Burning Fence: A Western Memoir of Fatherhood [Hardcover]

Craig Lesley (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 11, 2005

In Burning Fence, acclaimed novelist Craig Lesley turns his keen eye toward two difficult fathers and an alcohol-damaged Indian foster child, Craig's own "son," Wade. Abandoned by his shell-shocked father, Rudell, Craig grew up with his stepfather, Vern, a tough, controlling railroader. When events turned nasty, Craig, his mother, and his baby sister fled on the night train and arrived at an Indian reservation where his mother found work. Decades later, convinced he would be a better father than Rudell or Vern, Craig takes in the troubled Wade.

But desperation over Wade's violent acts motivates Craig to seek out Rudell in remote Monument, Oregon. Craig hopes his father, a reclusive coyote trapper and poacher, will help raise his disturbed grandson. There Craig meets his colorful half-brother, Ormand, a would-be East Coast hit man, now "born again."

Skillfully capturing the rural humor, rugged characters, and hardscrabble life of Eastern Oregon, Burning Fence presents a searing reflection on fatherhood and offers remarkable insight into the landscape of the Western heart.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Tricky business, fathers and sons," writes novelist Lesley (Stormriders) in this magnificent memoir of growing up in the 1950s in a hardscrabble American family. Lesley tells a gut-wrenching story of betrayal, abandonment and redemption. His father, Rudell, left the family when Lesley was a young boy, and his mother struggled to make ends meet, traveling from town to town around central Oregon seeking "a fresh start" and usually finding disappointment and heartbreak. Lesley persevered, however, excelling in school, attending college and finding a career teaching. Perhaps seeking atonement for his father's sins, Lesley took in a Native American boy. Later diagnosed with fetal alcohol syndrome, the boy proved more than Lesley could handle and was eventually sent to a foster home. Lesley renders subtle, compassionate portraits of the people in his life: his cruel stepfather, "quiet in a threatening way"; his uncle Oscar, "the kind of straightforward, stand-up guy a small town relies on"; and his half-brother, who "didn't get the calling to be a minister until after the devil tempted him to be a hit man." Try as he might, Lesley could not escape the pull of his father. Even after his mother made him promise to stay clear of Rudell, Lesley sought him out, turning to him in a last-ditch effort to save his desperately troubled adopted son. Tavern brawler, prospector, elk hunter, fence builder, Rudell burned with down-market charisma and drew Lesley to him. Never mawkish or sentimental, Lesley's work makes something beautiful from the wreckage of a tumble-down family. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* In his first, clean stab at nonfiction, novelist Lesley (Winterkill The Sky Fisherman), comes to terms with his larger-than-life, largely absent father--and how that troubled bloodline influenced his own difficult journey as a dad. In a novelistic narrative, Lesley limns a 1950s eastern Oregon boyhood that was occasionally idyllic but mostly chaotic. His father, Rudell, abandoned the family after returning from World War II, leaving ostensibly to pick up a flashlight left at a relative's house. It's like something out of a Springsteen song, but when Lesley confronts his father about it years later, he can't or won't remember. While Lesley endures adolescence with a menacing stepfather, Rudell lives the pioneer life with a child bride. ?A crack shot who guides rich hunters to elk in the fall, he also builds incredibly durable fences for ranchers. Haunted by his abandonment, the adult Lesley strains two marriages as he attempts to prove himself better than his old man by taking in an emotionally disturbed Native American boy who suffers from fetal alcohol syndrome. When Lesley brings the boy to visit Rudell in hopes his father might provide desperately needed guidance and help, the results are heartbreaking. But Lesley never succumbs to the temptation of creating pure heroes or villains. These people are as raw and real as a rare elk heart bleeding on the plate. Frank Sennett
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 368 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (August 11, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312318464
• ISBN-13: 978-0312318468
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.9 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,770,462 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Riveting Tale of Two Fatherhoods, December 14, 2005

By 

Marian W. Trotter (Hamilton, Montana) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Burning Fence: A Western Memoir of Fatherhood (Hardcover)

When Rudell Lesley told his wife Hazel he had to go out for a while to look for a lost flashlight, he never returned, leaving her to raise their eight-month old son alone. The baby, christened Martin Craig Lesley, emerged with remarkable academic ability that came with a talent for remembering and processing every experience on an unusually deep level.

As I read, I marveled that the child didn't suffer a nervous breakdown or withdraw completely into fantasy. Relatives made vague, brief, derogatory comments about his father. Hazel said, "He just didn't give the slightest damn about anything." Rudell was shell-shocked from his fighting in the war. He was a backslider who poached. Trying to three-dimensionalize his father using this information began the stirrings of rage. Also Craig needed a target for his anger because his stepfather Vern was too terrifying to defy openly.

Badly injured in an accident at fifteen, Craig finally drew his father's attention. Rudell appeared with his young wife and four half-siblings. From that time until his father's death, Craig takes a spellbinding journey into the lives of his father's family and associates.

Rudell, with all his entertaining stories ("stretchers"), fails to say what would have meaning for Craig: why Rudell left, and whether he thought he made the right decision. With all of his hard physical labor as a fence builder, Rudell keeps himself and his family in squalor. Mixed into all this is Craig's adopted handicapped son Wade who burns Rudell's stack of freshly cut fence posts, believing that he's scaring off Big Foot.

If you would like to live inside the mind of a man who overcame a harrowing childhood to become a successful writer and university professor, this memoir is for you.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Compelling in a tragic and real sense., October 19, 2005

By 

Don R. Greenwood (Vancouver, WA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Burning Fence: A Western Memoir of Fatherhood (Hardcover)

I had read four of Craig's fictional books, before reading his biography, so was familiar with his real-life characters.

Like one of the reviews, I was "compelled" to finish this poignant and gut-wrenching story; bringing the book along on a Mexican cruise and visits to the doctor.

The one issue I have with this book comes I guess from being a retired Episcopal Priest. I was bothered by Craig's seeming lack of motivation to forgive his father. It seemed at times like he couldn't live without resentment. In the end, though, it's not mine to judge.

I know Craig, having taken a three week, five day a week summer course under her excellent tutelege. I must say he is a wonderful, gentle and loving man, in spite of all he has been through.

Perhaps he has forgiven his father more than he yet realizes!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another grand work by Craig Lesley., June 8, 2007

By 

Robin L. Gerke (Madras, Oregon United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Burning Fence: A Western Memoir of Fatherhood (Hardcover)

This is a very honest look at his life. Sometimes a look like this can be very hard but the reader gains an appreciation of such introspection.