Portrait of an Artist with Twenty-Six Horses

Checkerboard Trilogy

by William Eastlake

Eastlake, William

Genres: Fiction, Westerns, Literature

221 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1963

Reviews

[Vít]

Třetí (a bohužel už poslední) kousek z Checkerboard Trilogy se mi líbil asi nejvíc. Jsou to takové střípky z navažské rezervace, současně melancholické i ironické příběhy prazvláštních figurek z tohohle kraje na konci světa. Výborná věc, kterou si rád přečtu znovu.
A vy to udělejte taky, nebudete litovat.

[Paul]

I finished the Lyric of the Circle Heart (previously known as the Checkerboard Trilogy) and Portrait was the second best of the 3. The Bronc People was by far the best, but this one was also definitely worth the trip. Eastlake added some new storytelling elements or tools to this one which kept things interesting. It didn’t follow a typical story arc, there wasn’t much of a plot. It follows a few of the Indians living in the vicinity of George Bowman’s trading post. The 2 main characters, Ring Bowman and The Son of the Man with 26 Horses, are trying to make sense of the world through all these weird scenarios. Each chapter is a different story in with overlapping characters but there is always this tension between whites and Indians, a recurrent theme in all 3 books. Definitely has the feel of a dark comedy.

We have the story of the Navajo woman who doesn’t allow Indians into her restaurant - whites only (in a satirical way), the story of the old indian who goes to die on the mountain, the pilot who runs illegal immigrants from Mexico into the states, the story of the poet, the musician, the guys who want to kill the Nazi then end up sparing him in an act of humanity, the Indian clubhouse, the story of the Bronc riders who almost drive off a cliff, the violent rodeo clown, the white women who drive into town and shoot at the Indians in a startling display of misunderstanding, and finally the story of Ring stuck in the quicksand. We have superstition, magic, religion, and blind dumb luck working as the glue that ties these stories together.

An interesting, fun, and strangely sad/melancholy take on people who are just Americans living against the harsh but unforgiving and beautiful southwest.

[Jason]

Eastlake captures the Southwest vividly. This is part of a loose series (I don't think it's necessary to read them in order) including Go in Beauty. I have not read the third. At times hilarious, at others very somber, the heat and expansive desert weigh on Eastlake's characters and readers alike. A true shame its not in print anymore.

[Joe Grantham]

“It’s science. Yes, but more, the love of life. Anything alive, living-anyone, anything at all alive, must be sacrosanct.”