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God's Country
The unlikely narrator through this tale of misadventures is one Curt Marder: gambler, drinker, cheat, and would-be womanizer. It's 1871, and he's lost his farm, his wife, and his dog to a band of marauding hooligans. With nothing to live on but a desire to recover what is rightfully his, Marder is forced to enlist the help of the best tracker in the West: a black man named Bubba.
232 pages, Paperback
First published May 1, 1994
34 people are currently reading
5936 people want to read
About the author
Percival Everett
70 books8,775 followersPercival L. Everett (born 1956) is an American writer and Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California.
There might not be a more fertile mind in American fiction today than Everett’s. In 22 years, he has written 19 books, including a farcical Western, a savage satire of the publishing industry, a children’s story spoofing counting books, retellings of the Greek myths of Medea and Dionysus, and a philosophical tract narrated by a four-year-old.
The Washington Post has called Everett “one of the most adventurously experimental of modern American novelists.” And according to The Boston Globe, “He’s literature’s NASCAR champion, going flat out, narrowly avoiding one seemingly inevitable crash only to steer straight for the next.”
Everett, who teaches courses in creative writing, American studies and critical theory, says he writes about what interests him, which explains his prolific output and the range of subjects he has tackled. He also describes himself as a demanding teacher who learns from his students as much as they learn from him.
Everett’s writing has earned him the PEN USA 2006 Literary Award (for his 2005 novel, Wounded), the Academy Award for Literature of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award (for his 2001 novel, Erasure), the PEN/Oakland-Josephine Miles Award for Excellence in Literature (for his 1996 story collection, Big Picture) and the New American Writing Award (for his 1990 novel, Zulus). He has served as a judge for, among others, the 1997 National Book Award for fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction in 1991.
There might not be a more fertile mind in American fiction today than Everett’s. In 22 years, he has written 19 books, including a farcical Western, a savage satire of the publishing industry, a children’s story spoofing counting books, retellings of the Greek myths of Medea and Dionysus, and a philosophical tract narrated by a four-year-old.
The Washington Post has called Everett “one of the most adventurously experimental of modern American novelists.” And according to The Boston Globe, “He’s literature’s NASCAR champion, going flat out, narrowly avoiding one seemingly inevitable crash only to steer straight for the next.”
Everett, who teaches courses in creative writing, American studies and critical theory, says he writes about what interests him, which explains his prolific output and the range of subjects he has tackled. He also describes himself as a demanding teacher who learns from his students as much as they learn from him.
Everett’s writing has earned him the PEN USA 2006 Literary Award (for his 2005 novel, Wounded), the Academy Award for Literature of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the Hurston/Wright Legacy Award (for his 2001 novel, Erasure), the PEN/Oakland-Josephine Miles Award for Excellence in Literature (for his 1996 story collection, Big Picture) and the New American Writing Award (for his 1990 novel, Zulus). He has served as a judge for, among others, the 1997 National Book Award for fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction in 1991.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 205 reviews
June 23, 2022
"I run onto some tough luck. Got robbed and made awful fun of by some stinkin' illiterate bastards."
"Be careful what you say now," Rip said, shaking his head. "Most of my family is practising illiterates."
"Sorry."
"They're getting right good at it."
Well, he struck gold again. Percival Everett's 1994 novel is snarkily funny and devastating, both. In this farcical western, a numbskull named Marder teams up with a sharp-witted, all-too-wise-to-the-world tracker named Bubba, after finding his ranch looted, his wife abducted and his dog shot.
The plot doesn't matter terribly - suffice it to say it's a romp through the wild west that both amuses and sobers the reader. It's exaggerated, I guess, but by how much, really? Let's face it, the brutality that was directed at African Americans and Native Americans can't be overstated. While Everett is extravagant in his satire (we meet Wyatt Earp's brother, Burp, and Rip's last name is Phardt), he realistically points his finger at white colonists and, due to unrelenting greed, the ruin in the nation.
Everett entertains while his pistol is pressed against your temple. All you can do, with that pained smile on your face, is agree, oh god, as you sink to your knees.
"Be careful what you say now," Rip said, shaking his head. "Most of my family is practising illiterates."
"Sorry."
"They're getting right good at it."
Well, he struck gold again. Percival Everett's 1994 novel is snarkily funny and devastating, both. In this farcical western, a numbskull named Marder teams up with a sharp-witted, all-too-wise-to-the-world tracker named Bubba, after finding his ranch looted, his wife abducted and his dog shot.
The plot doesn't matter terribly - suffice it to say it's a romp through the wild west that both amuses and sobers the reader. It's exaggerated, I guess, but by how much, really? Let's face it, the brutality that was directed at African Americans and Native Americans can't be overstated. While Everett is extravagant in his satire (we meet Wyatt Earp's brother, Burp, and Rip's last name is Phardt), he realistically points his finger at white colonists and, due to unrelenting greed, the ruin in the nation.
