Return to Abo [Hardcover]

Sharon Niederman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 30, 2005

Called home to a funeral in Monte Alto, a small ranching community in New Mexico, journalist Maggie Chilton finds herself face to face with everything she left behind when she graduated from high school. Against the harsh beauty of the landscape and the memories it holds, three generations of women--Maggie, her mother, and her teenage daughter--struggle to make peace with each other and the land they love.

"What a read! Sharon Niederman has a real genius for illuminating the lives of individuals seeking one last shot at redemption in a landscape that demands too much. . . . Niederman has given us a global tale, one of place and displacement, where love and hope somehow persist whenever people dare to call a place home."--Demetria Martinez, author of Mother Tongue

"A realistic and convincing novel. Sharon Niederman portrays the true spirit and tenacity of the women of the rural Southwest."--Linda Davis, CS Ranch, Cimarron, New Mexico

"I don't think I've ever read anything so real about New Mexico. Niederman gets the land, the people, the talk, the issues, the places and how they look and smell and how warm and true they are. Her powers of observation and her deep empathy and love of New Mexico ring true."--V. B. Price, author of The Oddity

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Niederman's experience in writing...is apparent in the way she manages to portray real people in an equally convincing setting. -- Boulder Daily Camera, March 20, 2005

"by the author's knowing hand, the intrinsic beauty of the harsh landscape with rich history is the dominating force..." -- Denver Post, April 10, 2005

From the Inside Flap

Niederman's first novel finds a cosmopolitan woman returning to her small ranching community roots and struggling with memories.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 303 pages
• Publisher: University of New Mexico Press; First edition, first printing edition (March 30, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0826337201
• ISBN-13: 978-0826337207
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,040,707 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars No, Mr. Wolfe, You can Go Home Again, March 18, 2005

By 

Constance M. Gotsch "Novelist On Board" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Return to Abo (Hardcover)

Maggie has left her little home town in the dry New Mexico ranch country, for the romance and adventure life as a San Francisco journalist can promised. Some years later, the dream has gone sour. Divorced, traumatized by the murder of a woman she interviewed at a shelter, and struggling to cope with daughter Hannah's teen years, Maggie finds herself no longer able to write. On top of that, now she must return home to care for her ailing mother, with whom she doesn't get along. What will happen when she comes home? What will her mother say? How will her old childhood chums, classmates, and sweetheart receive her? How will her mother's friends welcome her? With open arms? Or by saying she's sold out by leaving? How will Hannah react when she sees the town where her mother grew up? How should Maggie handle everyone, including herself?

Set amid the scent of fresh sage, and the richness of the earth after a sudden thuderstorm, Maggie's story unfolds as she struggles to answer these questions. Sharon Niederman has caught the spirit, and to an extent, the spite, a small town can produce in RETURN TO ABO. But she tempers the naster small town moments with gentle humor, and makes the nice encounters warm and fuzzy. Having lived in small towns across the country, I connected with moments in the local diner, in the hardwarestoe, on the street, and at the newspaper office. For that, I especially liked RETURN TO ABO.

In addition, Ms. Niederman uses her wonderful command of the English language to describe her characters and their surroundings. As a New Mexico resident for 20 years, I can ascertain that her pictures are accurate. I could feel the gritty earth beneath Maggie's boots when she stepped onto her mother's property for the first time in many years, sense the eyes of old tongue-waggers boring into my back. Ms. Niederman also clearly the tensions between the characters as Maggie and her mother sort old issues, she revives old friendships, and Hannah arrives, a green-haired punker fresh from the city. The interactions between everyone drive the book to an exciting climax.

Sharon Niederman also writes using several character's points of view. The switch between each is seamless. The only draw back to REUTRN to ABO is the end. The book ties up a little too neatly for my tastes. I like a few scraggly ends to leave me thinking about what might happen if someone wrote a sequel to the story. Still, return to ABO is well written and is well worth curling up with when the day outside is nasty.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Alongside Willa Cather, March 9, 2005

By 

Paula A. Schwartz (Albuquerque, New Mexico) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Return to Abo (Hardcover)

Sharon Niederman has captured the flavor of the pioneer west in a novel about women living in the 21st century. To compare "Return to Abo" to Willa Cather in "My Antonia" or "Death Comes To The Archbishop" is high praise, but a well deserved comparison. This book captures attachment to the land, in magical luminescent prose, while blending a tale of generational conflict with the western struggle to balance the desire for open space with need for development and growth.

This is a wonderful read!