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annodee 's review for:
News of the World
by Paulette Jiles
Published 2016. National book award finalist.
She has written a number of other novels, poetry, and memoirs, including Lighthouse Island (2013), a dystopian fiction book. She grew up in Missouri. She moved to Toronto and worked setting up FM radio stations for indigenous peoples, and acquired quite a bit of Indian language in the process.
Setting is post-civil war north Texas. It is a chaotic and lawless frontier. A 70 year old professional reader named Captain Kidd (not the pirate), a veteran of 3 wars, agrees to escort a 10 year old orphan girl from Wichita falls TX to San Antonio TX, a 400 mile and very dangerous journey, to reunite her with her aunt and uncle. She was taken captive by the Kiowa Indians 4 years earlier after her parents and older sibling were brutally murdered. The Indians sold her back to an Indian agent for some blankets and silver. She has no memory of her first 6 years with her parents, speaking German; she is completely assimilated to Indian life. She does not want to go with him, or wear a dress, sleep in a bed, eat with a fork, or do anything else that “civilized” society demands. She is a handful and tries to escape. She is one of the most sympathetic characters I’ve ever encountered.
He agrees to help not because he really wants to (he thinks he’s entitled to his peace) but because he thinks he’s the best, maybe the only, person to help her: his job is already itinerant, so he can keep working while he’s transporting her; he’s an old man, which looks more appropriate than a young man doing it; and he raised 2 daughters of his own, so he knows about girls. He is paid a 50 dollar gold piece.
I haven’t read any classic westerns, but this contains what I think are elements of them: it takes place in the wild west on the frontier, has cowboys and Indians, horses, guns and gunfights. The girl Johanna is exceptionally sympathetic in an unsentimental and often humorous way. Her plight and their developing relationship will really tug at your heartstrings. You will care what happens to her and Captain Kidd. Without giving anything anyway, their experiences on the road are adventurous and suspenseful; there is a lot of action.
She has written a number of other novels, poetry, and memoirs, including Lighthouse Island (2013), a dystopian fiction book. She grew up in Missouri. She moved to Toronto and worked setting up FM radio stations for indigenous peoples, and acquired quite a bit of Indian language in the process.
Setting is post-civil war north Texas. It is a chaotic and lawless frontier. A 70 year old professional reader named Captain Kidd (not the pirate), a veteran of 3 wars, agrees to escort a 10 year old orphan girl from Wichita falls TX to San Antonio TX, a 400 mile and very dangerous journey, to reunite her with her aunt and uncle. She was taken captive by the Kiowa Indians 4 years earlier after her parents and older sibling were brutally murdered. The Indians sold her back to an Indian agent for some blankets and silver. She has no memory of her first 6 years with her parents, speaking German; she is completely assimilated to Indian life. She does not want to go with him, or wear a dress, sleep in a bed, eat with a fork, or do anything else that “civilized” society demands. She is a handful and tries to escape. She is one of the most sympathetic characters I’ve ever encountered.
He agrees to help not because he really wants to (he thinks he’s entitled to his peace) but because he thinks he’s the best, maybe the only, person to help her: his job is already itinerant, so he can keep working while he’s transporting her; he’s an old man, which looks more appropriate than a young man doing it; and he raised 2 daughters of his own, so he knows about girls. He is paid a 50 dollar gold piece.
I haven’t read any classic westerns, but this contains what I think are elements of them: it takes place in the wild west on the frontier, has cowboys and Indians, horses, guns and gunfights. The girl Johanna is exceptionally sympathetic in an unsentimental and often humorous way. Her plight and their developing relationship will really tug at your heartstrings. You will care what happens to her and Captain Kidd. Without giving anything anyway, their experiences on the road are adventurous and suspenseful; there is a lot of action.