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Claiming Ground
In 1977, Laura Bell, at loose ends after graduating from college, leaves her family home in Kentucky for a wild and unexpected herding sheep in Wyoming’s Big Horn Basin. Inexorably drawn to this life of solitude and physical toil, a young woman in a man’s world, she is perhaps the strangest member of this beguiling community of drunks and eccentrics. So begins her unabating search for a place to belong and for the raw materials with which to create a home and family of her own. Yet only through time and distance does she acquire the wisdom that allows her to see the love she lived through and sometimes left behind.
By turns cattle rancher, forest ranger, outfitter, masseuse, wife and mother, Bell vividly recounts her struggle to find solid earth in which to put down roots. Brimming with careful insight and written in a spare, radiant prose, her story is a heart-wrenching ode to the rough, enormous beauty of the Western landscape and the peculiar sweetness of hard labor, to finding oneself even in isolation, to a life formed by nature, and to the redemption of love, whether given or received.
Quietly profound and moving, astonishing in its honesty, in its deep familiarity with country rarely seen so clearly, and in beauties all its own, Claiming Ground is a truly singular memoir.
By turns cattle rancher, forest ranger, outfitter, masseuse, wife and mother, Bell vividly recounts her struggle to find solid earth in which to put down roots. Brimming with careful insight and written in a spare, radiant prose, her story is a heart-wrenching ode to the rough, enormous beauty of the Western landscape and the peculiar sweetness of hard labor, to finding oneself even in isolation, to a life formed by nature, and to the redemption of love, whether given or received.
Quietly profound and moving, astonishing in its honesty, in its deep familiarity with country rarely seen so clearly, and in beauties all its own, Claiming Ground is a truly singular memoir.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2010
50 people are currently reading
1726 people want to read
About the author
Laura Bell
2 books5 followersLibrarian note: There are multiple authors on GR with this name. This profile is for Laura^^Bell, author of Claiming Ground.
Laura Bell’s work has been published in several collections, and from the Wyoming Arts Council she has received two literature fellowships as well as the Neltje Blanchan Memorial Award and the Frank Nelson Doubleday Memorial Award. She lives in Cody, Wyoming, and since 2000 has worked there for the Nature Conservancy.
Laura Bell’s work has been published in several collections, and from the Wyoming Arts Council she has received two literature fellowships as well as the Neltje Blanchan Memorial Award and the Frank Nelson Doubleday Memorial Award. She lives in Cody, Wyoming, and since 2000 has worked there for the Nature Conservancy.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 202 reviews
February 23, 2016
5+★
I'd like to share what beloved author Kent Haruf wrote about this memoir because I cannot do it justice.
“This is a book that compels you to the last sentence, both because of its sheer beauty and its profound meaning. It goes deep and way out to the edge, in beautifully composed, exact prose. it makes you think of Thoreau out in the woods, confronting the essential. This is a fresh, wonderful piece of writing, about the isolated and attentive kind of life almost nobody lives nowadays, or ever did.”
I believe a memoir doesn’t get any better than this one and I paid it the respect it deserves by taking my time with it. The author heard the call of the wild then answered and lived it on her own terms during a time many of us were all talk and no action, boasting about how much we wanted to get back to nature, live off the land, find ourselves. The shining star here is the prose which comes from her brave heart. It seeps down deep inside like a warm drink on a cold winter’s night. I delighted in every paragraph. The words were in exactly the right places, at times producing yearning, sighing, and weeping. I'd like to use the phrase 'a man’s man’ except Laura Bell is ‘A woman’s woman’. The greatest compliment I can pay a book is to say I want to read it again. This copy was borrowed but I plan to purchase my own copy. Thank you Ms. Bell for sharing some of your life story.
I'd like to share what beloved author Kent Haruf wrote about this memoir because I cannot do it justice.
“This is a book that compels you to the last sentence, both because of its sheer beauty and its profound meaning. It goes deep and way out to the edge, in beautifully composed, exact prose. it makes you think of Thoreau out in the woods, confronting the essential. This is a fresh, wonderful piece of writing, about the isolated and attentive kind of life almost nobody lives nowadays, or ever did.”