Everett entertains while his pistol is pressed against your temple. All you can do, with that pained smile on your face, is agree, oh god, as you sink to your knees.
October 27, 2020
10/27/20
The first time I read God’s Country, I was in a blur of admiration, awe, glee, and so many other emotions at Percival Everett’s genius and alacrity to tell such tale of racism and ignorance through the eyes of a racist, ignorant buffoon. This second time through, I read slower, receiving medicine that cannot be gulped. And on page 114, I thought to pause and look up a line, so casually dropped that if you didn’t know the reference (I didn’t), you might miss it: “I celebrate myself, and sing myself.” A search unearthed what may be the soul of this book: Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself" from Leaves of Grass. Whitman, who appears in a cameo, wrote an epic poem that says pretty much all there is to say about existence. And, although Everett’s book is nothing at all like Whitman’s poem, now I understand this book a lot better; everything from the title to the extraordinary ending took on new vibrations—although I could never and would never want to parse or analyze this amazing book.
Earlier Postings about this Book
6/19/20 As I read book after book on antiracism and support Black Lives Matter from the safety of my COVID-free apartment, as I see all the lists of "Black Writers to Read," it absolutely kills me that more people don't know about Percival Everett's work. So I am reposting this review from a couple of years ago. Percival Everett is an iconic, brilliant writer. This hilarious book's ending is prescient. Without seeming political, as only Everett can, he dramatizes living in a racist country and predicts where we are now. This book is wonderful!
Original review 4/24/2018
Hilarious and moving, a western as only Percival Everett could imagine and write it.
Curt Marder, a “no-good, free-loadin’, back-slindin’, dog-lipped son-of-a-mud-rat” who owes everybody money, hires Bubba, a Black tracker, and the two of them, along with a kid called Jake, set off to find the White men who masqueraded as Indians and burned down Marder’s homestead, killed his dog, and kidnapped his wife—the worst sin being the dog murder, as far as the White cowboys in this rollicking tale are concerned. This is a wild chase, a quest story, an 1871 western buddy road trip, a social satire with plenty of substance under the laughs. It veers from zany to horrifying within sentences and ends with a scene and a message I know no words for but it gave my whole body goosebumps.
The first time I read God’s Country, I was in a blur of admiration, awe, glee, and so many other emotions at Percival Everett’s genius and alacrity to tell such tale of racism and ignorance through the eyes of a racist, ignorant buffoon. This second time through, I read slower, receiving medicine that cannot be gulped. And on page 114, I thought to pause and look up a line, so casually dropped that if you didn’t know the reference (I didn’t), you might miss it: “I celebrate myself, and sing myself.” A search unearthed what may be the soul of this book: Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself" from Leaves of Grass. Whitman, who appears in a cameo, wrote an epic poem that says pretty much all there is to say about existence. And, although Everett’s book is nothing at all like Whitman’s poem, now I understand this book a lot better; everything from the title to the extraordinary ending took on new vibrations—although I could never and would never want to parse or analyze this amazing book.
Earlier Postings about this Book
6/19/20 As I read book after book on antiracism and support Black Lives Matter from the safety of my COVID-free apartment, as I see all the lists of "Black Writers to Read," it absolutely kills me that more people don't know about Percival Everett's work. So I am reposting this review from a couple of years ago. Percival Everett is an iconic, brilliant writer. This hilarious book's ending is prescient. Without seeming political, as only Everett can, he dramatizes living in a racist country and predicts where we are now. This book is wonderful!
Original review 4/24/2018
Hilarious and moving, a western as only Percival Everett could imagine and write it.
Curt Marder, a “no-good, free-loadin’, back-slindin’, dog-lipped son-of-a-mud-rat” who owes everybody money, hires Bubba, a Black tracker, and the two of them, along with a kid called Jake, set off to find the White men who masqueraded as Indians and burned down Marder’s homestead, killed his dog, and kidnapped his wife—the worst sin being the dog murder, as far as the White cowboys in this rollicking tale are concerned. This is a wild chase, a quest story, an 1871 western buddy road trip, a social satire with plenty of substance under the laughs. It veers from zany to horrifying within sentences and ends with a scene and a message I know no words for but it gave my whole body goosebumps.
January 7, 2023
I was doing just fine, chasing the Devil through the English landscape, when a big brown truck brung this'un to my door. I set back down in my comfy chair, with no reading complaints, and just opened this to the first page, just to see. A few chapters later I realized that dinner would have to be leftovers and I'd probably skip the rest of my assigned daily duties.
This was a romp through the 1870's American central plains, with a laugh and lesson on every page . . . until the last two pages, that is. The first-person protagonist is Curt "Don't Call Me Dirt" Marder, a man incapable of even an elementary kindness unless it coincided with his own self-interest. Early on we get a sense of Marder's worldview: I figured if a man can't smell like shit in a tavern full of like-stinking men full of joy juice, then what was the country coming to. What, indeed?
