Customer Reviews

Billy Gashade: An American Epic

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Back in college I took a course called Pop Culture in Society (Hey, it was spring term). Addressing the phenomenon of what he termed 'top 40 mentality' the professor offered the following, "You don't know what you like, you like what you know." Since that day I've always wondered how much is out there that I'm missing. Billy Gashade is something out there that you're missing. As fine a blending of fact and fiction as there is in literature today, Estleman continues to deliver quality work that unfortunately doesn't draw the attention of the masses. Though set primarily in the West, the stroy is far from the classic Western. If you are looking for thoughtful, and engaging story telling, breakout of the top 40 mind set and spend some time with Loren Estleman, someone you don't know, but should.

I bought this book because I love Estleman's mysteries. I thought I would try one of his non-mystery books.
I was amazed. The book takes us from one coast to the other during the time of the cival war. We see it through the eyes of a young musician on the run. Along the way we see Billy meet some famous folk of the old west, including the James Brothers, Custer, and Billy The Kid. It reads so real, that you want to check for the name Billy Gashade in history books. Estleman did his homework and it shows.A history lesson that entertains every step of the way.

The western genre can usually be found on the bottom rack of the book display in most supermarkets. It seldoms rates more than a thin display at bookstores as well because, well, let's face it! it's snubbed by those who look down on 'cowboy' stories. However Loren Estleman's books and particularly Billy Gashade deserve a more prominent place in book displays and certainly more attention.
This is taleneted writing, skilled craftsmanship, and shucks buckaroos, just fine storytelling! History comes alive in this adventurous run and more than once you're going to catch yourself thumbing to the end of the book and swearing because you're running out of pages!
If you're not hooked yet then give Estleman's books a read. You will be.

This unique and engrossing novel, about a wandering ballad singer who encounters the legendary characters of the early West, is a remarkable study in American history. The novel is rich and compelling. Familiar stories and legends become new-minted and bright when Estleman's alchemy transmutes them into gold. I heartily recommend this enchanting book.

This is a very good, fast-paced novel full of historical detail. It's the story of a teenboy who must leave his opulent life in Manhattan and go to the Wild West, where he survives through his Orpheus-like musical talents and meets just about every famous person imaginable: Boss Tweed, Oscar Wilde, Bat Masterson, Jesse James, Calamity Jane, etc.

It's a lot like Little Big Man: a very old man recalls his past adventures (from 1863 to 1935). It's also like Woody Allen's Zelig: Billy is always there at a famous event or meeting famous people. After a while, it becomes fun trying to guess who that stranger over there is before Billy identifies him as an actual historical figure.

Too many historical novels sugarcoat everything and make it all seem so clean and pleasant. Not this one. We get the squalor, the filth, the poverty, the wretched weather. The author is great with the details. The episode involving the killing and skinning of buffalo is brilliantly written, vivid and memorable. He has Billy bouncing around the country like a ping-pong ball, and all we get is a brief mention that he spent some time in San Francisco. I just wish he had taken us there with him and given us some detail.

"Billy Gashade" was recommended by a bookshop employee who knew of my interest in Old West history. He urged me to give Estleman a try, and I'm delighted that he did. The title character (we never know his "real" name) embarks upon a series of adventures and misadventures, meeting most of the familiar frontier characters of the 1860s to 1880s. The depth of research is impressive, reminding me of Fraser's intricate plotting in the marvelous Flashman series. "Billy Gashade" proved a delightful diversion from my usual nonfiction reading, but in the words of The Terminator...I'll be back.

Estleman's aim is to have fun here on a romp through late 19th century American history, fictively skewering myths as he goes. Anti-hero Billy Gashade, perforce an itinerant musician after fleeing the ire of Boss Tweed during the New York Draft Riot of 1863, is an immense opportunity for Estleman to drop the names of many famous, and especially infamous, heroes of the history books. His picaresque flight is the author's excuse to link him up with a big cast of recognizable characters. One can play the game back at him, as he probably intends, by trying to guess the name of his chief characters as they appear, each in their own episode, before he pops the surprise, the full name or famous nickname. Quick, who is Tweed? Pinkerton? Quantrill? James? Bridger? etc., on and on.... Amazing.

What is positive is that he gives us somewhat of an insider view, some sense of how the times must have felt, and certainly the issues that then stirred men's souls. Telling is the paragraph where he writes: "1876...bursting with momentous events that have been...argued over...across fences throughout our continent every day for nearly 60 years--and will be, I suspect, for sixty more." Do YOU remember the infamy of Jack McCall, the significance of Northfield, or the name Little Big Horn? He's putting us on! At some point with each--and many others--you will realize, oh, sure, of course, hmm, was that the way each really went down? (This is fiction after all.) Now I know that each was front page stories for a month. You cannot imagine how many hot spots of the time Billy visits in his wanderings through the West. Many of the episodes are gory or salacious, but hardly graphic.

Written with a modern sensibility rather than truly faux antique speech (the few examples of local drawls are clearly tongue-in-cheek), Estleman points up the delicious contrarities of a rich boy with wealth no more, a charmed innocent rushing in where angels should fear to tread, a New Yorker riding with Confederate raiders, a city boy skinning buffalo. It is really quite fun. The tale peters out toward the end, when Billy ages and settles down and hardly drops a name for decades, but those chapters are short.

If you don't know any of the history of the late 1800s, boo on you, and you'll miss a whole layer of the story that takes it out of the ordinary coming-of-age-and-aging routine. I'll bet readers will recognize more than they think. Estleman makes it easy. If you know a lot already, you might grind your teeth at his liberties with history. For those of us with just a smattering of familiarity, this is an exciting and often hilarious read.

A truely wonderful yarn that was impossible to put down. Like Jack Crabb of "Little Big Man" fame and "Forrest Gump" a entertaining telling of the push towards the western frontier and the characters and events that such a wild time produced. I was given this book as part of a birthday present, afterwards when asked what I thought my first response was.... I imagine that....had I actually met Billy somewhere, sat down with him and let him relate this story, my first response might have been "That had to be the biggest lie I ever heard". her response "Well, why did you continue to listen to him then", grinning my response to her was "He told it so well"!