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Winter Range
Winner of the Pacific Northwest Booksellers Award for Best First Novel and the Mountains and Plains Booksellers Award for Best Novel
In Winter Range, the intimate details of ranching and small-town life are woven into the suspenseful story of three people struggling to survive, to belong, and to love in the chillingly bleak landscape of eastern Montana. Ike Parsons is a small-town sheriff whose life is stable and content; his wife Pattiann is a rancher's daughter with a secret past. But when Ike tries to help a hard-luck cattleman named Chas Stubblefield, he triggers Chas's resentment and finds his home and his wife targeted by a plot for revenge.
In Winter Range, the intimate details of ranching and small-town life are woven into the suspenseful story of three people struggling to survive, to belong, and to love in the chillingly bleak landscape of eastern Montana. Ike Parsons is a small-town sheriff whose life is stable and content; his wife Pattiann is a rancher's daughter with a secret past. But when Ike tries to help a hard-luck cattleman named Chas Stubblefield, he triggers Chas's resentment and finds his home and his wife targeted by a plot for revenge.
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews
February 3, 2018
This book reminded me of parts of Jasmine. The harsh winter, starkly beautiful land, people struggling to make a living growing our food, bankruptcy, an alien in a small community and, a spiral of violence.
In this case, the outsider grew up on a Wisconsin dairy farm. Not a ranch. Not Montana. And, not this particular ranching community.
I keep thinking about All Over Creation, maybe it's the weather. Alienation and isolation stand out. Stubblefield's family lived and ranched in the community for generations. But, he almost completely isolated and alienated from it. It seems as inevitable as the next domino in a cascade.
The cows covered in a carapace of ice aren't the most chilling image.
In this case, the outsider grew up on a Wisconsin dairy farm. Not a ranch. Not Montana. And, not this particular ranching community.
I keep thinking about All Over Creation, maybe it's the weather. Alienation and isolation stand out. Stubblefield's family lived and ranched in the community for generations. But, he almost completely isolated and alienated from it. It seems as inevitable as the next domino in a cascade.
The cows covered in a carapace of ice aren't the most chilling image.
November 3, 2014
This is a taut novel belonging to the genre I would call northern plains bleak, along the likes of Annie Proulx and Ivan Doig. The dialog is spare and chill, like the landscape. The characters are tough as rawhide and face an environment that is barely forgiving. The central issue, starving cattle on a failing ranch, brings out strongly held principles by the locals, especially rugged individualism, minding one's own business,and the sanctity of private property. The novel builds to a dramatic, and icy, climax that is suitable and effective. A strong three rating.
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July 16, 2008I don't give star ratings to books by faculty members of my MFA program.
Claire Davis's first novel builds from the small to the epic, an engaging read that moves along quickly. It's a story told from several different perspectives, one of them increasingly twisted, written in Claire's full-throated and inimitable style.
It's particularly notable for the sense of place. I enjoyed the artistry in the way two places were depicted; rural Montana, throughout, and softer Midwestern farmland through Ike's point of view. The latter place emerges partly through definition, partly by contrast with the main setting; an interesting technique. Moreover, the lasting impression of the uncaring Montana wilds isn't personified. Claire Davis manages to paint the landscape in all its fury while leaving it empty.
Claire Davis's first novel builds from the small to the epic, an engaging read that moves along quickly. It's a story told from several different perspectives, one of them increasingly twisted, written in Claire's full-throated and inimitable style.
It's particularly notable for the sense of place. I enjoyed the artistry in the way two places were depicted; rural Montana, throughout, and softer Midwestern farmland through Ike's point of view. The latter place emerges partly through definition, partly by contrast with the main setting; an interesting technique. Moreover, the lasting impression of the uncaring Montana wilds isn't personified. Claire Davis manages to paint the landscape in all its fury while leaving it empty.
January 8, 2022
Taking place in small ranching community in MT during the winter. Most of the town is suffering both from the weather and from the past. I ended up skimming through just to see how the book finished even though it really seemed well written.
July 25, 2013
Pretty good. Really cinematic, I could see this being adopted. Has a sort of Fargo vibe, but only because it's always snowing and there's a sheriff with a gun and it's small-town. Davis does a good job of creating a complex "villain," which I put in quotes because he is but isn't really a villain or just isn't only a villain. The sheriff is less interesting in this way and his undying love for his wife borders on unbelievable, or else just boring. Still, this didn't disappoint after having read one of Davis's stories, which was great. I'll read her other novel in a bit. Cool structure, despite its traditional movie feel. The book seems to reach a number of climaxes, then dawdle for a bit, not boringly, then pick up again. In fact I'm not sure I've ever read a novel structured like this—at least not this successfully. Lots of landscape, too, naturally.
