I don’t know if there ever has been a postmodern rendering of the contemporary American west in literary fiction but that is what New Mexico author Bruce Hoppe has done in Don’t Let All The Pretty Days Get By. There is, for example, the narrator with an attitude, peppering the story with digressions, the reader’s sidekick and color commentator. Or, consider the Billy the Kid passages—the story within the story. 

 The approach is interesting because of what is does—connects a largely urban fiction reading audience with the experience of the marginal community of the rural heartland. This use of modern language allows Hoppe to represent that subculture in a way that resonates with contemporary city dwellers. Not only do we who are from here get it, but also readers on the coasts get it—this high plains story. The message that I think comes through is that life need not be measured solely by what happens on those coasts.  Out there in “The Big Open” the same joys and follies are at work. Come read about them and see how your country cousins cope. And, in so doing, maybe compare notes on how their experiences shed light upon life’s most pressing questions. And, along the way, maybe you’ll just laugh yourself silly in the bargain. 

 In addition to the unique stylistic approach, I believe the novel also works on another level of originality. Our anecdotal research shows that readers are drawn to the protagonist, Teddy, as myth-buster of the long-suffering, woman-of-the- frontier stereotype. Portrayals of such go getters are not often found in the literature of the region. But, as Hoppe says, “in my thirty years of beating about the backwaters of the high plains I’ve come to know more than a few women like Teddy—Erin Brockovitch prototypes.”

 The above observations lead me to believe that Don’t Let All The Pretty Days Get By is a novel that is deserving of your  attention. I hope you will consider it for your reading list.

 

Sincerely,

 

Joyce Wainwright, Publisher