatin Canyon” involves an irrational car chase down the canyon of the same name, but the physical ending is thematically linked to a business deal that begins the story. The same impulse that motivates the narrator’s behavior in the business deal is reflected in the car chase and finally in his relationship with his girlfriend. Whether he really understands this is problematic, and its ending on a note of open-ended may leave readers perplexed as well.
This open-endedness can be found in all of the other stories as well. In the longest story, “The Refugee”, a character is “going sailing to evade custody in one of the several institutions recommended for his care.” His sailing is a dangerous one in stormy seas and brings back memories of his alcoholic past as well as feelings of guilt for the death of a friend in a sailing accident. He survives his voyage off the Florida keys, but it’s questionable as to whether he can shake off his past.
Two of the stories are rites of passage stories about adolescents. In “Ice” a teen-ager eperiences self-doubt and envy when he compares himself to a sexually swaggering contemporary, and that feeling is only overcome when he skates out across Lake Erie and nearly falls through the ice. This experience, though, changes his relationship with his peer, leading him to reflect, “I landed a long way from where I’d put on my skates,” again living it to the reader to determine just how far and why his attitude toward sex has mysteriously changed.
In “Miracle Boy” the death of a grandmother brings together a large extended Irish family and allows a teenager to see aunts and uncles, as well as his parents in ways he has never seen them before. Details are presented and the reader draws his own conclusions.
If you were to draw some general conclusions from these stories, it could be that all of the characters are seeking some kind of self-respect or redemption from past mistakes, often complicated by a lack of real understanding or connection with others. But generalizations are imprecise – these fine stories have to be read to appreciate the specifics of McGuane’s subtle writing that depicts the haunting ambiguities of life.
The title story, “Gallatin Canyon” involves an irrational car chase down the canyon of the same name, but the physical ending is thematically linked to a business deal that begins the story. The same impulse that motivates the narrator’s behavior in the business deal is reflected in the car chase and finally in his relationship with his girlfriend. Whether he really understands this is problematic, and its ending on a note of open-ended may leave readers perplexed as well.
This open-endedness can be found in all of the other stories as well. In the longest story, “The Refugee”, a character is “going sailing to evade custody in one of the several institutions recommended for his care.” His sailing is a dangerous one in stormy seas and brings back memories of his alcoholic past as well as feelings of guilt for the death of a friend in a sailing accident. He survives his voyage off the Florida keys, but it’s questionable as to whether he can shake off his past.
Two of the stories are rites of passage stories about adolescents. In “Ice” a teen-ager eperiences self-doubt and envy when he compares himself to a sexually swaggering contemporary, and that feeling is only overcome when he skates out across Lake Erie and nearly falls through the ice. This experience, though, changes his relationship with his peer, leading him to reflect, “I landed a long way from where I’d put on my skates,” again living it to the reader to determine just how far and why his attitude toward sex has mysteriously changed.
In “Miracle Boy” the death of a grandmother brings together a large extended Irish family and allows a teenager to see aunts and uncles, as well as his parents in ways he has never seen them before. Details are presented and the reader draws his own conclusions.
If you were to draw some general conclusions from these stories, it could be that all of the characters are seeking some kind of self-respect or redemption from past mistakes, often complicated by a lack of real understanding or connection with others. But generalizations are imprecise – these fine stories have to be read to appreciate the specifics of McGuane’s subtle writing that depicts the haunting ambiguities of life.
November 4, 2014
I read this collection on the strength of a New York Times Book Review in 2006.(http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/03/boo...). After I finished the book, I gave my copy to a friend and haven't seen it since. Even so I find myself in my own thoughts going back to Gallatin Canyon and the stories McGuane tells there.
The story that sticks out most in my mind is the ultimate tale, "The Refugee," which is set off the Florida Keys far from McGuane's home ground in Montana and takes up more than a quarter of the book's. I read this story as an existential fable about a white American man who finds the will to live after escaping from slavery on a Caribbean island.
The unique situations in which readers will find themselves--a mourning man adrift at sea in a fugue state, two survivalist heroin junkies in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, a farmhand running fence lines across decades, and a son whose father has just bought him a prostitute--are a strength of this collection. Each story is easy to read yet finely wrought with details that illuminate its subjects and themes in ways that only fiction can.
