Rating: 
Summary: What the fire leaves behind...
Review: I've been a devoted fan of Richard Ford's writing since I read his incredible Frank Bascombe novels, THE SPORTSWRITER and INDEPENDENCE DAY. Those are easily two of the best books I've ever read.
Ford is so skilled at creating damaged yet optimistic characters and making them interact in the world around them, that is just makes you want to cry with compassion and love for all of the ways that we as humans are screwed up, and yet able to mount another dream after the went before has turned into ashes.
WILDLIFE is pure Richard Ford, though on a smaller scale than the Bascombe novels. In this novel, Ford writes from the perspective of a young boy growing up in rural 1950's Montana with amid his parents' troubled marriage.
Ford is often compared to Hemingway, and the similarities are certainly visible in this novel. Ford's simple, understated, yet emotion-packed style is maybe at its most Hemingwayesque in this novel, but it's still uniquely Ford. The young boy finding the means around him to be a man is also similar to Hemingway's Nick Adams, but again, but, again, it never feels that Ford is just imitating Hemingway here.
Richard Ford is his own man, and his own writer, and there's something very appealing about Ford's writing, that shines through in this novel, and makes you want to celebrate the beauty of life in all its painful twists and turns.If you've never read Richard Ford before, you're missing out on a great modern American writer.
Rating:
Summary: the saddest days of a family
Review: In the novel wildlife, Richard Ford writes about Joe and his family's life. The story takes place in Great Falls, Montana, in the fall of 1960's. In reality, all the events happen in three days, however, the family feels these three days are very long time. The family members struggle and divide over many issues.
Jerry, the father, is a professional athlete; He can play every sport. In addition, he was a baseball teacher. He is a handsome, innocent, honest, and educated man. Jeanette, the mother, is two years younger than Jerry. She is a pretty, small woman who has a good sense of a humor. She worked as a bookkeeper, and a substitute teacher in math and science. Also, in Great Falls, she worked as a swimming teacher. Jerry and Jeanette met in college in 1941. Jeanette loved Jerry and simply decided to marry him. She followed him from town to town even to these of them she didn't like, for instance, Great Falls. Their only son, Joe, is a sixteen years old teenager. He is a very quiet and peaceful person. He never argued with his parents and expressed his opinion.
The family struggled emotionally and financially. Emotionally, the members of the family miss the love between them. The parents started to lose understand each other. For example, when Jerry stated to argue with his wife, he said, "You've changed your thinking, now, haven't you, Jean."(24). Jeanette started to sleep at the couch and Jerry slept alone in his bedroom. In addition, the family struggled financially. The father lost his job and left home to go fight a fire, which suddenly happened in the town. The mother started to teach swimming. She met a man and fell in love with him. The son became alone and afraid of what's coming in his way. One time, when he was talking to his self, he said, "Death was less terrible at that moment than being alone."(131)
The family separated and everyone of its member went in a different direction. After Jerry left home for the fire, Jeanette loved another man, Warren Miller. Warren didn't love Jean but he wanted to have some fun with her, as he always does with all the women. Jeanette decided to move out by herself. She forgot everyone, even her only son, and started thinking only about her future. One time, she told her son " You have to give things up. That's the rule. It's the major rule for everything."(123) Joe got lost between two sides, his mom and his dad. He could see his family breaking apart and couldn't do anything. Many reasons have worked together to lead Joe and his family to a bad situation. Starting with moving from town to town because Jerry wanted to find a better place and a better job. Finally, ending up with Jeanette leaving home.
Wildlife is a very interesting novel and easy to read. Richard Ford used easy words and wrote in an understandable language. In addition, Ford viewed the story from first person point of view, Joe. Joe was a very detailed character; He explained every little event happened in the most three wild days of his life. As Jerry said to his son, when Jeanette was leaving home, "This is a wild life, isn't it, son?"(143). Jerry really meant the words he said and Joe agreed with him. Wildlife is the kind of novels I love to read because it summarizes most of our life problems. Life is full of surprises, as I read in this novel, but I will try to get over the bad ones. I recommend this novel to everybody, especially to teenagers, because it's a meaning full story.
Rating:
Summary: the saddest days of a family
Review: In the novel wildlife, Richard Ford writes about Joe and his family's life. The story takes place in Great Falls, Montana, in the fall of 1960's. In reality, all the events happen in three days, however, the family feels these three days are very long time. The family members struggle and divide over many issues.
Jerry, the father, is a professional athlete; He can play every sport. In addition, he was a baseball teacher. He is a handsome, innocent, honest, and educated man. Jeanette, the mother, is two years younger than Jerry. She is a pretty, small woman who has a good sense of a humor. She worked as a bookkeeper, and a substitute teacher in math and science. Also, in Great Falls, she worked as a swimming teacher. Jerry and Jeanette met in college in 1941. Jeanette loved Jerry and simply decided to marry him. She followed him from town to town even to these of them she didn't like, for instance, Great Falls. Their only son, Joe, is a sixteen years old teenager. He is a very quiet and peaceful person. He never argued with his parents and expressed his opinion.
