The Big Rock Candy Mountain

By: Wallace Stegner

Narrated by: Mark Bramhall

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)

Couldn't put it down!!!

Would you listen to The Big Rock Candy Mountain again? Why?

I don't review books, but this one I felt compelled to because it was a great story that made you feel like you were there, The performance was excellent, I even LOL'd. I didn't want it to end. Just gotta read....

Who was your favorite character and why?

Bruce as a little boy was my favorite character because he reminded me of my brother's when we were young and made me remember our young imaginations.

What about Mark Bramhall’s performance did you like?

Mark Bramhall made you feel each character, just wish there would have been more about Laura and the baby.

Good story, good narration

I enjoyed this story, it wasn't great but it was good. The characters were well drawn but I never REALLY cared about any of them. Perhaps this was the narration, I am not sure, but I tend to think it is the writing. But it for all of that I enjoyed the story in the vain of most family sagas.

Heart wrenching but Exquisite

This book almost did me in. I was so worried about the characters from beginning to end. They just couldn’t seem to catch a break, but the prose was glorious. I sat up the other night at 2 o’clock in the morning and finished the last two chapters because I knew I would cry and wanted to be by myself.

What an astonishing book and what a terrific audible performance. I highly recommend it but while the human spirit perseveres, there is little joy. I don’t care. I will probably listen to it again. I miss the characters already. Bravo, Mr. Stegner.

Epic Brilliant Masterpiece!!!

Grateful for the beauty, depth, breadth of this Americana story. Bramhall narration absolutely perfect, musical, lyrical. The sensitivity and depth of how each character is developed during this epic story is incredible. Masterpiece!!!

a masterpiece

A disfunctional family struggling through hard times, as seen throught he eyes of each member of the family. The best story I have listened to all year.