Customer Reviews

High Plains Tango: A Novel

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

The book is wonderful. There will, of course, be plenty of people who will say exactly what they've said about all of the author's work. That it's sentimental and romantic and fanciful, as if those were bad words or bad things. (If you think they are, then simply don't read the book. Choose something more cynical. There's plenty of it out there.) This book is about how individual lives, though seemingly so unconnected, intertwine and influence each other. It's about finding out who you are, and what your life is about. It's a story of discovering what really matters and deciding what's worth fighting for. It's both a sad commentary on the state of the country and the level at which, sadly it seems, most people live their lives. At the same time it's a reminder that there is much to be thankful for and much to be hopeful about. Waller has a way of writing characters so that they become not just characters, but people, and of turning their everyday lives from the simply mundane into the mythical. Sentimental or not, I'm so glad he still thinks it's worth doing, and doing so well.

Forget all the publicity about this title being a spinoff of "The Bridges of Madison County." Its tether to that book is quite thin, strung by the mere fact that Carlisle McMillan is the son of Robert Kincaid, photographer.

Carlisle McMillan is the kind of character who appeals to both male and female readers. He's masculine, he's sexy without being overtly so, and he does great work as a carpenter. This California boy somehow lands in the rural central U.S. plains and decides he likes the place. The plot follows a typical big-city-boy-settles-down-in-small-town-and-falls-in-love-with-hometown-girl format until the news gets out that an unnecessary interstate highway is planned to plow through Carlisle's new digs. Suddenly a casual romance turns into an environmental mission in which the bad guys wear suits and drive vehicles with official logos on the doors. Yes, Carlisle likes tango music and Susanna likes to do freeform naked gyrations on Wolf Butte, but it's the suits who take temporary center stage as they tapdance their way around ethical behavior. Once that battle is over, Life resumes, albeit just a bit differently.

Waller's descriptions are among the most vivid in literature today. But the book is not without its difficulties. The story unravels through several varying and overlapping viewpoints that might confuse the reader. The identity of the occasional first-person reporter is never revealed, which was personally frustrating to me. And though a heavy environmental message is thrust into the middle of the book, that segment winds up without a clear and satisfying conclusion. Nevertheless: decorated with a few Native American stories and mystical speculations, "High Plains Tango" is a decent read that can stand on its own merit.

I just finished reading HIGH PLAINS TANGO an hour ago, and I'm still swirling in all the imagery and sensuousness of the South Dakota setting and characters. Waller once again has helped me view my life in a much bigger perspective than I did before reading his book. For awhile at least, I will exist in a world of wild tangos, high plains, and all the attendant romance they encompass. For awhile, I can forget the heartbreaking truth that "the mass of men live lives of quiet desperation." Let's hope it will not be long before Waller offers another of his romantic, hauntingly beautiful, soul-touching novels.

this is a well told tale about some interesting people in fairly ordinary life. it is a great read and not as sentimental as his other works. i liked the setting, the characters, and the pace of the book. the story wanders a bit at the end, but still ends well. i think he is one of the best writers today for vivid prose about the place or the scene, and often chooses just the right word or phrase to bring us there. i didn't care for 'bridges', but gave this a chance, and it was well worth the time and money. and lastly, it isn't a chick book at all. just a good read.

david

I've read several of Mr. Waller's other works, Slow Waltz in Cedar Bend, Bridges of Madison County, and Puerto Vallarta Squeeze.
Those books I could tolerate enough to read in their entirety, even if parts were a little "out-there" in the realm of reality. Good fiction, even escapist fiction, must be believable. The book deals with carpentry, of which I know more than a little about. The lead character hand sanding framing lumber, is hysterical beyond belief. Whoever the author consulted regarding this subject, got the better end of the deal, even if they were simply getting paid in draft beer. His attempts to paint such stupidity as artistic, does more to denigrate true artisans.
His inclusion of the the entire Yerkes County War between heroes of environmentalism and the rest of the world, was like a bad dream that is destined to ruin a mediocre nights sleep...if I hear one more thing about how we're draining the Ogalalla aquifer from some nit wit with a keyboard trying to earn his button with the green mob, I may give up reading *fiction* altogether.
Then, there's the local tavern... Mr. Waller was doing fine, until the guy with the duck in his coat walked in like a bad joke. The bar is the only nightlife in a small, almost dead town, with practically zero population in eastern Wyoming. We're supposed to believe that the owner of the bar, came up with some dwarves for the local thugs to throw around. This is so absurd, that it simply throws more dirt on a dead story. I can only wonder if the author stays up nights wringing his hands over dwarf tossing. The attempt to pin a halo on an eco terrorist, illuminates the mind set of enviromentalism today......if you can't convince the other side with a real argument, get a gun. Enviromentalist driving nails into trees that would have been pushed over with a dozer in a real life scenario, is a quick look at how out of touch with reality, todays environmental movement really is.
Did Mr. Waller write this book under pressure from a publisher who had him under contract, and wanted something, anything, that they could put out with his name on it?
The book had some good parts. The relationship between Carlisle and Gally. Leroy's Bar on those nights when the elderly gentleman played his accordian, I could see that. The neighbor helping to fix his drive, and clear the snow was believable. Some of what Mr. Waller had been told about craftsmanship passed the smell test, and enhanced Carlisle's character instead of destroying it(although, I'm always facinated that people who drive all over three counties to salvage some building material, never remember how much they spent on gas). The impression Mr. Waller created of the typical small town dying from neglect was accurate. The book was on track with this.
...but...The entire Susanna Benteen thing was nothing more than an over- active male fantasy. The environmental hash and eco-hitman thing, emerge, in an effort to encourage a heart beat in a story that's long past the benefit of life support.
Only in the end, after a desperate attempt to lose the reader, does the author get close to being believable again. When Carlisle starts rehabing the old dance hall, and the lives of the worth while characters of the book benefit from the relationships that develop behind the scenes, does the story take a turn for the better.

