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Tears of the Mountain
Tears of the Mountain chronicles a single day
in one man's life—July 4, 1876—along with a
series of flashbacks that all lead up to an eventful
Centennial Independence Day celebration in
Sonoma, California. Over the course of this
surprisingly pivotal moment in his life, Jeremiah
McKinley prepares for the celebration and for a
reunion with old friends and family.
However, as he reflects on past love, the
hazardous pioneer journey of his youth across
the continent from Missouri, and the many violent
conflicts of the West, voices of the long dead
come to him, while old wounds and enmities
resurface, threatening everything he holds dear.
Furthermore, a series of mysterious notes and
messages follow him throughout the day. When
a visiting senator is found dead, suspicion leads
to his old mentor, Professor Applewood, whose
sudden disappearance from the festivities makes
McKinley a suspected accessory to a fugitive.
John Addiego fills this tale of America’s coming of
age with wit and lively prose, seamlessly moving
back and forth through time in a novel that
recognizes both our darker side and our promise.
in one man's life—July 4, 1876—along with a
series of flashbacks that all lead up to an eventful
Centennial Independence Day celebration in
Sonoma, California. Over the course of this
surprisingly pivotal moment in his life, Jeremiah
McKinley prepares for the celebration and for a
reunion with old friends and family.
However, as he reflects on past love, the
hazardous pioneer journey of his youth across
the continent from Missouri, and the many violent
conflicts of the West, voices of the long dead
come to him, while old wounds and enmities
resurface, threatening everything he holds dear.
Furthermore, a series of mysterious notes and
messages follow him throughout the day. When
a visiting senator is found dead, suspicion leads
to his old mentor, Professor Applewood, whose
sudden disappearance from the festivities makes
McKinley a suspected accessory to a fugitive.
John Addiego fills this tale of America’s coming of
age with wit and lively prose, seamlessly moving
back and forth through time in a novel that
recognizes both our darker side and our promise.
- GenresFiction
400 pages, Hardcover
First published September 7, 2010
11 people want to read
About the author
John Addiego
3 books16 followersJohn Addiego has published three novels and numerous stories and poems in literary journals. He is a former teacher and poetry editor at the Northwest Review. Raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, he now lives with his wife Ellen in Corvallis, Oregon.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
November 21, 2010
From the Back Cover:
Tears of the Mountain chronicles a single day in one man's life - July 4, 1876 - along with a series of alternating flashbacks beginning in 1831 that all lead up to an eventful Centennial Independence Day celebration in Sonoma, California.
Jeremiah McKinley prepares for the celebration and for a reunion with old friends and family, however, as he reflects on past love, the pioneer journey of his youth, and the many violent conflicts of the West, voices of the long dead come to him, and old wounds resurface, threatening everything he holds dear.
My Review:
Jeremiah McKinley wakes up on the fourth of July looking forward to a hard-earned day of leisurely celebration and reflection with his family. But Jeremiah has lived an adventurous life, sometimes intentional and often times not, so it stands to reason that the most anticipated day of celebration in the young country's history shouldn't be any different.
The day begins with the arrival of a little boy with his family from San Francisco, a little boy who claims he is Jeremiah's deceased father, Daniel. Shortly thereafter Jeremiah receives a message containing a cryptic warning. As much as Jeremiah would like to write off both incidents as practical jokes, increasingly alarming events continue to unfold throughout the day as both friends and enemies from his past gather to celebrate the Centennial.
As Jeremiah tries to figure out who is behind the ominous warnings and how the child knows so much about his father, he reflects on his youth and the backstory of how these people now gathered in Sonoma came to know each other emerges, seamlessly woven through the timeline of early California history: from the first white settlers to the Bear Revolution, to the Gold Rush, and the displacement and subjugation of the native population. Echoes of these past events manifest in the strange events of the Fourth of July and an increasing sense of urgency and suspense builds as Jeremiah realizes the family he's always wanted and finally has could be in real danger.
Overall this book is a great read. Jeremiah is an infinitely likeable character, a mild-mannered schoolteacher and family man, honorable and courageous, shaped by a series of events and life lessons depicted in vivid detail. I love reading about pioneer life and the descriptions of the young Jeremiah's journey overland from Missouri to California, and the encounters with wildlife, Indians, and mother nature do not disappoint.
If I have any complaints at all it would be with the pacing of the story. The book spends a lot of time on Jeremiah's young adulthood and then seems to run out of room and has to squeeze the preceding twenty years of his life into a few pages, along with the culmination of the present-day plotline. I also found the ending to come a little rushed and a bit out of nowhere, but it was not a disappointing ending and the build-up to that point was very enjoyable. Recommended for fans of exciting and descriptive historical fiction, particularly anyone who'd like to learn more about early California history.