I believe a memoir doesn’t get any better than this one and I paid it the respect it deserves by taking my time with it. The author heard the call of the wild then answered and lived it on her own terms during a time many of us were all talk and no action, boasting about how much we wanted to get back to nature, live off the land, find ourselves. The shining star here is the prose which comes from her brave heart. It seeps down deep inside like a warm drink on a cold winter’s night. I delighted in every paragraph. The words were in exactly the right places, at times producing yearning, sighing, and weeping. I'd like to use the phrase 'a man’s man’ except Laura Bell is ‘A woman’s woman’. The greatest compliment I can pay a book is to say I want to read it again. This copy was borrowed but I plan to purchase my own copy. Thank you Ms. Bell for sharing some of your life story.
March 6, 2016
With a heart as large as the "big sky" country she writes of, Laura Bell writes a memoir that intertwines a sense of place and the sense of what it means to be alive.
Bell recounts her years working with sheep and cows in Wyoming, living a spartan life from a material standpoint, but having a deeply rich inner life. Her beautiful prose captures the wonder of the landscape, and the aches and joys of her heart.
While the first part of the book felt somewhat disjoined to me (I'll dock her half a star), the last few chapters are tenderly poignant.
4.5 stars rounded up to 5. A special thank you to Cathrine for recommending such a great book.
Bell recounts her years working with sheep and cows in Wyoming, living a spartan life from a material standpoint, but having a deeply rich inner life. Her beautiful prose captures the wonder of the landscape, and the aches and joys of her heart.
While the first part of the book felt somewhat disjoined to me (I'll dock her half a star), the last few chapters are tenderly poignant.
4.5 stars rounded up to 5. A special thank you to Cathrine for recommending such a great book.
June 15, 2021
Brutally honest,divinely elegant,this is one of the finest memoir's I've read.The family stories are often heartbreaking,but Laura redeems herself consistently.One of the things that surprised me were the descriptions of the flora,and how much I enjoyed learning about it.The descriptions of sheep and cattle herding were terrific.Her addition of healing and buddhism were icing on a wonderful literary cake.
March 9, 2016
This book was beautifully written, and the author's love of nature, animals, and her adopted state of Wyoming and the West comes shining through on every page, but as a memoir, it was just okay. The author was honest about a lot of things, but secretive and reluctant about others, which left me feeling as though she was holding me (the reader) back with one hand, keeping me from getting too close. The chapter describing the death of her step-daughter was very moving and open, but then back to fending off the reader again at the end. At the end of this memoir, I still don't feel like I know Laura Bell, or even want to.
May 7, 2010
Oh my goodness. This book washed over me like a spring rain, and I feel healed, awed, thunderstruck and new. It's a watercolor in book form, as Bell draws the words, the mountains form, the predawn mist rising reveals the woman, her horse and her dogs. We're immersed in the world she creates like a meadowlark singing on a branch she just painted. If you pick up your hand from the book, you may find a finger stained with the raspberry sky of morning, or the evergreen of a timber line viewed from above, or the grass sprinkled with sheep like fallen clouds.
My neighbor loaned this book to me, instead of returning it directly to the library, knowing I would love the story of a woman on her own in the Big Horn Mountains, and I am grateful. Two gifts: this memoir of Laura Bell, and Marilyn next door.
My neighbor loaned this book to me, instead of returning it directly to the library, knowing I would love the story of a woman on her own in the Big Horn Mountains, and I am grateful. Two gifts: this memoir of Laura Bell, and Marilyn next door.
