The Son

“They could not seem to grasp that what mattered was what you did. Not what you said or thought about.”

This grand bold novel by Philip Meyer smacks of authenticity from the word go. Meyer took the pains to learn Comanche archery, walk the terrain he writes of, and taste raw buffalo liver. His experiential/research efforts loom large in this epic.

We follow a family from Comanche captive days to Texas Wildcatting. We are privy to the ins and outs of changing times and family squabbles. It reminds me in many ways of Edna Ferber’s sprawling works.

Being a bit of a Comanche-phile I was fascinated by the lore, but I must admit I found myself wandering here and there in the pages. My attention was rapt in the old days passages and a bit less so in the “modern” soap opera. But, that may just be this reader.

It is a very well-written novel, so the failing might well be mine that I didn’t fall down the large-epic rabbit hole that one feels when encountering McMurtry’s Lonesome Dove epic.