Reviews

The Son by Philipp Meyer

knitter22's review against another edition

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5.0

The Son is truly an epic novel. For a better review than I can even contemplate writing, read Janelle's thoughts here.

Book Bingo 2016 - With a family member in the title

apeetie's review

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adventurous emotional relaxing slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

katykat_reads's review

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adventurous emotional reflective sad slow-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? It's complicated

4.5

sgenheden's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional informative 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

4.0

coconutelfs21's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

3.75

jacklozada's review against another edition

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4.0

I enjoyed the book. it is a multi - cultural epic told by three members of the McCullough family. Eli, whose family was murdered by Comanches. He later is adopted by the tribe. His son, Peter, who is a decent man and whose decency makes him an outcast in his own family. Peter's granddaughter, Jeanie, who is the last member of the McCullough family who feels a.tie to the land. This is not a feel good novel and at times is very grim. Interesting book.

jako4587's review against another edition

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

3.0

This was my first real multigenerational story and while I found it very informative, and that clearly tons of reasearch had been conducted to write a historically accurate narrative, I just found myself lacking some conclusion or purpose with the stories being told. To me, quite a lot of the things going on would’ve only been interesting had I been related to or known the protagonists. Overall, glad I read it tho, to gain a more informed perspective on the changing times in rural America as the newcomers from Europe took the land from the Natives.

quilly14's review against another edition

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3.0


Three generations of the McCullough family show the clan going from farmers to oil barons.

Well-written, and I found Eli. the patriarch of the family, pretty interesting.

Got a little bored a few times. The Old West has never been terribly interesting to me.

hawkette's review against another edition

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4.0

Read this for book club. I did not have high expectations, as I do not read westerns. The story was told mostly at a good pace, though in spots I thought it dragged on, or got a little tedious. However, this book really reminds me of why I am an avid reader. The author did an excellent job of pulling me into the past, and sometimes it’s just nice to not be swamped in the present and to be hit with a dose of reality about a time that we tend to romanticize. How tumultuous it was to settle in this country... this book really gives you that harsh reality. I thought it was very well done, and I even felt a little surprised toward the end.

jedi_indyjones's review against another edition

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4.0

I decided that I have not read any westerns yet, unless you count The Revenant. So, I heard that AMC was putting a show together based on this book. After looking it up, I realized that this author had spent tons of time working on historical accuracy to build a fictional story around. This intrigued me enough to pick it up. I did an audio-book on this one and it was read by a few great voice actors, the best being Will Patton, who really painted the atmosphere for his respective character, Eli. In this book you read from the point of view of three main characters Eli, his son Peter, and Eli's granddaughter, Janie. They each have their own struggles and hardships and each one is so incredibly different. This was a beautiful story of the resiliency of the human spirit and it asks many existential questions about life, wealth, morals, and family.