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shieldbearer's review against another edition
dark
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
OK, there were some things I really liked about this one, but there are several serious missteps on the part of the author. I liked the themes about how everything is more complicated than just black and white. I liked the coming of age story, and I liked the way that Lula was actually fleshed out as a character even largely through flashbacks. I like that the author... tries... to be antiracist and talks frankly about the mistreatment and horrific abuse that Black people endured at the hands of the slave owners.
Except by and large the execution doesn't hold up. The entire Jimmy Sue plotline was cliched and I fully expected her to end up leaving him as she said she would at the beginning to drive home the idea that people are more complicated than they appear- but noo "falls in love with the man who saves her from a pimp" is played completely, boringly straight. Jimmy Sue herself doesn't really have any character beyond being "feisty", no hopes and dreams of her own- except "I wanted to be a princess growing up." Yeah OK. Jimmy Sue fails the sexy lamp test- and it's not the presence of a sex worker that bothers me so much as the way her entire dynamic with Jack is handled.
Eustace. My god, I really like Eustace, and I like that there's an Afro-Indigenous character- something that's not seen often enough- but the author toes the line enough by giving him a fearsome temper when he's drunk. If he had just kept that an Informed Attribute that uses it to characterize Eustace by showing his caution and care to NOT get drink, that might have been fine, but the fact that he manages to get whiskey at the worst time in town right before the Big Shootout - leaves a very bad taste in my mouth and it wreaks of the "Violent Black Man" and "Drunk Indian" tropes. He's also the least backstoried of the bounty hunters.
This way Eustace and his drinking is framed is worsened by the portrayal of the Comanche tribe in this novel. I understand that relaying the sheriff's tragic backstory is supposed to be a sage "all men are monsters and the Comanches are MEN like everyone else" message but it's tonedeaf at best and extremely racist at worst because Eustace is the closest we get to a positive portrayal of any indigenous character, and the fact that his drinking is used to highlight the "savage" part of him leaves us with the implication that all the Comanche are violent and enjoy violence and torture, with a dash of Noble Savage for flavor.
This entire business being used to frame "the world isn't black and white" to Jack Parker is even worse. It's especially egregious because while the author at least tries to be antiracist when it comes to acknowledging the history behind the oppression of Black people (with dubious results) there's not even an attempt to acknowledge indigenous genocide. The smallpox blankets are mentioned very early on, but they're "a joke the white folks were playing" and then there's mention of the buffalo slaughterings but not WHY the white men were slaughtering the buffalo en masse (a direct attack on the Plains tribes and their way of life), mention of "the white men stealing their land" and nothing about the atrocities that the white colonists enacted on many indigenous tribes and their women and children, and then the whole business of every Comanche being portrayed as the type of man who enjoys violence and torture for its own sake- and the violence and atrocities that provoked them is left ignored and invisible.
Finally, the fact that Lula MARRIES Shorty at the end. it's presented as a happy ending because Shorty is lonely and no woman will be with him in public and Lula "is not PURE any more so no one will want her either' but the age difference is skeevy enough, but the fact that they spend the whole novel tracking her down and after all the violence and abuse she's endured her first concern is "I'm not pure :(" Then when she comes of age she marries this grown man???? Like, if Shorty were young like her brother fine I guess but he's old enough to be her father.
That's not even talking about Spot and Fatty.
I really wanted to like this, and there are still some parts I liked, but overall the execution has left such a bad taste in my mouth.
Except by and large the execution doesn't hold up. The entire Jimmy Sue plotline was cliched and I fully expected her to end up leaving him as she said she would at the beginning to drive home the idea that people are more complicated than they appear- but noo "falls in love with the man who saves her from a pimp" is played completely, boringly straight. Jimmy Sue herself doesn't really have any character beyond being "feisty", no hopes and dreams of her own- except "I wanted to be a princess growing up." Yeah OK. Jimmy Sue fails the sexy lamp test- and it's not the presence of a sex worker that bothers me so much as the way her entire dynamic with Jack is handled.