November 11, 2024
Whoever the critic was was that pronounced the death of the memoir was just plain wrong. Laura Bell's "Claiming Ground" is a wonderful, passionate clear-eyed look at one womans life that will resonate with the reader for many reasons - if the dictum that the "unexamined life isn't worth living" then Laura Bell is a rich woman. She writes in a spare but elegaic tone that hits you right in the heart - her loves, challenges, her mastery of solitude and the warmth of friends, family and wonderful pets that accompany her on this odyssey that is her life as a herder are all here. I had the pleasure of hearing her read from this memoir at Elliot Bay in Seattle - she mentioned how this book was 13 years in the making. You owe it to yourself and this first time author to read this great, sad/happy but altogether passionate book.
January 1, 2020
A good (if not compelling) memoir -- it took me three months to finish it. But a worthwhile read. A loner and a reader, she ended up in Wyoming by happenstance. The publisher's blurb above is a decent summary of her memoir. She was still living and working in Wyoming as of 2010.
Here's a good short review from Orion Magazine: https://orionmagazine.org/review/clai...
Here's a good short review from Orion Magazine: https://orionmagazine.org/review/clai...
May 13, 2010
People live such interesting lives. It must take a great amount of motivation and drive to put to paper the occurrences, thoughts and feelings of one's own life. And perhaps a measure of faith to think that someone else might find the telling of such a life worth reading.
Ms. Bell has an amazing way with words. I have heard her writing described as spare and I would have to agree. Spare nearly to the point of frustration at times (for this particular reader), sensing the echoes of emotions not committed to paper. Hers has not been an ordinary journey - but then is anyone's journey really ordinary? We are none of us ordinary souls.
I found this book to be an intriguing read. I didn't agree with a lot of her choices, and found sections to be very heartrending. Yet, I do not begrudge the time spent reading this book. It has reminded me of the multitude of things to be grateful for in my own existence.
Favorite passages:
"He'd quit answering the phone, maybe only for me, though I don't think so. There are things about this man I'll never understand. But I've come to know that there can be a time when the story's just too hard, and you have to close the book, put it back on the shelf, and walk into another room."
"Turning fifty, I want to have a story to tell, a milestone to celebrate...."
"If you feel worthless, " he says, "and someone restores your sense of value, you've been redeemed."
Ms. Bell has an amazing way with words. I have heard her writing described as spare and I would have to agree. Spare nearly to the point of frustration at times (for this particular reader), sensing the echoes of emotions not committed to paper. Hers has not been an ordinary journey - but then is anyone's journey really ordinary? We are none of us ordinary souls.
I found this book to be an intriguing read. I didn't agree with a lot of her choices, and found sections to be very heartrending. Yet, I do not begrudge the time spent reading this book. It has reminded me of the multitude of things to be grateful for in my own existence.
Favorite passages:
"He'd quit answering the phone, maybe only for me, though I don't think so. There are things about this man I'll never understand. But I've come to know that there can be a time when the story's just too hard, and you have to close the book, put it back on the shelf, and walk into another room."
"Turning fifty, I want to have a story to tell, a milestone to celebrate...."
"If you feel worthless, " he says, "and someone restores your sense of value, you've been redeemed."
August 13, 2024
A beautifully written memoir. Captivating in a soft spoken way. What a life Laura lived. Heartbreaking, sad and full. If you’ve been to Wyoming you might kind of understand that wild lonely awe of that country. I am fascinated by the shepherding and I would love to know more about that…
June 5, 2014
I wanted so much to rate this book higher because of the locale, the subject, the author. But why did Bell have to be so obscure? The pictures in my minds eye were never complete; I was always having to reread and think and pause and reread trying to figure out where she was and what was going on. Couldn't she have given us a clearer picture without giving away all of her secrets if that is what held her back??? Is a book supposed to be more lofty when it is obscure? I wanted more and got less. I worked in that area in the 1960's and I wanted so much to revisit it but it just didn't work with this book.
June 28, 2023
At age 23, unsure of what she wanted from the future, Laura Bell leaves her Kentucky family home for the wilds of Wyoming to be a sheepherder. The only certain and practical skill she brings to the job is that she is a competent horsewoman; everything else—in particular, as it relates to sheepherding—she has to learn. And so begins an adventure that is to last several years and which, luckily for us, Bell records in her candid, unflinchingly honest memoir, Claiming Ground.
