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Deadwood

Pete Dexter

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Jun 26, 2015 Wes F rated it really liked it

Some pretty interesting history rolled into a fictive narrative on various characters who populated the historical Deadwood area of the Badlands

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Apr 19, 2014 Tony rated it really liked it

Shelves: novels

Like, I presume, a lot of people -- I came to this book decades after it was written, as a fan of the HBO TV series of the same name. I'm also a casual fan of well-written westerns with original voices (my two favorite being True Grit and Butcher's Crossing), and I knew Dexter's reputation for creating memorable characters. Yes, I know Jonathan Franzen says we should not regard the book as a "Western," but it's a work of historical fiction about the American West, so I'm inclined to ignore Franz Like, I presume, a lot of people -- I came to this book decades after it was written, as a fan of the HBO TV series of the same name. I'm also a casual fan of well-written westerns with original voices (my two favorite being True Grit and Butcher's Crossing), and I knew Dexter's reputation for creating memorable characters. Yes, I know Jonathan Franzen says we should not regard the book as a "Western," but it's a work of historical fiction about the American West, so I'm inclined to ignore Franzen's words as the protestations of an anti-genre snob who needs to justify enjoying so-called "low" literature to himself.

Anyway -- set mainly in 1876, the book comes in four parts, starting with 150 pages titled "Bill", followed by 80 titled "China Doll", 70 titled "Agnes", 55 titled "Jane", with a brief coda in 1912. Although the celebrity hook is the tale of the final months of "Will Bill" Hickcock, that's more or less just an entry point for an elliptical exploration of characters and themes of the frontier life, mostly narrated via Bill's boon companion, Charley Utter. Charley is an observer of life who manages to combine both deep insight and empathy with measures of total incomprehension and separateness.

The book is less about plot and action that it is about the relationships that propel action, and there are plenty of interesting pairings. The "China Doll" section spends time visiting the Chinese part of town, and exploring the placid Solomon's desire for a beautiful Chinese prostitute, the consequences of which only fully resonate near the very end of the book. Calamity Jane is a figure of chaos and disgust until a smallpox epidemic visits town and she recasts herself as healer.

There's thread after thread, character after character, to draw the reader into this foreign land, and Dexter's language is sometimes deadpan, sometimes bleak, sometimes violent, sometimes darkly funny, as he moves between the people. By the end, one is somewhat exhausted by the richness and ripeness of the writing, and you are left less with the feeling of having read a story than the imprint of having looked long and hard upon a painting of an exotic landscape. ...more

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