Reviews

It was slow to get into the first few chapters, because I was trying to assign each character to a familiar role. This book is not typical with a hero and a villain, or a typical story arc. I liked and disliked this. Once I let the story be told, I saw the characters in great detail, and struggled with them, and was annoyed but could understand their follies. It was a good adventure, funny and sad.
What I could not stand about the book, was the great details placed in the book to describe some things, and then the ending of the book being so incomplete it drove me crazy. I thought I came to the end of half of the audiobook, then I just realized it was over. What?! I played it again, and realized, yep, that was the end. It was one of these books I really wished I was reading in an English class, because I felt like I just missed out on a great discussion, and honestly, the point of the whole story. I think it is a profound book, one I would prefer to read with a book club, or an English class.

sbush7117's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny informative reflective tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

alliincali's review against another edition

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5.0

Epic! This is a book I have been meaning to read for years because of the positive reviews, and it did NOT disappoint. There were more than 5 scenes in the book that stand out as some of the most vivid and descriptive scenes I have ever read.

melast's review against another edition

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adventurous slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0

ifartonbooks's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny inspiring sad medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

A harrowing and gut-wrenching display of human nature in practice. People change and people do not change, for better or for worse. An object no bigger than a clothespin kicked off an 860 page epic, with enough characters for any reader to relate to at least one. With a full spectrum of people types that we see everyday, for the most part. One of several overarching themes — the battle between civilization and savagery (and all the steps between). How can someone not be sentimental and romantic about this time period in the Wild West. A time which, on paper, seems to be within reach, and yet it feels like the densely packed decades and generations of the past 150 years make the Wild West seem more akin to Bible times than to our modern digital age. The sharp yearning for the adventure and freedom of those long-gone years are wet and rank among the stories of the Hat Creek Outfit — push your nose in close enough and you just may catch a whiff of Pea Eye’s socks or Deets’ holy, quilted pants — if you’re lucky.

“All America lies at the end of the wilderness road, and our past is not a dead past, but still lives in us. Our forefathers had civilization inside themselves, the wild outside. We live in the civilization they created, but within us the wilderness still lingers. What they dreamed, we live, and what they lived, we dream.”

- T.K. Whipple

hernan_gonzalez's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging emotional funny hopeful informative inspiring mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

nickdevlin's review against another edition

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5.0

It's tough sell saying, "Hey, go read a 900-page western" but the writing is beautiful, the characters are rich, and the story has the kind of depth and resonance you wouldn't expect from one about a group of hardened cowboys riding to Montana. Read it. You can borrow my copy.

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