binstonbirchill's review against another edition
2.0
I thought the book started out with a good concept, it some interesting plot-lines and places to go, and then it all just fizzled out around the midpoint of the book. The good ideas went nowhere, the characters became less interesting and the excessive descriptive writing just made the end just drag. If you like romance and ranching this book might keep your interest a bit more than it did mine. I was hoping for something similar to The Bridge and wound up with, well, a conglomeration of random pieces of blah.
yetanothersusan's review against another edition
5.0
I was really surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. Don't let the image of it as a western dissuade you from picking it up!
mathewsnyder's review
3.0
Crossers, by Philip Caputo, puts main character Gil Castle at the locus of 9/11 fallout and the drug war on the Arizona border. It's a fascinating juxtaposition of new millennium violence, but leaves much unaddressed as the novel wanders amid a widower's re-awakening and a crazed lady drug lord's drive toward vengeance.
The novel begins with Castle consumed by loss of his wife in Twin Towers on 9/11. He's wealthy, numb, and grieving to the point of self-destruction. Castle gives up his East Coast life and heads to Arizona to spend time with distant rancher cousins on the Arizona border.
Castle is a captivating character who transforms through the novel. He's believably noble, and on the mend. With him, the novel shines as he weaves from broken-hearted widower, to nascent romantic, and even protector of Mexican border crossers.
Elsewhere, the novel lacks. While the drug lord villains and their hangers on are despicable without being completely two-dimensional, they lack the movement of Castle and his inner workings.
Caputo intersperses the 21st modern day fiasco with interview accounts of Castle's ancestors who get involved with border-crossing violence in early 20th century Mexico's turbulent politics and blood feuds. While entertaining and larger than life, the episodes are thinly attached to the characters in the modern day.
Caputo seemed to be reaching for suspenseful connections and surprises to build tension between the Mexican drug lord family and Castle's own extended clan. But, that suspense flags, in part due to Castle's family being mostly ignorant of any feud.
What remains are the remarkably attractive guts of a novel that can't quite deliver. To be sure, there's solid writing, beautiful landscapes, and emotionally gripping characters and scenes. They feel partially assembled and unrealized, but at least they move and progress in ways that aren't just tense gun-play and plots.
The novel begins with Castle consumed by loss of his wife in Twin Towers on 9/11. He's wealthy, numb, and grieving to the point of self-destruction. Castle gives up his East Coast life and heads to Arizona to spend time with distant rancher cousins on the Arizona border.
Castle is a captivating character who transforms through the novel. He's believably noble, and on the mend. With him, the novel shines as he weaves from broken-hearted widower, to nascent romantic, and even protector of Mexican border crossers.
Elsewhere, the novel lacks. While the drug lord villains and their hangers on are despicable without being completely two-dimensional, they lack the movement of Castle and his inner workings.
Caputo intersperses the 21st modern day fiasco with interview accounts of Castle's ancestors who get involved with border-crossing violence in early 20th century Mexico's turbulent politics and blood feuds. While entertaining and larger than life, the episodes are thinly attached to the characters in the modern day.
Caputo seemed to be reaching for suspenseful connections and surprises to build tension between the Mexican drug lord family and Castle's own extended clan. But, that suspense flags, in part due to Castle's family being mostly ignorant of any feud.
What remains are the remarkably attractive guts of a novel that can't quite deliver. To be sure, there's solid writing, beautiful landscapes, and emotionally gripping characters and scenes. They feel partially assembled and unrealized, but at least they move and progress in ways that aren't just tense gun-play and plots.
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