Marder was given to self-analysis: My education might have been (as some fancy pants in Virginia City once put it) slender, but I knew when to be scared. He was having a bad time with the painted Saloon gal, Loretta, which made him feel lower than a pimple on a snake's ass. Loretta did not disagree, but had her own take: You are lower than devil spit. But I reckon you know that. You're a lizard made up to look like a sorry man. You're a lanced boil.
He got no more sympathy when he went in to see Terkle, the barkeep, who looked at him and said:
"And all my life I believed buzzards ate the dead."
"Well, I ain't dead."
"Sure as hell cain't tell by lookin' at you, but I'm sorry to hear it nonetheless."
The drumbeat of a plot here is that Marder sees a group of marauders burn down his house and belongings, kidnap his wife, and shoot an arrow through his dog. He enlists the help of Bubba, a Black tracker, to hunt down the villains. As a counterpoint to Marder, Bubba is smart, brave and unfailingly kind.
In this context, Everett means to speak about the depredations of the White man in American history. To this effort, God's Country, if not caricature, is certainly satire. Maybe you need to overstate things to make the point, but maybe not. George Armstrong Custer was bad enough without having him personally scalp a dying Black Elk.
As I said above, there was a laugh on every page, seemingly, until the last two pages. That's when Everett gets serious. A reader wonders if it was ever right to laugh at all.
This was a romp through the 1870's American central plains, with a laugh and lesson on every page . . . until the last two pages, that is. The first-person protagonist is Curt "Don't Call Me Dirt" Marder, a man incapable of even an elementary kindness unless it coincided with his own self-interest. Early on we get a sense of Marder's worldview: I figured if a man can't smell like shit in a tavern full of like-stinking men full of joy juice, then what was the country coming to. What, indeed?
Marder was given to self-analysis: My education might have been (as some fancy pants in Virginia City once put it) slender, but I knew when to be scared. He was having a bad time with the painted Saloon gal, Loretta, which made him feel lower than a pimple on a snake's ass. Loretta did not disagree, but had her own take: You are lower than devil spit. But I reckon you know that. You're a lizard made up to look like a sorry man. You're a lanced boil.
He got no more sympathy when he went in to see Terkle, the barkeep, who looked at him and said:
"And all my life I believed buzzards ate the dead."
"Well, I ain't dead."
"Sure as hell cain't tell by lookin' at you, but I'm sorry to hear it nonetheless."
The drumbeat of a plot here is that Marder sees a group of marauders burn down his house and belongings, kidnap his wife, and shoot an arrow through his dog. He enlists the help of Bubba, a Black tracker, to hunt down the villains. As a counterpoint to Marder, Bubba is smart, brave and unfailingly kind.
In this context, Everett means to speak about the depredations of the White man in American history. To this effort, God's Country, if not caricature, is certainly satire. Maybe you need to overstate things to make the point, but maybe not. George Armstrong Custer was bad enough without having him personally scalp a dying Black Elk.
As I said above, there was a laugh on every page, seemingly, until the last two pages. That's when Everett gets serious. A reader wonders if it was ever right to laugh at all.
April 13, 2025
Part satire, part symbolic, Everett's "God's Country" is a farcical play on the Old West and racism, as a whole that has a lot of similarities to his eventual breakout book "The Trees". He's always had a penchant for humor and his Curt Marder and Bubba seem to be a bit Twain-esque in nature, but anyone that thinks Everett may be derivative in this regard needs to understand that he puts a spin on that comparison that is truly his own. Curt is just like his name, very curt in nature and Bubba is representative of the old South trying to come to terms with change after the Civil War and the progression to an open-mindedness about what they've been taught from generation to generation. Only Everett could symbolize so much, yet leave you audibly laughing at such nonsense and for that, I'll rate this a solid 4 stars. Recommended for those that are just arriving to Everett's writing and want to see how far he's come or how consistent he's been.
Read
February 17, 2018Absolutely fucking fabulous. Some peculiar crossbreed between Nathanael West and Charles Portis, an absurdist revisionist Western serving double (triple?) duty as a grand comment on racial injustice. Our antihero protagonist, Curt Marder, a cowardly, immoral fool, has his wife kidnapped by white men masquerading as Indians, and hires on the services of Bubba, a black tracker, heroic and taciturn, to find her. A series of tragi-comic misadventures ensues, exposing the hypocrisies of the mythology of the American West mythology and making me laugh with such frequency and intensity that I began to make the people at the bar around me uncomfortable. Brilliant, obviously a keeper.
November 4, 2025
Curt Marder is a good ol’ fashioned, 1871, Western cowboy POS. The introduction clues us in, but ol’ Curt doesn’t disappoint. A horde of baddies torch his home and steal his woman, but when he arrives in town his first priority is bumming free drinks at the saloon. But he does want his wife back (who’ll cook, after all?) so he seeks out Bubba, the best tracker in the West, who just happens to be Black.
