i like this better than "Unfinished Life," the characters are more fully realized and engaging... now i want mark spragg to write a book about ansel's life!
it's also a delight to me because the men's pilgrimage in search of the elusive Gretchen takes them through some of my favorite parts of the country, so it's a bit like a tiny visit back home to read it. the dialog is excellent, but when he tries to get all poetic and lyrical he invites comparison with Cormac McCarthy, and that writes a check his prose can't cash.
i must whinge a bit about spragg's narrating his own book: not a good choice. he's a writer, not a reader. his delivery is rather monotonic, and he runs out of breath in the damnedest places, which causes stops and gasps that disrupt the flow and interrupt your chain of thought as you listen. he does, however, get big points for pronouncing both Dubois (DOO-boys) and Absarokas (ab-SOAR-kas) correctly! :-)
