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Molly Gloss

The Jump-Off Creek Paperback – August 3, 2005

by Molly Gloss (Author)

4.2 508 ratings

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A reading group favorite, The Jump-Off Creek is the unforgettable story of widowed homesteader Lydia Sanderson and her struggles to settle in the mountains of Oregon in the 1890s. “Every gritty line of the story rings true” (Seattle Times) as Molly Gloss delivers an authentic and moving portrait of the American West. “A powerful novel of struggle and loss” (Dallas Morning News), The Jump-Off Creek gives readers an intimate look at the hardships of frontier life and a courageous woman determined to survive.

Print length

208 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Harper Perennial
Publication date

August 3, 2005
Dimensions

5.5 x 0.5 x 8.25 inches
ISBN-10

0618565876
ISBN-13

978-0618565870
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Sometimes it seems that literature is an excellent medium for measuring intimacy; sometimes the white space and the black letters seem to gleefully record thedistances between us. "The Jump-Off Creek," written by Molly Gloss in 1989 andreissued by Mariner, is about a woman, Lydia Sanderson, who homesteads alone inWashington state. The book is a prism of loneliness in the form of a novel." -- reviewed by SUSAN SALTER REYNOLDS The Los Angeles Times

"As authentic as sand in one's shoes." - Edward Hoagland

"A rare treat to find characters we can care about this much." The Philadelphia Inquirer —

About the Author

MOLLY GLOSS is the best-selling author The Hearts of Horses, The Jump-Off Creek, winner of both the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award and the Oregon Book Award, The Dazzle of Day, winner of the PEN Center West Fiction Prize, and Wild Life, winner of the James Tiptree Jr. Award.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Harper Perennial; Reprint edition (August 3, 2005)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 208 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0618565876
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0618565870
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 9.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.5 x 8.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #939,599 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #9,594 in Contemporary Literature & Fiction
- #11,884 in Westerns (Books)
- #40,148 in Literary Fiction (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.2 508 ratings

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Molly Gloss

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The highlights of my writing life: In 1996 I received a Whiting Writers Award, which is sort of a MacArthur grant in a minor key. People told me the Whiting was a prestigious award but hardly anyone knows what the heck it is, so I wonder how it came to be prestigious?! Probably from the substantial chunk of change they drop on your head without warning. ("Substantial" of course being a relative term. It's not MacArthur substantial. But we paid off our house...) The Jump-Off Creek, about a woman homesteading in the Blue Mountains of Oregon in 1895, was winner of an Oregon Book Award and a Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award, and a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award. The Dazzle of Day, my only science fiction novel, received the PEN West Fiction Prize and was a New York Times Notable Book. Fairly unusual for a science fiction novel to win a major PEN prize, but the Notable Book thing, not so much--it was Notable only within the ghetto of science fiction. Wild Life, set in the woods and mountains of Washington State at the turn of the 20th century, won the James Tiptree Jr. Award for literary fantasy, although at the time I wrote it I didn't think I was writing anything fantastical. The Hearts of Horses, about a young woman breaking horses for some farmers and ranchers in Eastern Oregon in 1917, has (so far!) been the most popular of any of my works. Is it that attention-grabbing cover? or "horses" in the title?! Guess we'll test the second theory, as I've decided to call the new novel (launching Oct. 28, 2014) Falling From Horses. Set in 1938, it's the story of a young man working as a stunt rider in Hollywood, making cowboy movies. And if you've already read The Hearts of Horses you will know the significance of this factoid: He's Henry and Martha's son.

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4.2 out of 5

508 global ratings

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telitha

Left me wanting

Reviewed in the United States on July 29, 2022

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This book got very high reviews, and it left me wondering why. It's well-written, and as you get to know the characters, you want to know more about them. And then...the book ends. In the middle of winter. You have no idea what happens to the people in the book, or if the main character even makes it through the first winter homesteading. I looked to see if there was another volume or something, but didn't find one. Maybe the author was working against a deadline and ran out of time? I don't know, but it felt unfinished, and I found it dissatisfying.

6 people found this helpful

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exHawaiian

Harsh, Unglamourized View of Pioneer Life

Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2014

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The main character is a widow who has traveled alone and seemingly poorly equipped to Oregon in the earliest pioneer days to establish herself as a settler in the wilderness. She and the few other characters of The Jump-Off Creek are a taciturn lot, who communicate in monosyllabic ways whenever they briefly encounter one another. But that type of personality is probably accurate to the almost hermit type of lifestyle, in which the simple solo life seems almost impossible to sustain, if one has any social inclinations..