It seems also that a subliminal drive was her motivation in searching for solitude and refuge, and Wyoming provided an abundance of both. Bell quickly and deeply identifies with the dramatic surroundings and the unhindered manifestation of Mother Nature at work. Her descriptions of the land and its flora and fauna are vivid, poetic, enduring, and knowledgeable.
Her sole living companions are a horse and two sheepherding dogs, Lady and Louise, and of course, books. Bell yieldingly allows herself to be absorbed into the simple rhythm of moving sheep across the desolate terrain in a pattern that seems so timeless and primordial, that the sheep might undertake to follow it even if they weren’t being herded. Only when she is being resupplied with essentials does she meet another human, and that encounter is brief and transactional, and then she is alone again.
Despite unforgiving weather conditions and physically demanding work, Bell’s sense of gradual fulfillment gives her tangible satisfaction. Yet readers might still wonder at Bell’s sense of restlessness. Is the windswept Wyoming landscape fulfilling enough? Is her satisfaction sufficient? She drifts. Her next job is on a cattle ranch, and there is more learning, even though cattle require less tending than sheep. Unexpectedly, Bell also marries, harboring all the romantic expectations that traditionally accompany such an act. Part of taking on her husband means also taking on the role of stepmother to two daughters—yet more learning for Bell. Will this be the ultimate fulfillment for her? Will this be the solid ground she earnestly seeks?
Bell drifts into many more jobs as the years roll by, her unsettled nature still yearning for an elusive nirvana. Periodic contact with her liberated, loving, and supportive parents helps somewhat, as do lifelong friends. Bell does indulge in self-reflection, but rarely is it conclusive in answering her perennial questions. Only towards the end of her narrative does she confess that, in choosing this life, she “hid as others might hide in heroin or alcohol.” But Wyoming is her only addiction; her love for it, and the land’s ability to ground her are never in doubt, despite life’s inevitable disappointments and poignant tragedies that test her mettle.
In leaps and bounds, Bell does bring us up to the present time, more or less. Claiming Ground is beautifully written in prose that constantly seems desirous of being poetry. Her fluid, unassuming style makes for effortless reading, and easily enrolls her in the exclusive club of chroniclers of the American West, whose members include Kent Haruf, Ivan Doig, and Mark Spragg. The chapters are eloquent essays in chronological sequence, which lure readers into a page-turning pleasure that leaves them longingly musing whether they should have perhaps devoted more of their lives to claiming their own ground.
It seems also that a subliminal drive was her motivation in searching for solitude and refuge, and Wyoming provided an abundance of both. Bell quickly and deeply identifies with the dramatic surroundings and the unhindered manifestation of Mother Nature at work. Her descriptions of the land and its flora and fauna are vivid, poetic, enduring, and knowledgeable.
Her sole living companions are a horse and two sheepherding dogs, Lady and Louise, and of course, books. Bell yieldingly allows herself to be absorbed into the simple rhythm of moving sheep across the desolate terrain in a pattern that seems so timeless and primordial, that the sheep might undertake to follow it even if they weren’t being herded. Only when she is being resupplied with essentials does she meet another human, and that encounter is brief and transactional, and then she is alone again.
Despite unforgiving weather conditions and physically demanding work, Bell’s sense of gradual fulfillment gives her tangible satisfaction. Yet readers might still wonder at Bell’s sense of restlessness. Is the windswept Wyoming landscape fulfilling enough? Is her satisfaction sufficient? She drifts. Her next job is on a cattle ranch, and there is more learning, even though cattle require less tending than sheep. Unexpectedly, Bell also marries, harboring all the romantic expectations that traditionally accompany such an act. Part of taking on her husband means also taking on the role of stepmother to two daughters—yet more learning for Bell. Will this be the ultimate fulfillment for her? Will this be the solid ground she earnestly seeks?
