John Vernon (1)

Vernon's historical novel traces John Wesley Powell's exploration of the Grand Canyon, entwining it with the fictional tale of a Paiute Indian family searching the desert above and around the canyon as they seek a stolen child.

All in all, the Indian segments are far more interesting. Powell's group was beset by internal feuding as well as by the physical hardships of the journey. Vernon does the best anyone could with his descriptions of the landscape, but in the end, the Powell story is as follows: They floated down the river, hit rapids, damaged the boats, lost some supplies and equipment, hauled ashore, bickered amongst themselves, repaired the boats as best they could, and salvaged as many instruments and as much food as possible. Rinse and repeat daily for three months.… (plus d'informations)

This is another book I got from the Amazon Vine program. It sounded interesting; though not of the type of book I usually read. I was sorely disappointed in it.

It is very rare that I stop in the middle of a book. Unfortunately I had to stop reading this one. I knew I was in for trouble when I had problems getting through the first intro page. Then as I read about Billy's escape in the following chapter I decided that maybe the book would get better as we started to hear about Billy's history. Well it didn't.

Every page of this book was a struggle for me. I had trouble keeping all the names and places straight. When the characters were speaking to each other I had trouble figuring out who was saying what. I was even having trouble keeping events straight. I tried to look at the writing style as being stylized to fit in with the era it was representing, but in the end I think the writing was just bad. I kept pushing on in hopes that at some point this book would gel for me and make more sense. I finally admitted defeat around page 70 and, rubbing my eyes and head in frustration, gave up.

I have too many good books to read to waste my time on this. On the back it lists other books that this author has written and I wonder if those books are better. I am still trying to figure out how this book is getting published. I really intensely disliked it. The chapter with John Tunstall's letters was kind of interesting, it gave you a glimpse into the era. I thought maybe at that point I could get through this book, then it was back to difficult to read, cobbled together events.

I was sorely disappointed. Maybe if I was really into this genre I would have more interest and sympathy for this book. For now I am left trying to figure out what to do with it. I think it might get recycled.… (plus d'informations)