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The Way to Bright Star
Ben Butterfield, ex-circus performer, is living out his days in a small backwater town. He spends much of his time dwelling on the past, pondering his glory days with the circus, and his first grand adventure—an odyssey across Missouri and Illinois to Bright Star, Indiana, during the Civil War. It was a journey that laid the groundwork for the man he would become, and on which he got to know the two people who meant the world to him, and still do.
In 1862, Ben sets out to help Johnny Hawkes, a resourceful Texican, drive two camels to the farm home of a Yankee officer who has taken possession of the desert beasts as contraband of war. But when Johnny is imprisoned by the Yankees and charged with horse theft, it is up to Ben to complete the task without his friend and mentor. On the threshold of manhood, he has only the help of a young girl, nicknamed Princess, who spends most of the time masquerading as a boy to avoid drawing unwanted attention. Johnny and Princess must stand together and persevere against the odds if they are to overcome every obstacle placed before them on the winding way to Bright Star.
In 1862, Ben sets out to help Johnny Hawkes, a resourceful Texican, drive two camels to the farm home of a Yankee officer who has taken possession of the desert beasts as contraband of war. But when Johnny is imprisoned by the Yankees and charged with horse theft, it is up to Ben to complete the task without his friend and mentor. On the threshold of manhood, he has only the help of a young girl, nicknamed Princess, who spends most of the time masquerading as a boy to avoid drawing unwanted attention. Johnny and Princess must stand together and persevere against the odds if they are to overcome every obstacle placed before them on the winding way to Bright Star.
384 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
3 people are currently reading
130 people want to read
About the author
Dee Brown
110 books417 followersAKA: Dee Alexander Brown
Dorris Alexander “Dee” Brown (1908–2002) was a celebrated author of both fiction and nonfiction, whose classic study Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is widely credited with exposing the systematic destruction of American Indian tribes to a world audience.
Brown was born in Louisiana and grew up in Arkansas. He worked as a reporter and a printer before enrolling at Arkansas State Teachers College, where he met his future wife, Sally Stroud. He later earned two degrees in library science, and worked as a librarian while beginning his career as a writer. He went on to research and write more than thirty books, often centered on frontier history or overlooked moments of the Civil War. Brown continued writing until his death in 2002.
Dorris Alexander “Dee” Brown (1908–2002) was a celebrated author of both fiction and nonfiction, whose classic study Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee is widely credited with exposing the systematic destruction of American Indian tribes to a world audience.
Brown was born in Louisiana and grew up in Arkansas. He worked as a reporter and a printer before enrolling at Arkansas State Teachers College, where he met his future wife, Sally Stroud. He later earned two degrees in library science, and worked as a librarian while beginning his career as a writer. He went on to research and write more than thirty books, often centered on frontier history or overlooked moments of the Civil War. Brown continued writing until his death in 2002.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
March 12, 2014
There is a "journey genre" dating back to the Odyssey and including such classics as Huckleberry Finn and On The Road. This book belongs to that genre, but is not of that quality. It starts slowly and initially moves at a camel's pace, (which we are given to understand is slow). At that point, I was tempted to give it up and assign it a 2. However, the story picked up with the introduction of the character known as Princess around page 140 or so. By the end, it had moved up to a 4 level and I was sorry to put it down. I compromised with a 3.
As in most journey journals, there is a wide range of characters the travelers encounter, some of whom drop out along the way as they escort their camels across war-torn Missouri.
The book is reminiscent of Sara Gruen's Water for Elephants, not only because of the traveling circus but also because, as in Water for Elephants, the time frame switches back and forth between Ben Butterfield as a teenager around 1863 and as a middle aged man reminiscing about the journey in 1901. There are also elements of Larrie McMurtry, specifically his The Colonel and Little Missie, which recounted the story of Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley, and Cody's Wild West Show. (My father, who died in 1958, never forgot seeing the show as a young man and actually shaking Buffalo Bill's hand.) Circuses were big in those days. Nowadays, of course, as e e cummings wrote:
"Buffalo Bill's
defunct...
As in most journey journals, there is a wide range of characters the travelers encounter, some of whom drop out along the way as they escort their camels across war-torn Missouri.
