Robert BauschReseñas

Union veteran Bobby Hale-sometime soldier; full time deserter; half-time Native American fighter. So what exactly drives Bobby Hale? Belief in his own destiny.

Hale's odyssey is poignant because it brings him across a plethora of people: good, bad; indigenous, intruders; soldiers, warriors. And all this in an era where America wars to tame the west. Bausch's prose is powerful, his narrative flowing. By the end, we truly flinch when Bobby witnesses the mutilation of one Native American by several others.

I thoroughly enjoyed 'Far as the Eye can See.' Not your typical classic western but neither is it irredeemable.

A simple, meandering novel which takes you on one mans journey through western America in the 1870's. There isn't much plot to speak of and the story gets dry and slow at times but I also can't imagine cutting anything because it all serves the purpose of connecting the reader to Bobby Hale. I thought Bobby to be a somewhat lacklustre character until the last 100 or so pages when I realised how truly invested I was in his story. I wanted him to survive, to get a happy ending with Ink and Little Fox. And while I'm not fond of first person narration I thoroughly enjoyed its use here. Bobby isn't a hero or a villain and his inner thoughts as he tried to rationalise what he has done and seen was truly heartbreaking.

I imagine a better understanding of this period in American history could have helped paint a picture of what Hale was living through but all I had was Bausch's words. Ultimately, all I knew is what Bobby knew and that's that life for him and others like him was bleak, violent, corrupting, and quick. Seeing everything through his eyes meant the reader only saw snapshots of history with no bigger picture. This is brought home in the last paragraph when (**spoilers**) Bobby, in 1876, talks of going to Nez Perce and hopefully getting a happy life with Ink and Little Fox. As it turns out (learnt through the authors note and some googling) war hits the Nez Perce in 1877. I wonder if perhaps Bausch finished the novel this way in hope of writing a follow up or if he wanted to add one last moment of tension to clued in readers.

First 1/3 would get 5 stars. It was a lot like The Corrections. Then the story shifted from character to plot, and the author stopped developing important characters (example: "Chad"). Ultimately disappointing.

Ben Jameson decides to take an English teaching position after finishing his undergraduate but before embarking on graduate school, or possibly law school. He’s never taught young people before, and there is every reason to think that he might not be especially good at it. Only the flexibility afforded a private school and the recent loss of its English teacher could make plausible his hiring. But, despite some early ups and downs, it begins to look like a smart move. Good for Ben, good for his students, and good for the school.

That it doesn’t necessarily end up there is, after all, what makes this an interesting read. Also a bit unsettling. Ben is both strangely naive and unappreciative of the consequences of his own actions or those of others. Indeed you might begin to suspect that something very curious might happen. Or that everything you are reading might turn out to be double-edged. That it doesn’t and isn’t is somewhat of a disappointment. Not that what we have here is weak at all. It’s just that it might have been so much more.

The writing, at least in the first half, might have you thinking along the lines of Nabokov. But mostly that is because the character of Ben is so peculiar. Alas his peculiarity is never mined for anything profound. And so we get the ins and outs of two years of teaching by an inexperienced but fitfully enthusiastic amateur who inappropriately meddles in the personal lives of his students, though sometimes with fortuitous effect. Maybe that’s enough.

This book is not something I would generally choose to read. I lean much more toward sci-fi/fantasy stories. However, I am very glad I did choose to enter the contest and that I won this book because it was....amazing. None of the main characters were completely likable but I fell in love with them anyway. I wanted to slap some of them but I still found myself worrying about what was going to happen to them next. That takes a very talented writer. To make you care and worry about characters that you're not always sure you even like. The pace was slow(ish) but the book still drew me in and kept me so involved that I didn't notice the passage of time. This is a book about relationships, and about choices, and about human mistakes and humanity in general. But it's also just a book about some very messed up individuals that you find yourself wishing you could save. Definitely recommended.

This story meanders without a lot of purpose, much as Bobby Hale meanders around the west. That is not necessarily a negative thing unless you are looking for a plot-driven story, and this ain't that.

Bobby enlisted in the army during the Civil War multiple times just so he could collect the enlistment bonus. He traveled with wagon trains, with a wonderful character named Big Tree, tries to get himself out of scrapes he should never have got into to begin with, and generally doesn't have much direction in life. And he doesn't have a clue about how to treat women.

All of the problems are because he, and other people in the story, have a tendency to shoot people when they shouldn't. It's an ongoing issue.

The atmosphere and vernacular in the story are nicely done. And I like ol' Bobby despiute his shortcomings. The conflicts between the Indians and the settlers/army are sad but not unexpected. However, Bobby looks at them from a different perspective.

I enjoyed this book but it is truly a meandering story, so be prepared to go along for the ride.

I was given an advance copy of this book for review.

