A Rough Guide To The Heart

by Pam Houston

In these essays, Pam Houston treats us to a celebration of her real-life adventures which range over five years and five continents. But whatever Houston's destination - whether Bhutan or Bolivia or Traverse City - it is only the starting point from which she extracts her personal emotional journey. She is searching here for a place - not too safe but not too threatening - from which to negotiate mountain goats and river ice, camping trips and wine. Through her we meet some good dogs, a few good men, and the occasional grizzly. There's a horse named Roany with the presence of a Zen master. And there's a Buddhist named Karma, all proving what Houston has always fiction has nothing on real life.

Genres: Nonfiction

288 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Houston is the Director of Creative Writing at U.C. Davis. Her stories have been selected for the Best American Short Stories, the O. Henry Awards, the Pushcart Prize, and the Best American Short Stories of the Century. She lives in Colorado at 9,000 feet above sea level near the headwaters of the Rio Grande.

Reviews

[MN · Rating 4 out of 5]

I came across Pam Houston's books quite by chance last year. I was in Wyoming for a conference; staying in a hotel which was far too sophisticated for me. I had been travelling for a while, and missed my young Irish Wolfhound/Border Collie lurcher puppy. One morning I skipped the conference, walked into town, and went mainly window-shopping. Only mainly because I saw a copy of *Sighthound and bought it for the picture of the hound on the front.

I returned to my too sophisticated hotel room; made a large pot of tea using the coffee filter machine; swathed myself against the air conditioning I couldn't work out how to regulate, in a blanket from one of the two beds in the room; took up residence for the rest of the day in an armchair by the window which overlooked a soulless carpark; and read *Sighthound.

The next afternoon I skipped some more of the conference to return to the bookshop and buy several more Pam Houston books - in fact all that were available. I read these as I travelled back to Britain, on a series of ever larger planes. And I lost my copy of *Sighthound at Chicago airport.

I bought *A Rough Guide to the Heart earlier this year. Yesterday I finished teaching for the semester; today I've decided I'll count myself as having finished *A Rough Guide to the Heart: since I bought it, I've read it through once; reread poems by Adrienne Rich because she's mentioned in the book; discovered Jane Hirschfield because she's mentioned in the book; read several essays more than once; and read 'In Bhutan there is No Way of Being Famous' for the fourth and fifth times this morning...

[Jeffrey · Rating 4 out of 5]

There's a reason she's my favorite female author; for she can adeptly write about dogs. She writes about outdoor adventures, the rank cowboys and hunting and fishing guides she loves and despises at the same time, and women's seemingly unending self image problems - but what really gets me is how she writes about dogs. She's sort of a female version of Jim Harrison without his pervy penchant for really young women. Jim also writes exceptionally about dogs.

I wonder if Pam still lives in Creede, Colorado. I bet she'd be fun to hang out with. And I bet she still has crazy dogs roaming about her ranch that are more interesting than the stories she tells.

Nice collection. It was published in 1999 but certainly worth the wait.

"It would have been so perfectly ironic if I had been killed by the dog, because I was petting a dog who was not used to being pet, because I think I'm some kind of dog whisperer, and I think I can make any dog love me."

[Jenni · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you have not read any of Pam Houston’s work, you’re in for a real treat. Through her balance of writing to lasso experiences into consciousness and also just *living* to find herself and lose herself, she offers us such gems of her experiences. As I sat contentedly reading in my backyard today well into our COVID quarantine orders, I relished the expanse of Houston’s experiences and her storytelling prowess. She writes that “enlightenment isn’t a flashlight, it’s a firefly...a whole field of them, illuminating [our] landscape on both the inside and the outside, showing [us] just as much truth as [we are] ready to see.” Thanks for this spark, Pam Houston!

[Christy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Same essay collection as “A Little More About Me”, I loved the re-read!

[Sam · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
Loved the writing, she writes so beautifully, but for some reason didn't always enjoy the content.

[Abby · Rating 5 out of 5]

My only disappointment was that I read many of these essays in another collection by Pam Houston. I thought I was lucky enough to have bought a whole new book. That said, I love her writing and enjoyed reading both old and new essays about her life. Very heartfelt, honest, beautiful writing.

[Pat Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love, love, love Pam Houston's writing. Her "look in the mirror" essays should be required reading for women AND MEN.

[Natasha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Repetitive and boring. I was expecting something more profound perhaps.