Boston Teran

This book really captures you from the outset. I love how, although this is set in the old west, it touches on a lot of issues that are still at the forefront of society today. If you're looking for an idealized western (like Louis L'Amour book or a John Wayne film), this isn't for you. This is real, it's gritty at times, and it pulls no punches. Inequality had been a serious issue in America, with the rich overworking the poor, and the disabled being viewed as disposable. The characters were absolutely amazing, and I loved "Coffin" and "Jack". Highly recommend if you love gripping dramas that take a hard look at all too common struggles humanity faces.… (más)

Many other reviewers have moted the authenticity of the setting of this book. The setting is most certainly rich and reflects deep research.

So How Beautiful They Were had so much promise for me: beautiful writing, theatre, history, drama, a mystery of sorts (although clumsily foreshadowed). One hundred pages into the book, I even looking for other books by this "author".

What happened? Somewhere about half-way through the book, everything started falling apart. The plot seemed to collapse in on itself.
My records show that by the time I finished wading through to the end of the book, I was disappointed, frustrated, and even angry enough that I rated it 2 stars out of 5.

I wish I could be more specific but too much time has passed for me to remember details.… (más)

I think this book's title and cover do it a disservice. It is a more exciting and action-focused book than it appeared to me at first glance. The tone and content are quite pulpy, like a less depressing Tarantino movie. I'd have entitled it "Rawbone", after one of the two main characters. He's a con-man, and as he repeatedly describes himself, "A common assassin." He's quite a bit too successful a scoundrel and murderer for the "common" part to be true, but he's very humble about his capabilities. He's also a deadbeat dad who abandoned his wife and 10 year old son about 11 years before the events of this story. That son is the second protagonist, and by the time of the story he's a confident and competent law enforcement official who would like nothing more than to put his father behind bars for good. Of course, events intervene and the two end up on a crazy road-trip full of the titular violence and political complications. There's even a complicated love interest for the young hero, a character who is painted with depth and subtlety in spite of never being the story's primary focus.

By the time the characters' plans have gone completely off the rails, the son says to his father, "I'm going to hurt you in a way you could never imagine. I'm going to put my faith in you. Not as an agent for the Bureau of Investigation... but as a man."

This wasn't the twistiest story, but it was very entertaining throughout, and even occasionally thought-provoking. I feel obligated to mention the political aspects of the book, though when I was reading it they didn't lessen my enjoyment. Some parallels are obvious between the events of the story and the more recent invasion of Iraq, including the inclusion of a mercenary company called "Black Water" in Spanish.

New words I found in this book:
carreta - a two-wheeled cart
caisson - a large watertight chamber, open at the bottom from which the water is kept out by air pressure and in which construction work may be carried out under water. (historical term for a chest or wagon for holding or conveying ammunition.)
guidon - a pennant that narrows to a point or fork at the free end, especially one used as the standard of a light cavalry regiment.
nacre - mother-of-pearl
… (más)