Tears of the Mountain chronicles a single day in one man's life - July 4, 1876 - along with a series of alternating flashbacks beginning in 1831 that all lead up to an eventful Centennial Independence Day celebration in Sonoma, California.
Jeremiah McKinley prepares for the celebration and for a reunion with old friends and family, however, as he reflects on past love, the pioneer journey of his youth, and the many violent conflicts of the West, voices of the long dead come to him, and old wounds resurface, threatening everything he holds dear.
My Review:
Jeremiah McKinley wakes up on the fourth of July looking forward to a hard-earned day of leisurely celebration and reflection with his family. But Jeremiah has lived an adventurous life, sometimes intentional and often times not, so it stands to reason that the most anticipated day of celebration in the young country's history shouldn't be any different.
The day begins with the arrival of a little boy with his family from San Francisco, a little boy who claims he is Jeremiah's deceased father, Daniel. Shortly thereafter Jeremiah receives a message containing a cryptic warning. As much as Jeremiah would like to write off both incidents as practical jokes, increasingly alarming events continue to unfold throughout the day as both friends and enemies from his past gather to celebrate the Centennial.
As Jeremiah tries to figure out who is behind the ominous warnings and how the child knows so much about his father, he reflects on his youth and the backstory of how these people now gathered in Sonoma came to know each other emerges, seamlessly woven through the timeline of early California history: from the first white settlers to the Bear Revolution, to the Gold Rush, and the displacement and subjugation of the native population. Echoes of these past events manifest in the strange events of the Fourth of July and an increasing sense of urgency and suspense builds as Jeremiah realizes the family he's always wanted and finally has could be in real danger.
Overall this book is a great read. Jeremiah is an infinitely likeable character, a mild-mannered schoolteacher and family man, honorable and courageous, shaped by a series of events and life lessons depicted in vivid detail. I love reading about pioneer life and the descriptions of the young Jeremiah's journey overland from Missouri to California, and the encounters with wildlife, Indians, and mother nature do not disappoint.
If I have any complaints at all it would be with the pacing of the story. The book spends a lot of time on Jeremiah's young adulthood and then seems to run out of room and has to squeeze the preceding twenty years of his life into a few pages, along with the culmination of the present-day plotline. I also found the ending to come a little rushed and a bit out of nowhere, but it was not a disappointing ending and the build-up to that point was very enjoyable. Recommended for fans of exciting and descriptive historical fiction, particularly anyone who'd like to learn more about early California history.
January 12, 2011
Tears of the Mountain covers a particular area that I've never read before reading historical fiction. In alternating chapters we see the main story: July 4th 1876, during the 100th anniversary of American independence, someone is trying to turn Jeremiah McKinley's life upside down; the secondary story: flashbacks of Jeremiah's life starting in the 1840s to the 1860s from the trek his family took from Missouri to California to the Gold Rush and other events.
From the start of the 100th anniversary of America's birthday Jeremiah starts receiving mysterious cryptic messages throughout the day, comes across a little boy who seems to be channeling Jeremiah's dead father, and greets his old school teacher who soon finds himself in the middle of a murder to which Jeremiah becomes implicated in.
In flashbacks throughout the day, Jeremiah reflects on his life, from traveling to California and the life of the pioneers to the Bear War to the Gold Rush. All the while Jeremiah pines for Lucinda who is promised to another man. Jeremiah soon falls in love with another, marries and has a child, but tragedy soon strikes.
In the present day Jeremiah is scared that his second chance of happiness could be ruined. Threatened by whoever is sending him secret message - the fact that he could be hanged for possibly aiding a murderer - Jeremiah is afraid that he may never see the people he loves again.
Tears of the Mountain was a well written engaging tale. The words were elegantly descriptive of a trying time in America's history through the eyes of Jeremiah.
From the start of the 100th anniversary of America's birthday Jeremiah starts receiving mysterious cryptic messages throughout the day, comes across a little boy who seems to be channeling Jeremiah's dead father, and greets his old school teacher who soon finds himself in the middle of a murder to which Jeremiah becomes implicated in.
In flashbacks throughout the day, Jeremiah reflects on his life, from traveling to California and the life of the pioneers to the Bear War to the Gold Rush. All the while Jeremiah pines for Lucinda who is promised to another man. Jeremiah soon falls in love with another, marries and has a child, but tragedy soon strikes.
