Good Land: My Life As a Farm Boy

Rating:
Summary: little writer on the prairie
Review: Bruce Bair's characters rise no higher off the page than the print. Everyone he writes about, including himself, is less than 1/2 dimensional. Bair only manages a rare page or two of interesting writing as he describes some of the more grueling farm tasks, but these few pages are lost in the consistent undercurrent of rancor which evoked in the this reader a sad sense of embarrassment for the author and his unfortunate family.

Growing up on a working farm and being expected to work long hard hours at thankless and repetive tasks is typical of many family businesses, especially in that time and place. And the same can be said of growing up under a strap wielding dysfunctional parent in that time and place. But if Bair thinks he should stop what he is doing to write a book about such an untypical life I ask that he at least go a writerly step further by giving us one or two characters with whom we can identify or care for.

Rating:
Summary: little writer on the prairie
Review: Bruce Bair's characters rise no higher off the page than the print. Everyone he writes about, including himself, is less than 1/2 dimensional. Bair only manages a rare page or two of interesting writing as he describes some of the more grueling farm tasks, but these few pages are lost in the consistent undercurrent of rancor which evoked in the this reader a sad sense of embarrassment for the author and his unfortunate family.

Growing up on a working farm and being expected to work long hard hours at thankless and repetive tasks is typical of many family businesses, especially in that time and place. And the same can be said of growing up under a strap wielding dysfunctional parent in that time and place. But if Bair thinks he should stop what he is doing to write a book about such an untypical life I ask that he at least go a writerly step further by giving us one or two characters with whom we can identify or care for.

Rating:
Summary: Why did I wait so long?
Review: First things first. You'll simply have to disregard the Kirkus review of this book, because it's wide of the mark by several country miles. "Good Land" is not a book listing the grievances of a son against against a domineering father or that son's miserable childhood. It's about a family making the best of what they have to work with and facing the daily reality that working together under trying circumstances doesn't often bring about blissful harmony. It's a well-told, familiar tale to those who have lived it, and it is these people who will appreciate the honest look at the art of wrestling with the land and weather to make a living. It's as if the Kirkus reviewer holds the belief that farm families live an idyllic existence far from the cares of the city. Well, that has never been so, and never will be. Speaking from experience, I know that the working relationships of farming fathers and sons can be volatile. I also know that there is no fiercer love on earth.

Though I've never met Bruce Bair, I know him in the way all Kansas farm people know each other, whether they've stayed on or strayed from the farm. This book speaks to me like nothing else I've read lately. Since my father watched the births of three daughters and a stillborn son before he got his farmer, my sisters and I were proudly pressed into service. So I, too, have witnessed the wrench-throwing, stomping-mad tempers of a man pressed to the wall by ripening wheat, milo waiting to be planted, broken-down machinery, and cattle needing to be tended to. I know the eerie hypnotism of hour after hour alone on a tractor in the middle of a vast expanse of land, with only dust devils for company. The longing for an afternoon at the "pee-filled paradise" of the nearest public swimming pool, as the author so aptly puts it. The unspoken hierarchy of farmers -- the hardest workers, the hardest drinkers, the shrewdest land-grabbers. This book is the reality of farming life; good and bad, and yes, downright nasty sometimes. But what the reader ultimately comes away with is awareness of the abiding tie between farmers and the land and each other.

Rating:
Summary: Kirkus Schmirkus!
Review: First things first. You'll simply have to disregard the Kirkus review of this book, because it's wide of the mark by several country miles. "Good Land" is not a book listing the grievances of a son against against a domineering father or that son's miserable childhood. It's about a family making the best of what they have to work with and facing the daily reality that working together under trying circumstances doesn't often bring about blissful harmony. It's a well-told, familiar tale to those who have lived it, and it is these people who will appreciate the honest look at the art of wrestling with the land and weather to make a living. It's as if the Kirkus reviewer holds the belief that farm families live an idyllic existence far from the cares of the city. Well, that has never been so, and never will be. Speaking from experience, I know that the working relationships of farming fathers and sons can be volatile. I also know that there is no fiercer love on earth.

Though I've never met Bruce Bair, I know him in the way all Kansas farm people know each other, whether they've stayed on or strayed from the farm. This book speaks to me like nothing else I've read lately. Since my father watched the births of three daughters and a stillborn son before he got his farmer, my sisters and I were proudly pressed into service. So I, too, have witnessed the wrench-throwing, stomping-mad tempers of a man pressed to the wall by ripening wheat, milo waiting to be planted, broken-down machinery, and cattle needing to be tended to. I know the eerie hypnotism of hour after hour alone on a tractor in the middle of a vast expanse of land, with only dust devils for company. The longing for an afternoon at the "pee-filled paradise" of the nearest public swimming pool, as the author so aptly puts it. The unspoken hierarchy of farmers -- the hardest workers, the hardest drinkers, the shrewdest land-grabbers. This book is the reality of farming life; good and bad, and yes, downright nasty sometimes. But what the reader ultimately comes away with is awareness of the abiding tie between farmers and the land and each other.

Rating:
Summary: Why did I wait so long?
Review: I had this book several years before I actually bothered to read it, and once I opened it up, I couldn't put it down. It was absolutely marvelous. I, too, am a farm boy who later became a journalist. While some of the choices he made were different than the ones I made, and many of the circumstances were different, I could really relate to this story. Actually, after reading this, it made me think that I ought to get off my buns and try to write a book.

Rating:
Summary: Kirkus Antithetical
Review: Just to set the record straight, Bruce was not maligning either me or the way we met in any way in this book. Nor was he maligning his father, his family or anyone else. This is reality, folks. This is what it's like out here on the Great American Desert. This is what the term "hard life" means, not that it's a life without hope or love or beauty. This book is a tribute to the landscape of the plains and the way one farmer coped with that landscape and made it support him and three generations of his family. Bruce has heard from dozens of High Plains farmers who attest to the truth in his book. This is shared experience. I find it pathetic that the Kirkus reviewer has no respect for the audience this book appeals to. I'm sorry, you fancy-schmancy Back East high-falutin' prissy literary yahoos--but I'd give my eye-teeth to see you digging irrigation trenches in 112 degree heat sometime. Get real.