Who Would Like This Book:
If you love quirky small-town stories bursting with eccentric characters, dry wit, and a strong sense of place, this one's for you. Annie Proulx brings the Texas Panhandle to life through Bob Dollar's bumbling adventures and a parade of memorable locals. Fans of Larry McMurtry or folks fascinated by rural Americana, environmental themes, or character-rich narratives will feel right at home.
Who May Not Like This Book:
Some readers may find the story meanders without much of a central plot and gets weighed down by an avalanche of character backgrounds and historical detail. If you prefer a fast-moving narrative or get frustrated by too much local color and not enough action, this book might test your patience. Those looking for clear story arcs over layered atmosphere may want to steer clear.
About:
"That Old Ace in the Hole" by Annie Proulx is a novel set in the Texas Oklahoma panhandle, following the story of Bob Dollar, a young man scouting locations for hog operations. The book weaves together episodic stories of eccentric characters in the small town of Woolybucket, Texas, offering insights into the history and challenges of the Texas Panhandle region. Proulx's writing style is described as capturing the essence of the wide open landscape and sharply etching characters against it, with a plot that unfolds slowly, allowing readers to immerse themselves in the setting and character development.
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Sensitive Topics/Content Warnings
Content warnings may include themes of environmental degradation, deception, and the mental and emotional struggles of the protagonist.
From The Publisher:
From Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner Annie Proulx comes an exhilarating story brimming with language, history, landscape, music, and love.
Bob Dollar is a young man from Denver trying to make good in a bad world. Out of college and aimless, Dollar takes a job with Global Pork Rind, scouting out big spreads of land that can be converted to hog farms. Soon he's holed up in a two-bit Texas town called Woolybucket, where he settles into LaVon Fronk's old bunkhouse for fifty dollars a month, helps out at Cy Frease's Old Dog Café, and learns the hard way how vigorously the old Texas ranch owners will hold on to their land, even when their children want no part of it.
Robust, often bawdy, strikingly original, That Old Ace in the Hole traces the waves of change that have shaped the American West over the past century - and in Bob Dollar, Proulx has created one of the most irrepressible characters in contemporary fiction.
Ratings (3)
Loved It (1) | |
Liked It (1) | |
Did Not Like (1) |
Reader Stats (5):
Read It (3) | |
Want To Read (1) | |
Not Interested (1) |
1 comment(s)
This is the second time I've read Annie Proulx but I could have sweared that I've read at least one more. For this book was a complete snoze fest, was not my kind of book at all. But saw some really loving reviews for it, so clearly it's something I'm missing here. But I can't love every book
What can you read after
That Old Ace in the Hole?
About the Author:
Annie Proulx is the author of eight books, including the novel The Shipping News and the story collection Close Range. Her many honors include a Pulitzer Prize, a National Book Award, the Irish Times International Fiction Prize, and a PEN/Faulkner award. Her story "Brokeback Mountain," which originally appeared in The New Yorker, was made into an Academy Award-winning film. Her most recent novel is Barkskins. She lives in Seattle.
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