Many a River

Many A River is the story of two brothers separated when Indians attack and kill their parents and one is taken and the other manages to escape. And in the ensuing years we follow each of them as their lives take shape in the crossing of many rivers to get the point when they once again meet. Many A River is an excellent telling of this kind of incident which I am sure occurred many times in the West. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and I think you will too.

Once again, Elmer Kelton has presented a story that keeps you interested from the first page to the last. If you have read very many Kelton books, you think you know what will happen at the end, but he still keeps you guessing. Excellent story.

Reviewed by Lisa Kisner for Reader Views (9/08) Jeffrey and Todd Barfield are traveling west with their parents searching for the perfect home site to live and farm. Their dreams for the future are shattered when Comanche Indians attack their camp and kill both parents. Each brother believes the other is also killed in the attack. The younger brother, Todd, is taken hostage by the Indians. He is eventually sold to a trader and escapes several years later. His older brother, Jeffrey, is taken in by a family. They are forced to flee to the Mexican border when the Civil War breaks out. Each brother struggles to survive in the harsh realities of frontier life while the civil war wages around them. How will they survive and will they be reunited? This book is well written and holds your attention from beginning to end. Elmer Kelton, who was written more than of 50 books, certainly has mastered his craft. I felt like I was there, riding along in the wagon and struggling to survive in a rough world. Mr. Kelton uses appropriate scenarios and the language of the time. He manages to convey the hardship of the frontier, the feelings of the Indians and Mexicans as settlers encroach on their territory in Texas, and the civil war, easily and with conviction. I would recommend "Many a River" not just to readers of Westerns, but also to readers of fiction who enjoy reading historical fiction with a great story.

I have read every book and manuscript Kelton has ever produced, and met him and his still pretty Austrian wife at many book-selling gatherings. He was voted as "the best western book writer of our times" (or something closely akin to that), and he well deserves the title.This book is another "Can't Put Down" book, and showcases (1) the polarization of the Civil War in many Texas Communities (2) various real life forts and battles of that war in Eastern New Mexico clear to the very tip of South Texas, and (3)the various rivers and watering holes along those trails (Commanche Springs of Fort Stockton, Texas). His characters are visible, almost tangible,and the reader develops s close kinship to their plights and exuberations.

This is a really good western-style book. Kelton never fails to evoke some joy of victory, as well as a tear of irony.He is a master of the metaphor. I wish he published a new story every week! I have all of his novels and some of his short stories and biographical works, and love them all!

I've followed "Pop" Kelton's novels since meeting up with him at Baylor University back in the early 1980s, and this is one of his very finest. The plot resembles D. W. Griffith's Orphans of the Storm in that two siblings (brothers) are torn apart at an early age and we follow their separate adventures until the final pages of the novel. But what is startling here--for those like me who have a whole bookcase stocked with Kelton--is that he manages to do something rather unique here. He takes the best of his paperback style--finger-burning page-turning with loads of action, hard-knocks and bullets--and weds it to his hardcover style--meticulous historical sensibilities, fine dry humor, and utter believability. If you've found yourself getting a little sleepy with the last half-dozen or so novels, be prepared for a jolt. This one's a classic and a real corker, whether you're coming to Kelton for the first time or you're already carrying his brand.