Ah, that Percival Everett style! Defiance, dark humor, violence, and a whole lotta snark. Race takes a big role here, what with Marder’s attitude toward a guy who’s clearly a better and more efficient person than him by a wide margin. Everett nails the perspective of the 19th Century White person, and you shouldn’t expect him to hold back. That means some disgusting actions, thoughts, and words, so be ready for it.
It's such a simple story, really: two men on a search for revenge. But the roles of hero/villain/sidekick/threshold guardians are all mixed up. With fewer words Everett creates some deep, interesting characters with backstories that drip through tantalizingly. Marder is a total creep, always making the wrong choices, and even though I got nervous whenever he ran into trouble, I couldn’t help but think, “He got what he deserved.” There were so many unredeemable dirtbags running through the tale that it read like a Batman comic. And an appearance by George Armsomething Custer! Oh, just terrific!
If you noticed, I knocked this off in just over a day. Almost all action, hardly any introspection. After all, all Marder can think about is his next drink, so can you really expect him to contemplate Thoreau? But the dialogue is snappy, funny, and so appropriate to the time period and place.
And there was this Murphy’s Law kind of feel to it. Everything that could go wrong for Marder usually does. He’ll find a dollar, but lose it on the next page. Probably it was something stupid or mean that he perpetrated, but even if it was fate, you’ll think (once again), “He had it coming.” A few of these were really, really funny. No spoilers, but wait for him to get to the bank. Awesome!
Another triumph for our guy. Another topic for our PE Book Club. Ride ‘em, Percy!
Ah, that Percival Everett style! Defiance, dark humor, violence, and a whole lotta snark. Race takes a big role here, what with Marder’s attitude toward a guy who’s clearly a better and more efficient person than him by a wide margin. Everett nails the perspective of the 19th Century White person, and you shouldn’t expect him to hold back. That means some disgusting actions, thoughts, and words, so be ready for it.
It's such a simple story, really: two men on a search for revenge. But the roles of hero/villain/sidekick/threshold guardians are all mixed up. With fewer words Everett creates some deep, interesting characters with backstories that drip through tantalizingly. Marder is a total creep, always making the wrong choices, and even though I got nervous whenever he ran into trouble, I couldn’t help but think, “He got what he deserved.” There were so many unredeemable dirtbags running through the tale that it read like a Batman comic. And an appearance by George Armsomething Custer! Oh, just terrific!
If you noticed, I knocked this off in just over a day. Almost all action, hardly any introspection. After all, all Marder can think about is his next drink, so can you really expect him to contemplate Thoreau? But the dialogue is snappy, funny, and so appropriate to the time period and place.
And there was this Murphy’s Law kind of feel to it. Everything that could go wrong for Marder usually does. He’ll find a dollar, but lose it on the next page. Probably it was something stupid or mean that he perpetrated, but even if it was fate, you’ll think (once again), “He had it coming.” A few of these were really, really funny. No spoilers, but wait for him to get to the bank. Awesome!
Another triumph for our guy. Another topic for our PE Book Club. Ride ‘em, Percy!
July 17, 2025
Rating 3.85
Professor Everett has been at the top of my favorite author list for quite awhile, though somehow I managed to overlook this particular story. While originally published years ago, it popped up on the radar recently. For those who enjoy Everett's humor as I do, this early spoof resembles the Mel Brooks film, "Blazing Saddles" with one major exception; use of the "N" word throughout. All characters have oddball names, are illiterate racists and lack compassion
When Curt Marder, cowboy/moron, nears his homestead he's alarmed by clouds of smoke rising from the ranch house. Moments later he sees a band of 'disguised' cowboys take off with his wife screaming from a bandit's horse. Angered, he dashes after them and in the process discovers his dog has been shot with an arrow.
Crazed by the loss of his home, wife and dog he rushes into town and without money, sneaks into a livery stable to bed down. The following morning he wakes to the kick of its owner wanting to be paid. Spotting a young blonde haired boy named Jake, he learns about a black tracker named Bubba who could help find the outlaws but needs to learn of his whereabouts.
Going to the saloon, locals have heard of Curt's situation and one after another say, 'sorry 'bout the dog Marder'. In the midst of his search for the black tracker, we witness Everett's poke at racism with all characters referring to Bubba as'ni**er'. And while the time period is post-absolution, he drills this blatant dislike for blacks throughout the book, much as Mel Brooks does in the movie. While comic in nature, the racist theme is deeper than most his others. What's terrific is how Everett nails dim witted cowboy slang, spoofs stereotypes and makes Custer and the cavalry the laughing stock.
Once Marder and Jake find Bubba, they negotiate a deal; not long after word gets out that the same outlaws have burned and killed others and a $1000 reward for their capture goes public.
