#readlocalks
Robert Rebein, son of a ranching family in southwestern Kansas, knows his people and knows this place. He has packed what he knows into a dense, loving, and clear-eyed saga, a contemporary western of the expected sweeping vistas, rural hardship, galloping horses, rugged (to a fault) men and indomitable (to a fault) women. These "typical" ingredients are layered in with heartbreak, suffering, exaltation, loss, endurance, addiction, aging, grave errors... and the possibility of redemption, starting over, understanding, and patience. Rebein's men and woman are complicated, difficult, sometimes downright infuriating, but they are all worth caring about.
I might have done without quite so much automotive product placement (their machinery is *extremely* important to the Bar W denizens); I worried more about what would become of the horses and dogs. But these people and this place are worth getting to know; those who already do know them will recognize them. Rebein knows them well, and paints them with vividness, understanding, and honesty.