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    Hell's Bottom, Colorado
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    Hell's Bottom, Colorado
    Unavailable
    Hell's Bottom, Colorado
    Ebook122 pages1 hour

    Hell's Bottom, Colorado

    By Laura Pritchett

    4.5/5

    ()

    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    On Hell's Bottom Ranch, a section of land below the Front Range, there are women like Renny who prefer a "little Hell swirled with their Heaven" and men like Ben, her husband, who's "gotten used to smoothing over Renny's excesses." There is a daughter who maybe plays it too safe and a daughter plagued by only "half-wanting" what life has to offer. The ranch has been the site of births and deaths of both cattle and children, as well as moments of amazing harmony and clear vision.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMilkweed Editions
    Release dateDec 10, 2011
    ISBN9781571318558
    Unavailable
    Hell's Bottom, Colorado
    Author

    Laura Pritchett

    Laura Pritchett is an American author whose work is rooted in the natural world. Her five novels have garnered numerous national literary awards, including PEN USA Award for Fiction, the High Plains Book Award, the Milkweed National Fiction Prize, and the WILLA Award. She's published over 200 essays and short stories in magazines, including The New York Times, The Sun, O Magazine, Salon, High Country News, Orion, and others, mostly about environmental issues in the American West. She holds a PhD from Purdue University and teaches around the country. She is also known for her environmental stewardship, particularly in regard to land preservation and river health. More at www.laurapritchett.com.

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    Reviews for Hell's Bottom, Colorado

    4.5/5

    33 ratings7 reviews

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    • 5/5
      This little book, in spite of its tough events, was a pleasure to read. It links together the stories of various members of an extended family on or about the ranch that the grandparents still live on- albeit at opposite ends. The children, grandchildren, in-laws, animals and hangers on are described sparely and always with reference to the landscape that they live on, and find so much meaning in. Each chapter would make a stand alone short story, but together it is worth more than the sum of its parts.
    • 5/5
      Wow. A stunningly beautiful collection of linked short stories chronicling episodes in the lives of Colorado ranchers Ben and Renny Cross and their children and grandchildren. Spare, heartbreaking, and definitely not for the faint of heart. Fans of Kent Haruf, Annie Proulx, and Larry Watson (and like Watson's Montana 1948, Hell's Bottom, Colorado was also a winner of the Milkweed National Fiction Prize) should give this one a look. Published in 2001, it seems to have been sadly overlooked.
    • 5/5
      This little book, in spite of its tough events, was a pleasure to read. It links together the stories of various members of an extended family on or about the ranch that the grandparents still live on- albeit at opposite ends. The children, grandchildren, in-laws, animals and hangers on are described sparely and always with reference to the landscape that they live on, and find so much meaning in. Each chapter would make a stand alone short story, but together it is worth more than the sum of its parts.
    • 5/5
      Focusing on one family, ranchers in Colorado, each story gives us profound truths - about the pain others can cause through violence and simple misunderstanding, about our capacity to nurture both anger and joy, about contentment and desire and the conflict between the two. Pritchett's writing is spare and the stories short but not lacking. The back of the book says it well, "Her characters convey the universal truth that family relationships, like Hell's Bottom Ranch itself, are marked by moments of pain and glimpses of paradise."This slim collection of under 150 pages can be read in a single sitting but don't race through it. There is much to be savored and reflected upon.
    • 5/5
      Wow. A stunningly beautiful collection of linked short stories chronicling episodes in the lives of Colorado ranchers Ben and Renny Cross and their children and grandchildren. Spare, heartbreaking, and definitely not for the faint of heart. Fans of Kent Haruf, Annie Proulx, and Larry Watson (and like Watson's Montana 1948, Hell's Bottom, Colorado was also a winner of the Milkweed National Fiction Prize) should give this one a look. Published in 2001, it seems to have been sadly overlooked.
    • 5/5
      Hell’s Bottom, Colorado is a collection of ten interconnected stories about three generations of a ranching family in eastern Colorado. The author who was raised on a ranch, writes knowingly and beautifully about the ranching life. The stories include forest fires, still born animals, violence and both family dysfunction and family togetherness.Each story reveals a part of this family’s history and their connections to each other. They are both a clear-eyed look at living close to nature and dealing with all that entails and a fiercely tender revelation of connections. Each story would stand alone and all reveal one or two characters but it’s by taking the collection as a whole that the reader comes to know the family. Many of the stories are highly emotional yet all give an expressive view of this family’s dynamics. One word of warning however is that some readers may be disturbed by the casual cruelties of ranching life. I personally was spellbound by the author’s strong, rich writing and her use of the evocative and vivid Colorado ranch-lands to deliver such authentic and memorable stories.
    • 5/5
      On Hell's Bottom Ranch, a section of land below the Front Range, there are women like Renny who prefer a "little Hell swirled with their Heaven" and men like Ben, her husband, who's "gotten used to smoothing over Renny's excesses." As I was reading, I recalled often a quote from Stars Go Blue that Renny knew the ranch like a chart, but Ben knew it like a poem. That theme is apparent here, too. The ranch has been the site of the births of the Cross children, and of Rachel’s tragic death – just as it has been the site of untold births and deaths of livestock. Pritchett’s format here is a collection of related short stories which read like a novel. Hell’s Bottom, Colorado is a tribute to life on the Cross ranch – its harmony, its vision, and its heartache. Beautifully written, with characters so relatable I feel I know them personally – Pritchett has established herself as a favourite author, and Hell’s Bottom Ranch a favourite place. Highly, highly recommended.