January 6, 2013
Winter Range By Claire Davis Winter, more than a season, to some a beautiful solitude for others, just plain bitter cold. Too cold for farm animals. In a small town in N.E. Montana, life rotates around the sheriff, vet,the judge and a neighbor coveting his neighbors wife. People on the plains have new hope towards Spring. At the end the sheriff got the bad guy.
September 11, 2018
My husband would give this book 4 or 5 stars, so don't let my rating discourage you. I did think this book was O.K. The author was wonderful at using language in a fresh new way. Harsh as Montana winters are many parts of the story. Chas has gotten in over his head in buying land and cattle, and his cattle are starving, but he has a strange way of dealing with that out of a revengeful heart. Ike is the sheriff who followed the lovely Pattiann from Milwaukee to her home turf of Montana ranch country. He is devoted to the law and feels he must lawfully deal with the starving cattle belonging to Chas. But Chas and Pattiann have a wild past. Will it intrude on the present? What horrors can a revengeful heart devise? And then there is the teen Joe that is troubled. Is the vet, Purvis, wrong in seeing something there to salvage? There is a lot of strong language to match the landscape.
October 5, 2022
Claire Davis's vision is brutal and beautiful. Her book is full of horror and suspense and a high plains landscape that nurtures and murders. The three main characters -- Chas, Pattiann, and Ike -- struggle with each other and with another brutal Montana winter. In an act of what he thinks is compassion, Ike tries to free Chas of starving cattle and his failing ranch. He only unleashes a whole host of human evil. Davis shows us where the fine lines of pity and compassion are, how law can look like revenge, and how righteousness parades as justice. Some details in the book may not be for the faint of heart, and some of the killing felt gratuitous.
Still this is a page turner, and Davis had me until the end.
Still this is a page turner, and Davis had me until the end.
November 4, 2018
A haunting novel revealing the harsh life on the range. Life and death - at the end of it all, we are all just meat. I don't like to think about animals suffering, and there was too much of that in this book. That said, this book seems to capture painfully realistically the difficulties of survival involved with cattle ranching, and the blended histories of the humans trying to make a go of it.
June 10, 2024
One of the most depressing books I have ever read. Some of the characters had no common sense whatsoever, the community was cold & indifferent, and I certainly did not like how the book ended or the path the author took to reach the ending. I would not recommend this book to anyone and most certainly will not read any other books by this author.
March 19, 2018
read some time ago, but remember it as a biting story of uncommon detail of incredible hard knocks, competing against the elements and just plain hard luck, in love and life. oh, and the writing of this author was vivid and wonderful.
September 4, 2019
This book was kind of sad. I think part of the issue in this kind of book is the end of certain ways of living that aren't environmentally sustainable anymore and the people who have lived lives on ranches don't seem to be able to understand and/or process that fact.
January 12, 2021
This book had a really slow burn, almost too slow, but through the pace of the book the characters really came to life. Davis nailed the proud and entrenched ranching community of the northern Rockies in a superb and fair way.
March 11, 2017
The story definitely belongs to the northern plains bleak genre, but, for me, it lacks the pull that wrenches at your gut and makes you feel nature and mankind in all its visceral glory.
October 9, 2019
I didn’t care for this book. I can’t imagine why an author would want to write a book about someone starving animals! I really hoped the horse would get justice at the end!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 20, 2020
Got very good reviews. I found a little farfetched, did not like Cas that much.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 14, 2022
I need to reread this so badly. I read it for a university book review and have thought about it so often.
November 28, 2023
Amazing book! So well written!
April 10, 2019
Great book... reminded me of Craig Johnson's Walt Longmire.
December 9, 2013
My copy of "Paradise Lost" is lost, but through the Internet, it's been regained. A Web site managed by Dartmouth College presents most of Milton's poetry, neatly annotated: www.dartmouth.edu/~milton.
Claire Davis's wonderful debut novel, "Winter Range," describes the Montana plains in all their stunning, edenic beauty, but my thoughts kept drifting back to that earlier paradise.
