An emotional and insightful reflection on the importance of having a place, a home, and a community in the West. Beautiful writing that will leave you wanting more.

I found Deep Creek to be a difficult read at times. Pam Houston's explorations of her dysfunctional childhood made me uncomfortable at times. I appreciated the lessons she learned about nature, nurture, herself, and our world and I am grateful to have the chance to share them. If you liked The Glass Castle, The Liar's Club, Running With Scissors, or other book sin that vein, Deep Creek will engage you. I believe this book will become a discussion group selection staple, as I found myself wanting to discuss and debate what I had read.
The descriptions are exquisite and the photography quite compliments the narrative.
I received my copy through NetGalley under no obligation.

I really loved reading this book. The book is an autobiography but it is also about finding your home and place in the world. The author found a ranch in Colorado and has spent her life living there and protecting it. I did find the chapter on the fires too long and I learned more about wildfires than I needed. The rest of the book was quick and easy to read and held my attention. There is a lot humor despite some harrowing situations. The author also shows how important it is to be part of the natural world. Enjoy

I just adore Pam Houston. Deep Creek was a lovely collection of stories of her life and the people, animals and land she surrounds herself with. I look forward to whatever she writes.

Thank you for making DEEP CREEK by Pam Houston available via NetGalley. Houston is clearly a gifted writer and I am sure that she is an inspiring teacher, too. As I began reading, I was seriously considering suggesting this book as a summer read for many of our Senior writing electives. However, her references to child and sexual abuse appear too mature for a required reading assignment.

I was glad I picked up this book even though it wasn't something I would normally read. Her descriptions of life on the ranch and the healing properties of nature were compelling, sad but uplifting. I plan on purchasing this book for our library's collection and recommending it to our customers.

Deep Creek is Pam Houston’s invitation to her ranch home in the high country of Colorado. She bravely invites the reader into the world she has made for herself. From an old homestead, Houston has created a refuge, a home of natural beauty, with animals both wild and domestic. Here Houston can create and refuel from her teaching and journeys around the world. This is also the place where she can become the person she was always meant to be…even when she was unsure where her journey would take her. Houston shares personal details about a childhood where she was neglected and abused. She alludes to years of therapy that helped her regain her personhood, as did friendships, travel and writing. The beauty of her writing matches the land she holds so dear. Her thoughts can dwell on the magnificent Rockies, her love for her wonderful wolfhounds or just a small fence needing repair. The fabric of her life weaves a spell of warmth, hope and determination. Put Deep Creek on your TBR list. It will make a fine addition along with the works of Karen Auvinen, Gretchel Ehrlich, Cheryl Strayed and Rebecca Solnit. Highly recommended.

The author presents a series of vignettes about her life on a Colorado ranch, interspersed with stories of her extremely dysfunctional childhood and photographs of her beautiful homestead and some of its inhabitants.

A balm for the soul, a visit with an old friend, a love song to the Earth. This book was all that and more. Cowboys Are My Weakness was a touchstone for me when I was in my mid-twenties, and this book served as a reminder of the fiery, uncertain young woman I once was and an illustration of how far I’ve come to be comfortable in my own life since then. I’m grateful to writers like Pam Houston who put themselves out in the world to provide gentle guidance to so many readers they likely will never meet. It matters.

Deep Creek by Pam Houston

Full disclosure: I’m grateful to NetGalley for the free advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I give this book 5 stars.

Wow – this book is amazing! Although I had other plans (including a number of books ahead of this one to be read) I just couldn’t put this book down and read it in 1½ days. Houston is honest and insightful in regard to her childhood, family and some of the challenges she faced and things she learned as she went to college and graduate school and entered adulthood. She writes in such a beautifully poetic style, and the reader sees the Colorado mountains, the animals on the farm, windswept snowdrifts, the smoke and fire coming across the mountains, the elk and moose ambling through the terrain. And Houston invites us into her life to both laugh and cry, grieve and celebrate her accomplishments in the scenic rural Colorado as well as join in preserving this gift for future generations.

I can’t believe I haven’t read this author before (she’s been on my list for years now), but I’m already going back to read previous books and she’s now at the top of my list for whatever she writes next.