The story that sticks out most in my mind is the ultimate tale, "The Refugee," which is set off the Florida Keys far from McGuane's home ground in Montana and takes up more than a quarter of the book's. I read this story as an existential fable about a white American man who finds the will to live after escaping from slavery on a Caribbean island.
The unique situations in which readers will find themselves--a mourning man adrift at sea in a fugue state, two survivalist heroin junkies in the forests of the Pacific Northwest, a farmhand running fence lines across decades, and a son whose father has just bought him a prostitute--are a strength of this collection. Each story is easy to read yet finely wrought with details that illuminate its subjects and themes in ways that only fiction can.
February 17, 2023
Short stories that reminded me of Denis Johnson with less heroin and more cowboys. Really taken by the two John Briggs stories. Wish the whole collection was stories about that character. "The Refugee" feels like a centerpiece as well. I loved all the sailing specific details, the cleats, mizzen, foresail, and all the trimming. Heartbreaking and reaffirming.
December 15, 2021
Ten stories. Montana. Florida. British Columbia. Massachusetts. Ohio. Strange. Life. Ne’er-do-wells, retirees, lawyers, survivors.
I think my life could be a McGuane short story.
I think my life could be a McGuane short story.
May 22, 2020
Not to be held to more than a discounted guess, it was about ten years ago when I was stumping around in the library with a hand-written list of titles, bird-dogging the book club recommendations of a well-read friend. Had reached a turning point in my life when an intolerance for the inanity of Internet dating had finally driven me to seek, instead, the more-predictable and self-preservational comfort of books; a most-sensible decision that sustains me, yet, for fulfilling the need of a companion. Thomas McGuane's "Gallatin Canyon" had been released some six years prior to my randomly finding a library copy and sampling it in an overstuffed chair. It would, in turn, be followed by others of his craft in short story and novel form. All told, never disappointing except for one thing: as difficult as they are to write, short stories in fiction can similarly fail to percolate up to one's cognitive gift for recall. Especially after ten years; made worse by however little oxygen remains to sustain an arterially compromised middle-aged brain. That being the case, here, McGuane's stories came vaguely back to me in the process of reading them a second time. I'd recently purchased a lightly used copy on-line with a sticker on the back cover that ironically places it from a bookstore in Missoula, Montana. Ironic because it's also McGuane's home state, that parched landscape under Big Sky that situates many of his stories in the hard-scrabble lifestyle of the American West. Few, with the exception of Annie Proulx, have ever summoned the voice of a hard-luck cowboy so convincingly as is found in his story by the same name. Whether its horsemanship, fly fishing, sailing, or other pursuits (recreational drugs) of his Hemingwayesque background, McGuane's stories resonate with the genuine authenticity of experience. But, even more strikingly, a type of humility that is at once honest and contagiously self-deprecating. None in this collection are more reverant (and satirical) as "Miracle Boy" where in a poignant, autobiographical narrative, McGuane reveals the histrionics of an Irish Catholic clan forcibly drawn together in their conflicted life-long pettiness summoned to the family home (in Boston, of course) where their grandmother, a matriarchal figurehead (he calls her a monarch) is dying. Before her last breath, however, the dysfunctional siblings are played off one another like the plucked strings of an Irish fiddle by the old gal. Drama rules. A classic. Though McGuane's works are not heralded as a literary National treasure, like those of an Updike or Cheever, he remains, nonetheless, a credit to his Irish legacy; that reputation, namely, as a storyteller. His signature style encompasses a rare combination of both comedy fused with tragedy along with a profound appreciation for irony used to darkly humorous effect. For my attention, and what it's worth (damn little) wouldn't trade him for all the pretentious Cheevers who lord over their vastly overrated literary circles (the man had a much-diminished sense of humor due, in part, to his raging alcoholism, and the other part his Puritanical upbringing). My only regret is that while so many long-winded writers of that ilk whose deckle-edged pages tend to spill over into excess depth and number, McQuane's collections are all too exquisitely brief. He is, in short, and in short-story form, one of the best. Done dang deal.
