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A review by ncrabb
Badger Boy by Elmer Kelton
4.0
Open the cover of this book and step in to 1865-era Texas. The Civil War
is days away from being over, and anyone susceptible to even a modicum of
common sense knows it. Common sense doesn't seem to have infected
Confederate leaders, however. Throughout most of the war, they've left
members of the Texas Rangers alone to protect the settlers from Indians.
But that immunity from conscription is ending as Confederate leaders enter
their last paroxysm-writhing and gasping in their death throes. They've
determined that Texas Rangers can indeed be conscripted, and that creates
a unique problem for Rusty Shannon. Rusty had been kidnapped by Comanches
when he was small, and he was recaptured by whites a short time later. He
was raised by adoptive parents who instilled in him some anti-slavery
pro-union ideas. So being part of the Confederate army simply isn't an
option. He lights out for places unknown, but is forced to return when he
sees a Comanche raiding party. He ultimately escapes conscription, and
the war ends. But now, the ordeal of putting a ravaged sate back together
begins. Rusty returns to his farm, miraculously preserved and operated
for him by friends of his parents, and begins to embark on a new life
there. One of his neighbors, a bitter white man facing imminent death,
freed a faithful slave and then promptly gave him complete ownership of
the ranch, which created no small stir among the other white settlers, who
were highly displeased to have a black man as a property owner in their
midst. It's up to Rusty to protect the man and help him run his farm.
As the book progresses, Rusty and his companions capture a young white boy
who had been taken by the Comanches years earlier. The boy was completely
won over to the Comanche ways, including the speaking of their language.
Naturally, this brings back a flood of memories for Rusty Shannon, and he
determines to return the boy to the tribe.
Here's what I'm not getting across to you, and it frankly frustrates me
that I'm failing so spectacularly at this. Kelton's books aren't just
more westerns that most of us could live without quite happily. L'Amour
is probably the better western writer, but not by much. You see, if
L'Amour's style is sometimes more vivid, Kelton's complexity of plot and
thoughtful construction of the book is pre-eminent. There is always irony
here that reaches out and just bangs on you until it sucks the literary
breath out of you sometimes. Here we have Rusty Shannon, a guy who was
rescued by white settlers and adopted into a loving, kind family who gave
him the foundation he needed to be a highly successful adult and a young
white boy who wants nothing to do with white men and their ways, and it's
Rusty, ironically enough, who must return him home. Kelton is so skilled
that he shows you all the complexities of such an encounter-the warring
emotions within Rusty-all of it, but he doesn't have to write a syllable
about that. Even a casual reader will pick it up, and if you think a bit
about what you've read, you will see the complexity of the nonverbal
tapestry Kelton creates so masterfully.
There is some profanity here, but there are no sexual descriptions that
would put off even the most careful among us. This is a relatively short
book, and Kelton's economic use of words lets him tell you more than he
might if he had chosen to write a larger book, interestingly enough.
is days away from being over, and anyone susceptible to even a modicum of
common sense knows it. Common sense doesn't seem to have infected
Confederate leaders, however. Throughout most of the war, they've left
members of the Texas Rangers alone to protect the settlers from Indians.
But that immunity from conscription is ending as Confederate leaders enter
their last paroxysm-writhing and gasping in their death throes. They've
determined that Texas Rangers can indeed be conscripted, and that creates
a unique problem for Rusty Shannon. Rusty had been kidnapped by Comanches
when he was small, and he was recaptured by whites a short time later. He
was raised by adoptive parents who instilled in him some anti-slavery
pro-union ideas. So being part of the Confederate army simply isn't an
option. He lights out for places unknown, but is forced to return when he
sees a Comanche raiding party. He ultimately escapes conscription, and
the war ends. But now, the ordeal of putting a ravaged sate back together
begins. Rusty returns to his farm, miraculously preserved and operated
for him by friends of his parents, and begins to embark on a new life
there. One of his neighbors, a bitter white man facing imminent death,
freed a faithful slave and then promptly gave him complete ownership of
the ranch, which created no small stir among the other white settlers, who
were highly displeased to have a black man as a property owner in their
midst. It's up to Rusty to protect the man and help him run his farm.
As the book progresses, Rusty and his companions capture a young white boy
who had been taken by the Comanches years earlier. The boy was completely
won over to the Comanche ways, including the speaking of their language.
Naturally, this brings back a flood of memories for Rusty Shannon, and he
determines to return the boy to the tribe.
Here's what I'm not getting across to you, and it frankly frustrates me
that I'm failing so spectacularly at this. Kelton's books aren't just
more westerns that most of us could live without quite happily. L'Amour
is probably the better western writer, but not by much. You see, if
L'Amour's style is sometimes more vivid, Kelton's complexity of plot and
thoughtful construction of the book is pre-eminent. There is always irony
here that reaches out and just bangs on you until it sucks the literary
breath out of you sometimes. Here we have Rusty Shannon, a guy who was
rescued by white settlers and adopted into a loving, kind family who gave
him the foundation he needed to be a highly successful adult and a young
white boy who wants nothing to do with white men and their ways, and it's
Rusty, ironically enough, who must return him home. Kelton is so skilled
that he shows you all the complexities of such an encounter-the warring
emotions within Rusty-all of it, but he doesn't have to write a syllable
about that. Even a casual reader will pick it up, and if you think a bit
about what you've read, you will see the complexity of the nonverbal
tapestry Kelton creates so masterfully.
There is some profanity here, but there are no sexual descriptions that
would put off even the most careful among us. This is a relatively short
book, and Kelton's economic use of words lets him tell you more than he
might if he had chosen to write a larger book, interestingly enough.