The main "character" of the book is the incredibly rugged pioneer life in which this handful of people are immersed. They are seemingly undaunted. It is described in detail which Author Molly Glass has researched for authenticity.
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I can not imagine suffering through that lifestyle. Her pathetically few belongings seem insufficient to live in the deep forest where freezing ice storms, bear attacks and wolves, as well as violent neighbors are everyday reality. The snow blows through the spaces in her log cabin walls, her means of getting around is on the back of her touchingly spavined old mule, she has only one warm garment which is her deceased husband's old coat and gloves, she bathes infrequently, and the author describes the smell of the people in detail. Death is a reality, viewed dispassionately.

I was hooked into completely finishing the book, when it ended quite suddenly. It would make a good movie...probably a silent film since there is so little dialog, and little exploration of the inner feelings of the characters, which must generally be ascertained mostly by observing their behavior.

9 people found this helpful

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Timothy J. Bazzett

It's all "between the lines," in the silences ...

Reviewed in the United States on June 8, 2008

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I probably shouldn't be reading Molly Gloss. I'm a guy, after all. But maybe, at 64, some of the nastiness of being a guy has finally worn off. Because I love the way this woman writes. The Hearts of Horses hooked me, Wild Life wowed me, and now, this earlier absolute gem of a novel just blew me away. How does she do this thing where the essence of the story lies in what is not said? Lydia Sanderson, Tim Whiteaker, Blue Odell. None of them say very much of any real significance. All are stoic and uncomplaining of the "narrow circumstances" life has dealt them. In fact they are nearly inarticulate; yet all these feelings - of yearning and loneliness, of sorrow and regret, they are all somehow laid bare in the pauses. The descriptions, the gestures, the sidelong glances, the facial expressions - all become muted dialogue. Even the one character who seems unabashedly bad, the angry bigoted boy that is Harley Osgood, has an element of humanity in him that doesn't quite let you hate him. There are no simple black-and-white characters in Gloss's fiction. There are, instead, infinite shades of gray, and an attention to descriptive detail that makes you understand implicitly much of what is left unsaid. The years-long friendship between the two cowboys Whiteaker and Odell is perhaps one of the best portrayals of love between men that fiction has to offer. And I'm not talking about any "Brokeback Mountain" kinda stuff here either. These are just two men who have stuck together through thick and thin, mostly the latter, and a bond has formed that is stronger than most marriages. Enough said. This is simply a superb story. There oughta be a ten-star rating for books of this caliber. And by the way, what a wonderful film for thinking adults this could be. Thanks again, Molly. I'll be watching for the next book, so please, Write on! - Tim Bazzett, author of ReedCityBoy

16 people found this helpful

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Bonnie W. Timaeus

Hard times!

Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2022

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I really like the way she writes, but it was a little too graphic and gory for me. There was no tenderness or feeling.

One person found this helpful

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Blue Horizon

Slice of Life, Beautifully Written

Reviewed in the United States on September 25, 2022

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This book may not be for everyone. But it certainly was for me.

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Cheryl Stout

Hard won independence...

Reviewed in the United States on October 12, 2014

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THE JUMP-OFF CREEK is the third Molly Gloss tale I've read over the last two days, after The Hearts of Horses and Falling from Horses . That should be your first clue on how highly I am enjoying these books.

Lydia Sanderson, widowed, leaves Pennsylvania and moves across the country with two mules and two goats and all her worldly possessions to homestead a small piece of property in the Blue Mountains of Oregon. It is during the Depression of 1895 and times are very hard for most everyone.

She meets her close neighbors, ranchers Tim Whiteaker and Blue Odell, right away and they are able to help each other out. But Lydia is determined to make it on her own.

Lydia is a strong, determined female protagonist - one who I would love to meet in real life. The details of living in this bygone time are interesting and bring this era to life for the reader. The dialogue flows effortlessly. It is not surprising that this first novel of author Gloss won literary awards.

I highly recommend this unique tale of a single woman, battling the elements and braving life alone in a run-down shanty - to history buffs, lovers of Western dramas and advocates of self-sufficient women.

8 people found this helpful

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