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Cover of All but the Waltz
Book details

All but the Waltz

A Memoir of Five Generations in the Life of a Montana Family

by Mary Clearman Blew

Published 1992240 pagesISBN 978-0-1401-2892-5

Abraham Hogeland was born in 1855, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania. In 1882 he came into the Montana Territory with the railroad, but left it to start a ranch at the mouth of Spring Creek in Fergus County. He married Mary Walton. Beginning with her great-grandparents' arrival in 1882 in Montana, Blew relates the stories that make up her life. We learn of her grandmother, separated from her husband and young children, who spent three months alone in a remote one-room schoolhouse, and the headstrong aunt with a laugh like the summer who scandalized the family when she bought her own Buick. With simple poignancy, Blew tells of her father, who took a drive one day in his pickup and disappeared from her life forever.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.

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Full BookenDeX details

What the reading experience may hold

A fuller profile for choosing with more confidence—not just another copy of the preview.

Themes to notice

Nonfiction

Use these as starting points rather than limits; the most memorable books often stretch beyond their catalog labels.

Content notes

No specific content concerns can be confirmed from the available English catalog information. Consult a publisher or reader-supplied guide when detailed warnings matter.

These notes are inferred from available catalog information and may not be complete. Check a publisher or reader-supplied guide if you need comprehensive warnings.

Reading experience

Warm tone · Steady pace

A comfortable full-length choice for steady daily reading.

Who it may suit

A good fit if…

Readers who want a thoughtful experience and enjoy noticing the connections beneath a book’s surface story.

At a glance

This book's DNA

A visual estimate based on this edition's categories, description, and length. Select a star to explore the signals.

ToneWarm
LuminousDark

This signal is descriptive, not a rating. It helps compare the kind of reading experience this edition may offer.

No plot details

Spoiler-Free Emotional Arc

A broad estimate of the book’s emotional rhythm, shown without story events or outcomes.

Spoiler-free
12345
PeakRelative emotional intensity
All but the WaltzMary Clearman Blew
Heightened4.1/5

This visualization is an interpretive estimate based on catalog description, categories, tone, pace, and content signals. It does not describe specific scenes.

Before you choose

A quick reading snapshot

Edition facts and catalog signals to help you decide whether this book fits what you want to read next.

Reading lengthA shorter read240 pages in this edition
Publication eraModernFirst published or edition dated 1992
Primary categoryNonfictionExplore similar books below
ISBN-13
978-0-1401-2892-5
Language
English
Edition record
OL9302881M
BookenDeX editorial lens

A more thoughtful way into this book

This guide uses the edition details and category signals above to help you choose deliberately. It does not replace the author's work or a full review.

Good to know

A comfortable full-length choice for steady daily reading.

Begin with its place in Nonfiction, then notice where the book resists that label.

Try this reading approach

Read for connection, not completion.

Mark one passage that sharpens the book's central concern and one that complicates it. That tension often reveals more than a quick summary.

Three questions to carry with you

  1. Whose perspective organizes the story, and whose perspective remains outside it?
  2. Which sources or lived experiences carry the author’s central argument?
  3. How does the book change the way you understand its larger subject?

Editorial framework by Wesley Bryan, BookenDeX Founder and Editor.