Bell drifts into many more jobs as the years roll by, her unsettled nature still yearning for an elusive nirvana. Periodic contact with her liberated, loving, and supportive parents helps somewhat, as do lifelong friends. Bell does indulge in self-reflection, but rarely is it conclusive in answering her perennial questions. Only towards the end of her narrative does she confess that, in choosing this life, she “hid as others might hide in heroin or alcohol.” But Wyoming is her only addiction; her love for it, and the land’s ability to ground her are never in doubt, despite life’s inevitable disappointments and poignant tragedies that test her mettle.
In leaps and bounds, Bell does bring us up to the present time, more or less. Claiming Ground is beautifully written in prose that constantly seems desirous of being poetry. Her fluid, unassuming style makes for effortless reading, and easily enrolls her in the exclusive club of chroniclers of the American West, whose members include Kent Haruf, Ivan Doig, and Mark Spragg. The chapters are eloquent essays in chronological sequence, which lure readers into a page-turning pleasure that leaves them longingly musing whether they should have perhaps devoted more of their lives to claiming their own ground.
April 18, 2010
What I recall of the author was a lovely little girl who liked to ride horses. Laura was one of five children of a preacher my family and I adored. Each child was different, talented, intelligent. Marsha, the sister that was my age was exuberant and fun to be around...Laura was younger so I didn't get to know her, but I do remember that when she graduated from college she decided to go out west to be a shepherd. It was the 70's and many a young person followed their dream, but I doubt many had that one. Imagine the confusion it stirred in the congregation. Herding sheep was strange even for that time.
A few weeks ago I learned that Laura would be in town to sign a book she had written, like her decision to be a shepherd, this book was not what I expected. It is a book of Laura's life, sometimes painful, but beautifully written. Unlike some authors, Laura can convey much with few words, sparse, yet intense as the land she has chosen. So to my friends and those who would read this review, I would say that Claiming Ground is a book not just to read, but to keep.
A few weeks ago I learned that Laura would be in town to sign a book she had written, like her decision to be a shepherd, this book was not what I expected. It is a book of Laura's life, sometimes painful, but beautifully written. Unlike some authors, Laura can convey much with few words, sparse, yet intense as the land she has chosen. So to my friends and those who would read this review, I would say that Claiming Ground is a book not just to read, but to keep.
September 19, 2024
Subtle, lyrical writing. I can't believe she hasn't written anything else.
January 6, 2012
There is flea market in Laramie south of Interstate 80. Much of it is a warren of eight by eight cubicles some of which are filled with little more than yard sale cast-offs while others contain what would be considered treasure vaults by collectors of one type or another.
Meandering through this motley, colorful, bizarre microcosm of life where the strange and familiar sit side-by-side is similar to reading "Claiming Ground" by Laurel Bell. Almost every page contains some trinket that draws your eye and forces you to pick it up and turn it over and over in your hands to discover what manner of treasure you have found.
And, every so often, you find so wondrous a gem that you cannot bear to set it back on the shelf.
"I want to stand in the moonlit shadow of Heart Mountain and claim something solid and enduring. I want to be this mountain, but my life feels more like a hall of trick mirrors with a different view in each one."
At 242 pages, "Claiming Ground" is not a long book, but it took me a week to finish it, despite the fact that I enjoyed it immensely. As with a flea market, I found myself tarrying too long in one place.
My only small criticism of the book is that much of it, although full of captivating prose, felt disjointed; like a collection of wonderful knick-knacks which seem unrelated one to another. You are not drawn forward through the book.
That is until the final sixty pages. Throughout the book, Bell's honesty impresses. At the end, it transfixes and impales; moving one's heart in ways both painful and comforting.
Meandering through this motley, colorful, bizarre microcosm of life where the strange and familiar sit side-by-side is similar to reading "Claiming Ground" by Laurel Bell. Almost every page contains some trinket that draws your eye and forces you to pick it up and turn it over and over in your hands to discover what manner of treasure you have found.
And, every so often, you find so wondrous a gem that you cannot bear to set it back on the shelf.
