Rating: 
Summary: Superb Montana fiction
Review: Rowland's superb debut novel sets a new standard for fiction about growing up and ranching life in twentieth century Montana. His voice has more authenticity than anyone I can think of, including Ivan Doig's works. Reading this book, you can imagine the author at his keyboard with horse sweat on his jeans, barnwood splinters in his hands, and cow manure under his fingernails. It just doesn't get any better than this.
Rating:
Summary: Time and place
Review: Russell Rowland has truly captured a time and place in his novel about a Montana ranch family. Their struggles, strengths and triumphs are richly detailed in a simple and eloquent way. Obviously Rowland knows his subject matter well and easily transports the reader through several decades, and into the heart of the Arbuckle clan. Whether you hail from Boston or Butte, this tale of sibling rivalries, family togetherness and community spirit will inspire you to learn more about the people who settled America's heartland.
Rating:
Summary: A deeply affecting family saga
Review: Russell Rowland writes about the intricacies of family life and the grandeur/harshness of the Western landscape with equal aplomb (not to mention great beauty and power). A masterful debut.
Rating:
Summary: In Open Spaces
Review: Russell Rowland's imagery: ". . . her shiny black hair that, when she entered a dance, everyone lost a step."
His theme: "What was he like?" and its corollary.
The visuals, the characters, the conflicts, the betrayals, the survival, the dreams and how the characters lived within their own, the moral, the morale, the lingo--all these elements weave the fabric of a wonderful read. If you have never been to Montana or on a prairie or stepped foot on a working ranch, you can go there in Mr. Rowland's book. ... I truly enjoyed IN Open Spaces.
Rating:
Summary: Compelling Storytelling
Review: The land of the big sky rings true even to those of us who have never visited Montana. An engrossing story of sibling rivalry that is beautifully written with an eye for strong character development and the use of setting as character. Highly recommended debut by a writer I hope to hear more from soon.
Rating:
Summary: Escape to a quite, fascinating place.
Review: The world is such a noisy place. It was great to escape into the quite past of "In Open Spaces". You can almost hear the wind blowing across the paddocks. The characters are fascinating and I loved the rich descriptions of their relationships with the land and with each other. Take a break - read it now.
Rating:
Summary: Gorgeous, gripping
Review: This a book to treasure. Rowland has such an immense talent for creating setting, character, and mood; from the first pages, the reader is cast out into the vastness of the Montana landscape and then finds he does not want to leave. Pages turn quickly here, too quickly--you have to remind yourself to slow down and savor Rowland's loving descriptions, yet the characters themselves are constantly compelling you forward. Bloody, passionate, and gorgeous, In Open Spaces announces Rowland to the world.
Rating: 
Summary: A Great Story...
Review: This book took me about 2 weeks to finish. Not because it's slow, or boring...just the opposite. This was a beautiful look at a ranching family in Montana, and the struggles they go through with the land and each other. I didn't want to rush this book in any way. I wanted to savor every chapter, which is just what I did. The detailed discriptions of the land, and how their life is run made me feel like I was right there.
Blake Arbuckle tells the story of his family that begins in 1916 when he's 13 yrs. old, and goes on to 1946. By the end of this book I felt like they were all part of my own family. I highly recommend this book. Even though it's not fast paced, or a riveting tale that you finish in one day, it's a fascinating look at what life was like on a ranch, and the trials this one family endures. I would love to see a sequel to this book to find out what happens to the next generation of Arbuckles.
Rating:
Summary: Opened a Door to My Heart
Review: This breathtakingly good debut positively floored me. It is at once majestic and intimate. The author presents a family of strong, unique characters who must act as one to survive the unforgiving open spaces of Eastern Montana -- even as the family members increasingly form and break alliances with one another. Rich in detail, the author's ranchhand roots clearly run deep. I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interst in "guy stuff" (ranching, baseball, murder?), "girl stuff" (unrequited love, intrafamily dynamics, handsome cowboys) or just stuff (life during the depression, hitching rides in mail trucks, how to hold a cigarette).
Rating:
Summary: In Open Spaces
Review: This is a quality novel. Russ Rowland does an incredible job of transporting the reader to Depression Era Montana. He has created a genuinely unique and likeable narrator in the form of Blake Arbuckle, who serves to give the reader a prolonged look into the lives of this incredible ranching family as they strive to survive, with dignity, humor and immense family loyalty, the great drought that struck American farmers in the 1930's.
I really came to care for the members of this family. The story of the American rancher has long been denied in our fiction; Rowland does the telling with grace.
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