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wordmaster 's review for:
Deadwood
by Pete Dexter
'I was the same as Bill, and I was different.' (270)
Upon a second reading, years after the first, I was surprised to find the "main" plot lasts just 150 pages and then come three full sections I'd completely forgotten.
In that regard, the way a very big character shuffles off the mortal coil earlier than anybody would have predicted, this story seems far less about Wild Bill specifically and far more about grief, universally.
*
It's intriguing that Deadwood was published in 1986, yet has been called "the best Western ever written."
More intriguing is the plot summary, which reads like a Law and Order treatment. It's even got the introductory "based on true events" epigram.
And, my god, what events they were. Gunsmiths, outlaws, frontiersmen, gambling, liquor, and grit. Hell of an opening line, too. The book is tight and cinematic. And while it's exciting, it's also somber and soaked in foreboding. You can't have very many twists or surprises with historical fiction, but it's still a page-turner that's easy to get swept away in. But the tale is so rich and quietly insightful that you can't rush. It's paced very well, steady and methodical like the fabled Old West heroes are supposed to have been. My only nitpicking is that some of the language, intended to build a setting through dialect I assume, felt very strained.
So, after much deliberation: 5 stars. Deadwood feels like a reinvention of a genre, and hooked me -- a non-Western fan -- into picking up more Western titles. But it isn't just a good Western, it's a good book, period. It's extremely well-crafted and the author's effort really pays off in a sometimes comic, always human, and engrossingly atmospheric way.
Upon a second reading, years after the first, I was surprised to find the "main" plot lasts just 150 pages and then come three full sections I'd completely forgotten.
In that regard, the way a very big character shuffles off the mortal coil earlier than anybody would have predicted, this story seems far less about Wild Bill specifically and far more about grief, universally.
*
It's intriguing that Deadwood was published in 1986, yet has been called "the best Western ever written."
More intriguing is the plot summary, which reads like a Law and Order treatment. It's even got the introductory "based on true events" epigram.
And, my god, what events they were. Gunsmiths, outlaws, frontiersmen, gambling, liquor, and grit. Hell of an opening line, too. The book is tight and cinematic. And while it's exciting, it's also somber and soaked in foreboding. You can't have very many twists or surprises with historical fiction, but it's still a page-turner that's easy to get swept away in. But the tale is so rich and quietly insightful that you can't rush. It's paced very well, steady and methodical like the fabled Old West heroes are supposed to have been. My only nitpicking is that some of the language, intended to build a setting through dialect I assume, felt very strained.
So, after much deliberation: 5 stars. Deadwood feels like a reinvention of a genre, and hooked me -- a non-Western fan -- into picking up more Western titles. But it isn't just a good Western, it's a good book, period. It's extremely well-crafted and the author's effort really pays off in a sometimes comic, always human, and engrossingly atmospheric way.