True Fiction

Maybe this only happens to me: have you ever read a work of fiction (or any book, really) about a subject - or even a setting - that you know something about? Do you ever find yourself examining both the narrative and the accuracy of tangential descriptions? And does inaccuracy diminish your enjoyment of the book? I must admit - it does for me!

Late last month, as we were preparing to leave on a trip to visit colleges and our college-student daughter in the northwest, I downloaded a mystery novel, The Bitterroots, by C.J. Box. After all, we were traveling to the Bitterroot Valley of Montana to camp with our oldest daughter, Lara. I figured it would be fun to read another person's description of the geography, people, and towns, as we were driving through the region.

The story line is about what you would expect from a mystery novel - some violence, a quick pace, and admirable (if flawed) heroine. But if I'd hoped to get an accurate description of the agriculture of the area, I should have known better.

The first flaw (and yes, this is petty) is that one of the characters allegedly received his agricultural business degree from the University of Montana. Every Montana State Bobcat knows that MSU is THE land grant institution in Montana (and it will be Lara's alma mater by the end of November). MSU offers an ag business degree; U of M does not  (to my knowledge). I'll admit that I had second thoughts about finishing the book when I read this.

The second flaw (so far), is Box's description of shipping cows to slaughter every fall. Now I know that cows do get shipped - but they're not the primary product of any ranch - in Montana or elsewhere. Cows are not steers - at least to those of us who raise livestock. This might feel like an insignificant distinction to non-ranchers, but those of us who ranch know differently. I sell lambs; I cull ewes.

These inaccuracies got me thinking: are there authors whose descriptions of places and ranches ring true? For me, there are at least three examples of writers I trust to describe what I do as a rancher with accuracy.

Ivan Doig, who grew up on ranches (and other places) in Montana, wrote about sheep like he'd been around them. In Dancing at the Rascal Fair, he wrote, "To be successful with sheep, even when you're not thinking about them, you'd better think about them a little." His description of gamboling lambs in English Creek could only have been written by somebody who'd spent time in the lambing pen.

James Galvin, who wrote Fencing the Sky and The Meadow, is another writer who seems to get ranching culture. I don't know much about him, but his writing suggests that he's been around ranchers and livestock. In Fencing the Sky, his main character, Mike, is someone I might have known. At one point, Galvin writes, "Mike had tried to convince Oscar that a community of small ranch families was the perfect Marxist society, where everyone had enough but not too much.  Everyone worked together - loaning machinery, lending a hand - a Utopian idea, a way of life." I've had similar conversations with my rancher friends - usually in the shearing shed or the branding pen.

Wendell Berry, who is probably my favorite author of any genre, raises sheep himself in Kentucky. While I love his fiction, perhaps the best words he's written (at least in my opinion) are from this poem:

"I come to earth on the barn floor where the ewe's lambs have been born and now, wet and bloody, breathing at last the air of this wintry world, struggle to rise, while the ewe mutters and licks."

I suspect that could only be written by someone who'd pulled a stuck lamb and watched his ewes approach lambing season year after year.

I imagine that people from other professions are similarly critical when they read about their livelihoods or their communities. Some writers, through skill and experience, write authentically; others make it up. Both are fiction, but only one is true.

Who are your favorite authentic authors? I'd love to hear from others about their favorite books and poems!