Customer Reviews

One Degree West: Reflections of a Plainsdaughter (First Series:Creative Nonfiction)

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This is a wonderful book, a clear-eyed exploration of growing up and living in the West. There are many other popular books about the West, including "regional" literature, critical works, and more encompassing work like that of Wallace Stegner, but none examine both the natural and human landscapes with such a blend of careful detail, compassion, intelligence, and personal realism. Ms. Bair explores the landscape, family history, local culture, and her own movements within and beyond those circles with a deft touch, sometimes examining the most intimate of interactions with a dispassionate perspective that's almost unearthly. More than once, the hair stood up on the back of my neck in the wake of her conclusions, and several times I had to stop and catch my breath before continuing on. This book is an outstanding complement to works like "A Thousand Acres" and "Angle of Repose," exploring the West with a rich new voice.

One Degree West is a truly lovely personal history that transcends its genre to become something universal and wondrous. Perhaps the author's intent in writing it was to review and transpose the pain of experience through illuminated sharing. If so, judging from the reader's experience, she succeeds. One Degree West is haunting, tear-drenched, beautiful, and unique. The process of a lifetime of reconciling her culture's unequal gender expectations with her own yearning for a wider scope provides stage and backbone for the painful self- evolving metamorphosis of Julene Blair. Not a comfortable book to read, there is a redemptive undertone always tinged with sadness and beauty present. Though the drifting goal is elusive, the journey is more than worthwhile. One Degree West will appeal to all lovers of the spiritual seeking essay. Its prose poetry lingers in the mind and heart.

Nancy Lorraine, Reviewer

A book about the high plains? It is and it isn't. It's about family, breaking away, facing conflict, and finally, coming home. And so beautifully written. I'm keenly interested in personal essays and in the plains, so I was enchanted as soon as I opened the book. I confess I bought it for a friend, but after letting it go, I ordered another. It is a book to read and keep and cherish. It is a book to give to someone you cherish. And I do envy (and congratulate)this author's skill.

This is a beautifully written memoir that is saturated with a sense of place. Western Kansas is not just a geographical area but a state of mind, and Ms. Bair writes about the people and place with both affection and honesty. Her memoir captures the desolate life and the enduring bonds of these families, whose members remain spiritually tied to the land even though they may choose to live far, far away. I savored every word and hope Ms. Bair soon shares more of her wisdom with us.

This book is a rare one that must be read to understand its various qualities that take the reader into the realms of childhood friendships,family dynamics,relationships with the land, the solitude of rural life, the poetry of language, the detail of observation, and the spirit of living. It is one of the great books of the new century.