November 7, 2017
Thomas McGuane is an outstanding fiction writer and this collection was great. I didn’t finish reading three of the stories simply because they either didn’t interest me or my ADD got the best of me. My favorites are Vicious Circle, Old Friends, The Refugee, and Gallatin Canyon. Those four stood out to me because the author has created some memorable characters which have really deep issues, and McGuane masterfully peels back some of the layers in the course of his storytelling. His vocabulary is extensive and intentional.
I highly recommend this collection.
I highly recommend this collection.
July 17, 2021
This was my first McGuane and a few pages into the first story I was delighted to realize I was discovering another writer for me, whose voice speaks to me, who writes the kind of fiction I take so much pleasure in. I loved this collection. Most of it. The longest story, The Refugee, I couldn’t get into. Who could when it’s about a man sailing out on the open seas—which in itself sounds wonderful—but contains so much technical language about the operating of boats and has so many sentences like, ‘He reduced the mainsail before ever departing, taking the sail down at the second reef to a clear on the mast. The line leading to a cringle on the leech he wrapped into the reefing winch and drew that down until the main was little more than a storm trysail.’ Excuse me bitch!? By the way is Moby Dick like this? Thinking Moby Dick has a lot of this jibber-jabber is the reason I never seriously considered reading it. Anyway, I loved the rest of the collection, a lot more domestic, about family tensions, complex dynamics, desperation, loneliness, and existential fears. And in some of the stories McGuane doesn’t adhere strictly to the tenets of realism. He can be surreal, strange, eerie, when exploring the chasm between the self and the world. He can say a lot in one or two loaded sentences; give a complex portrait in a paragraph. In reading about McGuane, I learned about how varied and different his works are, and how much he’s evolved in the half century that he’s been writing and publishing, and I got a taste of that in this one collection. I liked how distinct these stories were from one another. Especially since I’ve noted the almost-expectation there is now for story collections to be connected in some way thematically or in tone or style. There’s also humour here, McGuane has wit, a comedic voice when he wants to use it. And his language is wonderful. He’s very ‘writerly’ in the positive sense. His eloquence and sophistication is striking. This is one of my top reads of the year so far and it may be the beginning of a beautiful reader/author relationship.
June 10, 2011
I have noticed something with regard to my reading habits. It seems that I am slowly warming up to the idea of reading a book that is not a novel, but instead is a collection of short stories. And this book that I recently finished is one of them.
The thing that usually irks me about short story collections is the fact that I usually find myself at a loss when I finally get to like the protagonist, and suddenly the story ends and another one begins. I suppose that is just how short stories are, and that is just a fact of life. But once I learned to see past that, and appreciate that, then I supposed I was good to go.
So this one is another one of those collections, and the stories, aside from two who share a common protagonist, are not related to one another. The only common theme that the stories have on each other is the fact that every story is set in rural America. No urban talk at all here. It doesn't have to be on the mountain or on an outback. One story in fact was set in the ocean, when the protagonist decided to go and set sail, and let the wind guide him while being tossed and turned in the Gulf Stream.
I suppose I like this collection since it features several visual imaging techniques, mixing the feeling of loneliness and fear. Especially since I have the experience of passing by a dark rural highway in the American back-country, so there are plenty of imagery that one can conjure as one reads this collection. The final story is a good ending too: there was this scene where the protagonist and his partner were driving at night, and suddenly a car decides to tailgate them. The ensuing chase and inevitable disastrous end was a nice conclusion to the book.
All in all, I give it 4 out of 5 stars. It doesn't have full points, but it is way better than the average.
The thing that usually irks me about short story collections is the fact that I usually find myself at a loss when I finally get to like the protagonist, and suddenly the story ends and another one begins. I suppose that is just how short stories are, and that is just a fact of life. But once I learned to see past that, and appreciate that, then I supposed I was good to go.
So this one is another one of those collections, and the stories, aside from two who share a common protagonist, are not related to one another. The only common theme that the stories have on each other is the fact that every story is set in rural America. No urban talk at all here. It doesn't have to be on the mountain or on an outback. One story in fact was set in the ocean, when the protagonist decided to go and set sail, and let the wind guide him while being tossed and turned in the Gulf Stream.
