Customer Reviews

Why I Came West

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I have been a big Rick Bass fan for many years. I enjoy his non-fiction and I revere his efforts to preserve the wilderness areas of his adopted corner of Montana. However, I simply take issue with this book about how misleading the title and liner notes are about its major content. Why I Came West? There is a little about that. And there is some solid thought and writing here. Good writing. But the vast majority of this book is an update (and revision) of his efforts to obtain Wilderness designation for the Yaak since he moved West. It could more correctly be titled Book of Yaak II, or better yet, Book of Yaak Revised. There are large portions of this book that seem to be a letter to his neighbors correcting or updating his true views on Wilderness and logging and even a weak attempt to discourage outsiders from wanting to see the Yaak as a destination, as if he has drawn ire from fellow Yaakians for the notoriety he has brought the area. But his love for the area easily diminishes any intended effect.

As a reader, I want a fair chance to choose what I am reading. I couldn't help feel throughout most of this read, that I was erroneously lured into the prospect of some new and different writing by Mr. Bass - but instead was being given the same whine in a different bottle.

Having said that, I will still look forward to his new efforts both in regard to conservation as well as writing.

... and I mistakenly put 4 stars on this review and couldn't figure out how to edit that. Two and a half would have been generous. TA

This book begins with why (or rather, *how*) Rick Bass came West, but then becomes something more. The first two chapters explore his love affair with the Yaak Valley. He wonders if one can fall in love at first sight with a place, and muses on how the Yaak drew him to her, among other things. The musings that overlapped with _The Book of Yaak_ I tended to enjoy, while the rest were too intimate, too personal to interest someone who doesn't know Bass personally.

The next chapters were the most interesting. Bass muses on "meat," "wood," "oil," and other things that he (and we) consume. He is brutally honest and self-critical in connecting his own consumption with the wider world's desire to extract resources from the Yaak. He also recognizes the human role in the food chain and other "natural" processes, as well as the right of humans, no less than other predators, to eat.

Finally, he reflects on his personal need to fight to preserve some part of the Yaak as wilderness, and he discusses the personal costs of his activism. The Yaak has a small human community, and apparently most of its members hate Bass for his activism. This was perhaps the most compelling part of the book.

While Bass reflects on his own compulsions and sins, every reader will reflect on her own. Read it if you can take it.

The introduction is so hard to read I put the book down for a couple weeks. Then it's fun. Then it's deadly serious. Bass's activisim has almost cost him his life. His success has been hard fought for & not completely won. His writing is a bit to poetic for the normal reader. I am glad I read Why I came West. I firmly believe my fellow citizens & the government will not be satisfied until the world is cemented over.

Bass tells us more than we need to know about the "Yak", but tells it so well its enjoyable.

I'm a big fan of travelogues and similar types of nonfiction. I also enjoy "On the Road." I found "Why I Came West" in a small bookstore and looked forward to learning about one man's journey from suburban Texas to the wilderness of Montana. However, there's not much of value here for someone wanting to know about that aspect of Rick Bass' life. Instead, it seemed to be little about him and a lot of philosophical musings and poetic language. It became extremely boring and I just put it down after awhile. The one chapter I enjoyed was about his justification for being a meat-eater environmentalist. That had some interesting musings in there. Again, there are pages and pages of these kinds of musings with little substance. Seemed kind of like a bunch of essays. If you're looking for something akin to William Least Heat Moon's "Blue Highways" or "On the Road" you will be disappointed. This is nothing like those. You might somewhat enjoy it if you are into environmentalism.

Rick Bass is a wonder! From his early books to his latest works, he has a way of connecting to readers that makes reading his stories and essays a pleasure. This exploration and explication of why he moved West is another fine personal report on his life, loves, beliefs and personal philosophy. While I, personally, don't buy into some aspects of his philosophy (I will never be a hunter), his descriptions of that personal philosophy are so honest, forthright, and rational that I have to say I completely "get" his view, even if I have a different perspective. This is a book for anyone who sees the West, the natural environment, and the search for a personal "place to be"! Highly recommended.

If you wanted to learn anything about why Rick Bass went west, you'll hardly find anything here. Most of the content becomes very repititious, and at about the 100 page mark you have read through most of the content. Bass attempted to organize his book with chapters like the one titled 'Oil', but after writing about oil for maybe two pages he returns to his thick metaphors which actually make his story harder to understand. Half the book is philosophy/metaphor, but meaningless philosophy. For example, he wonders a lot about whether he was destined to find the Yaak, as if somehow the forces of nature brought him there to protect it. Such an argument may sound poignant, something that a yuppy who moves to northern Idaho says, but it doesn't really have a place in a book that's supposed to be serious. His often spiritual reasons detract from sections where he wants to get a point across.

Later on he discusses policy which is more intersting and a break from his typical writing. He has made a compromise in his community between everyone, even ATV and snowmobile drivers who destroy tracts of land with their tires or belts. In that respect, the book is useful; learning how to join a small community in a venture is helpful for everybody to know, but I wouldn't buy this book again.

This book was selected for a Men's book club so I tried to read it. It is very poorly written; the author was constantly trying to impress the reader with his vocabulary and it reads more like an introduction than a book. The rest of the group agreed that this is not worth taking the time to read.

I'll keep this short, Rick Bass is one of my favorite authors, but this book is his worst. I have no Idea why he bothered to write it, but it is a waste of a great talent. I gave up after 60 pages.

I didn't expect a philosophical treatise but got one in this book. After about 75 pages I felt like it was same old same old, then it seemed self indulgent. Some beautiful passages but in between a lot of meandering that is supposed to engage the reader. It doesn't. I got tired of his railing against Republicans...methinks he does protest too much, because he reminds me of a famous Republican President (Teddy Roosevelt) who was a hunter and conservationist like Bass. I wonder how many Democrats earn their livings by logging.