Bubba is not only literate, he speaks the tongue of Indians, knows the lay of the land and fights like a heavyweight champion. Everett uses this persona to demonstrate that color has nothing to do with intelligence, logic or knowledge. While Bubba prefers peace to violence, if provoked he's a force to contend with which contrasts the cowardly ignoramus he's agreed to help. As the three begin the journey, we witness a wide variety off color comic incidents. A good example would be the discovery of Colonel Custer's inclination to dress in women's lingerie; Indians who speak better English than cowboys and Bubba who turns the stereotype on its ear.
The array of events and number of nutty characters is significant, and the names Everett creates for each are hilarious as is the dialog. Since Marder is a poor excuse for human, when attacked he cow tows, attempts to negotiate without money and when the opportunity to make it surfaces, he fumbles it.
Put simply this is one of the funniest western spoofs I've read with a different brand of humor than "I Am Not Sidney Poitier" or "Dr. No". For those who've read western novels, you'll appreciate how the author pokes fun at plots and premise; and even if you aren't a fan of westerns you'll get a kick out of the author's humor, rest assured.
Were it a bit more complex and paced better I'd have rated it higher, but I recommend it nonetheless
Professor Everett has been at the top of my favorite author list for quite awhile, though somehow I managed to overlook this particular story. While originally published years ago, it popped up on the radar recently. For those who enjoy Everett's humor as I do, this early spoof resembles the Mel Brooks film, "Blazing Saddles" with one major exception; use of the "N" word throughout. All characters have oddball names, are illiterate racists and lack compassion
When Curt Marder, cowboy/moron, nears his homestead he's alarmed by clouds of smoke rising from the ranch house. Moments later he sees a band of 'disguised' cowboys take off with his wife screaming from a bandit's horse. Angered, he dashes after them and in the process discovers his dog has been shot with an arrow.
Crazed by the loss of his home, wife and dog he rushes into town and without money, sneaks into a livery stable to bed down. The following morning he wakes to the kick of its owner wanting to be paid. Spotting a young blonde haired boy named Jake, he learns about a black tracker named Bubba who could help find the outlaws but needs to learn of his whereabouts.
Going to the saloon, locals have heard of Curt's situation and one after another say, 'sorry 'bout the dog Marder'. In the midst of his search for the black tracker, we witness Everett's poke at racism with all characters referring to Bubba as'ni**er'. And while the time period is post-absolution, he drills this blatant dislike for blacks throughout the book, much as Mel Brooks does in the movie. While comic in nature, the racist theme is deeper than most his others. What's terrific is how Everett nails dim witted cowboy slang, spoofs stereotypes and makes Custer and the cavalry the laughing stock.
Once Marder and Jake find Bubba, they negotiate a deal; not long after word gets out that the same outlaws have burned and killed others and a $1000 reward for their capture goes public.
Bubba is not only literate, he speaks the tongue of Indians, knows the lay of the land and fights like a heavyweight champion. Everett uses this persona to demonstrate that color has nothing to do with intelligence, logic or knowledge. While Bubba prefers peace to violence, if provoked he's a force to contend with which contrasts the cowardly ignoramus he's agreed to help. As the three begin the journey, we witness a wide variety off color comic incidents. A good example would be the discovery of Colonel Custer's inclination to dress in women's lingerie; Indians who speak better English than cowboys and Bubba who turns the stereotype on its ear.
The array of events and number of nutty characters is significant, and the names Everett creates for each are hilarious as is the dialog. Since Marder is a poor excuse for human, when attacked he cow tows, attempts to negotiate without money and when the opportunity to make it surfaces, he fumbles it.
Put simply this is one of the funniest western spoofs I've read with a different brand of humor than "I Am Not Sidney Poitier" or "Dr. No". For those who've read western novels, you'll appreciate how the author pokes fun at plots and premise; and even if you aren't a fan of westerns you'll get a kick out of the author's humor, rest assured.
Were it a bit more complex and paced better I'd have rated it higher, but I recommend it nonetheless
December 30, 2024
Bitter, unflinching, razor-sharp, frequently silly and deadly serious all at the same time. It’s a mystery how Everett does that.
July 7, 2024
If Ishmael Reed had written Blazing Saddles instead of Yellow Back Radio Broke-Down, well, you can finish the analogy for yourselves. This betrays its early origin as Everett has been on one of the great runs in literature since around the turn of the century. This just isn’t quite ripe; I’d never say someone’s work was too easy for their talent, but that’s what I just did.
God’s Country is in no way bad, just average within his oooh-vrah (French for ‘ladies egg’). The ending is stupidly great though, so much that it pains the judges to give this three stars. No one knows what I see in the mirror, recognizing only TV’s Ed McMahon and my search for stars.
God’s Country is in no way bad, just average within his oooh-vrah (French for ‘ladies egg’). The ending is stupidly great though, so much that it pains the judges to give this three stars. No one knows what I see in the mirror, recognizing only TV’s Ed McMahon and my search for stars.