Eustace. My god, I really like Eustace, and I like that there's an Afro-Indigenous character- something that's not seen often enough- but the author toes the line enough by giving him a fearsome temper when he's drunk. If he had just kept that an Informed Attribute that uses it to characterize Eustace by showing his caution and care to NOT get drink, that might have been fine, but the fact that he manages to get whiskey at the worst time in town right before the Big Shootout - leaves a very bad taste in my mouth and it wreaks of the "Violent Black Man" and "Drunk Indian" tropes. He's also the least backstoried of the bounty hunters.
This way Eustace and his drinking is framed is worsened by the portrayal of the Comanche tribe in this novel. I understand that relaying the sheriff's tragic backstory is supposed to be a sage "all men are monsters and the Comanches are MEN like everyone else" message but it's tonedeaf at best and extremely racist at worst because Eustace is the closest we get to a positive portrayal of any indigenous character, and the fact that his drinking is used to highlight the "savage" part of him leaves us with the implication that all the Comanche are violent and enjoy violence and torture, with a dash of Noble Savage for flavor.
This entire business being used to frame "the world isn't black and white" to Jack Parker is even worse. It's especially egregious because while the author at least tries to be antiracist when it comes to acknowledging the history behind the oppression of Black people (with dubious results) there's not even an attempt to acknowledge indigenous genocide. The smallpox blankets are mentioned very early on, but they're "a joke the white folks were playing" and then there's mention of the buffalo slaughterings but not WHY the white men were slaughtering the buffalo en masse (a direct attack on the Plains tribes and their way of life), mention of "the white men stealing their land" and nothing about the atrocities that the white colonists enacted on many indigenous tribes and their women and children, and then the whole business of every Comanche being portrayed as the type of man who enjoys violence and torture for its own sake- and the violence and atrocities that provoked them is left ignored and invisible.
Finally, the fact that Lula MARRIES Shorty at the end. it's presented as a happy ending because Shorty is lonely and no woman will be with him in public and Lula "is not PURE any more so no one will want her either' but the age difference is skeevy enough, but the fact that they spend the whole novel tracking her down and after all the violence and abuse she's endured her first concern is "I'm not pure :(" Then when she comes of age she marries this grown man???? Like, if Shorty were young like her brother fine I guess but he's old enough to be her father.
That's not even talking about Spot and Fatty.
I really wanted to like this, and there are still some parts I liked, but overall the execution has left such a bad taste in my mouth.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Kidnapping, Medical content, Misogyny, Murder, Violence, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Racism, Racial slurs, Child death, Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Blood, Child abuse, Colonisation, Cursing, Death, Death of parent, Fatphobia, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Grief, and Sexism
Moderate: Vomit, Acephobia/Arophobia, Slavery, Sexual assault, and Rape
mikeebeth's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I had high hopes for this since it was highly recommended to me and has such high ratings on Goodreads but I was a bit disappointed. I understand that since this is a historical novel that the racism is meant to be included as an accurate reflection of the time, and while I feel that the racism towards the Black characters and the indigenous people in the book wasn't condoned necessarily, I was put off by how often racial slurs were used and that put a bad taste in my mouth about the rest of the book.
The pacing was kind of odd. Despite the high stakes, the characters seem to be taking their sweet time and keep getting sidetracked, and a good portion of the conflict is the main character getting frustrated with his companions not being in enough of a hurry and I agreed, and there was a lot of time spent on musings about love and religion. There was also a lot of gross-out humor, which is not really my favorite, but all that said there were some genuinely funny parts and some tense moments but this was just not really for me.
The pacing was kind of odd. Despite the high stakes, the characters seem to be taking their sweet time and keep getting sidetracked, and a good portion of the conflict is the main character getting frustrated with his companions not being in enough of a hurry and I agreed, and there was a lot of time spent on musings about love and religion. There was also a lot of gross-out humor, which is not really my favorite, but all that said there were some genuinely funny parts and some tense moments but this was just not really for me.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual assault, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Violence, Vomit, Death of parent, Child death, and Animal death
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