This will be my last Waller book.

Carlisle McMillan has one goal: to find a place where industry won't find him, to settle in a land of wide open spaces where progress is much slower, if it exists at all. After years of fighting industrialization in California, he hits the road with no particular destination in mind. He's not running away from anything, not running to anything: He's merely driving, searching for a place to settle, a place yet untouched by large corporations and economic development. He finds such a town in Salamander, South Dakota, and this is where HIGH PLAINS TANGO, the poetically-titled new novel from Robert James Waller, begins.

Carlisle settles into town immediately; although locals whisper about his long "hippie" hair and question his financially independent means, he is generally accepted by his neighbors. He buys a piece of property on the outskirts of town that contains an abandoned shed and a nice grove of trees, and makes it his goal to turn the shed into a tribute to his mentor, Cody Marx, who taught him everything there is to know about the art of carpentry. Within a matter of months, the shed has become a cottage--a cozy home for Carlisle and the stray tomcat he's adopted and named Dumptruck. With two appealing women--Gally Deveraux, a down-and-out waitress at the town's only diner, and Susanna Benteen, the beautiful and mysterious "witch woman" who dances naked on the High Plains--to keep him busy, Carlisle settles into a simpler way of life. He spends evenings sitting on his porch with Dumptruck, watching the endangered T-hawk family that lives in the grove of trees on his land.

But it isn't long before Carlisle's archenemy, Progress, finds him and sinks in its teeth. There's talk in Salamander of a highway that's set to be built, one that would stretch clear from New Orleans to Calgary, one that would cut right through Carlisle's quiet patch of land. The majority of Salamander's citizens are all for the development, convinced the highway would bring new business to their dying town. But Carlisle is determined to stop the developers and preserve his simple way of life, even if it means he'll once again become an outsider to the people of Salamander...

Waller's new novel is both a romantic and an environmental text, a book that focuses both on one man's struggle to save his land from the greedy grip of corporate development, and on the woman who makes him realize that what he has is something worth fighting for. It's a beautifully written novel, heavy on atmosphere and rich with luscious prose.

However, the novel lacks focus. The plot is uneven, meandering from romantic simplicity to grassroots environmentalism. The environmental message seems to be merely thrown into the text without resolution, and the introduction of a violent character toward the end of the book is more confusing than anything. Waller's dialogue is unrealistic in many places, and his first-person narrator, a reporter of sorts, is never revealed, which is annoying. In the tradition of Kent Haruf and Mark Spragg comes another modern Western laden with cliches, a sentimental ode to the dying American small town. In more able hands, like Haruf's or Spragg's, such a novel wouldn't bother me so much--I might even enjoy it; but Waller's ability to pull it off is impeded by an uneven plot and stilted dialogue.

Nevertheless, HIGH PLAINS TANGO held my attention. The ending was particularly lovely, and I enjoyed Waller's interaction with Native American culture, legends, and mysticism. While Waller is probably not an author I will ever read again (for instance, I won't be rushing out to buy THE BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY), I could appreciate his command of lyrical and atmospheric prose in HIGH PLAINS TANGO.

There is really nothing about this book to recommend it. It is mostly a string of cliches attached to characters that don't make sense.

I would agree with the book review that stated "The result is yet another half-baked attempt to recapture the magic of Madison County." That is really the only one of Waller's books worth reading. And yet he keeps spewing them out.

This book can't decide what it wants to be. It starts out slow and then suddenly becomes a romance novel. Then it becomes a political thriller and slows again.
The writing was over-emotional at times and other times tried to be way too detailed in describing the scenery. It didn't accomplish anything it set out to be.

High Plains Tango is a story that will fascinate you from the beginning, turn you on and anger you in the middle, confuse you in a few small areas, and leave you satisfied at the end. I have never before read Robert James Waller, therefore I am not trying to compare it to "Bridges of Madison County". Perhaps this is the key to enjoying this novel (it also helps to read the book before you judge it...).

To understand the meaning of the title you have to read the whole thing, but I absolutely love how the story ties all of the characters lives together so neatly. I finished this book in 3 days, I read as my 5 month old daughter napped, and I had a hard time putting it down. Sometimes the detail and the dialogue (especially involving the elderly gentleman) got a little monotonous, but in general it's a real page turner.

If you are looking for a novel of purely romance and no other substance this is not the book for you. However if you are wanting to read something that brings out all of your emotions, truly brings to life all of the characters and leaves you wanting more then by all means read this book!

Waller has written two or three different stories that don't work together. The romance runs into fantasy, then political bad guys, throw in an eco-terrorist. Then the author tries to nicely wrap us all back up in romance. This book is only enjoyable if severely abridged, if I may offer a pun. Then maybe you can swallow it whole and quickly, if at all.