May 25, 2014
I'm still digesting this, but what a book. I had the pleasure of hearing someone talk about Everett's work, so I was prepared for the insanity. At first, the book hooks you with humour and amused asides. Very, very quickly, the bite appears. And rather than see the world through some liberatory hope of collective redemption--Everett gives you misery. Yet, this misery is less bleak than it is triumphant. The tragedy in this book is not the sameness of the world, but the fact that Bubba has to rise above it. Constantly. And negotiate a path forward. He removes so much from his life, by the end of the book, but he refuses to remove his will to live. A startling and deeply felt book that comments on race, place, belonging and difference. Will need to read this one, again.
July 22, 2017
Hilarious AND ferocious! Hell, that alone makes it worth 5 stars in my reading world. Percival Everett gets everything right in this little gem of a satire, namely the three T's: tone, topic, and take that! Or is that 4 T's? At any rate, I loved it. Incidentally, I'd just recently finished reading Colson Whitehead's The Underground Railroad, which is perhaps more ambitious and wider in scope as a commentary on race relations in the U.S than this sharp little satire, but Everett's novel bites harder. This is the third book I've read by PE, and all were singular and damn good, so I guess I need to be reading more of his work, and you all should be too.
January 14, 2011
One of the best books I've ever read. Loved the ending, and Bubba is now one of my favorite literary characters of all time.
July 4, 2012
Percival Everett is an American national treasure. He has to be one of the most prolific and best authors you have never heard of. Several years ago I “discovered” him on the shelves of my local bookstore, and ever after have wondered why it took me so long to find him. Every book he writes is different from the one before, and he writes a lot. He is funny, inventive, real, clear, and looks truth hard in the face. I can’t figure out why books of his aren’t on every bookshelf in America. With his repertoire, everyone is bound to find one that makes them sit back in wonder at what he was able to accomplish with words alone.
This book is a western dressed as farce. But nothing is ever strictly one thing or another in Everett’s books, and as always, there is a deep red vein of truth running through it. Our narrator, Marder, runs into Colonel Custer who gives us a piece of his thinking:
This is a book for a time when you are sunk in the absurdity of daily life and you seek affirmation, relief, companionship. But it will nudge you as well, for it will remind you that there are good people out there. We just have to be sure not to kill them all off.
This book is a western dressed as farce. But nothing is ever strictly one thing or another in Everett’s books, and as always, there is a deep red vein of truth running through it. Our narrator, Marder, runs into Colonel Custer who gives us a piece of his thinking:
”I suppose you’re all too familiar with the heinous activities of one Big Elk…That Indian’s scalp will be the crowning feather in my cap. The heathen has no respect for the ownership of land. I mean, we take it and they want it back, keep coming back. Hunting lands, they say. Fishing waters, they say. That’s not it, though. I know why…I’ll tell you why. To confuse me. To confuse us. To make us question ourselves, our values. We must have more land than we need. It’s essential to our maintaining a balance between greed and hypocrisy, between unhealthy subsistence and needless, uncontrolled growth…”
This is a book for a time when you are sunk in the absurdity of daily life and you seek affirmation, relief, companionship. But it will nudge you as well, for it will remind you that there are good people out there. We just have to be sure not to kill them all off.
September 20, 2021
It is a testament to Everett’s skill that this short novel can contain so many laughs embedded in its tale of such fury, banked around the characters of Bubba a black tracker and Curt Marder, hapless racist whose only opinions are received from elsewhere. The time is probably the 1860s and the place is somewhere out west. A town called Cahoots figures and there is some predictable word fun in connection with that. Everett makes free use of every stereotype from western movies for slapstick interludes. The humor is all terrifically well done, but it occurred to me that these elements may have been a necessary balm to tell (or read) a story about racism, lynching, the dispossession and murder of the Indians, all the duplicitous, brutal, ignorant waste that underpins so much of American history. You can barely stand up if you look at it straight on.
December 4, 2022
God's Country is a funny, biting social satire masquerading as a western. In other words, it's Blazing Saddles. But darker. And maybe funnier. It follows the escapades of a cowardly cowboy name Curt Marder who has few if any positive qualities and worse luck. He's aided in his quest to recover his kidnapped wife by Bubba, a Black man who has all the positive qualities that Curt, or Dirt as he is misnamed at one point, lacks. Set in 1871, the story includes everything you would expect in a dime store western: Gambling, cheating, drinking, and whoring, of course, and also Native Americans, Col. George Armstrong Custer and the U.S. Seventh Cavalry, a bank robbery, a gun fight — and rampant racism, racial slurs, lynchings, genocide, and sexism. And yet, funny.
This is Percival Everett's sixth novel. I read it in three days because I couldn't get enough, but also because it was just 219 pages, about average for Everett. Many authors could take note here about the power of brevity: Get in, say your piece, and get out. In the same vein, I liked a blurb from Madison Smartt Bell on the back cover: "Percival Everett is an extraordinary writer, unafraid to say exactly what he means — which is something not many writers, white or Black, can honestly claim these days." That's from 1994; I don't think that has changed much.