In the present day Jeremiah is scared that his second chance of happiness could be ruined. Threatened by whoever is sending him secret message - the fact that he could be hanged for possibly aiding a murderer - Jeremiah is afraid that he may never see the people he loves again.
Tears of the Mountain was a well written engaging tale. The words were elegantly descriptive of a trying time in America's history through the eyes of Jeremiah.
September 6, 2010
The histories of both Jeremiah McKinley and old California are displayed during the course of the Fourth of July in 1876 in John Addiego's novel. Jeremiah is one of those characters who just want to live a quiet life, to live and let live. But the most interesting things happen to him, and it all catches up with him during the course of this day.
Jumping back and forth between his past and the current day, Tears of the Mountain uses Jeremiah's life to showcase the struggle to survive and wonders of what he and his family find along the way. In the present, Jeremiah and his wife, who was his first love, have a family. He is respected in the Sonoma community. He has friends throughout society's spectrum, including a reprobate old professor who is coming in on the morning train.
But before the reader gets very far, the scene jumps back to when Jeremiah was a boy and his family crossed the country to get to California. If not for what the reader already knows, there are times it's a wonder anyone survives the crossing. The McKinley family and the rest of their train encounter water deprivation, run-ins with tribes who treat the intruders wrong, quarrels among the emigrants and those mountains.
Jeremiah's mother has been raising the family without his father, a mountain man who took off for years after the eldest son died. Daniel returns without notice and abruptly commands the family to pack up. They're headed for the West. During the epic journey, Daniel is compared to Job by Jeremiah, while he is given the roles of prophet and leader by the other members of the train. The remarkable accomplishment is that Addiego sets it up so this works during the trip. But there is little connection to the grown Jeremiah.
In the novel's current day, Jeremiah is a character who reacts to what happens to him. Although this often happened during his journey as a youth, Jeremiah also acted. As an adult, this device acts more as a reason to throw everything that happened during the 1870s up against the wall that is Jeremiah's life to see if it sticks. Jeremiah visits the hot springs spa at the local hotel, awaits the arrival of his old professor who publicaly insults the senator speaking from the back of the railroad car and is drawn into a seance at the worship center of a local cult leader. A young boy is brought to Jeremiah's farm by his parents and he insists he is the reincarnated Daniel, Jeremiah's father. Jeremiah begins the day with a strange dream involving his first wife who died, and strange greetings to him through the day make him question the faithfulness of his current wife, and she of him. Much ado is made of people and events that eventually peter out.
None of these events or characters propel the narrative forward. They are like rocks in a clear stream that create detours, instead of obstacles to overcome that determine character. The best explanation offered is that Jeremiah holds the story of Exodus dear because he sees how humans are frail and act against their own better interests. Seeing this helps him to forgive others.
In addition to Jeremiah's full day, the time shifts continue throughout the story in alternating chapters. These shifts between segments are carried out with sentences that seque from one scene to another. It doesn't always work smoothly, but it is a poetic way to show how anyone's thoughts lead naturally from the present to the past and back again. Also Jeremiah feels dislodged from normal time during the latter day parts of the novel. He wonders if a person can rest his soul beside the flowing river and be in more than one place at the same time. It's a fascinating idea but sometimes feel disconnected from the individual segments of the story. Smooth out the timeline, and a lot happens to Jeremiah, meeting Fremont and being in on the 1846 attempt to create the Republic of California by wresting land from the Mexicans already there, to the gold fields, dangerous San Francisco and back to the family farm. Key events often are not chronicled directly in the narrative, but referred to beforehand and afterwards.
Tears of the Mountain does have its strengths. It is filled with beautiful writing at the wondrous marvels of California and some of the people who helped form her character by the time of that 1876 holiday. High spots of the journey include conversations with a Southern emigrant and others about the appropriateness of said emigrant enslaving a young Indian caught stealing, the ways that the emigrants separate and how the small group with Jeremiah's family finally finds their new homes.
Throughout, the novel features excellent descriptive passages of the landscape and how it affects the characters. Because that's how it is out West. The land is part of us. Combine that with a passage of Jeremiah noting he feels he has spent his life "trying to understand things of light and dark", and Tears of the Mountain is an ambitious idea about how to relate the enormous challenge of making a new life in a new land. Although this may not be a perfect novel, there is much to recommend in it. Best of all, the sense of place and how someone who loves his home forges his life stay with the reader. That is, indeed, something worth celebrating.
