The Hermit's Story: Stories

From Publishers Weekly
Nature is as otherworldly as a line of bright birds frozen stiff, and as prosaic as a patch of grass, in this uniformly excellent collection. In the title story, a dog trainer and her companion, a man called Gray Owl, take six dogs out on a hunting exercise. Toward the end of their trip, Gray Owl falls through the ice of a lake, but instead of drowning, winds up on at the bottom of a dry basin covered with a layer of ice. He is joined by the trainer and the dogs, and together they cross the lake under the ice, an adventure that forces the trainer to examine her perspective, since every step presents a fresh challenge to the senses. "The Fireman" relates the dissolution of the title character's first marriage through the metaphor of fire, with Bass skillfully juxtaposing the blaze of human relationships and the searing, organic power of fire. The volume dips into humor with the pseudo-fantastical "Eating," in which an owl trapped in a canoe lashed to the top of a car initiates a memorable episode in a North Carolina diner; the ensuing gastronomical feats both amaze and amuse. The jewel of this collection, "Swans," introduces Billy, who has a preternatural connection with the trees on his Idaho homestead, and describes his idyllic life with his wife, a soulful baker. As the story progresses, Billy grows ill and slowly wastes away, even as the unnamed narrator eloquently and simply chronicles his decline. Billy's life takes on a stirring quality of pathos, and his graceful death leaves the reader deeply satisfied yet yearning for more. That sentiment might be extended to each of the lovely stories gathered here.Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
In his new collection, novelist and nature writer Bass (e.g., Colter) focuses a naturalist's eye not only on the frozen lakes and interplay of predator and prey often found in his work but also on the ebb and flow of human emotions and relationships. Among several selections set in a remote region of northern Montana is the title story, in which a couple and a pack of dogs, lost in a winter storm, almost miraculously find refuge beneath the ice on a frozen lake. Failed or troubled marriages figure throughout, and the male characters often ponder lost love while deeply involved in more immediate tasks, like fighting fires or helping a friend after an eye operation. In an especially strong story, "The Distance," a man recalls his first visit to Jefferson's Monticello as a teenager while touring the estate with his wife and daughter. His critical view of both Jefferson and the tour guide gives Bass a chance to quote from Jefferson's writings, which show that he was a dedicated and radical environmentalist. Thought-provoking and entertaining, these stories move along quickly but continue to resonate long after the reader is done; several have been anthologized in award collections. Recommended for all libraries.- Jim Coan, SUNY at Oneonta Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
Bass, a passionate, versatile, and increasingly lauded author acutely attuned to the wild and our conflicted relationship with nature, is especially gifted as a short story writer. His newest collection is his most pristine, tender, and transporting yet. Bass uses simple, solid language, building sentences that preserve breathing space around each word like a stacked stonewall reveals the contours of each stone. Beautiful in their magical imagery, dramatic in their situations, and exquisitely poignant in their insights, these stories of awe and loss are quite astonishing in their mythic use of place and the elements of earth, air, fire, and water. In "Swans," a woman lights fires along the shore of a freezing pond to warm the five swans living there, while the once robust fire in her aging mate's mind slowly turns to ash. In the title story, a woman, a man, and a half-dozen hunting dogs lost in a blizzard find miraculous shelter beneath what they feared was the frozen surface of a deep lake. Bass evinces a fascination with vision and its diminishment and how the world is transformed when sight is regained. He portrays a man suffering from a detached retina, a fireman who experiences a strange form of tunnel vision while surrounded by flames, and a crazy pair of lovers who descend naked into an abandoned mine, exchanging the incandescence of the sun for utter darkness. Marriage, too, begins in radiance but is often driven into the dark underworld as love flickers and fails. Bass' characters endure near-entombments and other in-the-dark rites of passage, struggling toward the light, toward the recognition that they must love each other, the earth, and all its creatures. Donna Seaman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved


Review
"Probably no American writer since Hemingway has written about man-in-nature more beautifully or powerfully than Rick Bass." --Bryan Woolley


Book Description
The Hermit's Story is Rick Bass's best and most varied fiction yet, "the work of a seasoned author in full possession of his art and craft" (Denver Post). In this story collection, Bass explores the mysterious and near-mythical connections between man and nature. In the title story, a man and a woman travel beneath the frozen surface of a dry lake; in "The Cave," a couple passes a magical afternoon in an abandoned mine; in "Swans," a woman lights fires along the shore of a freezing pond to warm the five swans living there. The characters in each of these ten stories try to seek out the marrow of life. "[A] fully realized collection of the highest quality" (Baltimore Sun), The Hermit's Storyshows Rick Bass at the top of his form.


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In his new collection, novelist and nature writer Bass (e.g., Colter) focuses a naturalist's eye not only on the frozen lakes and interplay of predator and prey often found in his work but also on the ebb and flow of human emotions and relationships. Among several selections set in a remote region of northern Montana is the title story, in which a couple and a pack of dogs, lost in a winter storm, almost miraculously find refuge beneath the ice on a frozen lake. Failed or troubled marriages figure throughout, and the male characters often ponder lost love while deeply involved in more immediate tasks, like fighting fires or helping a friend after an eye operation. In an especially strong story, "The Distance," a man recalls his first visit to Jefferson's Monticello as a teenager while touring the estate with his wife and daughter. His critical view of both Jefferson and the tour guide gives Bass a chance to quote from Jefferson's writings, which show that he was a dedicated and radical environmentalist. Thought-provoking and entertaining, these stories move along quickly but continue to resonate long after the reader is done; several have been anthologized in award collections. Recommended for all libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 3/15/02.] Jim Coan, SUNY at Oneonta Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information. Read all 6 "From The Critics" >


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