"I want to stand in the moonlit shadow of Heart Mountain and claim something solid and enduring. I want to be this mountain, but my life feels more like a hall of trick mirrors with a different view in each one."
At 242 pages, "Claiming Ground" is not a long book, but it took me a week to finish it, despite the fact that I enjoyed it immensely. As with a flea market, I found myself tarrying too long in one place.
My only small criticism of the book is that much of it, although full of captivating prose, felt disjointed; like a collection of wonderful knick-knacks which seem unrelated one to another. You are not drawn forward through the book.
That is until the final sixty pages. Throughout the book, Bell's honesty impresses. At the end, it transfixes and impales; moving one's heart in ways both painful and comforting.
July 12, 2011
In _Claiming Ground_, Laura Bell captures pitch-perfectly the essence of Wyoming land and life. Both spare and lyrical, her style paints painfully accurate images of a life spent on the high plains. I found myself reading passages aloud to my Wyoming-born partner, who agreed that Bell conveys the reality of Wyoming without romanticizing it.
This is the best memoir I have read in a long time; it may, in fact, be the best memoir I have ever read. Bell's style is to give us a taste of different phases of her life rather than to offer a comprehensive overview: the book's chapters are anchored around specific events, visitors, or people, and are arranged roughly chronologically, though she narrates in most cases from the standpoint of the present.
My only critique of this lovely book is a small one related to style: Bell often begins a particular scene with little or no exposition, and fills in details -- including such basic facts as what period of her life we are, who the antecedents for pronouns are, etc. -- at the end of a given passage. While this is a nice hook for some passages, and while I have no problem with slow and coy revelations of material, this style becomes repetitive and "gimmicky" when it's repeated throughout the book, and I found myself wishing an editor had stepped in.
But this is a minor critique in a book that I found pitch-perfect in so many other ways. If I ever write a memoir, it will be to Laura Bell's book that I turn as a model!
This is the best memoir I have read in a long time; it may, in fact, be the best memoir I have ever read. Bell's style is to give us a taste of different phases of her life rather than to offer a comprehensive overview: the book's chapters are anchored around specific events, visitors, or people, and are arranged roughly chronologically, though she narrates in most cases from the standpoint of the present.
My only critique of this lovely book is a small one related to style: Bell often begins a particular scene with little or no exposition, and fills in details -- including such basic facts as what period of her life we are, who the antecedents for pronouns are, etc. -- at the end of a given passage. While this is a nice hook for some passages, and while I have no problem with slow and coy revelations of material, this style becomes repetitive and "gimmicky" when it's repeated throughout the book, and I found myself wishing an editor had stepped in.
But this is a minor critique in a book that I found pitch-perfect in so many other ways. If I ever write a memoir, it will be to Laura Bell's book that I turn as a model!
October 4, 2018
This was exactly what I needed to read right now. Spare and solemn, this memoir reflected a lot of my own feelings of loss and of disappointment and deep yearning to find my place in this world. But in experiencing a reminder of those feelings, I am also reminded of the conviction that what I need for a good life is not happiness, but strength. Strength can see you through the hard times, but it also allows you enjoy the good times with vigor and—on the really good days—quit worrying about the good times ending and the hard times coming again.
Lose enough that's important to you in life and you can fall into the trap of distrusting everything, fearing everything you love and value because one day you will lose it. It's easy to get to a place where you're walking around waiting for the ground to fall away under you, for everyone you care about to get sick and tired of hearing your nonsense, for the other shoe to drop in every risk you take, no matter how minor, for every act of vulnerability to result in hurt that cuts deeper each time.
This book is a reminder that you never get over it. There is no coasting. "Time and time again, things come together and they fall apart again, like breathing." These are good things. This is being alive.
Lose enough that's important to you in life and you can fall into the trap of distrusting everything, fearing everything you love and value because one day you will lose it. It's easy to get to a place where you're walking around waiting for the ground to fall away under you, for everyone you care about to get sick and tired of hearing your nonsense, for the other shoe to drop in every risk you take, no matter how minor, for every act of vulnerability to result in hurt that cuts deeper each time.
