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I almost quit reading this so many times! It took me 7 months to get through it, though it's only 300 pages. I was quite bored with much of it. I think the only reason I persevered was because it was Wallace Stegner, and I love his other stuff. The man can really write. This book is part historical fiction, part memoir, and part history...a rather eclectic and unpleasant mix for me. I like to keep fact and fiction distinctly separate, because I hate having to guess which is which. It has an odd format reminiscent of a short story collection. What is most memorable about this book, other than it's taking ages to trudge through it, is the vividness of the writing. A vast majority of the book takes place in the extreme cold or blistering heat. Stegner's writing makes you feel the temperatures. He also makes you feel the poverty and the vastness of the land. The Epilogue was my absolute favorite. It's been a while since I was so glad to finish a book. Parts of it, I enjoyed 5*, some of it I enjoyed 3-4*, but much of it, I didn't enjoy at all. Still, enjoyment was not really the point of the book. I settled on 3* because of the quality of the writing. I wouldn't recommend this book, but I do feel proud to be finished with it at long last! I feel a sense of liberation. It's been hanging over my head for sooooo long.