Brush Country: Two Texas Novels

by Elmer Kelton

To Elmer Kelton, the brush country of southwest Texas is home. Nobody knows Texas's history, people, beauty, and dangers as well as this greatest of Western writers.
Barbed Wire, the first novel in this omnibus, is the story of one-time cowboy Doug Monahan, who runs a fencing crew outside the town of Twin Wells. Monahan, a likeable, hard-working Irishman, and his workers dig post-holes and string red painted barb wire for ranchers as protection against wandering stock, rustlers, and land hungry cattle barons.
Their fencing operation is opposed by Captain Andrew Rinehart, a former Confederate officer and an old-school open range cowman of the huge R Cross spread. With his brutal foreman, Archer Spann--who does the violent work of chasing squatters off the range--Rinehart wages a barb wire war against Doug Monahan.
A second colorful tale of the brush country is Llano River. Dundee, a onetime cowboy, one of Monahan's fencing crew in Barbed Wire, wanders into the town of Titusville, broke, tired, and itching for a fight. Town patriarch John Titus hires Dundee to find out who is rustling his cattle, but he already has a culprit in mind--Blue Roan Hardesty. Once a friend, now a sworn enemy of the powerful Titus clan, Hardesty is Titus's choice for villain--but Dundee is determined to find out the truth, even if it costs him his job.

Genres: Westerns

384 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

About the author

Elmer Kelton (1926-2009) was award-winning author of more than forty novels, including The Time It Never Rained, Other Men’s Horses, Texas Standoff and Hard Trail to Follow. He grew up on a ranch near Crane, Texas, and earned a journalism degree from the University of Texas. His first novel, Hot Iron, was published in 1956. Among his awards have been seven Spurs from Western Writers of America and four Western Heritage awards from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. His novel The Good Old Boys was made into a television film starring Tommy Lee Jones. In addition to his novels, Kelton worked as an agricultural journalist for 42 years. He served in the infantry in World War II. He died in 2009.

http://us.macmillan.com/author/elmerk...

Reviews

[Jason Bergsy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Elmer Kelton's Brush Country
This book comprises of two Texas novels, Barbed Wire and Llano River.

Barbed Wire follows the story of an entrepreneur hoping to bring the new product of barbed wire to ranch and farm country, mostly controlled by an old ranch owner set in his ways, hoping to prevent the new invention from taking over the town.

I found this novel fascinating, and easy 5/5 for me. It was an easy approachable read, especially for a western. It did not have a lot of the violence (there's still some but certainly not as much as the norm in the western genre) and racy remarks that you often find in other books (including others from Elmer Kelton) and another theme in the book that you don't see in many westerns are strong female characters. I don't think this is the most feminist work of fiction by any means, but it is nice to see women in the book stand up for themselves more so than other characters in the genre.

The more I read from Elmer Kelton, the more I grow to love his politics in the worlds he builds. I know I have mentioned it in at least one previous review of one of his books, but it really reminds me of the drama and politics of a tv show like Yellowstone, done much better and more believable in my opinion.


In Llano River, we follow the story of Dundee, who is actually a character who works on the crew in Barbed Wire. In this novel he is past his life as a cowboy and fence builder, but gets roped into hunting down some cow thieves for a big wig in the country. He ends up getting tied up in the middle of a bitter feud and a missing cow mystery.

This was also a very good read, but seemed a little less consistent. Some parts were much more detailed and others seemed to gloss over a good bit of the story line. The characters are quite likable but not all of them are very multi-dimensional and seem a little one sided.

I would probably give Llano River a strong 3/5 to a light 4/5.
As a result we'll split the difference on the overall review to a 4/5. Well worth the read, especially for fans of a classic western.

[Joe Stack · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you’re familiar with Kelton, you get exactly what you expect. Well-told, well-constructed tales. If you’re not familiar with Kelton; well, you’re in for engaging reading that hits all the right emotions. There is a cinematic quality to Kelton’s writing.

Both stories are character driven plots and together rate 3.5 stars. 4 stars for “Barbed Wire,” and 3 stars for “Llano River.”

“Barbed Wire” is a story that grabbed me on the first page and didn’t let me go until the very last sentence. This story starts off with the hero digging holes for fenceposts. Anyone who has dug holes in the southwest will attest to the accuracy of Kelton’s narrative of digging holes through rocks and caliche.

This is a story of pride; how it clouds judgements of the main characters, good, bad, and inbetween.

The second story, “Llano River,” is a mystery in which a minor character from “Barbed Wire” is the hero who is hired to solve the mystery of who is stealing cattle, and then has to find out who commits a murder. A pleasant aspect of this story is one of the secondary characters, Katy Long. She’s an equal to any of the other characters, including the hero.

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cattle thieves, desperate men, a robbers roost, and time for change.

Dundee was hired to find the outlaws with their camps, cabins, and holding areas. Before he was through he found tense action with life and death decisions, a wasted boom town, and that not everyone matched their reputations. A fast ride into the old west with a classic ending. Well worth the time.

[Sequoyah Branham · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I read Llano River a while ago… not sure if I did a review on it or not.
I just finished Barbed Wire. I really appreciated that the characters don’t go for violence and shooting as their first choice. It shows a really pivotal time in the ranch/range history (the beginning of fencing in the range) in a way beyond just “it’s change I don’t like it”.

[Monte Owen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fantastic book by Elmer Kelton!!

Elmer Kelton is the best western fiction writer I’ve ever ver read. Both of these books are fantastic to read.

[Rosemary · Rating 5 out of 5]

These two books presented in Brush Country: Barbed Wire, and Llano River, tell of early 1900's Texas Brush Country of West Texas---below the Caprock. This is the wild country where during the civil war, conscription dodgers and many outlaws hide out in the brush and the hill country. They show an excellent transition into more modern times.

[Sherrill · Rating 3 out of 5]

I like Elmer's books as ya'll know....in this one there were two stories, so not so long. I enjoy reading about the "ole times" wishing that I had lived in that day.