This is Percival Everett's sixth novel. I read it in three days because I couldn't get enough, but also because it was just 219 pages, about average for Everett. Many authors could take note here about the power of brevity: Get in, say your piece, and get out. In the same vein, I liked a blurb from Madison Smartt Bell on the back cover: "Percival Everett is an extraordinary writer, unafraid to say exactly what he means — which is something not many writers, white or Black, can honestly claim these days." That's from 1994; I don't think that has changed much.
April 4, 2024
been so long since i read a funny book i forgot you were allowed to do things like name a town Cahoots or the preacher Pickle Cheeseboro. very fun to live in the head of this dumb as rocks protagonist. there are so many smart absurd little slapstick exchanges in here that you'd miss em if you weren't reading with a sense of humor; i could feel everett laughing over my shoulder. the last scene is metal as fuck. i loved this cowboy book.
May 24, 2024
The book has both biting cultural commentary on race* in America, as well as being just a complete riot of slapstick humor. Everett is a master of blending extremes that hit so hard on one page and make you laugh out loud on the next. I absolutely loved this.
As you may or may not know, I'm working on being an Everett completist, but he never stops releasing new ones! :) This is the earliest (longest-ago published) I've read so far, and it shimmers just the same.
*race and gender, but race and our historical blind praise for the white dominant culture was definitely the forefront for me. Also completely mocks old Westerns. It's so good.
As you may or may not know, I'm working on being an Everett completist, but he never stops releasing new ones! :) This is the earliest (longest-ago published) I've read so far, and it shimmers just the same.
*race and gender, but race and our historical blind praise for the white dominant culture was definitely the forefront for me. Also completely mocks old Westerns. It's so good.
December 26, 2023
Everett is on his way to becoming one of my favorites. This was hilarious, exciting, and it closes with one of the most memorable scenes I’ve read all year.
August 1, 2025
More like 4.7 stars. Not quite 'Erasure' for me, but very high-level Everett. He's a true treasure.
May 6, 2025
Goddamn. The ending of this book was amazing but are we shocked?! What starts as a satirical retelling of the Wild West in the late 1800s turns into an insanely deep commentary on race in the most poetic two last pages I’ve read recently
Just wow
I really enjoyed it
I can’t wait to read James next
Just wow
I really enjoyed it
I can’t wait to read James next
August 7, 2025
A very funny and smart book, but aren’t all his books like that?? This book has some of the best one liner insults ever written lol
August 28, 2025
The king of satire
May 31, 2024
God's Country is by no means Percival Everett's best book. It is however a fun Western caper that follows the misadventures of Curt Marder searching for those who have burned down his home, taken his wife, and shot his dog. With classic Everett wit, and uncanny situations, we meet a cast of characters that propels the story along at an enjoyable pace.
September 4, 2012
It took me a while to develop interest in this book because the narrator is such a complete buffoon, and since his story is all that happens for the first few chapters, I felt like I was reading a bad joke that wouldn't end. When legitimate drama and likable characters were introduced to the story, the parody and humor became much funnier... probably because it was more balanced. In particular I got to laughing at the occasional "old west" expressions that would crop up in serious situations.
I really wish I hadn't noticed that the author was black before I started the book. I'd like to have gone into the story with no expectation of motive on the author's part, and then seen what my impressions were when the story went into heated racial issues. I got a little bored with the fact that almost every white man in the book was an evil stupid jackass and every non-white man was a complex, decent human being suffering at the hands of whitey. I realize that it's social commentary and not far off from the truth of that time, but I guess I hate to see too many characters that fit the exact same mold... it seems like lazy storytelling. I really liked the few characters (the storekeeper, Loretta) who showed decency and a capacity for change, and I liked how Curt Marder was constantly conflicted even though he couldn't escape the the boundaries of his racism and stupidity. This wasn't my favorite book, but it made me want to read more from the author.
I really wish I hadn't noticed that the author was black before I started the book. I'd like to have gone into the story with no expectation of motive on the author's part, and then seen what my impressions were when the story went into heated racial issues. I got a little bored with the fact that almost every white man in the book was an evil stupid jackass and every non-white man was a complex, decent human being suffering at the hands of whitey. I realize that it's social commentary and not far off from the truth of that time, but I guess I hate to see too many characters that fit the exact same mold... it seems like lazy storytelling. I really liked the few characters (the storekeeper, Loretta) who showed decency and a capacity for change, and I liked how Curt Marder was constantly conflicted even though he couldn't escape the the boundaries of his racism and stupidity. This wasn't my favorite book, but it made me want to read more from the author.
