Open Space and Quiet People

Idaho, sheep, 1917 with the threat of being drafted looming over the just-beginning life of Walter Pascoe. Well, that just about does it for my review. This is a first novel, written in 2003, by a young author named Heather Parkinson, whom it seems has not published another. This book is so down-shifted, it is laconic. Three-fourths of the book has minimal dialogue ... the most intense back and forth is between Walter and his fellow soldiers on the train as they return home from France. Prior to that, he hardly speaks to his parents, boss or fiancee. So does anything compensate for this introspection? Not really. The description of sheep herding is distanced and hardly rooted in the visceral. Walter's mother's illness and his father's life as a merchant in a small town is not portrayed as influencing his life decisions. Everything is withheld ... his fiancee never tells him she is pregnant when he is drafted, never writes to tell him she lost the baby. If it weren't so late in December, I'd actively look for an alternative to represent the State; but, my interest is in Rhode Island and getting ready for 2010.