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Usually ships in 1 business days | | | They say you can't go home again, but sometimes, you don't have a choice
Dickie Sinfield was seven years old when her father decided to become a cowboy and move his family from their comfortable suburban home to a small run-down ranch in Clayton, Utah. From her first stock show to the day she turns eighteen and flees for the comforts of the city, Dickie bucks the cattle-ranching lifestyle and yearns for manicured lawns, housebroken pets, and neighborhood playmates. Yet she reluctantly finds herself drawn to the vast, desolate landscape of the desert and the solitude it offers—a feeling she won't acknowledge even within herself. Now a grown woman, Dickie is a respected reporter in Salt Lake City, convinced that physical distance and a convenient but passionless relationship will erase the memory of her painful childhood. But when her brother dies in a tragic accident, Dickie finds herself back in the farmhouse she tried so desperately to abandon. Suddenly, she is faced with her family's past and a love she's never admitted to, bringing down the walls of her carefully contrived existence. Accustomed to the physical boundaries city life entails, Dickie feels emotionally exposed by the fenceless expanse of the ranch. As she navigates her past, piecing together relationships, romance, and the pull of the mountains themselves, she finally confronts the pivotal moment of her childhood—the horrifying discovery that made her flee the desert so many years ago. A novel that spans two generations and vast landscapes, The Last Cowgirl brings to mind the writing of Pam Houston and Barbara Kingsolver. Richman's provocative prose, pulled from personal experience, will strike a chord with anyone who has been faced with demons from their past and found solace in the space around them. | | | |
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| | Product Details | | Author: | Jana Richman | | Hardcover: | 304 pages | | Publisher: | William Morrow | | Publication Date: | January 01, 2008 | | ISBN: | 0061257184 | | Package Length: | 9.1 inches | | Package Width: | 6.0 inches | | Package Height: | 1.3 inches | | Package Weight: | 1.1 pounds | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 5 reviews |
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Great reading May 09, 2008
A warm wonderful book. I really enjoyed it and felt like I was there while reading it. Great charactors
 Great read - doesn't disappoint Mar 17, 2008
I ordered this book by author Jana Richman, having so thoroughly enjoyed her non-fiction work Riding in the Shadows of Saints: A Woman's Story of Motorcycling the Mormon Trail. I was hoping for more of her thoughtful insights into the Mormon culture in particular and human nature in general and 'The Last Cowgirl' did not disappoint.
With a light and compelling style and clear prose, Richman weaves a tale loosely based on her own experiences growing up in rural Utah to fulfill her father's life-long dream to live the American cowboy life before it was lost forever. The story is a short epic, covering as it does the lives of its main characters over a span of 40 years or so. Along the way, the reader learns more about the uniquely Mormon culture, the difficult but sometimes fulfilling life of the small rancher in the American West, and the US Army's secretive and flawed chemical weapons testing program in the desert west of Salt Lake City in the '60's.
The characters themselves are endearing, approachable and well developed for such a compact work, and I found myself wanting to jump in the car and drive out to that rugged valley where the story plays out in the hopes of running into one or more them - they are that appealing and believable.
As with her earlier work, Ms Richman has written a book that is entertaining, informative and thought-provoking. I look forward to more from this talented writer.
2 of 2 found the following review helpful:
A novel that reads like a memoir Jan 16, 2008
I recently reviewed two memoirs, mentioning that they read like novels. Now I have found a novel that felt like a memoir. In The Last Cowgirl: A Novel, Jana Richman has brought her main character, Dickie Sinfield to life through a combination of contemporary narrative and flashbacks to childhood memories. The Last Cowgirl is a book about a woman coming to terms with her childhood on a cattle ranch, and her life in the 30 years since she left it.
When she was 7 years old, Dickie's father George moved the family from a suburb of Salt Lake City to a ranch in the rural town of Clayton, complete with cows and horses. Dickie tells us at the beginning of the novel:
Since then - nearly forty-six years ago - I've blamed anything that needed blaming on what Annie refers to it as Dad's "Gil Favor complex."
Dickie's older brother Heber thrived, loving the change, while older sister Annie and mother Ruth ignored the move, continuing to be fashionable and ladylike. Dickie was stuck in the middle, and ended up torn between the two extremes. While she would say that she hated life in Clayton, she loved riding in the wilderness with her new friend Stumpy and helping their neighbor, Bev, with her garden and ranch. Dickie was a sensitive child who had thrived on orderliness of the green grass, sidewalks, and curbs, and felt out of her element in the relative wilderness of Clayton. Dickie's character comes across well in this quote about her unsettled feelings during childhood:
It was the last three words that got to me. The three words I'd been hearing my entire life. Dropped off a horse onto her head. She'll be fine. Dragged by a steer. She'll be fine. Lost in the mountains. She'll be fine. Branded. She'll be fine. Shot at. She'll be fine. At what point, I wondered, do the actions of grown-ups add up to a child who actually won't be fine?
