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Outstanding
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Kirkus Reviews
One of our best writers gives us her best book.
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Outstanding
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Chicago Sun-Times John Freeman
It's the rhythm of her sentences that just flattens you. They build one upon the other with that hallmark of great writing: Each new line feels inevitable and utterly surprising at the same time.
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Favorable
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Daily Telegraph Benjamin Markovits
Proulx writes in wonderful stews, everything thrown in together: history, character, landscape, conversation. The stories demand a second reading.
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Favorable
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Entertainment Weekly Jennifer Reese
Bitter and bitingly funny.
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Favorable
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San Francisco Chronicle Laurel Maury
Bad Dirt can be as funny as hell in places, but it's not a happy book. It's a true one.
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Favorable
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Library Journal Jyna Scheeren
This poignant and often humorous collection is packed with well-drawn characters that linger in the mind and heart. [1 Nov 2004, p.79]
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Favorable
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Los Angeles Times Merle Rubin
Occasionally, these powerful tales are weakened by bouts of jocularity at the wrong moments. One gets the feeling, however, that sometimes these odd flashes of levity arise not only out of Proulx's innate exuberance but out of a desperate pessimism that underlies the lighter and darker stories alike. [14 Nov 2004, p.R8]
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Favorable
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The Globe And Mail [Toronto] Martin Levin
Her best stories are vital and necessary: Think of them as Gothic comedy.
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Favorable
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The Independent Clive Sinclair
The tragedy of Wyoming in microcosm.
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Mixed
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Village Voice Glenn O'Neal
At its worst, Bad Dirt breaks little new ground, but when it does, it sometimes goes astray.
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Mixed
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The Guardian Ali Smith
Proulx's voice in this troubled collection is a lot closer to caricature than anything in Heart Songs or Close Range. Still, this gives the stories a pleasing slickness and the collection an expert irony of its own.
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Mixed
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Booklist Joanne Wilkinson
It's somewhat difficult to fathom the full nature of Proulx's popularity given her implacable vision of human nature as deeply flawed. In her stories, the humor is mordant, the landscape is crushing, and the people are taciturn. [1 Oct 2004, p.283]
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Mixed
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The Economist
Bad Dirt makes a lesser impression than "Close Range". Even so, great pleasure is still to be had from Ms Proulx's singular style of writing.
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Mixed
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New York Observer Daniel Asa Rose
Though studded with genuine delights (and one fully realized story, "The Wamsutter Wolf," which restores our faith in editors: The Paris Review knew what fierce, frightening hilarity Ms. Proulx is capable of when she marinates a story long enough), most of these 11 pieces are patently stories in a minor key, little more than five-finger exercises. [13 Dec 2004, p.1]
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Mixed
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Publishers Weekly
While none of the stories in this collection approaches the sweep and wholeness of "Brokeback Mountain" (the standout story from Close Range, and soon to be a major film), and other pieces are little more than whimsical sketches (sometimes with a touch of the magical), they paint a rich, colorful picture of local life.
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Mixed
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Boston Globe Robert Braile
But the collection is forced, suggesting that Proulx has opted for politics over art, for making a point rather than embracing a place, despite having done the latter so gracefully.
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Unfavorable
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The Onion A.V. Club Scott Tobias
In returning to the well after the triumphant Close Range, Proulx should know better than most that the arid ground only has so much to give.
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Unfavorable
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Sydney Morning Herald Nicola Walker
Writers also need to remember their readers who, by and large, are discerning enough to realise when that imaginative process includes them, or is a bit of an authorial joy-ride. Even Proulx's trademark lush metaphors are a bit thin on the ground in Bad Dirt. Perhaps it's time she struck out for new territory.
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Unfavorable
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Washington Post Peter Terzian
Proulx is a strange kind of puppeteer, cackling at the misfortunes of her creations. But if an author has no love for her characters, why should the reader?
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Unfavorable
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The New York Times Book Review Terrence Rafferty
Although it's never pleasant (and often unfair) to beat an author's recent work with the stick of her past triumphs, Proulx's readers should be warned that this new roundup of Wyoming yarns is not another ''Close Range,'' nor, apparently, was it meant to be.
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