The book is reminiscent of Sara Gruen's Water for Elephants, not only because of the traveling circus but also because, as in Water for Elephants, the time frame switches back and forth between Ben Butterfield as a teenager around 1863 and as a middle aged man reminiscing about the journey in 1901. There are also elements of Larrie McMurtry, specifically his The Colonel and Little Missie, which recounted the story of Buffalo Bill, Annie Oakley, and Cody's Wild West Show. (My father, who died in 1958, never forgot seeing the show as a young man and actually shaking Buffalo Bill's hand.) Circuses were big in those days. Nowadays, of course, as e e cummings wrote:
"Buffalo Bill's
defunct...
Read
May 26, 2013Mix a couple of orphans, a pair of crowd-drawing camels and a host of unforgettable characters. Stirred well by an accomplished author and you have the beginning elements of a story that continues to draw the read forward to the end of his tale. A delightful adventure that provides glimpses into the backwater actions of the Civil War.
April 12, 2010
My friend, Julie, recommended this book to me and I really enjoyed it. It is about a boy' travels during the civil war. An interesting read...
April 21, 2011
I'm a sucker for a American Civil War historical novel Great characters and a humorous and horrific tale.
July 13, 2012
Ben, Johnny, Camlers, Hadje and Queen Elizabeth Jones travel during the beginning of the Civil War w/camels.
August 31, 2012
superbly written...reads like a folksy epic
July 12, 2018
Ben Butterfield’s “memoirs” from the perspective of an aging man, pondering his life after having experienced a literal “caravan” trip from Missouri to Indiana as a young boy. The “memoirs” are an intriguing view of how times changed from the era of the American Civil War when the “caravan” took place to the near turn of the 20th century and its “civilizing” influences of telephones and horseless carriages. The bulk of the narrative is in novel form with the intermezzos of the pseudo-memoirs offering perspective.
Without the so-called memoirs of Ben Butterfield, one would have assumed a budding romance between two of the main characters. With the “memoirs,” the reader is well-aware that something went wrong and not as the protagonist intended. Indeed, even though the thrust of the “memoirs” is that the protagonist is to be reunited with this long-lost love, there is a twist that will wrench one’s heart when that “reunion” is to take place. But before that twist takes place, there are lots of intriguing events to experience vicariously.
Part of the appeal to me is that the protagonist is captured as a prisoner of war, even though not a combatant, and pressed into service to escort a pair of camels to the place where a quartermaster of questionable integrity wishes to purchase them at a rigged auction for prizes of war captured by Union soldiers. Camels? This delightful element of the story (which proves to be the salvation of Butterfield and his associates one more than one occasion) invokes the unsuccessful effort of the “camel corps” in the Southwest United States. Another element in the story deals with a female character managing to pass as a male, much as some brave women are recorded as doing in the American Civil War. Another element touches upon partisan sentiment among rebel sympathizers after major Union victories. And yet another element in the novel touches on the gunslinger legends, debunking them almost as effectively as Clint Eastwood managed in Unforgiven. And finally, there is interwoven into the story a theme related to the post-war Wild West Shows that had me wondering if at least a couple of characters weren’t supposed to be Annie Oakley and Wild Bill themselves.
To be honest, I picked up this book given to me by my brother because of the promise of fiction set during the American Civil War, but I quickly became obsessed with the irreverent takes on the personal life of Butterfield as he copes with the transitions required at the tail end of the 19th century. Butterfield’s obsessions, failures, and hopes made this “frame” for the novel often seem more interesting than the novel itself.
As with at least one other reviewer on goodreads.com, I found myself frustrated with the pacing that the other reviewer rightly compared with the plodding of the camels being driven to Missouri. I loved encounters with a circus, a traveling “drummer/salesman,” and the aforementioned Rebel partisans, but there were too many inconsequential aspects of the journey in between those elements.
Without the so-called memoirs of Ben Butterfield, one would have assumed a budding romance between two of the main characters. With the “memoirs,” the reader is well-aware that something went wrong and not as the protagonist intended. Indeed, even though the thrust of the “memoirs” is that the protagonist is to be reunited with this long-lost love, there is a twist that will wrench one’s heart when that “reunion” is to take place. But before that twist takes place, there are lots of intriguing events to experience vicariously.
Part of the appeal to me is that the protagonist is captured as a prisoner of war, even though not a combatant, and pressed into service to escort a pair of camels to the place where a quartermaster of questionable integrity wishes to purchase them at a rigged auction for prizes of war captured by Union soldiers. Camels? This delightful element of the story (which proves to be the salvation of Butterfield and his associates one more than one occasion) invokes the unsuccessful effort of the “camel corps” in the Southwest United States. Another element in the story deals with a female character managing to pass as a male, much as some brave women are recorded as doing in the American Civil War. Another element touches upon partisan sentiment among rebel sympathizers after major Union victories. And yet another element in the novel touches on the gunslinger legends, debunking them almost as effectively as Clint Eastwood managed in Unforgiven. And finally, there is interwoven into the story a theme related to the post-war Wild West Shows that had me wondering if at least a couple of characters weren’t supposed to be Annie Oakley and Wild Bill themselves.
