Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Jun 2011
160 pages
Genre: Literary Fiction
Publication Information
Spencer Davis, his wife, Elizabeth, and their sons, Luke, Whitney, and Lonny, work with horses and with their hands. They spend long relentless days cutting summer hay and feeding it to their cattle through fierce Wyoming winters. The family bears witness to the cycle of life, bringing foals into the world and deciding when to let a favored mare pass on to the next. As Luke grows older, falls in love, and begins to assert his independence, Spencer strives to impart the wisdom of this way of life to his headstrong son, whatever the cost.
In this wonderful work of fiction, Joe Henry explores the complex relationship between a father and his sons, whose deep connections to one another, to the land, and to the creatures that inhabit it give meaning to their lives. Moving, powerful, and beautifully rendered, Lime Creek brings readers into the lives of this unforgettable family and into a world that, though often harsh, is lit by flashes of spectacular grace.
"Starred Review. Brief but brilliant in the spirit of Paul Harding's Tinkers, this remarkable work is highly recommended." - Library Journal
"It's brooding and deadly serious in the way that fiction of the rustic West often is, but maybe too much so." - Publishers Weekly
"Henry works in a deliberately Faulknerian mode... But the high-flown language and run-on sentences mostly just swallow up the thin plots Henry has devised... Occasionally affecting moments too often succumb to airy, meandering writing." - Kirkus Reviews
"Beautiful, bravely written, intoxicating... Though the prose brings Faulkner to mind, I found myself thinking of Lime Creek as a kind of Dubliners for Wyoming." - David Wroblewski, author of The Story of Edgar Sawtelle
"Lime Creek is a wonderful book, subtle in texture, rich in sorrow. I hope it gets the readers it deserves." - Larry McMurtry, author of Lonesome Dove
This information about Lime Creek was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Joe Henry received his MFA from the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop, but he attributes much of his learning to his many years as a laborer, rancher and professional athlete. A renowned lyricist, he has had his words performed on more than a hundred recordings by artists ranging from Frank Sinatra and John Denver to Garth Brooks and Rascal Flatts. In addition to his many music awards, Henry also received a National Conservation Achievement Award from the National Wildlife Federation "for the celebration of the natural world in his work" and the Colorado Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts. Lime Creek is his first work of fiction.
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