Reviews

Cowboys Are My Weakness: Stories by Pam Houston

sundaydutro's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful inspiring reflective fast-paced

5.0

annikabro's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

celineks's review against another edition

emotional funny reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.75

dakotabossard's review against another edition

emotional reflective

5.0

rly's review against another edition

adventurous funny hopeful medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

mayann's review against another edition

adventurous reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

zoebird81's review against another edition

4.0

A lesson in specificity. If you're a Texan girl living alone in New York in the dead of winter—Pam Houston is here for you.

raybangoddess's review against another edition

adventurous reflective fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

brandijo1321's review against another edition

adventurous reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? N/A
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

eathena's review against another edition

adventurous challenging emotional funny lighthearted mysterious reflective tense fast-paced

From The Colorado Sun https://coloradosun.com/2023/01/29/sunlit-explore-booksellers-recommendations-february-2023/

"The protagonists throughout Cowboys Are My Weakness don’t just fall in love; their experience is like “a hairline fracture easing through your structure the way snow separates before an avalanche on a too-warm winter day.” And when they’re not in love, they’re out to “fight like bears," planting “a half-moon of teeth in his face” and making "noise like naked women burning in the fires of hell." 

They’re all smart women, these protagonists, even if they maintain their daredevilish streaks—and in each of the twelve short stories that comprise this collection by Colorado writer Pam Houston, they’re on the hunt through western mountains for a good man. It’s just that the men they seem to find are wild, hard to pin down; some are hunters, others are river guides, cowboys, or souls that can’t help but circle back to the road. As such, the women are forced to reckon with these men—how to understand them? keep up with them? balance them?—and in doing so, must learn this type of figuring is only possible if, first, they face up to themselves.

In stories that span ranch, cabin, and camp settings, Houston cleverly stakes the masculine and the feminine as roaming entities in wide-open spaces, then casts lines across the gulfs that often form in between. It’s in this space that Houston cracks her knuckles and works her magic, depicting all that we share as humans by showing, in contrast, all that we tend to hold back.

Thanks to Houston’s vivid language and storylines that've proved the test of time, readers won’t guess this collection was originally published in 1992 and just might join our call to Houston to, please, publish more."