WINTER: Notes from Montana

by Rick Bass ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 25, 1991

Snow-time in Montana, in a work as crystalline and quiet as the season it portrays. Petroleum geologist and writer Bass (Oil Notes, 1989, etc.) settles in Montana with his girlfriend after scouring the West for a suitable domicile. The two are poor, artistic, and fed up with civilization, so nothing satisfies their souls and pocketbooks until they light eyes on the remote valley of Yaak, a region without electricity, paved roads, or telephones. ""We had never felt such magic,"" Bass declares. What does Yaak offer? The answer is the substance of this slim (160-page), muffled book: lots of trees to chop, snow to shovel, animals to watch. Bass describes these and like activities in admirably chiseled prose (the ouzel, a waterbird, ""bobs up and down, exactly like. . . the movement of an automatic stapler""). Snow falls, fires crackle, engines stall, chain-saws buzz, Bass mutters about ""decay in our nation."" In other words, a lovely, uneventful, sometimes grouchy account of a winter wonderland. A tonic for jangled nerves, although anyone snowed in for the season might crave more exciting fare.

Pub Date: Feb. 25, 1991

ISBN: 0395611504

Page Count: -

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1991

Categories: NONFICTION