SOURCE: Tilghman, Christopher. “Floating Down the River.” Los Angeles Times Book Review (13 March 1994): 3, 11.

In the following review of Platte River, Tilghman praises Bass's strong sense of place and lyrical voice, but contends that some of his stories lack a strong focus.

People who admire Rick Bass' resplendent 1989 story collection, The Watch, as well as his several intervening nonfiction books on what the publishers call “the outdoors,” have been looking forward to his new book of fiction with unusual interest. Some may be gunning for him, a writer who makes his reputation all too easily with a single book, but most of us are simply eager. We want to see where Bass' jumpy, oddly lyrical voice—a voice entirely his own—takes him a year or two down the road; we want to see if he's getting deeper to the truths of his slightly fractured sense of reality, whatever...