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I'm not quite sure what I read here;I'll have to file this one under Cutesy or Gimmicky. The author has put some thought into the premise and has really come up with some promising characters in the protagonists, a pair of killers for hire who happen to be on the payroll of a mysterious entity known only as "The Commodore". The mission the brothers have committed to requires them to kill a prospector who has developed a secret formula that enables him to find gold with a minimum of effort. If th
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Westerns and science fiction are two genres that I don't find very appealing. However, in my quest to be open-minded and to try new things, I've been trying to reach outside of my comfort zone when it comes to reading certain books. What I am learning is that setting and to some extent, plot, doesn't matter if the characters in the story are well-developed and drawn in an interesting way, which is why I really enjoyed this book.
The story is about two brothers who kill people for a living during ...more
The story is about two brothers who kill people for a living during ...more
I said nothing. Charlie looked at me for a reaction and I shrugged.
‘What’s that mean?’ he said. ‘You had a hand in this, let’s not forget.’
‘I don’t see how you can say that. I did not want to stay the night in that old woman’s cabin, remember.’
‘But it was your illness that made such a stop necessary.’
‘A spider crawled into my boot, there is the cause of my illness.’
‘You’re saying you wish to blame the spider?’
‘I don’t wish to blame anyone. You’re the one who brought it up.’
3.5 stars, r ...more
Ever since I picked up and loved Charles Portis's True Grit, I've been dipping my toes into other fiction about frontier America, including this one. Set sometime during the California Gold Rush, it follows a pair of gunslinger brothers who are in the midst of a mission on behalf of a powerful frontier boss known as "The Commodore." It's structured as a picaresque, as they travel from Oregon to the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas, by way of San Francisco, encountering all manner of interesting c
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Okay, so I would totally give this picaresque novel four stars, except I could not... all because of the ending. Aside from that point, the storytelling was extremely engaging and I was enthralled with it because of the characters, settings, travels, and gritty and often comedic narration. Still, the novel's end robs it of every pleasure I had, which was a major disappointment.
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The cover blurb says "I can't recall ever being this fond of a pair of psychopaths" and that's how I felt too. The narrator, Eli, show us his state of mind and his sensitivity, especially with regard to his less than perfect horse, Tub. And whilst Charlie seems to be cold and heartless, Eli's love and loyalty to him makes the reader want to be fond of him also.
There is a lot of violence in the story but this is the Wild West - Calamity Jane it ain't! Mind you, when Eli describes San Francisco I ...more
There is a lot of violence in the story but this is the Wild West - Calamity Jane it ain't! Mind you, when Eli describes San Francisco I ...more
I do not like them, Sam-I-Am, I do not like green eggs and ham.
Sep 12, 2011
Terri FL
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Ali
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Dec 06, 2012
Enthu_Kidlets
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Jan 02, 2015
Anie
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Jan 30, 2015
Sarah
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Nov 03, 2015
Ahsia
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Dec 10, 2015
Katy
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Jun 04, 2017
Jocelyn
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Feb 04, 2018
Gabrielle
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