I suppose I like this collection since it features several visual imaging techniques, mixing the feeling of loneliness and fear. Especially since I have the experience of passing by a dark rural highway in the American back-country, so there are plenty of imagery that one can conjure as one reads this collection. The final story is a good ending too: there was this scene where the protagonist and his partner were driving at night, and suddenly a car decides to tailgate them. The ensuing chase and inevitable disastrous end was a nice conclusion to the book.
All in all, I give it 4 out of 5 stars. It doesn't have full points, but it is way better than the average.
April 25, 2014
My favorite story in this uneven collection is "North Coast" about two heroin addicts who have retained outdoor skills in a hike designed to obtain artifacts to finance their addiction. The sadness of the story is offset by the occasional humor including the following passage:
"They both had huge cannisters of bear spray they'd bought in New Hazelton, but only Austin had ever had to use it-an experience that gave him no confidence since the bear stopped only feet away as the can emptied, and seemingly thanks to mature reflection rather than violent arrest. As he shook the nearly weightless can, the bear,on its hind legs, elevated its nose and just chose not to maul him. He told Ruth the spray worked great. "Point and shoot" he said. "Nothing to it"
"Vicious Circle" features a McGuane Montanan meeting a younger woman and then her father and learns to keep his distance after experiencing her alcoholism and then where she got it from, the story's strength is its subtle development of the woman and her dad. "Cowboy" is a story of three crusty "Montana" characters, reading about them and the ending is simply a kick. "Old Friends" again features John Briggs, the central character in Vicious Circle, and while it again includes hard drinking, wild women, the truly wild character is a friend of Briggs from his time back East who is going through a true mid life crisis. The collection hits a low point in "The Refugee" set in Key West and the Gulf of Mexico, I'll be honest, I couldn't finish the story
So if you're looking for a collection of consistently great stories, this may not be the best choice. However, if you're willing to pick and choose to find some great writing, this will work just fine
"They both had huge cannisters of bear spray they'd bought in New Hazelton, but only Austin had ever had to use it-an experience that gave him no confidence since the bear stopped only feet away as the can emptied, and seemingly thanks to mature reflection rather than violent arrest. As he shook the nearly weightless can, the bear,on its hind legs, elevated its nose and just chose not to maul him. He told Ruth the spray worked great. "Point and shoot" he said. "Nothing to it"
"Vicious Circle" features a McGuane Montanan meeting a younger woman and then her father and learns to keep his distance after experiencing her alcoholism and then where she got it from, the story's strength is its subtle development of the woman and her dad. "Cowboy" is a story of three crusty "Montana" characters, reading about them and the ending is simply a kick. "Old Friends" again features John Briggs, the central character in Vicious Circle, and while it again includes hard drinking, wild women, the truly wild character is a friend of Briggs from his time back East who is going through a true mid life crisis. The collection hits a low point in "The Refugee" set in Key West and the Gulf of Mexico, I'll be honest, I couldn't finish the story
So if you're looking for a collection of consistently great stories, this may not be the best choice. However, if you're willing to pick and choose to find some great writing, this will work just fine
March 23, 2013
A Thomas McGuane story may shamble on indefinitely, a compendium of back-stories for their own sake, and all the time sort of amused by the arbitrariness of people’s lives. Sometimes those lives have derailed long ago, and the characters are still plugging along, a little disoriented but believing that meaning can still be salvaged from it all.
Gallatin Canyon is like that, a collection of ten stories, one of them long enough to be a novella. Some take place in McGuane’s Montana. The aptly named novella, “The Refugee,” is mostly set on a sailing boat in the Caribbean. “The Miracle Boy” concerns a family gathering in an unnamed New England city, Boston or Providence. In “Ice,” a boy sets out to skate across the frozen surface of Lake Erie. . .
Read my review at my blog.
Gallatin Canyon is like that, a collection of ten stories, one of them long enough to be a novella. Some take place in McGuane’s Montana. The aptly named novella, “The Refugee,” is mostly set on a sailing boat in the Caribbean. “The Miracle Boy” concerns a family gathering in an unnamed New England city, Boston or Providence. In “Ice,” a boy sets out to skate across the frozen surface of Lake Erie. . .
Read my review at my blog.
