So . . . . maybe I was expecting too much. The opening line was, "When Augustus came out on the porch the blue pigs were eating a rattlesnake--not a very big one." I read that sentence twice, then three times, trying to feel the depth of meaning or some momentous sense of expectation. It just didn't grab me.
The characters were interesting and some of them well developed, not stock characters--which was nice. Clara is a person I could relate to in some ways, and I rather suppose my friend must have felt some kinship with her as well. It was a cowboy story where things don't work out well. The story did keep me reading--I didn't get bored even though there was not a strong plot line, other than driving a herd to Montana. So all in all it was a good book. Maybe I just don't much appreciate fiction.
I was thinking more about why I wasn't so impressed with this book. Maybe because I found the characters static. Cal retained his aloof, duty-driven personality--could never accept or even address the idea that he had not done his duty in regards to his son and the mother; Augustus remained a womanizer and a rolling stone--an interesting one granted--even noble in many ways; Lorena remained detached and withdrawn; Dish remained heartsick for a love that would never be; Ellie remained restless; July remained dull and unaware; Deets was always helpful and gifted in the cowboy arts, never resented his position or lack of because of his race; Newt grew some but that hardly counts as it is difficult for a teen age boy to not grow up a bit, and he never let go of his hurt. Clara always understood what was in a man.
Of course we like characters to grow and deepen, to come to realizations, to face fears, to give and embrace love--but maybe that is just fiction. Maybe that is the "greatness" of the book. People retain their same personalities which are revealed by the ordinary events of life making them predictable or by dramatic events which make them tragic or noble.
