Helpful Score: 2
From Library Journal
McMurty and Ossana employ a technique they used successfully in Pretty Boy Floyd (LJ 9/1/94), in which a historical character of legendary proportions become the hero of a modern work of fiction. This work focuses on Zeke Proctor and Ned Christic, Cherokee Indians who became folk heroes in the Oklahoma Territory during the 1890s. Unforgiven wrongs that festered since the removal of the Cherokee Nation from Georgia in the 1830s become a moving force in the story of a casual love affair gone awry and the bloody feud and even bloodier legal actions that transpire when federal judges intervene. McMurty paints Zeke's courtship, murder trial, and marriage debacle with broad humor, and Ossana takes the story home with Ned's four-year standoff of armed federal marshals dispatched to take him dead or alive. A wonderfully readable historical novel that furthers the understanding of the Native-white disputes of the last century. Recommended for most collections.
This cover shows wear but is still intact just well read.
McMurty and Ossana employ a technique they used successfully in Pretty Boy Floyd (LJ 9/1/94), in which a historical character of legendary proportions become the hero of a modern work of fiction. This work focuses on Zeke Proctor and Ned Christic, Cherokee Indians who became folk heroes in the Oklahoma Territory during the 1890s. Unforgiven wrongs that festered since the removal of the Cherokee Nation from Georgia in the 1830s become a moving force in the story of a casual love affair gone awry and the bloody feud and even bloodier legal actions that transpire when federal judges intervene. McMurty paints Zeke's courtship, murder trial, and marriage debacle with broad humor, and Ossana takes the story home with Ned's four-year standoff of armed federal marshals dispatched to take him dead or alive. A wonderfully readable historical novel that furthers the understanding of the Native-white disputes of the last century. Recommended for most collections.
This cover shows wear but is still intact just well read.
Helpful Score: 1
I have read nearly all of McMurtry's books, and this is one of the really good ones. No one can bring out the characters in a story like L.M.
Helpful Score: 1
Story of Ezekiel Proctor and ned Christie, the last Cherokee warriors-after the civil war, not only history, but legend. Part folksong, part tall tale...Couldn't put it down, heart-in-the-throat storytelling, very bittersweet..
Helpful Score: 1
I haven't read any westerns or anything else by McMurtry, but this may be my starting point. The novel seems epic but the main plot is the trouble between two Cherokee friends and the white settlers nearby. The tone throughout the novel is very satiric, even during some pretty horribly violent episodes. I found the middle to be a bit sluggish though, the writing taking a little too long to describe things. But the last third takes a more dramatic and operatic tone and while told in a straight-forward manner, left me reeling in its' profound summation of Cherokee / White relations, without any sap. This novel proves that you can tell a very small tale about very big things.
I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. As typical with Larry McMurty, there was humor combined with drama and pathos. The story is a fascinating glimpse of history. I listened to the cds during my commute and I looked forward to getting into the car. I did give it 4 stars instead of 5, but this is because I feel a 5-star book has to be spectacular.
As with most McMurtry books, a wonderfully written narrative. This is a story about the close relationship of two Cherokee men living in Arkansas.
One of McMurtry's best novels. Lots of humor, great story line.
This is a western, but I absolutely loved it! Its about two crazy "native americans" and their ability to stand up for what they beleive in until the very end. They are honorable men, even if their methods are questionable. Some of the best caracterization I've seen, and when the book ended I felt like I was saying goodbye to two good friends.
This is an off beat western which has the flavor of being the "real" thing. I said to myself, after reading it, maybe this is how it really was.
I'm not a western novel fan, but I just love Larry McMutrty! This was a great read--a real page turner. You can almost believe the story was true instead of fiction.
Great McMurtry. Follows the lives of the last two warriors of the Cherokee Nation in the time between the Civil War and 1900. Story of love and loyalty, honor and heroism and how one seemingly independent action can set into motion serious consequences. This is told from the Native American point of view, and like other McMurtry historic western novels (Lonesome Dove series), shows the true gritty west we haven't usually seen in other books and movies. Highly recommended.
Being Cherokee myself, I really enjoyed this book. Maybe you have to be Indian to understand the behaviors (like Indian time) because this book was not rated very high before I rated it.
It is Larry McMurtry, so if you like his writing I think you'll like this book.
It is Larry McMurtry, so if you like his writing I think you'll like this book.
Absolutely loved this book. Have read many McMurtry and this is one of the BEST!
This one grows on you. I was about to give up in the beginning, but kept on reading and the characters are all wonderful and grow on you, with all their idiosyncrasies and relatedness--and you learn the 'pace' of the book and start to get into it. A good read.
Set Inthe Cherokee Nation not long after the Civil WarZeke and Nedare the last Cherokee warriors,living men ,their fates a consequenceof the brutal p[olices which produce the trail of Tears
Authors Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana play fast and loose with history here, in this tale of the clash between U.S. law and Cherokee Nation law in the late 1800s.
Historical characters include Zeke Proctor, Ned Christie, and "the hanging judge" Isaac Parker; real-life incidents include the Goingsnake massacre and Ned Christie's war. Other than that, timelines are mixed, fictional characters ride alongside historical ones, and many of the relationships -- particularly the father-in-law / son-in-law standing of Proctor and Christie -- appear to be made up whole cloth.
As usual with McMurtry, the book's strength comes in its characterizations and their dialogue, along with oddball vignettes peculiar to the time and place.
Historical characters include Zeke Proctor, Ned Christie, and "the hanging judge" Isaac Parker; real-life incidents include the Goingsnake massacre and Ned Christie's war. Other than that, timelines are mixed, fictional characters ride alongside historical ones, and many of the relationships -- particularly the father-in-law / son-in-law standing of Proctor and Christie -- appear to be made up whole cloth.
As usual with McMurtry, the book's strength comes in its characterizations and their dialogue, along with oddball vignettes peculiar to the time and place.
From jacket cover---"Zeke and Ned is a powerful, affecting novel dramatizing the long Cherokee struggle against white authority".
