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Bittersweet Country
Desperate to escape the influence of her family, Gracelyn Heath impulsively accepts a marriage proposal from Alex MacNair, a veterinarian with a dream of running a ranch. Reprint.
- GenresContemporary
Paperback
Published January 1, 1993
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
February 9, 2017
Hmmm. Let me see if I can review this book with justice.
~~~
Gracelyn Heath was a 19-year-old sophomore in college when she hit a dog while driving her car. She had just witnessed an unsettling family matter and was upset. She managed to throw a blanket across the growling animal and take it to the closest veterinarian, Alex MacNair. She was still shaken and near tears when the quiet 28-year-old gentleman offered to buy her supper.
~~~
Gracelyn was expected to join her older sister's sorority.
Gracelyn was expected to earn an MBA in business.
Gracelyn was expected to ignore her love of art, especially sketching, and follow her parents' dream.
'Gracelyn enjoyed the drawing assignments. When she was concentrating on a sketch, she thought of nothing else. Time seemed to change character: it was no longer linear. It was an impenetrable space inside of which she existed only as the connection between an object and the drawing of the object.'
~~~
In the meantime, the dog's owners were found and they requested he be put to sleep. For Gracelyn, saving the dog equaled stability; a precious situation clearly lacking in her life at that moment. For this reason, Gracelyn -who never owned a pet- told Dr. MacNair she would clean the kennels to pay for the dog's operation and his board. School and family time continued to deteriorate. The hours spent at the vet's clinic represented sanity.
Two weeks before Christmas, Gracelyn requested to move into the attendant's room. It was lonely but she had Peg-Leg Pete; it was the vet's name for her dog. The three of them formed a friendship of sorts.
Dr. MacNair was the only person she knew who believed she could manage her own life.
Gracelyn and Dr. MacNair -Zandy's- immediate problems were solved by a quick marriage without words of love. They traveled to the wide open space of Montana and learned the art of homesteading at a wannabe sheep ranch. They began a relationship of give-and-take. And give. The days passed from hours into weeks, then months. There were many admissions of symbolism. Encouragement was given that was both surreal and cathartic. Gracelyn was an artist in residence in the wilderness; she found purpose and matured.
This story was both heart-wrenching and heart warming. It had coming of age moments that delved into an emotion-fest. And, at the same time, the story was soothing. Calm. While reading about the animals, I thought of All Creatures Great and Small.
Kudos to the author for not taking the high road when she wrote about Gracelyn and her age. Whether she was tagging lambs, frustratingly making cottage cheese from scratch or watching for coyotes in the dead of night, I never thought she was older than what she was. And yet she had an incredible strength beyond her years. She cried when they lost lambs to the elements but persevered long after I would have given up. Zandy MacNair, most of the time, had the patience of a saint.
Rarely, do I want a book to be part of a series. This time I did. Sadly, Elaine Long only wrote three contemporary novels; each story into and of itself.
~~~
Gracelyn Heath was a 19-year-old sophomore in college when she hit a dog while driving her car. She had just witnessed an unsettling family matter and was upset. She managed to throw a blanket across the growling animal and take it to the closest veterinarian, Alex MacNair. She was still shaken and near tears when the quiet 28-year-old gentleman offered to buy her supper.
~~~
Gracelyn was expected to join her older sister's sorority.
Gracelyn was expected to earn an MBA in business.
Gracelyn was expected to ignore her love of art, especially sketching, and follow her parents' dream.
'Gracelyn enjoyed the drawing assignments. When she was concentrating on a sketch, she thought of nothing else. Time seemed to change character: it was no longer linear. It was an impenetrable space inside of which she existed only as the connection between an object and the drawing of the object.'
~~~
In the meantime, the dog's owners were found and they requested he be put to sleep. For Gracelyn, saving the dog equaled stability; a precious situation clearly lacking in her life at that moment. For this reason, Gracelyn -who never owned a pet- told Dr. MacNair she would clean the kennels to pay for the dog's operation and his board. School and family time continued to deteriorate. The hours spent at the vet's clinic represented sanity.
Two weeks before Christmas, Gracelyn requested to move into the attendant's room. It was lonely but she had Peg-Leg Pete; it was the vet's name for her dog. The three of them formed a friendship of sorts.
Dr. MacNair was the only person she knew who believed she could manage her own life.
Gracelyn and Dr. MacNair -Zandy's- immediate problems were solved by a quick marriage without words of love. They traveled to the wide open space of Montana and learned the art of homesteading at a wannabe sheep ranch. They began a relationship of give-and-take. And give. The days passed from hours into weeks, then months. There were many admissions of symbolism. Encouragement was given that was both surreal and cathartic. Gracelyn was an artist in residence in the wilderness; she found purpose and matured.
This story was both heart-wrenching and heart warming. It had coming of age moments that delved into an emotion-fest. And, at the same time, the story was soothing. Calm. While reading about the animals, I thought of All Creatures Great and Small.
Kudos to the author for not taking the high road when she wrote about Gracelyn and her age. Whether she was tagging lambs, frustratingly making cottage cheese from scratch or watching for coyotes in the dead of night, I never thought she was older than what she was. And yet she had an incredible strength beyond her years. She cried when they lost lambs to the elements but persevered long after I would have given up. Zandy MacNair, most of the time, had the patience of a saint.
Rarely, do I want a book to be part of a series. This time I did. Sadly, Elaine Long only wrote three contemporary novels; each story into and of itself.
June 27, 2008
At times sweet, at times desolate, and sometimes downright devastating, this is the story of a lonely girl who, after an upsetting revelation in her family, marries an idealistic young veterinarian she barely knows. Together the two set off for the rugged, inhospitable Montana wilderness to realize his dream of running a ranch. What follows is the arduous but uplifting account of how she learns to love the land, her husband, and life itself despite--or because of--the lessons it metes out. Simply a wonderful book.
August 27, 2020
If you know nothing about sheep ranching, you will when you are done reading this book. It has a realistic storyline.
April 3, 2024
This is what is it to be a woman
July 11, 2024
Not sure I got it
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews