The Big Rock Candy Mountain

By: Wallace Stegner

Narrated by: Mark Bramhall

Length: 25 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

Bo Mason, his wife, and his two boys live a transient life of poverty and despair. Drifting from town to town and from state to state, the violent, ruthless Bo seeks his fortune in the hotel business, in new farmland, and, eventually, in illegal rum-running throughout the treacherous back roads of the American Northwest.

Based largely on his own childhood, Stegner has created a masterful, harrowing saga of a family trying to survive during the lean years of the early 20th century. It is the conflict between the hardscrabble existence and Bo's pursuit of the frontier myth and of the American dream that gives the book such resonance and power.

©1938 1940, 1942, 1943 by Wallace Stegner (P)2010 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Stegner has felt the spell of mountain and prairie, of drought, flood, and blizzard....a harrowing saga." - ( New York Times)
"Stands out beautifully and unforgettably." ( New Yorker)

Raw and powerful

Had to stop and start. Emotionally overwhelming. Bare. Glad I pushed through. The last 20 minutes …

The Slow Meandering Road ‘til Death

Outstanding story telling. Promoted deep reflection on the intensity of the “common man” at the dawn of the 20th Century. The American work ethic and free enterprise with moral limits underlie the fabric within the story. The growth of this “freedom” and “independence” from one’s offspring finalizes the story.

Exceptional

So absorbing. Emotional. Stunning writing. Stegner is a gift. This is a true classic. Pure oxygen.

An imperfect man

Stegner is a great storyteller and keeps your interest chapter after chapter with flowery descriptions of common events and things. I recommend The Big Rock Candy Mountain.

Hard headed man and his family story.

The characters in this man's family are different and well described. Their interactions with the father take them through a roller coaster life of hopes, dreams, a few successes, but mostly failures and disappointments. I hoped along with them and looked forward to better results...but alas, to no avail.

An exceptional audiobook experience!

This is a truly memorable audiobook particularly for listeners who appreciate and want excellence both in writing and in narration. For many of us who have parents and grandparents (60+) who grew up in these times and have heard the stories of the Great Depression, homesteading, and wanderlust this story adds a deep dimension to our understanding of those times and comes very close to home on many occasions. For younger listerners, there is much to be gained by listening to this story. It is both historical and contemporary in its perspective family, responsibility, and true unselfishness.

Wallace Stegner is one of the great American writers

The beauty, the lessons, the observations, the adventure and the tragedy told in a novel are built into the story and characters. It is hard to review a novel without revealing the story. This story is worth reading from beginning to end. It is tightly woven, expansively described, and set in a raw and compelling life of imperatives in the hardscrabble towns of the Great Plains at the turn-of-the-century. I was ready for Wallace Stagner's rich and compelling stories and characters and similes, his development of themes out of a simple story, and the sheer beauty of his writing. I read Angle of Repose 25 years ago, and never forgot it. I had a chance to spend the time to read another Wallace Stagner, and it was more than worth it.

Getting better understandings of the culture

Stegner’s gift for depicting characters and their speech is very strong. The length of the story is a bit too much, but its episodic quality, and the depth of characters revealed through that is worthwhile, and moving. The stories are as hard as Hemingway’s really, but the emotional depth is much more present and satisfying. The narrator is very, very good.

This book can not be put down...

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

YES!@ The description of nature and people in this book can be felt so much that you are there looking right at them. The young boys in the novel are anything but the real thing... there thoughts and statements.. It brougth me back to so many of my thoughts as a child.. and watching others. I love it!

Which character – as performed by Mark Bramhall – was your favorite?

They are all so good.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

The description of the taste and feel of the countryside is excellent. I am there and brings me back to the times when I have been out in the woods... looking out at snow.. or looking into the dark of night.

Any additional comments?

A big surprize to me.. I could not stop listening!

Dark Story

Author switches frequently from third to first person prose, which sometimes made it hard to follow. Story was interesting, if not a bit dark.