Turpentine

I had to take a day off from work to finish this book, it was so captivating. As with a fine meal, sometimes one wants to slow down and savor it. I simply couldn't, and finished in a day and a half. Spring Warren captures the grand vision of the American West and the heartbreak of its unforgiving harshness. The novel's male hero is a pampered nerd, sent West for his health and abandoned there by his mother with no money and little hope. He survives, making money by skinning buffalo hides, and falls desperately in love with a remarkable woman. The story is full of surprises, including unforgettable characters, surprising plot developments, and a heroic and entirely uncooperative horse. Not the least surprising aspect of this wonderful, original western is that the author, Spring Warren, is a both a woman and a first-time author. What was the last successful western written by a woman? Quick, now, think!

Edward Turrentine Bayard III is one character that truly comes to life from the pages. For about the first 50 or so pages, I just enjoyed the humor of the story and the witty writing style. Then the book really started to set in. Behind the humor, the wild & interesting characters and circumstances, one begins to see a view of American history from a new angle. The trip down the coal mine, the "marriage" of Avelina and Tilfert, the stay in the Chicago slums, and the brutal time on the frontier provide a compelling panorama of this time in America's history. At times, I just had to shake my head with "this is just too over the top" -- but then it all seemed to fit. And, I so agree with other reviewers that the last chapter pulls everything together in such a satisfying way. As someone who has heard many a story told by an elderly person, the author sums up memory perfectly: "Never is being so permanent as in yesteryear, when...soft memory solidifies into story, and in that solid form, rejects the anguish of reality..... If we exist at all after we are gone, it will be as a story." Turpentine is funny, interesting, and just a wild ride that will make you smile and think.

Turpentine is a novel that embodies many happy surprises: colorful characters, language so beautiful, shimmering and skillful that it seems almost water painted onto the canvas of the page, and a final chapter that not only concludes the story of Edward Turrentine Bayard, but somehow deepens it. The unique characters Warren has developed and the outrageous circumstances that they find themselves in make this book a page-turner from start to finish. The reader cannot help but reflect through the hardships of Ned "Turpentine" the impacts that our choices emboss on our lives and on the lives of those we are entwined with. Even if the reader is not a fan of the Western genre, this is a novel that embodies the best of the Western while transcending it further to an exploration of the best and worst in the human condition.

While browsing in a Barnes & Noble in Houston, the cover of this book caught my eye with its unusual title and buffalo head staring at a yellow plain. As one who reads and enjoys Westerns, I was intrigued enough to pick it up for a look and then a purchase on a gamble that it might be a good read. As luck has it sometimes, my gamble paid off. Not only was it an excellent read, but Warren's tale of the tortured Easterner gone West never lets you rest for anticipation of what Edward Turrentine Bayard III might face hidden around the next corner or over the next hill. Spring Warren's deep character development and relationships exceed many Westerns written from a man's point-of-view which tend to be heavier on the action side although the action in Turpentine is plenteous. Her descriptive ability with prose is poetic and lyrical and frames action with words and phrases not expected but dead on. I highly recommend this gem, not just to readers of Westerns or history, but anyone who wants to be entertained with a gripping story which won't release its hold until the very end.

Edward Turrentine Bayard III is a man without a name, without family, and without a living. After the death of his beloved grandmother, he was sent to Nebraska. He was told that he was going to a special facility with great hopes of curing his ills. Instead, Ned (as he becomes known) finds nothing. Penniless, he takes a job as a buffalo skinner. Then impatiently waits for a reply from his mother. Little does he know that his estate back home is gone, his inheritance is gone, and his mother has gone run off with the pickle man (or was that the mustard man). Although his health troubles seem to have abated, Ned just can't seem to catch a break. He falls hard for Lill, a woman who was rumored to have killed her fiancée. Although Lill enjoys stringing Ned along, she always seems attracted the guys with money and land. Then, there's Ned's attempts at a paleontology career. That almost gets him strung up. Turpentine was entertaining from the first page to the very last word. Well written. A surprising favorite.