Customer Reviews

Billy's Blues

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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One of the last books I read before coming to Mongolia for 2 years, Billys Blues was an education in American folklore and an adventure in reading. Meltzer uses different voices, source materials and innovative techniques to tell a story at times exhilirating and at times depressing, but at all times interesting and beautifully written A great read.

Billy's Blues is not really a western. It's more in the genre of a mystery. What I like most about the book is the way you discover that Billy the Kid was not the horrendous bad guy as portrayed in history. Billy never held up stages or trains or even robbed a bank. Rather, he fought against the powers-that-be: an evil monopoly of corrupt politicians & businessmen who stole the land away from the people that settled it. Walter, who lives in the present--albeit claustrophobic--day, is the detective whose life is strangely linked to the infamous boy bandit. This is the type of novel that makes you feel like there's something left undone until you finally finish it.

For those of you who are tired of the same old western plots told over and over again, this southwestern-flavored tale is a pleasant surprise. Although the outlaw Billy the Kid plays an important role in the book, it's Walter, an overweight urban coward, who puts the desperado's life in perspective. As Walter's and Billy's stories criss cross, we sense how both characters have become imprisoned by the America of their time. In a kind of literary time travel, their lives intertwine as they seek to break those chains building into a rousing climax. Each story line enhances the other for a unique reading experience that I found satisfying from start to finish.

I have to admit, if I had listened the Kirkus review of this book, I would have never bought it. But I'm glad I did. It's one of those books that take you from one place to somewhere totally different and by the time you're done, you can look back to where you started and wonder how you got from there to here. It's also not too long. It ends at just the right spot and I like that in a book. If you want to read a novel that takes you completely away from yourself, yet leaves you with a sense that you know yourself better afterwards, this book is for you. I highly recommend it.

As a woman, I rarely like "westerns," but "Billy's Blues" is not your average western. Even though the main character, Walter, is a man, I could really identify with many of his issues of anonymity and fears of an increasingly complex world that is passing him by. How he becomes fixated on Billy the Kid is understandable. Billy is his exact opposite. He's the risk-taker/adventurer Walter wishes he could be, but can't, so he vicariously lives the life of the Kid through his dreams, imagination, and his painstaking research of the Kid's life. I also love the way the Billy the Kid story is told through Walter's eyes. The different fonts make it easier for the reader to follow each storyline. As Walter delves deeper and deeper into the outlaw's life, the history of the Kid becomes exciting and ultimately very revealing for Walter and the reader. Meltzer is an extremely talented new writer whose powerful imagery and passion for the written word bring this story to life. I am looking forward to reading Meltzer's future novels.