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A review by silentcat7135
Thirteen Moons by Charles Frazier
4.0
3 1/2 stars rounded up. 3 stars for story, 4 stars for writing style.
Charles Frazier's Thirteen Moons reads like a cross between Larry McMurtry and Louise Erdrich, leaning more towards McMurtry in plot and Erdrich in style.
The main character, Will, looks back over his colourful life in rambling fashion from the vantage of old age, beginning with being an orphan sent as a bound boy at the the age of 12 to run a remote store. Featuring prominently in his memories are Bear and Featherstone, two men who become very different father figures to Will, and Claire, who becomes the love of his life.
Frazier allows Will a great deal of latitude in his tale. Memory, being what it is, is flawed, especially when the one doing the remembering enjoys storytelling as much as this narrator. My favorite example of this comes when Will describes a duel he fought with Featherstone. Rather than describing his own memory of events, he relates three vastly differing versions that were told by others in years to come. Choose to believe any or none of them.
The book is set in a time period of American history I know little about - the expansion of American territory west of the Mississippi, the dislocation of the Cherokee, the Trail of Tears - and these events deeply impact the characters.
I started by comparing the book to Larry McMurtry and Louise Erdrich. The story is certainly not as epic as the cattle drive in Lonesome Dove, but Will would not be out of place sitting around a fire with Gus and Woodrow shooting the breeze. Featherstone could also make a creditable villainous appearance in a McMurtry book. (Although Will's horse Waverly, while an estimable horse, is nowhere near as memorable as Hell Bitch.) Bear would be at home in Erdrich's novels, and Will's ponderings on life are expressed with the poeticism I associate with Erdrich's writing.
Worth reading, but not a classic.
Charles Frazier's Thirteen Moons reads like a cross between Larry McMurtry and Louise Erdrich, leaning more towards McMurtry in plot and Erdrich in style.
The main character, Will, looks back over his colourful life in rambling fashion from the vantage of old age, beginning with being an orphan sent as a bound boy at the the age of 12 to run a remote store. Featuring prominently in his memories are Bear and Featherstone, two men who become very different father figures to Will, and Claire, who becomes the love of his life.
Frazier allows Will a great deal of latitude in his tale. Memory, being what it is, is flawed, especially when the one doing the remembering enjoys storytelling as much as this narrator. My favorite example of this comes when Will describes a duel he fought with Featherstone. Rather than describing his own memory of events, he relates three vastly differing versions that were told by others in years to come. Choose to believe any or none of them.
The book is set in a time period of American history I know little about - the expansion of American territory west of the Mississippi, the dislocation of the Cherokee, the Trail of Tears - and these events deeply impact the characters.
I started by comparing the book to Larry McMurtry and Louise Erdrich. The story is certainly not as epic as the cattle drive in Lonesome Dove, but Will would not be out of place sitting around a fire with Gus and Woodrow shooting the breeze. Featherstone could also make a creditable villainous appearance in a McMurtry book. (Although Will's horse Waverly, while an estimable horse, is nowhere near as memorable as Hell Bitch.) Bear would be at home in Erdrich's novels, and Will's ponderings on life are expressed with the poeticism I associate with Erdrich's writing.
Worth reading, but not a classic.