- Hardcover: 320 pages
- Publisher: Knopf; 1 edition (Feb 5 2002)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0375401318
- ISBN-13: 978-0375401312
- Product Dimensions: 22.4 x 15.7 x 3 cm
- Shipping Weight: 522 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
-
Amazon Bestsellers Rank:
#991,757 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #25 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Regional U.S. > West
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||
Product Details |
Product Description
From Publishers Weekly
Poet and essayist Blunt grew up on a Montana cattle ranch in the 1950s and 60s, where "indoor plumbing" meant a door on the privy and "running water" was a fast ranch wife with two buckets. A natural tomboy, happiest around animals, Blunt dreaded leaving childhood. The gender rules of ranch life were unyielding: women married and kept to their kitchens, and they didn't own property or make decisions about the ranch. When puberty came, she did her best to hide all evidence of her sex, wearing a big coat and even lancing her growing breasts, the way she'd drain a cow's abscessed jaw. After finishing high school in town she returned to the family ranch, only to find she had no place of value there. So she accepted the inevitable: marriage to a man from a neighboring ranch. For 12 years Blunt lived in self-denial sneaking cigarettes, creeping into the calving shed to do the work she knew better than any man and bearing three children who were all she could call her own when she finally decided to leave. While she doesn't shy away from writing about hard times, Blunt's attention to detail and dry humor make this debut emboldening rather than depressing (e.g., her observation that one-room schoolhouses weren't great, but they afforded unintentional exposure to lessons a few years in advance). Her writing inspires respect for rural life and its "intimacy born of isolation, rather than blood relation." In this world without TV or books, with mail once a week at best, "a good story rose to the surface of conversation like heavy cream." Blunt's own story is so rich and genuine, readers will clean their plates and ask for seconds. (Feb. 12)Forecast: With an eight-city author tour, an NPR appearance, advertising to the literary community and word of mouth about this fine writer, sales should be considerable. Blunt's treatment of parental discipline, sibling relationships and town vs. country ways will appeal to readers far beyond Big Sky country.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
Blunt was raised on a ranch in Montana, miles from the nearest town, and attended a one-room school where she and her siblings made up the majority of the students. On the ranch, she learned how to handle the day-to-day work of farm life and to remain in a subservient role to men. Eventually, after marriage and children, she abandoned ranch life for college and began writing award-winning poetry. In this nonfiction debut, Blunt proves to be a skillful writer, using beautiful prose to describe how she learned to survive in what remains a man's world. Unfortunately, she does not discuss in enough detail how the ranch life shaped her and made her want to "break clean." Thus, though her narrative is enjoyable to read, it carries no social implications. Collections with material on farm life or women in nontraditional careers will want to consider this title. Otherwise, this is not a necessary purchase. Danna Bell-Russel, Library of Congress
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Inside This Book
(Learn More)
Browse and search another edition of this book.
Browse and search another edition of this book.
First Sentence
I rarely go back to the ranch where I was born or to the neighboring land where I bore the fourth generation of a ranching family. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
I rarely go back to the ranch where I was born or to the neighboring land where I bore the fourth generation of a ranching family. Read the first page
Explore More
Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt
Tag this product(What's this?)Think of a tag as a keyword or label you consider is strongly related to this product.
Tags will help all customers organize and find favorite items. |
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Breaking clean?,
By "ksuzannez" (Ohio) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Breaking Clean (Paperback)
I am always scouring the shelves for books like this--accounts of modern and not so modern ranch life in the American West--especially from a women's perspective. The boldness of the title attracted me. I thought, 'Now, here's something written by a women who's going to get straight to the point, and I can expect some raw and vivid imagery about the western landscape.' The more I read the less I liked it. I gave it 3 stars just because the prose is good--but the account just didn't live up to my expectations of the title and I was confused as to how Blunt really felt. Bitterness seemed to grow as a theme so I didn't get the idea that she really 'broke clean' she just made a temporary but emotionally she's still stuck on it. As the saying goes, you can't judge a book by its cover.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Breaking Clean Review by Judy Blunt,
By Sonni (Ronan, Montana, USA) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Breaking Clean (Paperback)
The book Breaking Clean is about the author and her life growning up in a small town of Malta, Montana. She describes her life growing up on farm from a little child in to a grown woman. She tells about how her family wants whats best for her and whats her to keep the family tradition alive by marrying the neigbors son who is 12 years older than her. But she wants more than to be living on a farm for the rest of her life. I thought this book was really good because i can make lots of connections to it from where i am from. But over all it is a good book.
3.0 out of 5 stars
A near miss,
By Monana reader (Montana) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Breaking Clean (Paperback)
Although I will freely admit that this book held my interest, I must admit to an unsettling feeling at the finish. Why the title? Is she gloating about leaving the life she was raised in and claims to cherish? What happened to her parents, her husband, her friends? The disjointed ending leaves a reader full of questions. I cannot help but wonder how the people of Malta feel about Blunt's analysis of her existence. Although her life as a ranch wife must have been difficult, her husband loved and protected her. The writing style is compelling, the storyline is riveting,but the ending is evasive. Is the author happy now in Missoula? I both like and dislike the book. To me, Blunt seems to be an oxymoron: she pays tribute to her heritage, yet she works feverishly to destroy it. I hope she writes a sequel that provides answers. She is a gifted writer, but the ending of this book does not provide any kind of satisfaction for a reader--- most especially a Montana reader who is familiar with the life of which she writes.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Want to see more reviews on this item?
|
Most recent customer reviews |
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
