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bjorsq's review against another edition
5.0
A welcome second book by the author of American Rust. I thoroughly enjoyed it
tancrni's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.75
nooneyouknow's review against another edition
3.0
Probably more like 3.5 stars. Good story, raised a lot of questions about Texas history, but just didn't grab me. I didn't find the narrative shifts between generations to be difficult at all. Several really good passages in here, but overall just fell a little flat. I think I also would have liked Jeannie to be a little more cognizant of, and the story to focus more on, the damage she inflicted on others to flesh out the parallels between her and Eli.
erickibler4's review against another edition
5.0
Damn.
Books like this are why I read.
A big, bold, multi-generational tale of Texas, as exciting and hair-raising as it is literary and serious.
Comparisons abound. Larry McMurtry, Herman Melville,John Steinbeck, Cormac McCarthy. Yeah. It's that good.
This one goes into my personal Hall of Fame.
Books like this are why I read.
A big, bold, multi-generational tale of Texas, as exciting and hair-raising as it is literary and serious.
Comparisons abound. Larry McMurtry, Herman Melville,John Steinbeck, Cormac McCarthy. Yeah. It's that good.
This one goes into my personal Hall of Fame.
stjernesvarme's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
brig_berthold's review against another edition
4.0
I absolutely recommend this but it's not your typical western and that's part of what makes it valuable.
This book exploded with some of the best writing I've experienced in a long, long time. The pacing was perfect and the characters were just plain wonderful. Relentless, things stayed that way through about 75% of the book. Then, something odd happened.
The writing never slipped, it was still literary gold. But the pacing slowed just enough to throw me off. Then, around 85-90%, the pacing increased to and it felt a bit rushed. These details did not ruin the experience, by any means. It was still a sweeping epic, spanning three generations, against arguably the greatest landscape in contemporary American literature but it lost me.
Like a Cohen Brothers film, I left feeling a bit unresolved, though not in a disappointing way. More in a "well that's life" residual feeling...if that makes sense.
This book exploded with some of the best writing I've experienced in a long, long time. The pacing was perfect and the characters were just plain wonderful. Relentless, things stayed that way through about 75% of the book. Then, something odd happened.
The writing never slipped, it was still literary gold. But the pacing slowed just enough to throw me off. Then, around 85-90%, the pacing increased to and it felt a bit rushed. These details did not ruin the experience, by any means. It was still a sweeping epic, spanning three generations, against arguably the greatest landscape in contemporary American literature but it lost me.
Like a Cohen Brothers film, I left feeling a bit unresolved, though not in a disappointing way. More in a "well that's life" residual feeling...if that makes sense.
jslive's review against another edition
4.0
A great historical novel about the Texas frontier. Wild and emotional (though a little draggy in parts).
iancarpenter's review against another edition
5.0
4.5 The writing is good but the story is incredible. Meyer weaves an impressively connected and surprising tale - the shifts and changes were often and so enjoyable. The details of the life back through all these periods: detailed, lived in and convincing. And as an examination of identity, heritage, conflict, racism, masculinity/femininity, family, drive, pleasure, purpose, home, community, love, debt and history - it is like nothing I've read and deeply moving. Definitely a highlight from my recent years of reading.