April 20, 2020
This book is one novella-length story (The Refugee) and 9 short stories. Half of the stories first appeared in The New Yorker magazine, where I read them. In both his novels and stories, McGuane writes great sentences with wry humor. "The terrible bags under his eyes gave the impression that he could see beyond the present situation." McGuane is in some ways, a writer's writer; his descriptions of the Big Sky country, and the water / storms of the Gulf Stream are vivid. He has a way with character development and dialogue, and several characters are in conflict, or at a final crossroads in a difficult life. A few of the stories meander a bit. The real Gallatin Canyon is in Montana, but the stories span Key West, to Massachusetts, Lake Michigan to the Gulf Stream.
March 27, 2008
he's the mirror image of alice munro. she starts the love of a good woman with a car sinking in a river. he ends this book with one. he's funny and unpredictable, and i like the dependable ridiculousness of his characters.
January 11, 2014
This is an interesting collection of stories, and a forlorn cast of characters. In each piece I feel as if I were dropped down into each story as an invisible bystander: the scene descriptions, rich details and sometimes awkward (in a tense or teasing sense) dialogue all contributed to the sadness and struggle depicted. This is the first thing I have read by Mcguane, so surely his earlier work is now on my list to read.
October 17, 2017
Vintage McGuane. His later writing was much better than some of his earlier stuff.
Comprised of ten short stories. A few of the stories that stood out for me: Vicious Circle, Cowboy, Old Friends, The Refugee, Gallatin Canyon. The Refugee was the best of the bunch.
I have almost exhausted the libraries of McGuane, Harrison, Steinbeck. I hope I'm never reduced to a New York Times bestseller list reader.
I am in need of a new literary hero.
Comprised of ten short stories. A few of the stories that stood out for me: Vicious Circle, Cowboy, Old Friends, The Refugee, Gallatin Canyon. The Refugee was the best of the bunch.
I have almost exhausted the libraries of McGuane, Harrison, Steinbeck. I hope I'm never reduced to a New York Times bestseller list reader.
I am in need of a new literary hero.
October 19, 2017
It's hard to stay away from McGuane's short fiction. The novella-length Refugees took some steam out of the collection, although the title story was another McGuane gut-punch about terrain I'm intimately familiar with. Aliens reunites old lovers while rekindling the affair is all but impossible. Ice revolves around a winter night skating on frozen Lake Erie. Not every story hits, but the ones that do hit hard.
May 7, 2008
I love Tom McGuane. He gets ranch life in a way Annie Proulx never will, regardless of her gorgeous language. He gets it because he lives it. I guess there's a lesson in there. "Cowboy" is brilliant.
January 14, 2009
Probably my last favorite book of the past few years. I was excited about the book because it's a series of short stories all set out west. Only one of them was any good though and I was really just wishing the book would end. Luckily it was only 220 pages so I didn't devote too much time to it.
October 23, 2011
Now I will be one to say right out, I am not a fan of short stories.
Unless it's scary/horror stories.
These were really nice short stories.
Some were better than others, of course, that will happen.
But all in all, not a bad book.
Unless it's scary/horror stories.
These were really nice short stories.
Some were better than others, of course, that will happen.
But all in all, not a bad book.
November 2, 2014
A great collection of stories witnessing cultural, ethnic, and personality clashes with salty, tongue-in-cheek humor and rich detail. Gallatin Canyon indicates the geographic center of gravity, but the range of stories is all over the map - in a good way!
August 4, 2007
For the most part the stories are dope. There is some weird-o shit going on at times, but whatevs. The dialogue is the gnar-gnar and McGuane is too.
August 25, 2007
Much plainer stylistically than McGuane's earlier work, but just as satisfying.
February 14, 2008
Great series of short stories and really good reads if you just want to capture the essence of people in the west and how they think and feel things and express their emotions.
July 5, 2008
I am not just biased because I live in Montana- these are great short stories.
March 7, 2009
Short stories that are easy to read and rather amusing. First time I read this author, he is good.
Want to read
July 22, 2010NO
July 25, 2016
Beware: This book can't be clipped on Kindle. It's completely disgraceful and I wouldn't recommend buying it as a result.
Aliens is so bad. Otherwise I'd write a little more friendly review.
Aliens is so bad. Otherwise I'd write a little more friendly review.
January 10, 2012
Did not live up to the billing it got from the recommender.
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