Jumping back and forth between his past and the current day, Tears of the Mountain uses Jeremiah's life to showcase the struggle to survive and wonders of what he and his family find along the way. In the present, Jeremiah and his wife, who was his first love, have a family. He is respected in the Sonoma community. He has friends throughout society's spectrum, including a reprobate old professor who is coming in on the morning train.
But before the reader gets very far, the scene jumps back to when Jeremiah was a boy and his family crossed the country to get to California. If not for what the reader already knows, there are times it's a wonder anyone survives the crossing. The McKinley family and the rest of their train encounter water deprivation, run-ins with tribes who treat the intruders wrong, quarrels among the emigrants and those mountains.
Jeremiah's mother has been raising the family without his father, a mountain man who took off for years after the eldest son died. Daniel returns without notice and abruptly commands the family to pack up. They're headed for the West. During the epic journey, Daniel is compared to Job by Jeremiah, while he is given the roles of prophet and leader by the other members of the train. The remarkable accomplishment is that Addiego sets it up so this works during the trip. But there is little connection to the grown Jeremiah.
In the novel's current day, Jeremiah is a character who reacts to what happens to him. Although this often happened during his journey as a youth, Jeremiah also acted. As an adult, this device acts more as a reason to throw everything that happened during the 1870s up against the wall that is Jeremiah's life to see if it sticks. Jeremiah visits the hot springs spa at the local hotel, awaits the arrival of his old professor who publicaly insults the senator speaking from the back of the railroad car and is drawn into a seance at the worship center of a local cult leader. A young boy is brought to Jeremiah's farm by his parents and he insists he is the reincarnated Daniel, Jeremiah's father. Jeremiah begins the day with a strange dream involving his first wife who died, and strange greetings to him through the day make him question the faithfulness of his current wife, and she of him. Much ado is made of people and events that eventually peter out.
None of these events or characters propel the narrative forward. They are like rocks in a clear stream that create detours, instead of obstacles to overcome that determine character. The best explanation offered is that Jeremiah holds the story of Exodus dear because he sees how humans are frail and act against their own better interests. Seeing this helps him to forgive others.
In addition to Jeremiah's full day, the time shifts continue throughout the story in alternating chapters. These shifts between segments are carried out with sentences that seque from one scene to another. It doesn't always work smoothly, but it is a poetic way to show how anyone's thoughts lead naturally from the present to the past and back again. Also Jeremiah feels dislodged from normal time during the latter day parts of the novel. He wonders if a person can rest his soul beside the flowing river and be in more than one place at the same time. It's a fascinating idea but sometimes feel disconnected from the individual segments of the story. Smooth out the timeline, and a lot happens to Jeremiah, meeting Fremont and being in on the 1846 attempt to create the Republic of California by wresting land from the Mexicans already there, to the gold fields, dangerous San Francisco and back to the family farm. Key events often are not chronicled directly in the narrative, but referred to beforehand and afterwards.
Tears of the Mountain does have its strengths. It is filled with beautiful writing at the wondrous marvels of California and some of the people who helped form her character by the time of that 1876 holiday. High spots of the journey include conversations with a Southern emigrant and others about the appropriateness of said emigrant enslaving a young Indian caught stealing, the ways that the emigrants separate and how the small group with Jeremiah's family finally finds their new homes.
Throughout, the novel features excellent descriptive passages of the landscape and how it affects the characters. Because that's how it is out West. The land is part of us. Combine that with a passage of Jeremiah noting he feels he has spent his life "trying to understand things of light and dark", and Tears of the Mountain is an ambitious idea about how to relate the enormous challenge of making a new life in a new land. Although this may not be a perfect novel, there is much to recommend in it. Best of all, the sense of place and how someone who loves his home forges his life stay with the reader. That is, indeed, something worth celebrating.
January 17, 2018
Struggling to get engaged.
Read
March 13, 2011Tears of the Mountain is a one-part literary fiction, one-part mystery, and one-part historical fiction. It makes for an interesting combination, albeit a rather slow one. From a historical perspective, the novel is fascinating. From such scenes as crossing the Great Plains on the road from Missouri to Oregon and then down to California via wagon train to the beginnings of the Mexican War and the centennial of the United States, Mr. Addiego places the reader in these historical settings with crisp details and refreshing clarity.
Jeremiah McKinley is a deliberate hero, one who is methodical and slow in all his dealings, and the novel suffers a bit as a result. His plodding through the one day that encompasses the novel drags at times, especially as the story is told through flashbacks of his life. The transitions back and forth between past and present are quite unusual and remain jarring throughout the novel. Yet, the timing of them was masterful as Mr. Addiego builds the suspense between Jeremiah's past and his experiences on this July 4th in 1876. Just as the story gets interesting, Mr. Addiego tears the reader away and switches back and forth, so that the reader is compelled to continue.
