The Oregon Variations

By: William L. Sullivan

Narrated by: William L. Sullivan

Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins

Publisher's summary

Oregon's best-selling author celebrates the state's quirks with this entertaining and often irreverent collection of 20 fictional short stories. Set throughout Oregon's 36 counties, Sullivan's tales range from hilarious to weird. Hang on for the ride as we meet Beaverton roller derby queens, Hells Canyon "Hot Shot" fire crews, cantankerous Newport fishermen, and a Portland bookstore owner who buys the mystic Oregon Vortex on a hunch.

©2014 William L. Sullivan (P)2020 William L. Sullivan

Captures the quirky, diversity of Oregon life.

I’m a big fan of William Sullivan. Best known as the foremost authority on all things hiking in Oregon, Sullivan has also written a good bit of fiction and his newest work, The Oregon Variations is a welcome addition to his oeuvre. I’ve been calling Oregon “home” since 1973 and have been following Sullivan’s various adventures for many years; my favorites include Cabin Fever: Notes from a Part-Time Pioneer and Listening for Coyote. (His output is quite vast, so I have much more to explore.)

I experienced The Oregon Variations as an audio book. My habit is to walk my camera and tripod each morning and I’ve listened to dozens of audio books along the way. The first thing that struck me when listening to The Oregon Variations was the speed of the reading. It is quick and it took me some time to adapt to the pace. Sullivan narrates his own book and he does an amazing job covering all the different characters that appear in the stories, including animals. Experiencing an audio version of a book is really quite different than reading it. One isn’t better than the other, but when you read a book you get to stop, go back, re-read, think about what you’d just read and you have to maintain focus. With an audio book it is easy to drift in and out of awareness. This wasn’t a problem with The Oregon Variations because the stories are so engaging.

Having traveled (mostly on foot) throughout nearly every nook and cranny in Oregon, Sullivan sets his stories in Oregon’s 36 different counties. Anyone familiar with Oregon knows that it is vast and incredibly varied in terms of geography, geology, and climate. The same can be said for its residents. Clearly, Sullivan has a deep appreciation for the incredible variation in lifestyles and I loved this aspect of the stories. Some are quite fantastical like Chab, The Word, and Beaver Clan. Very creative writing.

Perhaps the thing I most loved about this collection is the regional settings and references, many of which I could clearly picture. It is always a pleasure to hear someone talk about the places and people you either directly know or know of and these stories really hit home with me. If you aren’t from Oregon there is still much to admire in this collection. They are just great stories written about everyday people who happen to lead extraordinary lives. Highly recommended.