Where The Sea Used To Be

By Rick Bass

The first full-length novel by one of our finest fiction writers, Where the Sea Used to Be tells the story of a struggle between a father and his daughter for the souls of two men, Matthew and Wallis-his protégés, her lovers. Old Dudley is a Texan whose religion is oil, and in his fifty years of searching for it in Swan Valley he has destroyed a dozen geologists. Matthew is Dudley's most recent victim, but Wallis begins to uncover the dark mystery of Dudley's life. Each character, the wildlife, and the land itself are rendered with the vivid poetry that is that hallmark of Rick Bass's writing.

• Language: English
• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Release date: Jun 3, 2014
• ISBN: 9780544341579

Rick Bass

RICK BASS’s fiction has received O. Henry Awards, numerous Pushcart Prizes, awards from the Texas Institute of Letters, fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation, and his memoir, Why I Came West, was a finalist for a National Book Critics Circle Award.

Reviews for Where The Sea Used To Be

[jphamilton-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A writing style that clearly describes the physical and spiritual sides of nature seems to come easily to Rick Bass. In his previous books, his descriptions of people have somewhat paled in comparison to the lush depictions of the landscape. Now, with his first full-length novel, not only are we rewarded with more fine writing on place, but Bass has honed his talents to create more fully-developed characters. The story takes place in a remote mountain valley that has only produced dry oil wells—nineteen times. Why does the eccentric owner of an oil company send his best engineer off to live with the owner's daughter in this valley for the winter? It might be to find oil or to stir up his daughter, who is studying the valley's wolves. It might be to reward a favorite employee, to punish everyone, or for some reason that a normal mind couldn't even hazard a guess at. The relationship between the engineer and the daughter that forms while he's mapping the valley is uniquely written. It starts with him slung over her shoulder, hanging on for dear life, on a wild ski ride through the dark night to her cabin. This book is a clever, surprising, and rewarding read.

[dchaikin_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is a novel about exploring for oil in a mostly unspoiled region of Montana. It explores mixing the complex harshness and rewards of natural Montana with an insane quest for oil that has little, if anything to do with money. The book suffers from being very long without much to happen. I think there is effort to let the story take its time and let the backwoods of Montana settle on the reader, and really give the reader a feel for the region and into some psychology that incorporates it and that can't. Not sure. There is also long elaborate geological history "written" by the dark character in the book that is quite fascinating. I would like to cut this out of the book and bound it on its own.