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Loading... That Old Ace in the Hole: A Novel (original 2002; edition 2003)by Annie Proulx (Author)
Work InformationThat Old Ace in the Hole by Annie Proulx (2002)
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Sign up for LibraryThing to find out whether you'll like this book. No current Talk conversations about this book. Bob Dollar takes a job as a land scout for Global Pork Rind to locate industrial hog farms in the Texas panhandle. Since hog farms are so unpopular, he must go undercover, and presents himself as a scout for a luxury home real estate developer. He bases himself in the town of Woolybucket, lodging in an old cowboy bunkhouse and getting to know all the oldtimers in town. Proulx uses this thinnest of plots to relate episodic stories of the old cowhands from the earliest days of the twentieth century through the present day. The novel is full of eccentric and colorful characters (including the eponymous Ace Crouch, repairer of windmills) whose stories meander and criss-cross with each other over the years. Like Proulx's masterpiece The Shipping News, the sense of place, in this case the Texas panhandle rather than Newfoundland, is as important an element as the characters or the plot. I'm really sorry I let this languish on my shelves for so long. Highly recommended. 4 stars Frankly, because of my experience with both the other Annie Proulx novels I've read, I was a little reluctant to even begin reading her 2002 novel "That Old Ace in the Hole." I found both "The Shipping News" and "Accordion Crimes" (well written as they are) to be a little too somber, almost depressing, to suit my tastes, but this one was a very pleasant surprise. "That Old Ace in the Hole" is the story of one Bob Dollar, a young man from Denver so desperately in need of work that he takes a job as a scout for the Global Pork Rind company. Bad as that company name is, the job is even worse. As scout, it is up to Bob to find Texas Panhandle ranchers and formers willing to sell their acreage to him regardless of what his company plans to do on the purchased property. Because the massive hog farms run by Global Pork Rind are so ruinous to the environment and so unpleasant for the neighboring farms, Bob is encouraged to lie and cheat in any way necessary to get these aging ranchers to sign their names on the dotted line. Bob Dollar, though, finds himself enjoying life in little Woolybucket, Texas, so much that he just can't quite bring himself to disclose his real purpose in the town. This premise allows Proulx to tell the history of the region through the wonderful characters she creates for the novel (men and women Bob Dollar is trying to deceive into selling their property), all of them descendants of those who settled that part of the state when Indians were still a constant danger. Proulx's writing (and certainly her plot) reminds me a bit of the kind of comic novel that Larry McMurtry writes. I think that McMurtry fans will easily take to this novel and that they might even be surprised that someone out there can even top Mr. McMurtry on occasion in this type of story. I come away from "That Old Ace in the Hole" thinking that I have been underestimating Ms. Proulx's work. I look forward to reading more from her. The book is paced in a style that seems true to its setting: slow and steady. It takes its time to describe the scene and helps you feel the character of the town. I really liked that about the book, even though I thought I wouldn't when I began reading. Bob Dollar is trying to buy land for hog farms for a big corporation (which is itself a character in the novel) in a small town where folks ('folks' is more appropriate than 'people') are nostalgic about the old ways and the simple ways. He's a good character: has depth and compassion and struggles with the direction of his life. Very likable. It's been a while since I read [book:The Shipping News], but I see a similarity in it to this book, similar in a way that if you liked the one you'll probably like the other without thinking you're reading the same thing again. Both books are set in small very rural places in which a 'newcomer' is the protagonist and gets to know (and love) the community and all its eccentric ways. Weather has a place in each book, too. no reviews | add a review
Assigned to locate land in the panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma that can be purchased and converted into pig farms for his employer, Bob Dollar meets the residents of Woolybucket and comes to respect their fierce desire to retain their land. No library descriptions found. |
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Google Books — Loading... GenresMelvil Decimal System (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999LC ClassificationRatingAverage:
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The main character is trying to scout land on the panhandle of Texas, for his job working for pig factory farms. Everybody in the book likes to eat pig, and cow and chickens and buffaloes, but when it comes to selling their land for a pig factory, their hypocritical response is NIMBY. They think their panhandle is theirs (not the Indians they stole it from). Yawn. ( )