Overview

Bobby Hale is a Union veteran several times over. After the war, he sets his sights on California, but only makes it to Montana. As he stumbles around the West, from the Wyoming Territory to the Black Hills of the Dakotas, he finds meaning in the people he meets-settlers and native people-and the violent history he both participates in and witnesses. Far as the Eye Can See is the story of life in a place where every minute is an engagement in a kind of war of survival, and how two people-a white man and a mixed-race woman-in the midst of such majesty and violence can manage to find a pathway to their own humanity. Robert Bausch is the distinguished author of a body of work that is lively and varied, but linked by a thoughtfully complicated masculinity and an uncommon empathy. The unique voice of Bobby Hale manages to evoke both Cormac McCarthy and Mark Twain, guiding readers into Indian country and the Plains Wars in a manner both historically true and contemporarily relevant, as thoughts of race and war occupy the national psyche.

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9781620402597

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Reviews

Robert Bausch has produced a funny, intelligent, poignant novel that courageously explores the fundamental truths in all our lives. -- The New York Times on The Lives of Riley Chance His book has a special resonance that continues in the mind long after you finish the final page. It may be the resonance of the 20th century--a chronicle of what happened to the human soul in this dark and turbulent time. -- The Washington Post on The Lives of Riley Chance An experience so intimate . . . that it almost blinds you with love. -- O, The Oprah Magazine on The Gypsy Man If one of the purposes of literature is to illuminate human inconsistencies and frailties, failed attempts to communicate, and redemptive possibilites, this richly rewarding new novel . . . wins stars in each category . . . [With] a delicacy and subtlety that indicate a mastery of his craft . . . Bausch's profound empathy for his characters, his wise understanding [of] the texture of life . . . contributes to a flawlessly expressed novel. -- Publishers Weekly, starred review, on A Hole in the Earth

An entertaining old-school western [in] the reluctant-hero tradition of Charles Portis ( True Grit ). - The New York Times Book Review, Editor's Choice With a setting gleaming with historical accuracy and a protagonist whose voice is right out of Twain, Bausch's novel is a worthy addition to America's Western literary canon, there to share shelf space with The Big Sky, Little Big Man and Lonesome Dove. - Kirkus Reviews, starred review As expansive as the country it traverses, Bausch's majestic odyssey through the Old West finds rich nuance in a history often oversimplified . . .The novel's patient, searching first-person narration is finely balanced, with a voice at once straightforward and lyrical, grand and particular. Bausch's characters defy facile judgments; each is sharply distinctive, yet all struggle to find a footing amid the clash of human difference that is, in Bobby Hale's words, the 'most spacious war of all.' - Publishers Weekly Bausch's voice is more Mark Twain than Larry McMurtry . . . [He] is perceptive without being preachy, and he grants Hale a wide range of emotions while preserving a recognizable strand of stoic masculinity. - Booklist Bausch captures the immense measure of the American landscape . . . Not to be missed by historical fiction fans. - Library Journal Characters like the enigmatic yet relatable Bobby Hale are a real prize in literature. . . . Far As the Eye Can See is a superb western with bold ideas, but it is also daring in its ability to build fresh concepts while maintaining the tried-and-true dynamic of humanity emerging within individuals through war. . . A gripping and engaging tale. - Book Reporter

An entertaining old-school western [in] the reluctant-hero tradition of Charles Portis ( True Grit ). - The New York Times Book Review With a setting gleaming with historical accuracy and a protagonist whose voice is right out of Twain, Bausch's novel is a worthy addition to America's Western literary canon, there to share shelf space with The Big Sky, Little Big Man and Lonesome Dove. - Kirkus Reviews, starred review As expansive as the country it traverses, Bausch's majestic odyssey through the Old West finds rich nuance in a history often oversimplified . . .The novel's patient, searching first-person narration is finely balanced, with a voice at once straightforward and lyrical, grand and particular. Bausch's characters defy facile judgments; each is sharply distinctive, yet all struggle to find a footing amid the clash of human difference that is, in Bobby Hale's words, the 'most spacious war of all.' - Publishers Weekly Bausch's voice is more Mark Twain than Larry McMurtry . . . [He] is perceptive without being preachy, and he grants Hale a wide range of emotions while preserving a recognizable strand of stoic masculinity. - Booklist Bausch captures the immense measure of the American landscape . . . Not to be missed by historical fiction fans. - Library Journal

Robert Bausch has produced a funny, intelligent, poignant novel that courageously explores the fundamental truths in all our lives. -- The New York Times on The Lives of Riley Chance His book has a special resonance that continues in the mind long after you finish the final page. It may be the resonance of the 20th century--a chronicle of what happened to the human soul in this dark and turbulent time. -- The Washington Post on The Lives of Riley Chance An experience so intimate . . . that it almost blinds you with love. -- O, The Oprah Magazine on The Gypsy Man If one of the purposes of literature is to illuminate human inconsistencies and frailties, failed attempts to communicate, and redemptive possibilites, this richly rewarding new novel . . . wins stars in each category . . . [With] a delicacy and subtlety that indicate a mastery of his craft . . . Bausch's profound empathy for his characters, his wise understanding [of] the texture of life . . . contributes to a flawlessly expressed novel. -- Publishers Weekly , starred review, on A Hole in the Earth

Author Information

Robert Bausch is the author of six novels and one collection of short stories. They include Almighty Me (optioned for film and eventually adapted as Bruce Almighty), A Hole in the Earth (a New York Times Notable and Washington Post Favorite Book of the Year), and Out of Season (also a Washington Post Favorite). He was born in Georgia and raised around Washington, D.C. Educated at George Mason University (BA, MA, MFA), he has taught at UVA, American, George Mason, and Johns Hopkins, and most recently at Northern Virgina Community College. In 2005, he won the Fellowship of Southern Writers' Hillsdale Award for Fiction for his body of work. In 2009, he was awarded the John Dos Passos Prize for Literature, also for sustained achievement. He lives in Virginia.

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