The two-stories-in-one is not a new plot device and one that works only partially in Tears of the Mountain. At times, the reader does not care what is happening in the present because the past is so interesting. The present conflict is more a side note to everything that Jeremiah experienced in his youth, and ultimately, this is where the story shines the brightest.
The language alternates between stark and fanciful, and the dichotomy is also a bit jolting. The characters themselves remain stereotypical, with the eccentric but lovable rascally schoolteacher to the beautiful woman whom everyone adores to the thieving Indians and Mexican bandits. However, Mr. Addiego manages to create a novel that highlights the twists and turns life can take and how impossible it is to predict them.
While not for everyone, Tears of the Mountain is a novel that details the hard-scrabble life of living on the frontier in the 1800s. The characters, while predictable, are still memorable, and the story itself is best when the reader is exploring Jeremiah's personal and physical journey across the country. It is not a novel I would highly recommend to others but one for which I am glad I read because of the historical context and learnings.
Jeremiah McKinley is a deliberate hero, one who is methodical and slow in all his dealings, and the novel suffers a bit as a result. His plodding through the one day that encompasses the novel drags at times, especially as the story is told through flashbacks of his life. The transitions back and forth between past and present are quite unusual and remain jarring throughout the novel. Yet, the timing of them was masterful as Mr. Addiego builds the suspense between Jeremiah's past and his experiences on this July 4th in 1876. Just as the story gets interesting, Mr. Addiego tears the reader away and switches back and forth, so that the reader is compelled to continue.
The two-stories-in-one is not a new plot device and one that works only partially in Tears of the Mountain. At times, the reader does not care what is happening in the present because the past is so interesting. The present conflict is more a side note to everything that Jeremiah experienced in his youth, and ultimately, this is where the story shines the brightest.
The language alternates between stark and fanciful, and the dichotomy is also a bit jolting. The characters themselves remain stereotypical, with the eccentric but lovable rascally schoolteacher to the beautiful woman whom everyone adores to the thieving Indians and Mexican bandits. However, Mr. Addiego manages to create a novel that highlights the twists and turns life can take and how impossible it is to predict them.
While not for everyone, Tears of the Mountain is a novel that details the hard-scrabble life of living on the frontier in the 1800s. The characters, while predictable, are still memorable, and the story itself is best when the reader is exploring Jeremiah's personal and physical journey across the country. It is not a novel I would highly recommend to others but one for which I am glad I read because of the historical context and learnings.
read-in-2010
February 6, 2011I did not finish this book.
It is July 4, 1876 and Jeremiah McKinley is looking forward to a day of Centennial Independence Day celebration in Sonoma, California.However, a boy shows up at his doorstep claiming to be Jeremiah's deceased father, Daniel. Then, Jeremiah receives a strange message of warning.
The story takes place on this one day however there are a lot of flashbacks that are from as far back as 1831. Jeremiah reflects on his youth and all the violence that his family and others endured moving to the West.
The part of the story taking part on the present day, July 4, 1876 was the best part of the book, IMO. I don't know how writing about the wild west could be written..here.)
It is July 4, 1876 and Jeremiah McKinley is looking forward to a day of Centennial Independence Day celebration in Sonoma, California.However, a boy shows up at his doorstep claiming to be Jeremiah's deceased father, Daniel. Then, Jeremiah receives a strange message of warning.
The story takes place on this one day however there are a lot of flashbacks that are from as far back as 1831. Jeremiah reflects on his youth and all the violence that his family and others endured moving to the West.
The part of the story taking part on the present day, July 4, 1876 was the best part of the book, IMO. I don't know how writing about the wild west could be written..here.)
May 27, 2012
There was much to admire about this book. Addiego brings forth aspects of the California gold rush and its aftermath that aren't widely known, especially the virtual slave trade in Native Americans and the divided loyalties of Californians during the Civil War. He also develops a Faulknerian plot, with a child born of a prominent white settler and an indigenous woman coming back to take revenge on his father. However, some of the scenes depicting the trip across the continent felt flat, as though the author felt obliged to include the various classic events and dangers of the journey.
January 15, 2017
I've known the author for many years, but somehow missed his amazing ability to weave such a fantastic and at the same time enthralling tale. An "homage" to Ross Lockridge's Raintree County and Addiego's own pioneer ancestors, it doesn't feel at all like the 400 pages shown on the Goodreads summary. I wouldn't want to discuss much of the content here, because reading it is a journey which I wouldn't want to spoil.
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