The family struggled emotionally and financially. Emotionally, the members of the family miss the love between them. The parents started to lose understand each other. For example, when Jerry stated to argue with his wife, he said, "You've changed your thinking, now, haven't you, Jean."(24). Jeanette started to sleep at the couch and Jerry slept alone in his bedroom. In addition, the family struggled financially. The father lost his job and left home to go fight a fire, which suddenly happened in the town. The mother started to teach swimming. She met a man and fell in love with him. The son became alone and afraid of what's coming in his way. One time, when he was talking to his self, he said, "Death was less terrible at that moment than being alone."(131)
The family separated and everyone of its member went in a different direction. After Jerry left home for the fire, Jeanette loved another man, Warren Miller. Warren didn't love Jean but he wanted to have some fun with her, as he always does with all the women. Jeanette decided to move out by herself. She forgot everyone, even her only son, and started thinking only about her future. One time, she told her son " You have to give things up. That's the rule. It's the major rule for everything."(123) Joe got lost between two sides, his mom and his dad. He could see his family breaking apart and couldn't do anything. Many reasons have worked together to lead Joe and his family to a bad situation. Starting with moving from town to town because Jerry wanted to find a better place and a better job. Finally, ending up with Jeanette leaving home.
Wildlife is a very interesting novel and easy to read. Richard Ford used easy words and wrote in an understandable language. In addition, Ford viewed the story from first person point of view, Joe. Joe was a very detailed character; He explained every little event happened in the most three wild days of his life. As Jerry said to his son, when Jeanette was leaving home, "This is a wild life, isn't it, son?"(143). Jerry really meant the words he said and Joe agreed with him. Wildlife is the kind of novels I love to read because it summarizes most of our life problems. Life is full of surprises, as I read in this novel, but I will try to get over the bad ones. I recommend this novel to everybody, especially to teenagers, because it's a meaning full story.
Rating: 
Summary: Slow at the Speed of Sound
Review: In what starts out as a slow paced story that you have read hundreds of times before, accelerates before you are aware. You feel the confusion of all the characters, while offering no solution only questions. These are questions asked before, now without preaching, just questioning. A subtle wonderful series of questions and real human emotions.
Rating:
Summary: Haunting.
Review: One of the best books I read this year. I can't stop thinking about it.
Rating:
Summary: House on Fire
Review: The setting is Great Falls, Montana. The father, a golf pro, is seeking tips in the oil boom. He, the father, loses his job at the Wheatland Club. The dismissal is unfair. The problem of theft is quickly solved and he is invited to be reinstated but in his wounded vanity he does nothing. He undergoes an informal separation from his wife pursuing a firefighting career. The son is dismayed to learn of the mother's interest in someone else. The break-up of the family becomes formal when she declines to resume marital habitation upon her husband's return. The father, drunk, sets fire to the other man's house. There aren't really dire consequences to the action, just a continuation of fractured relationships. The author's deadpan style is compelling and appropriate to the subject matter. The influence of Raymond Carver is evident.
Rating:
Summary: House on Fire
Review: The setting is Great Falls, Montana. The father, a golf pro, is seeking tips in the oil boom. He, the father, loses his job at the Wheatland Club. The dismissal is unfair. The problem of theft is quickly solved and he is invited to be reinstated but in his wounded vanity he does nothing. He undergoes an informal separation from his wife pursuing a firefighting career. The son is dismayed to learn of the mother's interest in someone else. The break-up of the family becomes formal when she declines to resume marital habitation upon her husband's return. The father, drunk, sets fire to the other man's house. There aren't really dire consequences to the action, just a continuation of fractured relationships. The author's deadpan style is compelling and appropriate to the subject matter. The influence of Raymond Carver is evident.
Rating:
Summary: Emotional and insightful from start to finish
Review: This book is gripping from the first to the last word and I couldn't put it down. The story moves quickly and the feeling of impending disaster seems to build up until the climax toward the end. The characters feel intensely about life but don't seem to understand each other well. I particularly think of the scene where the boy is in the car watching his dad set fire to a house. I would rate this along with his short stories, Women with Men, and The Ultimate Good Luck as the best Ford has to offer. I'm not sure why The Sportswriter and Independence Day have received so much attention, as these books tend to be too long and pointless, although I realize that this was the intent, ie to construct an existential landscape of a man in mid-life searching for meaning. But I liked Bergman's Through a Glass Darkly more than Wild Strawberries, so there you go. More emotion, more gripping, yet similar underlying message.
Rating: 
Summary: Fire Fighting ???
Review: This has to be the poorest of Ford's work that I have read. Whereas he displays his great talent of elucidating and teasing out human emotions and frailties , the story is ruined by the persistent vein of the main character fighting a forest fire. This I found extremely grating and distracting. Read "The sportswriter" and "Men with Women" (I have yet to read Independance Day) but skip this one.
Rating:
Summary: A simple, yet rich story.
Review: This is a rich, yet simple story. It records the breakup of a marriage as seen by the teenage son. The tone is such that I kept thinking of the old sepia family photographs so many of us have. Both mother and father are very decent people, love each other, and are compatible in most respects. The son is confused, and certainly not exceptional in any way, but he too is very decent. Ford takes his time in developing this story without ever being dull, and handles the ambiguities and ambivalence present in so many situations very well. As with much of Ford's writing, there are some sentences that I don't quite get, even after several re-reads. I admit it: I don't know why the title is Wildlife and not Wildfire, I obviously missed something.
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