This book is a reminder that you never get over it. There is no coasting. "Time and time again, things come together and they fall apart again, like breathing." These are good things. This is being alive.
August 19, 2011
I'll admit that I'm a sucker for most books reviewed on NPR, and many times disappointed. Perhaps because every now and then, I stumble across a story that moves my very soul. Laura Bell is not an eloquent writer, nor is she well seasoned. It's the rawness and emotional exposure that seeps through truthfully and honestly that caught my attention. Because I physically and mentally have been in many of the same types of places thus book carries you, I could breath her air,feel her sorrow and in essence be touched by her story. May those who also read it, "claim their own ground".
September 3, 2014
This had the feel of a collection of personal essays, more than a narrative memoir. Bell's story was interesting, but I found myself wanting to know more of the people and the stories. Her focus was instead on the land and the language she was using. It was an excellent example of that, if that's your thing. I enjoyed the descriptions of Wyoming and the insight into ranching life.
April 13, 2020
I am always fascinated by how a place, a geography, an ecology can perhaps shape a writer. Or by how a place or geography or ecology draws in and takes hold of a writer. I don't know which it is with Laura Bell, but her prose feels exactly appropriate to Wyoming and to high, dry grasslands and fragile soils and relentless wind. It is enduring, full of quiet drama, and unforgettable.
More than simply a memoir of life on sheep and cattle ranches, it is an exploration of finding one's place in the world. The idea of "claiming ground" for oneself on the merits of truthfully facing what it takes to hold on to things we deem precious is a weighty conversation that Bell leads us through with raw honesty and courage. Sometimes the fight to hold on is bitter, and full of painful consequences. Whether gaining the summit of the last, steep, dry face of a route to mountain grass or navigating the terrain of a marriage, we are asked to look deeply into what things in life are worth claiming . . .
More than simply a memoir of life on sheep and cattle ranches, it is an exploration of finding one's place in the world. The idea of "claiming ground" for oneself on the merits of truthfully facing what it takes to hold on to things we deem precious is a weighty conversation that Bell leads us through with raw honesty and courage. Sometimes the fight to hold on is bitter, and full of painful consequences. Whether gaining the summit of the last, steep, dry face of a route to mountain grass or navigating the terrain of a marriage, we are asked to look deeply into what things in life are worth claiming . . .
February 12, 2022
Outstanding memoir. One of the most perfectly written books I've ever read. The writing is sparse and honest. I may not be able to relate much to Bell's lifestyle, but I could relate to everything she wrote. This is a fresh, clear look into the soul of a woman. It's all captured here in opposing beauty- solitude and companionship, grief and love, obscurity and clarity, grit and tenderness, worry and peace. How she managed to put it on paper, I cannot begin to comprehend.
I read another memoir three years back called The Solace of Open Spaces and Claiming Ground reminded me of it. It turns out the author of that book (Gretel Ehrlich) and Laura are good friends and worked for the same ranch. Solace is another beautiful book and I highly recommend it if you enjoyed this one. I found an article that mentions them both and provides some additional background on Bell's story:
https://wyofile.com/after-acclaimed-m...
I could listen to this book over and over. 5 solid, grateful stars.
I read another memoir three years back called The Solace of Open Spaces and Claiming Ground reminded me of it. It turns out the author of that book (Gretel Ehrlich) and Laura are good friends and worked for the same ranch. Solace is another beautiful book and I highly recommend it if you enjoyed this one. I found an article that mentions them both and provides some additional background on Bell's story:
https://wyofile.com/after-acclaimed-m...
I could listen to this book over and over. 5 solid, grateful stars.
