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)

Nobel worthy writer

To think that it was written in 1938 and to fast forward a decade or so to discover that Hemingway won the Nobel prize and this deep mind miner Wallace Stegner did not, is to remember that life is not always fair ( or honest ) .
In my book of greatest American literature masters, John Steinbeck is at top of the list. Stegner, who I only recently and accidentally discovered, is right near the top of that list.
Certainly much more deserving of Nobel than Hemingway.

A Cautionary Tale

Bo Mason, really pissed me off! Or maybe it was Elsa for enduring so much abuse. This story highlights, a compelling perspective on relationships, making it clear why statistically, single women without children tend to lead longer, happier, and healthier lives than those who are married. It’s an eye-opening exploration of the complexities of “love” and fulfillment.—- or lack there of.

Excellent narration

Enjoyed the story and Stegner’s bare writing style. Inspired to read more of his works.

Hard effort in wrong directions.

Hard efforts in wrong directions. Hope and grasping at the wind. The big rock candy mountain.

Yet another empathetic, deep understanding look at the failures of the normal man, the effects of typical selfish behavior and generational traumas. It’s beautiful, honest, real, good, sad. It’s a lovely book.

Love Stegner so very much.

Fabulous listen

This book is a terrific and typical Stegner book. The narrator is incredible.

Brilliant writer. Stories always touch his own life. Few reach his acute ear for language and the human psyche.

His life growing up with unforgettable father. Brother and mother. To the depth of his desire to love and live up to a father entranced with sudden wealth through rummy enterprise. Never can you guess what comes next.

Big Rock Family Saga

I enjoyed this book a lot. For some reson it reminded me of The Great Santini, which I read years ago and loved. I found the precarious balance between the mother and father facinating and all too common. However, It was easy to care about all these people. The story provided an interesting view of another time , and kept me engaged and entertaind for, um, how many hours was that?

My favorite of Stegner's books

Have been on a Stegner kick lately, reading and rereading a fair number of his books, including the best known. This is a wonderful, varied, long story encompassing a difficult and interesting life from several perspectives and stages of life. Great performance by the narrator.

Quite an emotional punch

This is a superbly written, powerfully emotional story about a man and a woman who begin their lives at the beginning of the last century. They are an unlikely couple. She is a decent, caring woman, and her new husband is a bad-tempered man who is looking for the “big rock candy mountain,” yet they both love and support each other through their lives.

The emotional punch here is so strong I had to put the ‘pod down for a day a couple of times just so I could go on with it.

I have just finished Madame Bovary by Flaubert. I wonder if both these novels deserve to be called masterpieces. The writing in each, but particularly with Big Rock, is most clearly perfect “chiseled” English with every word meaning something.

The narration is superb and, as I sometimes remark, it makes those of us who listen to books happy we have found this medium.

Absolutely spectacular - not to be missed

As a fervent reader/listener of anything science fiction/fantasy, this truly was a different choice for me.

So very hard to believe it was written in 1943. It is a timeless masterpiece. There's nothing about the story or the performance that needs to be changed.

Just get it and listen.

Elizabeth

#timeless #masterpiece #tagsgiving #sweepstakes