Through the Dartmouth site, I found what I was looking for. There's a particularly creepy moment in which Satan, recently evicted from heaven, spots Adam and Eve for the first time: "O Hell!" he groans, "what do mine eyes with grief behold." Spying from atop the Tree of Life, he's filled with awe and knows he could have loved this beautiful pair under different circumstances. But, as he bitterly notes, having lost everything, what's he got left to do but raise a little hell.
The villain in Davis's novel isn't so wicked, of course, but in the simple setting of a Montana range, the author raises the same disturbing questions about the nature of hatred and the way it's fueled by an incendiary mixture of pride, jealousy, and boredom.
Chas Stubblefield is in over his head. His brutish father always said he couldn't manage the ranch, but when the old man died before he could sell it, Chas grabbed the chance to prove himself. Now that dream is freezing to death in the fields. The feed store won't extend him any more credit. The bankers who encouraged him to borrow too much money want their payment.
When the new sheriff, Ike Parsons, gets wind of this trouble, he drives out to see for himself. After seven years of drought, debt has caught other farmers by the neck, but he has never seen anything this bad. Hundreds of Chas's cattle have already fallen dead in the snow. The rest are frozen monuments of starvation.
Chas would be hungry himself, if he weren't eating the beef as it dies. "Out of money. Out of credit. Out of luck. All I got left is patience," he says bitterly. Ike gives him the obvious advice: Sell what's left to the rendering company and get out.
"No," Chas answers stubbornly. "These animals are going to die."
Ike feels wedged between Chas's pride and the town's unshakable respect for a man's private property. But the law is the law, and starving one's own herd is a crime. Ike reluctantly enlists the testimony of the local vet, secures a court order, and plans to take the remaining herd out.
"What it came down to for Ike was respect," the narrator notes. "We were human, with the ability to construct order, to make choices, and a conscience that demanded we bear the consequences of our actions. It raised us above the animals."
Or is he motivated by something lower - like resentment over the relationship Chas had with his wife when they were wild teenagers? Their marriage is drawn perfectly, so true to the currents of affection and the eddies of resentment Ike and his wife must ferry to get over that uncomfortable past. He's determined to make the application of law impersonal, but in a small town where those subject to the law are friends and lovers - and voters - that's not easy.
Davis captures the complexity of this tragedy in all its personal and social dimensions. "This was a community that knew each other's families and histories and shared the same jokes, and one person's grief became another's," the narrator writes. "All of them were stung by Chas's shameful act, the cruelty of it, because that worked at the fabric of their lives ... all of it dependent on a basic respect for what was given in your hands."
Abandoning his self-respect and stripped of his property, Chas has nothing left to do but starve his horse and fantasize about revenge.
Yet even in the scariest moments as he creeps into neighbors' homes and eyes their bounty with envy, there's something heartwrenching about the conspiracy of circumstance and vanity that blinds him. What, after all, is more dangerous than a hopeless man? Raised by a fundamentalist mother who eventually hanged herself, Chas has a strong sense of the cruel God he's defying. He even quotes "Paradise Lost" in one rueful moment. The sympathy Ike feels only complicates his task.
A heartening new addition to the field of Western fiction, Davis brands these characters with rich psychological clarity. Ominous throughout, her story finally races toward a gripping, ice-bound tragedy that tests the limits of Ike's faith in himself and the law. "Winter Range" looks like a simple story, but it's deceptively large - like this land and the challenges it poses.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2000/0907/p1...
Claire Davis's wonderful debut novel, "Winter Range," describes the Montana plains in all their stunning, edenic beauty, but my thoughts kept drifting back to that earlier paradise.
Through the Dartmouth site, I found what I was looking for. There's a particularly creepy moment in which Satan, recently evicted from heaven, spots Adam and Eve for the first time: "O Hell!" he groans, "what do mine eyes with grief behold." Spying from atop the Tree of Life, he's filled with awe and knows he could have loved this beautiful pair under different circumstances. But, as he bitterly notes, having lost everything, what's he got left to do but raise a little hell.
The villain in Davis's novel isn't so wicked, of course, but in the simple setting of a Montana range, the author raises the same disturbing questions about the nature of hatred and the way it's fueled by an incendiary mixture of pride, jealousy, and boredom.
Chas Stubblefield is in over his head. His brutish father always said he couldn't manage the ranch, but when the old man died before he could sell it, Chas grabbed the chance to prove himself. Now that dream is freezing to death in the fields. The feed store won't extend him any more credit. The bankers who encouraged him to borrow too much money want their payment.
