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A review by book_concierge
The Color of Lightning by Paulette Jiles
3.0
Britt Johnson was a former Kentucky slave who, along with his wife, Mary, and their three children, went to Texas in 1863 searching for a new life. Little is known about them, other than that Mary and the children were taken in a Kiowa raid, that Britt found the camps where they were held and ransomed them. This is a fictional account of his life in North Texas from 1863 to 1871.
Interspersed with Johnson’s story is that of the U.S. government’s efforts to enforce a peace treaty that the tribes didn’t feel applied to them. Jiles does a good job of painting the landscape and giving the reader insight into both sides of the issues – the pioneers who saw opportunity in this vast new landscape and wanted only to be able to work their land vs the Native tribes who felt the land belonged to no one and that the gods provided the animals, water, grain for their use. One side drew boundaries on a piece of paper; the other recognized only natural barriers and freely crossed them to follow the herds of buffalo or the best pasture lands for their horses.
I was interested in Britt Johnson’s story and that of his family. Not so interested in the plight of the Quaker appointed as the Indian Agency chief. While I understand the need to include this historical background, I didn’t think that Jiles handled the transitions between story lines very well. It was slow getting started and I lost focus, though was fully engaged by the second half of the book. All in all, this is more than just a western, it’s also the story of one man’s courage and devotion to his family.
Interspersed with Johnson’s story is that of the U.S. government’s efforts to enforce a peace treaty that the tribes didn’t feel applied to them. Jiles does a good job of painting the landscape and giving the reader insight into both sides of the issues – the pioneers who saw opportunity in this vast new landscape and wanted only to be able to work their land vs the Native tribes who felt the land belonged to no one and that the gods provided the animals, water, grain for their use. One side drew boundaries on a piece of paper; the other recognized only natural barriers and freely crossed them to follow the herds of buffalo or the best pasture lands for their horses.
I was interested in Britt Johnson’s story and that of his family. Not so interested in the plight of the Quaker appointed as the Indian Agency chief. While I understand the need to include this historical background, I didn’t think that Jiles handled the transitions between story lines very well. It was slow getting started and I lost focus, though was fully engaged by the second half of the book. All in all, this is more than just a western, it’s also the story of one man’s courage and devotion to his family.