Dickie leaves Clayton right after graduation with a college scholarship for a journalism program, then leads a very orderly life in Salt Lake City as a prominent writer for a Mormon newspaper. She has a house, a yard with a garden, a couple friends, and a neighbor who she has been casually dating for over 10 years. Dickie's orderly life is reminiscent of her suburban life prior to the move to Clayton. She has also tried to leave behind any emotional messiness; we are left only with hints about a past relationship. Dickie's liberal beliefs set her apart from most of the people at work and help her keep her distance from others, making her life very compartmentalized. The Last Cowgirl challenges its narrator to let go of her control, and brings the reader along for the wonderful ride, galloping beside her.
Using Dickie's voice to tell the story, Richman makes The Last Cowgirl very personal. As we read her memories from childhood, we build a strong connection with her. Dickie's friends, family, and neighbors become like friends to us as we see them from her childhood through her adulthood. Richman writes very detailed descriptions, and while I've never been to Utah, I can now picture the landscape around the ranch in great detail; Richman has painted vivid images that have stayed in my mind long after I closed the book. My mind's eye is stuck on a hidden canyon with wild horses...
I'm glad I took The Last Cowgirl off my shelf on a day when my daughters weren't home, because nothing could make me put it down! As it was, I ignored my husband, dogs, and computer while I was caught in the world Richman spun around Dickie Sinfield. The Last Cowgirl had me laughing, crying, and reading quotes out loud, completely enraptured by the story. Make sure you've got some free time when you pick it up, you won't be able to put it down.
I strongly recommend reading The Last Cowgirl, not only so you can read about Dickie's unique childhood escapades, but also to read her journey from keeping everyone at arm's length to trying to achieve happiness. As you follow your own trail, spend a few hours reading The Last Cowgirl to help bring you some smiles along the way.
 Can you Jan 13, 2008
Dickie Sinfield is currently pretty happy with her life. She has a job as a journalist that she loves. Her house is wonderfully messy and chaotic. Michael, her boyfriend of twelve years, lives right next door and is always there when she needs him. Dot, her best friend, keeps her life moving with her advice and no-nonsense attitude. Everything has been going pretty well for Dickie until she gets the word that her brother, Heber, has died.
When Dickie goes back home for the funeral, she's faced with her family and friends, but most of all she's faced with her childhood. Years of trying to forget have gone out the window the first moment she steps foot back on the ranch. Now Dickie must deal with a past that has always haunted her. Is the old adage true that you can't go home again?
Or is it true that home is where the heart is?
While reading the first chapter, I was actually very disappointed. I felt it was dry and didn't sink its teeth into me. But by the time I started the second chapter, I changed my mind, and then had a hard time putting it down.
Jana Richman has a wonderful way with words that allows you to visualize exactly what is happening and to sympathize with the characters. You know how everyone is feeling, looking, and acting throughout the entire book, though sometimes you don't understand their motivations.
The problem I had with this book was the constant flashbacks. I understand they needed to be there, but it took me until the end of the book to figure out that there was a pattern for which they emerge. Overall I really enjoyed the book and thought it was a great story that makes you examine your own life and what it holds.
Jane and her husband live in Utah, and she invites readers to email her at last [...].
Armchair Interviews says: The Last Cowgirl is Jane Richman's third novel.
2 of 6 found the following review helpful:
interesting family drama Jan 05, 2008
Now fifty-two years old and never married Dickie Sinfield looks back on her childhood when her father moved the family from the burbs to a Utah cattle ranch; at seven she went from suburban princess to mucking cowgirl. Over a decade after the transformation, eighteen year old Dickie had enough with the rough lifestyle and fled the ranch for Salt Lake City where she became a reporter.
Over the decades Dickie wants nothing much to do with her family and denies her feelings for her childhood friend Stumpy Nelson. However, her mortality comes home to roost forcing her to reexamine her feelings when her brother, Hebert dies in a poison gas accident at Dugway Proving Grounds. She returns to the ranch for his funeral and to face her family, her friends, and mostly herself.
This is an interesting family drama that looks deep at the impact emotionally on decisions in which people have reasonable choices to make; of fascination is how easily humans rationalize the selection vs. the rejections. In an aside subplot related to Herbert's death, the Feds are nuked by Jana Richman for their disregard of safety when it comes to handling of chemical and biological weapons, but the prime plot is people justifying poor choices.
Harriet Klausner
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