Reviews

Love and Terror on the Howling Plains of Nowhere: A Memoir by Poe Ballantine, Cheryl Strayed

panda8882's review against another edition

4.0

Poe Ballantine is a very talented writer. Cheryl Strayed promised as much in the introduction and she has never let me down yet. It was also a refreshing change from all the YA books I've been reading for some reason lately. I think my problem with this book was that my expectations were very different than what it was. I was expecting a true crime book ... with a resolution. It was more a memoir with a bit of true crime mixed in .. and [spoiler alert] no real resolution. But his writing was amazing, so I was ok with that. Just not sure I would recommend it to people who want an interesting read and not just good writing. I read it in one day because I was basically in an airport and on planes all day. I think it would have been a slow read otherwise. I also wondered if his wife read it since he painted her in a pretty unflattering light. Gotta respect that he really put it all out there I guess :)

But yeah, as Cheryl Strayed said - this guy can write.

librarykath's review

3.0

I am so conflicted by this book. Ok, so the prose is beautiful, he has a gift for description and for turn of phrase. The true crime aspect of the book is fascinating, as is his open love for his autistic son. I had the audiobook, read by the author and he is a pleasant voice to listen to.

But oh God I could do without the bloviating about how amazing a husband he was and how his wife is distant and neurotic. He could have sliced off easily a third, maybe more, of this book and then gone back and filled out more detail about the actual crime. Instead of constantly speculating on who thought what happened, some details and facts laid out clearly and in good timelines would have been much better.

Or alternatively, written about the early life he kept alluding to, but never quite fleshing out.

And the repeated racism towards Indigenous Americans was gobsmacking. His repeated dismissal of them as not quite the same value as the rest of the townfolk really made me feel sick.

I wonder if he was too busy trying to be in the club of dry white American men making their name for writing about how much women and "natives" annoy them and booze and their own navel is endlessly fascinating.