When the new sheriff, Ike Parsons, gets wind of this trouble, he drives out to see for himself. After seven years of drought, debt has caught other farmers by the neck, but he has never seen anything this bad. Hundreds of Chas's cattle have already fallen dead in the snow. The rest are frozen monuments of starvation.
Chas would be hungry himself, if he weren't eating the beef as it dies. "Out of money. Out of credit. Out of luck. All I got left is patience," he says bitterly. Ike gives him the obvious advice: Sell what's left to the rendering company and get out.
"No," Chas answers stubbornly. "These animals are going to die."
Ike feels wedged between Chas's pride and the town's unshakable respect for a man's private property. But the law is the law, and starving one's own herd is a crime. Ike reluctantly enlists the testimony of the local vet, secures a court order, and plans to take the remaining herd out.
"What it came down to for Ike was respect," the narrator notes. "We were human, with the ability to construct order, to make choices, and a conscience that demanded we bear the consequences of our actions. It raised us above the animals."
Or is he motivated by something lower - like resentment over the relationship Chas had with his wife when they were wild teenagers? Their marriage is drawn perfectly, so true to the currents of affection and the eddies of resentment Ike and his wife must ferry to get over that uncomfortable past. He's determined to make the application of law impersonal, but in a small town where those subject to the law are friends and lovers - and voters - that's not easy.
Davis captures the complexity of this tragedy in all its personal and social dimensions. "This was a community that knew each other's families and histories and shared the same jokes, and one person's grief became another's," the narrator writes. "All of them were stung by Chas's shameful act, the cruelty of it, because that worked at the fabric of their lives ... all of it dependent on a basic respect for what was given in your hands."
Abandoning his self-respect and stripped of his property, Chas has nothing left to do but starve his horse and fantasize about revenge.
Yet even in the scariest moments as he creeps into neighbors' homes and eyes their bounty with envy, there's something heartwrenching about the conspiracy of circumstance and vanity that blinds him. What, after all, is more dangerous than a hopeless man? Raised by a fundamentalist mother who eventually hanged herself, Chas has a strong sense of the cruel God he's defying. He even quotes "Paradise Lost" in one rueful moment. The sympathy Ike feels only complicates his task.
A heartening new addition to the field of Western fiction, Davis brands these characters with rich psychological clarity. Ominous throughout, her story finally races toward a gripping, ice-bound tragedy that tests the limits of Ike's faith in himself and the law. "Winter Range" looks like a simple story, but it's deceptively large - like this land and the challenges it poses.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2000/0907/p1...
October 5, 2016
Depressing!!!! Also very slow at times I would say the last 20 pages are the best. The author did paint an awesome picture of the landscape and lonlieness so for that I give it 3 stars
March 6, 2017
"We're two of a kind, you and me, two sides of the same coin, your daddy trained you for what you can't have, and mine left me what he didn't prepare me for."
The year of big snow.
Ike is a cop in his forties when he marries Pattiann and move to a new community and becomes Sheriff Parsons.
Sheriff Parsons has a practical and empathic vision of law enforcement. Mrs. Parsons once was in relation with Chas Stubblefield, the loner in the town who is apparently different than Ike; anger and unfriendliness view towards government, banks, and outsiders, a weird guy who kills dogs in the town with rat poison, puts the bank on a fire and other crazy stuff. The town goes under a pile of snow; people eventually end up asking helps from each other and their view of point’s changes about the law, love and ethics in their community but very late. Winter is over and dead animals are all over. Strange relationship we notice between the ranchers and their animals. We see Chas keeps his cattle to starve in the field because he is too poor to feed his cattle and he is so stubborn to accept the help from others. We see as well how the author given such a unique but strange behavior to her characters.
A dark and clearly written melodramatic yet psychological thriller to keep you amused.
3.5*
The year of big snow.
Ike is a cop in his forties when he marries Pattiann and move to a new community and becomes Sheriff Parsons.
Sheriff Parsons has a practical and empathic vision of law enforcement. Mrs. Parsons once was in relation with Chas Stubblefield, the loner in the town who is apparently different than Ike; anger and unfriendliness view towards government, banks, and outsiders, a weird guy who kills dogs in the town with rat poison, puts the bank on a fire and other crazy stuff. The town goes under a pile of snow; people eventually end up asking helps from each other and their view of point’s changes about the law, love and ethics in their community but very late. Winter is over and dead animals are all over. Strange relationship we notice between the ranchers and their animals. We see Chas keeps his cattle to starve in the field because he is too poor to feed his cattle and he is so stubborn to accept the help from others. We see as well how the author given such a unique but strange behavior to her characters.
A dark and clearly written melodramatic yet psychological thriller to keep you amused.
3.5*
January 22, 2009
I liked this book a lot. It won a prize for the "best first novel". The story takes place in the badlands (? I don't really know what the badlands are, I am just guessing) of Montana - during the winter. Doesn't make me want to move out there. In this story, the sheriff, who has moved from the midwest out of love for the Montanan woman he wanted to marry, has to adjust to small town Montana, plus his wife's past mistakes. You get a good sense of what the life is like there, and develop respect for ranchers and their "stick-to-it-ness". There main themes are love and loss. Seems like I have said that about most of the books I have been reading.
January 25, 2009
I picked this up on the recommendation of a co-worker. I am so happy I actually read it. It was gritty and compelling. The landscape of this novel in Montana in the winter - and I think the novel itself kind of captures the image that just saying those words Montana in the winter brings to mind.
It's been over 2 years since I read this book and I still think about it. Maybe I feel a kinship to the landscape as I sit at my computer and the wind outside my window is -40 degrees. Maybe the image of starving livestock was described so well it boiled into my brain. I don't know what it was - but this novel haunts me.
It's been over 2 years since I read this book and I still think about it. Maybe I feel a kinship to the landscape as I sit at my computer and the wind outside my window is -40 degrees. Maybe the image of starving livestock was described so well it boiled into my brain. I don't know what it was - but this novel haunts me.
October 24, 2015
Perhaps I'm biased because I've worked with the author, but Winter Range was a truly addicting work of literary fiction. Claire captures the heart of Montana culture with sharp language and an admirable dedication to the fictional truth; the utterly unique souls of ranchers, their families, and their towns are born from back-breaking lives and land-bound hearts. Tension pulls the story forward, a thrilling, horrifying story of a man pushed over the edge set on the backdrop of good people in hard lives. I'm honestly just sad that it's over.
November 13, 2018
This story was good in some ways and annoying in others. Ike Parsons couldn't be a better man and neither could his friend, Purvis. It's Ike's wife, Pattiann, who about drove me crazy. She's off feeling sorry for a loser, Chas, she wildcatted around with in high school. What?! She's married to a good man now, and she keeps finding herself in situations that put her in emotional range with Chas. He's down on his luck but crazy to boot. Too long. Skimmed the end because they'd already said it all. Setting and season were well written.
February 1, 2024
I first read this book six years ago, and when I read it again, I enjoyed it just as much this second time. I am giving away some books, but this a a keeper.
Although this book described some harsh scenes of a Montana rancher whose cattle were starving and a local sheriff's attempt to help the young man and his horse and cattle, the plot was riveting, the characters well-developed, and the setting beautifully described. The novel did not have the happpily-ever-after ending I could have hoped for, it was realistic and so well-written that I could hardly put it down.
Although this book described some harsh scenes of a Montana rancher whose cattle were starving and a local sheriff's attempt to help the young man and his horse and cattle, the plot was riveting, the characters well-developed, and the setting beautifully described. The novel did not have the happpily-ever-after ending I could have hoped for, it was realistic and so well-written that I could hardly put it down.
November 12, 2011
Silly me. When I started to read this book, I mistakenly thought it was a mystery novel. Got halfway through having expected someone to die relatively soon and being disappointed. I finally looked at the blurbs and realized my error. Once I turned my head around, I spent time enjoying the evocative writing and well-drawn characters.
And still, I found the book to be less than I hoped. Supposedly smart people kept doing stupid things.
And still, I found the book to be less than I hoped. Supposedly smart people kept doing stupid things.
October 4, 2012
Oh boy - there are parts of this book I couldn't read. It's real good but some of the parts involving a horse were just too hard. The characters are great and tough and vulnerable - there's a good human story here and how mental illness and losing ones dream can turn a person into a less-than-human. The woman, Pattyanne, has a really good page thinking about what a relationship, a marriage is really all about.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 28, 2015
I think the other reviews do a nice job summarizing this book. I gave it two stars out of disappointment. Somewhere, on the book jacket I believe, I got the idea this was a thriller. Not even close. Sure, there was some edge-of-seat moments but thriller?
I found the writing wonderful and the plot, although somewhat predictable, great. Like other reviewers, I'm not a fan of animal cruelty but I think it added to the plot.
I found the writing wonderful and the plot, although somewhat predictable, great. Like other reviewers, I'm not a fan of animal cruelty but I think it added to the plot.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 55 reviews