Saturday, August 26, 2017

the only thing...(book review)

...that saved me from wanting to jump off the overpass was a very long talking book. When I was stuck in the worst traffic I have ever experienced in my entire life coming back from The Great Solar Eclipse in South Carolina driving about three miles per hour for excruciating periods of time. Thankfully, I had a talking book to keep me company. Otherwise I would have done something foolish, stupid and possibly deadly.

This is in praise of Talking Books, otherwise known as Recorded Books or back in the 'olden days': Books on Tape, when they were recorded on actual cassettes before the advent of the technology that puts the words on flat plastic discs. The one I had checked out of the library to listen to while I was driving was "Hard Country", by Michael McGarrity. It was published in in 2012 by Dutton Co. It must have been a really thick book when you read the printed version, as there were at least 12 discs.

Set in New Mexico in the period following the American Civil War, a story of three generations of settlers who acquired property and built a ranch, growing  and selling cattle and working horses. The family lived a hard scrabble life, and built their holdings up over time, doing everything on the land by hand: felling trees for fences and forming the bones of their buildings. Digging stock tanks for their livestock by hand, erecting windmills to keep cattle watered. Building a house and barns, outbuildings by hand. Rounding up cattle in all seasons, breaking wild ponies to ride and manage the cattle and property. A hard life where only the toughest survived the elements and exhausting days in the saddle.

The characters were well described, with many details about their personalities to make them come alive in your imagination. The views of the harsh landscape were so clearly described, deserts, mountains, lava flows, the reader had a very clear image of the reality of life out on the open range land. As the seasons changed, winter storms raged killing livestock in freezing weather, then spring rains came,  bringing raging floods and gradually greening up the valleys  and mountain meadows for grazing livestock. Blistering dry summers and dust storms, blistering heat seemed very real, as cattle die from drought conditions. Even for such tough, resourceful men, accustomed to deprivation, it was a difficult way to make a living, often just scraping by from one season, cattle drive to the next.

The characters were will described with many details about their personalities that make them seem to come alive in your imagination. John Kearney, his friend and partner Cal, the young woman they rescue Emma, John's son Patrick and the children of Emma and Patrick: all people I felt I knew. Indian shootouts, outlaws, escapes across the Rio Grande, the things that make for great storytelling.
The reality of hard circumstances and rough living in the early days of settling as Europeans moved into the territory and claimed the New from the Old Mexico brought injury and often early death in accidents, round ups, gun battles. After spending hours listening to their (fictitious) story, I found myself grieving when another one was buried up on the hill overlooking the ranch.

The author had obviously done a great deal of reading the history of the area, and very knowledgeable about the settling of the area. It was a interesting book, the sort of thing that would be purchased for movie rights, having a screenplay adaptation, and a vast cast of grizzled cowpokes in the lead roles.

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