January 8, 2013
Ottimo libro di Everett. Ribalta i cliché del genere western e lo sbeffeggia. Ma non è, come scritto in quarta di copertina, una parodia. O almeno non solo. Se i toni sono parodici, l'intento ed i contenuti sono satirici. Everett nel suo upside down ci mostra quanto sciocche e mistificanti siano le rappresentazioni western che ci hanno propinato negli anni. Qua l'uomo bianco è lo stupido e prepotente della situazione, mentre i musi rossi e i negri sono le vittime. La carrellata di personaggi proposti da PE è spassosa. Su tutti il protagonista: un idiota fatto e finito. Ed a seguire gli altri (con il Gen. Custer su tutti). Al massimo si potrebbe obiettare che l'operazione non è innovativa, cinema e letteratura già da metà degli anni '80 aveva incominciato progressivamente ad usare punti di vista alternativi nel genere western. Ciò non toglie che Everett non vada giù dolce di sale e il tenore e l'incalzare delle battute strappano più di un sorriso. Il tutto rende il libro più che godibile.
April 19, 2022
I loved Everett's "Erasure," but I really don't know what I just read, or what the author intended. This book is so very similar to two other books, I can only assume the author was riffing on them in some way I don't comprehend. One is, obviously, "Little Big Man," even down to the Custer-in-the-tent scene. The other is less well known, "Trask," by Oregon author Don Berry. In that book, a white man contracts with an Indian tracker, but there the similarity ends, for while Berry imbues all of his characters with dignity, Everett only grants full humanity to Bubba, the black tracker. Everyone else is morally bankrupt, and that seems to be the whole point of the story. Custer is a cross-dresser (ha ha?) and someone has a speech impediment (again: ha ha?). The ending, which I won't spoil, left me thinking I had not grasped this book at all. Full disclosure: I'm white. Color me confused.
July 3, 2024
3.5* rounded up.
A satirical western. Very funny at times and also filled with bits of horrifying western history, Walt Whitman sitting under a tree, and a mention of a family of “practicing illiterates … They’re gettin’ right good at it.” Includes a brilliant black man named Bubba who states — as many before and after him must have thought — “All I want is one day where I ain’t got to worry about a white man decidin’ I looked crosswise at him, one day where I ain’t got to worry just ‘cause I hear a rider behind me, one day where I ain’t called a boy.”
A satirical western. Very funny at times and also filled with bits of horrifying western history, Walt Whitman sitting under a tree, and a mention of a family of “practicing illiterates … They’re gettin’ right good at it.” Includes a brilliant black man named Bubba who states — as many before and after him must have thought — “All I want is one day where I ain’t got to worry about a white man decidin’ I looked crosswise at him, one day where I ain’t got to worry just ‘cause I hear a rider behind me, one day where I ain’t called a boy.”
February 25, 2023
Surprised to've enjoyed satire this much. Does really good work with white supremacy and logic of possession. Would be a great novel to teach in class on the Western or on race. Has Everett's trademark rage in it, especially in the ending. Seems to suggest there's no reconciliation for racial injustices whites have inflicted and that the best POC can dream of is to be free from white supremacy, which seems to also mean being apart from white people entirely. Def speaking to Afro-pessimism
January 30, 2019
God’s Country is a humorous western. A white man who is a gambler, a drunk and not so nice or smart human being, hires Bubba to find the men that killed his dog and ran off with his wife. The situations that these two men encounter and the people they meet along the way will either have you laughing, or make you smile real hard. This was a light, easy read and I enjoyed every minute of it. I have to explore more of this author’s work.
March 6, 2021
Set in 1871, the narrator is Curt Marder, a very unfortunate cowboy. The story opens when a band of thieves burn down his ranch, kidnap his wife, and commit worst atrocity, in shooting his dog.
Curt, a coward and fierce racist, does nothing to stop them other than watch.
He employs the services of the best tracker in the area to find them, in exchange for half of his ranch. The tracker is black, and contrary to Marder's thieving, lying and cheating, shows selfless acts of kindness and humanity. But Marder is blind to it all, and cannot see the error of his ways.
The novel is a parody of a western, packed with dark humour, but the real skill of Everett is to raise so many concerns, from the lynching of an innocent black boy, to institutionalised racism, sexism and social injustice.
In a powerful ending the tracker, Bubba, declares his intention to follow his dream, and to live freely without fear or judgment, with more than a nod to Luther King. Arrogant and dispassionate as ever, Marder comments that it doesn't sound like much of a dream.
Curt, a coward and fierce racist, does nothing to stop them other than watch.
He employs the services of the best tracker in the area to find them, in exchange for half of his ranch. The tracker is black, and contrary to Marder's thieving, lying and cheating, shows selfless acts of kindness and humanity. But Marder is blind to it all, and cannot see the error of his ways.
The novel is a parody of a western, packed with dark humour, but the real skill of Everett is to raise so many concerns, from the lynching of an innocent black boy, to institutionalised racism, sexism and social injustice.
In a powerful ending the tracker, Bubba, declares his intention to follow his dream, and to live freely without fear or judgment, with more than a nod to Luther King. Arrogant and dispassionate as ever, Marder comments that it doesn't sound like much of a dream.
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