June 14, 2021
Kent Haruf's blurb for "Claiming Ground" states that this book reminds him of "Thoreau out in the woods, confronting the essential", which is an apt description of Laura Bell's memoir. What's beautiful about this book is that even if you've never heard of Laura Bell (I was in this camp), you'll still be drawn to her story and her storytelling. Bell's poetic descriptions of the Wyoming rangelands, mountains, and remote country are absolutely breathtaking and evoke visuals of the remarkable landscape and scenery of the movie Brokeback Mountain. Clearly living what Bell calls a "nomadic life" isn't all fun and games; it means long hours, hard work and being at the mercy of nature, but there's something equally romantic, freeing, and adventurous about a life where one is connected to and fully immersed in nature and where time is measured differently. I can imagine that one tries to live a more attentive and present life in such a setting. Finally, it isn't just Bell's descriptions of the Western landscape that makes you fall in love with this book; there's something to be said about an author, who in telling her story, is able to perfectly capture the human condition. Claiming Ground is both a love letter to Wyoming and a meditation on life.
March 28, 2017
Beautifully-written memoir by a woman who goes out to Wyoming and becomes a sheep herder, among other interesting jobs. I loved this book.
April 8, 2020
A tender, deep and lyrical insight into a life well lived.
June 26, 2021
Honest, beautiful, and deeply reflective writing. I deducted 1 star because it skips around chronologically too much in one section. Otherwise it was excellent.
September 21, 2025
an old favorite
August 30, 2017
I listened to this book on audio over a month or so of driving to errands. The narration was great and the story my favorite kind - a memoir complete with a deep sense of place. Books like this make me understand the West whose landscape, while beautiful, often seems alien to me.
August 5, 2011
This book was a mixed bag. The author was eloquent in her descriptions of life in a way that pulled me in and made my heart ache to be back there. I have rarely seen someone who can capture the essence of a place so well as she painted word pictures of the landscape, weather, lifestyle and mindset that is Wyoming. On the other hand, I would have to agree with other reviewers that there were times when I felt like it was a lot of navel gazing and melancholy. This is NOT to distract from the suffering that she did encounter in her life. However I struggled to have sympathy for the pain she brought on herself through her own poor choices. Granted, this is me looking at it from an outsiders perspective and it is much more difficult to make choices as you actually live the life, but there were certainly places where I was sitting there thinking, "Are you serious? You thought that was a good idea?"
I guess overall if you can get past the some of the major life decisions she made and focus on the beauty of her writing instead, it is a wonderfully written book.
I guess overall if you can get past the some of the major life decisions she made and focus on the beauty of her writing instead, it is a wonderfully written book.
May 24, 2010
While much of this book was stunningly well-written, the part that I expected to like (young woman on her own herding sheep in Wyoming in the late 70s/early 80s) didn't draw me in, and I almost gave up after about 50 pages. The matter-of-fact, unemotional narrative is extremely effective in depicting the primitive setting, but often characters appear and disappear without context or chronology, making it difficult to become invested in them. The payoff came as the book progressed. The author’s relationship with her stepdaughters is expressed more beautifully and authentically than almost anything I've ever read.
May 15, 2012
An amazing communication of a land, its dimensions--weather, smells--if you could slowly run your hand over the border between Wyoming and Montana, east of Yellowstone, it would feel like Bell's account. Link that sense with the gradual revelation of her soul, without sentimentality, as simple as a piece of Shaker furniture, and you have some crude idea of what a profound piece of writing she has accomplished. The sheer skill of craft makes me dizzy. HOW does she do it? Maintain the voice spinning the tale over decades without loss of integrity, cheapening...or repetition. Astonishing, enriching. If it were music, maybe Mahler. Maybe.
July 11, 2015
I set the book down as I finished it thinking it was a gift to have read it. This kind of memoir leaves one in the one down position of having made a great new friend who doesn't know you. [return][return]Bell showed me a side of Wyoming I don't see. I see the belligerent rancher and outfitter and have a hard time imagining much there that is literary. Bell avoids talking much about conservation even though she ends up working for the Nature Conservancy. There may be an interesting nonfiction piece in that to explore.[return][return]I am nuts about the cover. We may have to gain some inspiration from this one.
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