The Watch: Stories

by Rick Bass

Overview

These quirky, brilliant stories launched Rick Bass on his literary career.

Set in the South and West, they pursue themes of friendship, loyalty, and freedom, of escape, where valiant holdouts refuse to grow up, or to grow old.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393311358
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	04/17/1994
Series:	Norton Paperback Fiction Series
Edition description:	Revised ed.
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	948,666
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.30(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Rick Bass lives in the Yaak Valley of Montana and is the author of The Watch, Ninemile Wolves, and Winter, among other books. His most recent book of short stories is In the Loyal Mountains.

What People are Saying About This

George Plimpron

One of the truly impressive short story writers of his generation.

Jim Harrison

"Rick Bass owns a durable and authentic voice. I read 'The Watch' with intense pleasure, wondering at the skill of a young writer who can both frighten and amaze. This is a superb debut."

Bob Shacochis

"Rick Bass is the rarest of writers, someone whose stories are read again and again. 'The Watch' is a terrific book."

Clyde Edgerton

"There is enough energy in this book to shake a house."

Editorial Reviews

"Rick Bass owns a durable and authentic voice. I read The Watch with intense pleasure, wondering at the skill of a young writer who can both frighten and amaze. This is a superb debut."

Jim Harrison

"One of the truly impressive short story writers of his generation."

George Plimpton

"There is enough energy in this book to shake a house."

Clyde Edgerton

Bass bears witness to the remnants of the American outback in his tales about men, their buddies and their women in the swamps of Mississippi, and the wilds of Utah, Montana and Texas. Some misfires here notwithstanding, ``he is a writer of great power and promise who casts novel and revealing light on the American male experience,'' noted PW. (Mar.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

In understated prose that concentrates on things that really matterfriendship, freedom, and loyaltyBass skillfully sketches his characters: men who drink too much, drive too fast, take too many chances and, regardless of their age, refuse to grow up. Wild and free, they are emotionally content with their usually remote environment, living off the land or going back to it to renew themselves. Bass writes with verisimilitude; he himself is a petroleum geologist who currently works on a Montana ranch. His stories will appeal most to male readers who enjoy the outdoors. Ellen R. Cohen, Rockville, Md.

Library Journal

lthough Mr. Bass is essentially a romantic, he balances humor against pathos and relieves the lyricism in his prose with an occasional gritty touch....When Mr. Bass gets to what he's looking for, he goes past technical excellence to his best work, which is fresh and strange. -- New York Times

Susan Lowell