| | I read Journey of the Dead as the 9th novel of 10 for the Book Awards Reading Challenge. It won the 1999 Golden Spur Award for Best Western Novel. Like Elmer Kelton and Douglas C. Jones, Loren Estleman is known for his novels in the genre of historical westerns. The stories are based on historical characters and events and include elements of traditional westerns such as gunplay, stoic heroes and big nature (in this novel, the Southwest). However, Estleman always adds a modern attraction or two to this familiar mix. For one, he comes as close to magical realism as I’ve ever read in a historical western in that Sheriff Pat Garrett is haunted by the ghost of Billy the Kid – or just dreaming. Garrett’s waking life is so disrupted by these nightmares that he seeks treatment from an alchemist named Francisco de la Zaragoza. He’s been working on the transformation of base metals into gold but is also a doctor. Billy “the Kid” Bonney may be dead, but plays a big role in the novel, both as character and example of the romanticization into icon of ordinary thugs by the mass media of the day. Estleman also brings in the cronyism and corruption that was obligatory in the US of the Gilded Age. Recommended to readers who don’t think they like westerns.
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| | Posted 3/30/2009 4:03 PM - 31 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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