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Rating: 
Summary: Ford is a better novelist than short story writer
Review: I'm a fan of Richard Ford's novels - The Sportswriter was one of my favorite novels ever, and Independence Day was a worthy sequel. But there is something about his short stories that simply leaves me feeling empty. The depth of human emotion and existence that he reaches in his novels simply does not have enough time and space to develop in a story of 15 or 20 pages. And as a result, he offers glimpses of his great talent, but no hard evidence. He scratches the surface of his characters' identities but never has a chance to develop them fully. These are snapshots, or sketches, each of them fascinating in the same way that Picasso's sketches of Guernica are fascinating. The preliminary drawings are only worth something in the context of the final, grander work of art. And here, unfortunately, the sketches are the final work of art. With each of these stories I felt myself wishing that Ford would expand them into a novel. Who are these characters? Where do they go? What happens to them in five or ten years, or even tomorrow?That's not to say that this isn't a good collection, because as far as short stories go, these are certainly worth reading. Even in 15 or 20 pages, Ford does manage to achieve an intimacy with his characters that is remarkable. And as with many short story collections (Cheever's and Carver's, to name two), in Rock Springs there is a powerful sense of place, as if the lonely towns of Montana were themselves main characters.
Rating: 
Summary: America's Best Short Story Writer
Review: Simply put, Richard Ford is the finest writer of short fiction in America today. When first published in the 1980s, Rock Springs did not get the attention it rightly deserved, but since Ford has won the Pulitzer, this collection is once again being sapped up.This collection outweighs Ford's lates - Women With Men - because it has that one base ingrediant the other lacks: a heart. Ford tells a series of stories about the great American vastness and the sense of hopelessnes that seems to permeate much of the West.In doing so, Ford evokes character just as memorable as any in contemporary literature - including his own Frank Bascomb. This collection is a must read for aspiring writers who want to know how to create emotion without melodrama. Also, it creates voices rather than imitating them. A mark of a true master. When I first read this collection in college, it seemed like I was sitting around the fire listening to a storyteller. The characters are vibrant, the setting as gritty as they need to be, and the writing as polished as fine silver. Purchase this book and understand what the word "mastery" means.
Rating:
Summary: Easily Ford's best work
Review: Stark, beautiful, sad, mysterious, understated, real-seeming, drum taut. Almost word perfect. ROCK SPRINGS is easily Ford's best book. I've taught creative writing and contemporary lit. at several universities. Some of the best prose ever written has been published in the past couple of decades. A few of my other favorite contemporary books in no particular order: THE NIGHT IN QUESTION, Tobias Wolff (the richest, roundest, most mature collection of stories by the world's best short fiction writer); THE TAO OF MUHAMMAD ALI: A FATHERS AND SONS MEMOIR, Davis Miller (a remarkable, dreamy, beautiful nonfiction novel by a fairly unheralded American who's quite well appreciated in the UK: London reviewers have compared Miller's books to those of R. Ford, T. Wolff and Nick Hornby [HIGH FIDELITY, FEVER PITCH]); THE THINGS THEY CARRIED, Tim O'Brien (jaw-droppingly well written, timeless feeling); TRACKS, Louise Erdrich (for me, the best -- and most real-world mythical -- in her interrelated series of novels). I can't imagine a more dynamic, life-affirming, entertaining group of books than those I've listed above. Happy reading, everyone!
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