In a time where the world is either drowning, or burning, or being drilled-into, Houston’s outlook promises a better tomorrow – even if that means we’re no longer here. And as equally deep is her ability for hope. Pam Houston is in possession of a deep, heart-achingly beautiful love for her own personal piece of earth. But the ranch has taught Houston many things about herself and about the world – and now she teaches us. Hers is a story of resilience, and it was even before she had to take care of ranch animals, and learn to cook with elevation, and survive winters and fires at 9000 ft. Labeled as a memoir, but broken up into sprawling essays that mirror an almanac, Deep Creek chronicles life on Houston’s 120-acre ranch in Creede, Colorado. Nearly 26 years later, Deep Creek echoes the same authenticity and richness as Houston’s debut, though both are radically different in the best of ways.
I first came to Houston’s work through Cowboys Are My Weakness, a 1992 collection of short stories full of daredevil, self-aware characters who experience emotional and physical hardships. On every page is a quote, a sentiment, an ode to the gifts she has observed and been given since purchasing her ranch in Colorado when she was 31-years-old. If you know anything about Pam Houston’s body of work, it should be no surprise that her newest book, Deep Creek: Finding Hope in the High Country , is full of powerful, fully-realized, and honest prose that describes a love of the Earth, and gratitude for being alive on it.
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