I love a good Western and this is definitely a good one. It reminds me of other notable books of the West such as Little Big Man, Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee, Black Elk Speaks, and Monte Walsh. This is a wonderfully rich narrative of life in the High Plains and the Rockies from the end of the Civil War until Custer’s battle at Little Big Horn. Bobby Hale, at least that’s what he is answering to now, signed up with the Union Army during the Civil War. Actually, he signed up a number of times, collected the enlistment bonus, served a spell then moved on to sign up somewhere else. He was under fire in a couple of major battles. He saw men who were standing shoulder to shoulder with him fall horribly wounded or dead on the spot. He fired his share of bullets at the enemy, but his heart wasn’t in it. He headed west, teaming up with a family in a covered wagon, who were bound for Oregon. Although he had learned a lot while in the army, Hale was city bred and found that he had a lot to learn from Big Tree, a huge Crow Indian, who was helping lead the settlers west. Learning the lay of the land, hunting, tracking, preparing fresh game, indeed living off the land, were all skills needed to survive in this always beautiful, but oft times hostile land. Hale learned to be wary of not just the Indians, but also the White Man. Each time you came across another human being, you had to be on guard. Sometimes they would greet you with open arms, other times you would be greeted with an arrow or hot lead. Halle was not immune to this conundrum himself. The longer he lived in this land the more he became like a part of it. Much to his chagrin, sometimes he shot first and asked questions later. His relations with women were a difficult learning experience as well. Starting with his prissy aunt, who raised him in Philadelphia, to the camp followers he engaged with during the Civil War, to Eveline, one of two widowed sisters he says with in Bozeman, Montana. Eventually he meets Ink, the mixed-race girl he wounds with a rifle shot while he is on the run from both the Indians and the cavalry. He was in a very dark place in his life then and this slip of a girl, who needed his help touched his humanity. The book tells us as much ourselves as it does about others. This book provided for review by Amazon Vine.

Bobby Hale was a Union soldier many times over. Joining under different names to get the joining bonus, though he does end of participating in two horrendous battles. Wanting to make it to California, circumstances and misfortunes see him get only so far and no further.

What a fascinating character he turns out to be, a somewhat of a reluctant hero after a few missteps. This is a time when settlers are moving west, to Oregon and California, a time of great Indian hostilities and the armies attempt to corral all Indians into one confined space. A time when gold has been discovered in the Black Hills and many want to go and become rich. Renegade generals and Indian scouts attempting to solve the Indian problem, as they see it.

I became deeply invested in the history of this time and all the characters surrounding Bobby. It was interesting to see how all these characters helped Bobby grow as a person and become a survivor. When he inadvertently shoots a young half Indian girl who is running from her Indian husband, his life changes again. Trying to get back to the fort and safety he ends up witnessing the Battle of Big Horn.

A fascinating read of the old west with a very likable narrator telling us his story.

ARC from NetGalley.

Bobby Hale. Who would have thought a character with no real plan would sneak up and capture my attention so very much?

Bobby has deserted the army several times. It's just not his cup of tea. He decides to head out west. He plans on a destination of California but Bobby tends to ramble around. He takes up with a wagon train for awhile and then when they decide to stay he goes off with a Native American friend for several years of trapping. That sounds boring doesn't it?
It's not.



This author does an amazing job of bringing this time to life. I was fully prepared to not like this book. My mind was changed very quickly once I got into the book. The descriptions of the land, the people and even the food sweep you into this book.
Bobby becomes a favorite character of mine as this book goes along. I hate to give too much of the book away, because I want people to read it.


This period in our history is one that always breaks my heart when I think about it. The book handles the conflict well between the whites and Native Americans. It shows the good and bad on both sides. However, this book doesn't fit in the typical western book genre. So if you are like me and don't really care much for that type of book you can give this one a go and still be very happy.

I received an arc copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Walking into a room with twenty people, it's likely you're going to gravitate toward certain individuals. Some you'll probably not even notice. And the mere voices of others will nerves feel like a block of Parmesan on a grater. So it is with a book with multiple first-person narrators; especially when it is done well. And Bausch really nails it with this one.

Bausch has really gotten into the voices of these characters and created a community that is very convincing. The story starts out a bit dry, but picks up. By the end, it is quite easy to find oneself looking for excuses to ignore life's little inconveniences (i.e. work, school) and keep reading.

I had few expectations for this book, and although I didn't fall in love with The Gypsy Man, I enjoyed it. A highly entertaining read.

If you are anything like me you won't be able to decide whether you love or hate or just feel sorry for Henry Porter. On the surface he is a selfish, superficial s.o.b. who never knows the right thing to say or do. He doesn't know how to greet Nicole, his only child he hasn't seen in six years. He has a strained relationship with his girlfriend and doesn't know how to respond when she tells him she is pregnant with his child. He comes across as shallow and callous. Case in point: "I calculated that if she really wanted to get my understanding, she would ask for it" he says (p 32). But, having said all that, it's his very attitude that makes him human. We all have our moments of being selfish, superficial, shallow, awkward, cold and callous. Henry Porter is real and you can't help but identify with him, even if it is just a little. As Henry's life becomes more complicated (Nicole gets in trouble with a boy and Elizabeth breaks up with him) Henry starts to find his way through his inability to respond to tragedy. It's a good thing because things go from bad to the very worst and Henry must change in order to survive.