Jackalope Dreams

The departed men in her life still have plenty to say to Corey. Her father, a legendary rodeo cowboy who punctuated his lifelong pronouncements with a bullet to his head, may be the loudest. But in this story of Montanaa story in which the old West meets the new and tradition has its way with just about everyoneit is Coreys voice we listen to. In this tour-de-force of voices big and small, sure and faltering, hers comes across resonant and clear, directing us to the heart of the matter. Played out against the mythology of the Old Westa powerful amalgam of ranching history, Marlboro Men, and train robbery reenactmentsthe story of the newly orphaned, spinsterish Corey is a sometimes comical, sometimes poignant tale of coming-of-age a little late. As she tries to recapture an old dream of becoming a painterof preserving some modicum of true art amid the virtual reality of modern MontanaCorey finds herself figuring in other dramas as well, other, younger lives already at least as lost as her own.