A review by bendercath
The Trackers by Charles Frazier

adventurous challenging informative mysterious tense medium-paced

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

4.0

I loved the beautiful prose and colorful dialogue that truly created a strong image of the time and the place. The section when Val is traveling on the train to begin the project made me want to go and see it! The conversations brought in a lot of conflicting realities of the times … which gave me a new understanding of the desperation and hopelessness of the Great Depression. 

One of my favorite parts was reading about the daily life and work of a WPA painter … the way this project was received by the public and his own personal sense of art. Much of the early book focuses on this, yet it became lost in the shuffle (scuffle?) until a brief appearance at the end. Perhaps that was intentional (now that I think of it) but it seemed such an essential part of Val’s character that had been so developed and emphasized simply vanished for a while.

My frustration was not being convinced that

Val would have persisted in that difficult pursuit. And it kept on going. And going. And I just didn’t feel that. I didn’t believe that he loved Eve (or Long’s money) enough to subject himself to such violence. As a reader, I began to feel a little banged up and I longed some sort of satisfying resolution … and at the end, he simply leaves. Which I believe. And I think that is the right ending. But I thought: that’s it?

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Violence