To be honest, I picked up this book given to me by my brother because of the promise of fiction set during the American Civil War, but I quickly became obsessed with the irreverent takes on the personal life of Butterfield as he copes with the transitions required at the tail end of the 19th century. Butterfield’s obsessions, failures, and hopes made this “frame” for the novel often seem more interesting than the novel itself.
As with at least one other reviewer on goodreads.com, I found myself frustrated with the pacing that the other reviewer rightly compared with the plodding of the camels being driven to Missouri. I loved encounters with a circus, a traveling “drummer/salesman,” and the aforementioned Rebel partisans, but there were too many inconsequential aspects of the journey in between those elements.
August 4, 2024
This is an interesting and entertaining road trip book set in the first year of the Civil War. A young Texan, Johnny Hawkes, along with two youths and an Egyptian, are hired to transport two camels, seized from the Confederate Army, from Springfield, Missouri to Bright Star, Indiana for a Union officer who was planning to use them for farming. There are plenty of adventures and twists and turns along the way as they travel through country that has been disrupted by the war and yet, had life go on as usual in some respects. Brown has a solid grasp of that time in American history as well as of the Midwestern landscape through which his characters sojourn.
Alternating chapters of the book deal with the life of one of the youths, Ben Butterfield, forty years later, who is a disabled former circus rider. The story of the book is really Ben's story and recollection. I found that a little distracting at first, but Brown uses that method as a way of introducing some characters and explaining Ben's motivation for telling his story.
Alternating chapters of the book deal with the life of one of the youths, Ben Butterfield, forty years later, who is a disabled former circus rider. The story of the book is really Ben's story and recollection. I found that a little distracting at first, but Brown uses that method as a way of introducing some characters and explaining Ben's motivation for telling his story.
January 27, 2020
Sometimes you just never know what book will catch your attention and become one of your favorite books. I'll admit, I've had Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee on the shelf for quite some time and have yet to read it, but the other day I was in a wonderful little book shop not looking for anything in particular and while perusing the paperback shelves saw a camel on the spine of a book in the western section, picked it up, read the back cover and immediately started reading the book. Two chapters in, it was time to go but I made sure this book came home with me and I thoroughly enjoyed the many adventures of Ben, and I especially liked the present day Ben and his carryings-on! If you like a little bit travelogue, a little bit of exotic life and a whole lot of fun, don't deprive yourself and read this fun, fun book.
Now on to Mr. Brown's other books, my appetite has been whetted!
Now on to Mr. Brown's other books, my appetite has been whetted!
November 24, 2024
In alternating chapters we hear of the life of Ben Butterfield. In 1862, As a fifteen year old orphan Ben makes his way from Arkansas to Indiana with his father figure Johnny Hawke, two camels, and the camels handler Hadjee. They accumulate other animals and a spunky girl called Queen Elizabeth Jones. They meet a conglomeration of eccentrics and rapscallions, get separated, get arrested, deal with both confederate and Union soldiers/sympathizers, and perform Shakespeare. Forty years later Ben, retired from his circus career because of a badly broken leg, is living in Missouri, married to the placid Helda Fagerhalt and wrestling with the inventions of the new 20th century: bicycle clubs, motoring, telephones, and the two-step. We never really hear of his circus career or details of the lives of Johnny or Queen Elizabeth Jones. A lively picaresque tale.
July 6, 2018
Based on his "Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee", I was prepared for a very serious, heart-wrenching story, but was absolutely delighted to read this sweet chronicle of some wandering folks (and a couple of camels, some horses, a dog, and donkeys too) who were in Missouri in the midst of the Civil War but "not part of the war". I enjoyed the structure of interweaving the narrative of the story in the 1860s with one character's memory notes as he looks back from the early 1900s. If you like Paulette Jiles, you would like this book. (I say that because this book may not be readily available - I got my copy off a used book shelf.)
June 4, 2023
Dee Brown is a true story teller. His writing reminds me of the stories told by Eudora Welty. The Way of Bright Star is a page turner because his characters are interesting. Their trek from Texas to Indiana is fascinating. I have travel much of the route myself and was intrigued by how things have changed since the 1860s.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews