The Berkeley Pit: an historical novel

by Dorothy Bryant

Harry's first poem describes his nightmare, the Berkeley Pit, which, in 1962, gouged the heart out of his hometown, Butte, Montana. The pit mine's namesake, Berkeley, California becomes his dream of hope. He arrives there in the late 1960s as political turmoil and hope reach a peak, from which many dreams tumble, including Harry's. Back in Montana, he cherishes his dream of what his life might have been. But, twenty years later, when he manages to get back to Berkeley, he can hardly recognize the city of his old hopes and dreams. His determination to accept and overcome new challenges may not be enough. Dorothy Bryant draws on her family history in Montana, on her lifetime of living and writing in the Bay Area, and on meticulously researched history. With characteristic irony, compassion, and honesty, Bryant weaves these elements into another of her unrelenting accounts of good intentions, high hopes, mixed motives, unpredictable consequences and lessons learned or denied.

352 pages, Hardcover

First published June 6, 2007

About the author

Dorothy Bryant was born in San Francisco in 1930, second daughter of Joe and Giuditta Calvetti, both born in Balangero, a factory town near Turin, Italy, and brought to the United States as children. Bryant became the first in her family to graduate from college, and she earned her living teaching (high school and college) until 1976. She began writing in 1960 and has since published a dozen books of fiction and non-fiction. Her plays have been performed in the Bay Area and beyond.

Bryant is known for her mystical, feminist and fantastic novels and plays that traverse the space between the real world and her character's inner psyche or soul. Her book The Kin of Ata are Waiting for You was described by Alice Walker as "One of my favorite books in all the world".

Reviews

[Karen Russell · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book. It is a detailed look at life in the 1960’s in Berkeley. Early life in Butte, Montana is also described and contrasts vividly with the political and social turmoil of Berkeley in the 60’s. My grandfather came to Berkeley in the 1920s and his brother, my great uncle, went to Montana to respectively raise their families. Reading this book filled in details for me of what their lives were like as well.