∎ Libro Free The Son Pulitzer Prize in Letters Fiction Finalists Philipp Meyer 9780062120397 Books

The Son Pulitzer Prize in Letters Fiction Finalists Philipp Meyer 9780062120397 Books

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The Son Pulitzer Prize in Letters Fiction Finalists Philipp Meyer 9780062120397 Books

I have watched the 2nd installment of the TV show The Son. I think the show is great and as I watched the credits, I saw it was based on a book. So, I bought it last night for my Kindle Paper White. Wow! I have been reading almost all night and most of today! This is a fascinating book. The TV show showed the savagery of the killing of his family and kid napping. It was nothing compared to the book! I always read reviews. I saw a few that were "confused" that there are different people ,with their own chapters, that tell the reader 1st hand their thoughts. All you have to do is read the name and the time period at the head of each chapter! Also, someone stated that people in the Old West would never swear like what is in the book. Read some of Shakespeare's plays. He swore like a drunken sailor! I'm pretty sure people have cussed since the Beginning of time. I am planning on reading it tonight till I collapse. If you like Westerns, Indian Tales, Texas, and stories about families that will fascinate you, buy this book! This will be a book I read more then once....I bet most will agree with me.


Tags : The Son (Pulitzer Prize in Letters: Fiction Finalists) [Philipp Meyer] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Philipp Meyer, the acclaimed author of <em>American Rust</em>, returns with <em>The Son</em>: an epic of the American West and a multigenerational saga of power,Philipp Meyer,The Son (Pulitzer Prize in Letters: Fiction Finalists),Ecco,0062120395,Historical,Literary,Westerns,Comanche Indians,Comanche Indians;Fiction.,Epic fiction,Families - Texas,Fathers and sons,Fathers and sons;Fiction.,Indian captivities,Indian captivities;Fiction.,Texas,Western stories,AMERICAN HISTORICAL FICTION,FICTION Historical General,FICTION Literary,FICTION Westerns,Fiction,Fiction - Western,Fiction-Westerns,FictionHistorical - General,GENERAL,General Adult,Historical - General,Modern & contemporary fiction (post c 1945),United States,Western,Westerns - General

The Son Pulitzer Prize in Letters Fiction Finalists Philipp Meyer 9780062120397 Books Reviews

THE SON is a historical saga of epic proportions about American settlement of Texas. It had all the elements of being one of the better recent novels about the settlement of the American frontier, the Indians, the Mexicans, and cattle and oil wealth. Unfortunately it was a disappointment because it got lost in a flip-flop interleaved story of different characters at different times.

The part that interested me most was the fate of Eli McCullough, a 13-year-old son of Texas frontier settlers, who is captured by the Comanche when they raid his family homestead, and rape, kill and dismember his mother and sister. Eli survives by assimilating himself into the Comanche world to be treated as a young brave by learning their skills in riding, hunting and warfare. He eventually goes out on raids on other tribes and their greatest enemies, the white settlers and the Texas rangers. While this seems to be a bit of a Stockholm syndrome reaction you get a feeling that all of these skills were natural to Eli who went through his eventful life fighting and dominating to the last.

Eventually Eli "escapes" back to his white surroundings and is forced into the harsh and dangerous life of the Texas Rangers. After surviving this experience (many didn't) he then fights for the South returning as "the Colonel" with a stolen fortune to found a huge ranch for his dynasty in South Texas. Nothing stands in his way, including justifying the massacre of a distinguished old Mexican family, the Garcias to gain their land. While cattle was king in the early days, later on Eli chased down mineral rights which made him an oil baron.

Eli considers his younger son Peter "a disappointment" because he doesn't inherit any of his father's dominant and brutal ways and sees the future world of Texas as a shared inheritance with the Mexicans. Peter is forever haunted by the slaughter of the Garcias who had who settled and developed the frontier before the Americans. Jeannie McCullough, Eli's great-granddaughter, inherits some of Eli's drive and ruthlessness and presides over her oil and gas empire into the twenty-first century.

While Meyer's descriptions of life with the Comanche were fascinating, I found his flip-flop storytelling between characters hard to follow, so much so that in some parts I really didn't know where the character fitted into the full picture.

An underlying theme of Meyer's book is that the history of Texas was a ruthless fight for survival of the fittest. I expected that the book would have left me, as someone who doesn't live in America, with an admiration for those who struggled to survive in the harsh and huge world of Texas, but it left me with a feeling of disappointment at the outcome on the various peoples who lived in that vast State over the last 150 years, and the immense impact of these struggles on an already fragile environment. It is clear to me that in the case of Texas the fittest were definitely not the best. 3.5 stars.
I enjoyed this book. The reason for four stars is that the last 20 to 25% of the book went to "telling" instead of "showing" and that ticked me off. The man has an excellent command of the language and can draw great portraits of people for the reader to engage with. But telling the reader for 100 pages leaves me cool to cold. I have no doubt this was the editing job, but not sure. It whirlwinded to the end and I felt cheated as I had to do it with the narrator instead of the characters. An up and coming author for sure.
Okay, I admit it, first off; I do love reading Westerns. When I saw AMC had created the show I wanted to know more about the book. So I bought the book. I read about one book a week so I can judge whether or not a book is an easy read. First what made this book and easy read for me was knowing how the show had been produced. With switching back and forth between time periods. So...the book was the same format, so no mystery there. Telling the story from the different character standpoints, I liked. and because I already knew of the time switching it wasn't confusing. HOWEVER, I do understand where the criticism comes from on the previous reviews, that if you did not know how the show was produced with the time period flash backs, reading the book would be a challenge, so actually that mystery was not part of the read.

As far as content and likability of the characters and stories; I like gritty westerns, not bonanza family entertainment westerns, I like knowing that life was hard, tough and unpleasant in order to make the story come alive. I read till the end and realized that the story ended up going full circle in the end and you became aware of why and how the main character turned out like he did.

My suggestion is if you want to read this book, understand it goes back and forth between time periods so it builds the case and builds your understanding why the characters are who they are and how they became what they are.... AND
***SPOILER***
that's about it.....you will either enjoy or like the characters or dislike some of them, which is the point of a good read. Also if you are reading this after you started the AMC show, understand liberties were taken and generations of the characters have been changed, i.e. the Granddaughter in the Show is actually the Great Grand Daughter in the book and the Garcia ranch is destroyed and they are all killed in the beginning..in the show, nope, they are pretty much made out to be just neighbors with periodic conflicts. I know that this leaves room in the show for multiple seasons so the story doesn't just wrap up in one season. So there ya go!
I have watched the 2nd installment of the TV show The Son. I think the show is great and as I watched the credits, I saw it was based on a book. So, I bought it last night for my Paper White. Wow! I have been reading almost all night and most of today! This is a fascinating book. The TV show showed the savagery of the killing of his family and kid napping. It was nothing compared to the book! I always read reviews. I saw a few that were "confused" that there are different people ,with their own chapters, that tell the reader 1st hand their thoughts. All you have to do is read the name and the time period at the head of each chapter! Also, someone stated that people in the Old West would never swear like what is in the book. Read some of Shakespeare's plays. He swore like a drunken sailor! I'm pretty sure people have cussed since the Beginning of time. I am planning on reading it tonight till I collapse. If you like Westerns, Indian Tales, Texas, and stories about families that will fascinate you, buy this book! This will be a book I read more then once....I bet most will agree with me.