Far Bright Star [Deckle Edge] [Hardcover]

Robert Olmstead (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 26, 2009

Set in 1916, Far Bright Star follows Napoleon Childs, an aging cavalryman, as he leads an expedition of inexperienced soldiers into the mountains of Mexico to hunt down Pancho Villa and bring him to justice. Though he is seasoned at such missions, things go terribly wrong and the patrol is brutally attacked. After witnessing the demise of his troops, Napoleon is left by his captors to die in the desert.

Through him we enter the conflicted mind of a warrior as he tries to survive against all odds, as he seeks to make sense of a lifetime of senseless wars and to reckon with the reasons a man would choose a life on the battlefield. Olmstead, an award-winning writer, uses his precise, descriptive prose to explore the endurance and fate of the last horse soldiers. The result is a tightly wound novel that is as moving as it is terrifying.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. In his seventh novel, Olmstead (Coal Black Horse) delivers another richly characterized, tightly woven story of nature, inevitability and the human condition. In 1916, the aging Napoleon Childs assembles a cavalry to search for the elusive bandit Pancho Villa in Mexico. The ragtag group includes Napoleon's brother, Xenophon, and America's eager export of losers, deadbeats, cutthroats, dilettantes, and murderers. Riding on horseback for months at a time, Napoleon finds himself and his men always just a few hours behind Villa, whose posse navigates the unforgiving terrain with ease. When a band of marauders descend upon the group, many of Napoleon's men are brutally slaughtered and Napoleon himself is left beaten and emotionally broken. After the attack, Napoleon proclaims to his brother that the person he was died out there. But this revelation doesn't last long, and soon Napoleon sets out on yet another date with destiny on the open plains with his followers. Reminiscent of Kent Haruf, Olmstead's brilliantly expressive, condensed tale of resilience and dusty determination flows with the kind of literary cadence few writers have mastered. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Bookmarks Magazine

Described by the Dallas Morning News as a "thinking-reader's western," Olmstead's latest novel, which features some characters from Coal Black Horse, is not for the faint of heart. Still, critics were riveted by this gruesome, bloodcurdling, and thoroughly masculine book, where women are virtually nonexistent and war is a constant, prevailing theme. Critics hailed Far Bright Star as a tightly woven tale with terse, dispassionate prose, characteristics that may also be used to describe the laconic Napoleon. Reviewers also compared Olmstead favorably to acclaimed novelist Cormac McCarthy (The Road). Only the Oregonian felt that the novel was "over-written" and "congested" in parts. But overall, Far Bright Star is a masterful, mesmerizing portrait of one man facing oblivion.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 207 pages
• Publisher: Algonquin Books; 1 edition (May 26, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565125924
• ISBN-13: 978-1565125926
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #799,497 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More and more, May 27, 2009

By 

K. A. Edwards "illiterata" (small plain, great lake) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Far Bright Star (Hardcover)

Far Bright Star is a perfect book. It drags the reader inside often perhaps against her will and washes over and through the senses with Olmstead's lush language. The language is reminescent of Falukner's Absalom, Absalom and readers of contemporary fiction will find that Olmstead's work has kindred spirit with both Cormack McCarthy and Kent Haruf. The story is harsh yet beautiful and gives one a might bit to consider about the place of war in this world and one's relation to the consumption and production of general meaness as well as how redemption might find us all.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thank Heavens for this Novel, June 27, 2009

By 

Susan C. Tekulve (South Carolina) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Far Bright Star (Hardcover)

This beautiful and fearless novel recounts the journey of a seasoned horse soldier, Napoleon Childs, who leads an inexperienced group of cavalrymen on a search for Pancho Villa. Though it is a war story set in 1916, in Mexico, this book ultimately becomes a timeless odyssey that poses complex questions about how a human being recovers his sense of direction, both internal and external, after witnessing senseless acts of brutality that would horrify even the most war torn of veterans. Written in gorgeous, lyrical prose, the narrative becomes most soulful and heart wrenching during Napoleon's return from battle. Stripped of his clothes, his friends and his faith, Napoleon stumbles through the desert and the even starker landscape of his own wounded psyche, trying to recover his inner compass while searching for the physical place he once called home. Reading this book was a bit like reading Camus and Homer at once, though Mr. Olmstead's voice is singular. He is a writer who goes bravely, and refreshingly, into fictional territory that a lesser writer would not attempt to go, providing us with a great novel for our times, one that will appeal to anyone who has ever felt brutalized, alone or lost.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 3.5, more like it, October 18, 2010

By 

Eddie Wannabee (Western Hemisphere) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Far Bright Star (Paperback)

I saw this book at the local Costco and I knew I would have to read it for I am always in search of an outstanding western type novel. From the reviews and high praises I really believed this would be a great book. I liked the title and cover art and thinking perhaps another writer was as good as the one and only Larry Mc. Murtry. When it comes to westerns I have found no other book that equals Lonesome Dove. It has all the requirements I look for in a book and is heavy enough to where it will not be devoured in in a couple of days. Far Bright Star is not that many pages and I was eager to experience this supposedly great book. To my disappointment, I discovered that based on people's appreciation for this book I had way to high of an expectation and in the end that became the biggest letdown. Do not get me wrong: there are some parts that, like a fellow reviewer very brightly pointed out, of brilliance but like another good reviewer also pointed out, it ends being a little on the boring side. The plot is basically this straight line riding through the harsh inclement weather and it has its share of violence but the tale itself is not as hypnotic as Lonesome Dove ended up being. I wanted to like each page more than the one before and that did not came to pass. The thing is that when you read a masterpiece of the genre it is very unlikely another will equal it or exceed it in quality of writing, story line and overall entertainment value. I keep watching the Lonesome Dove Series on TV and I have given the book as a present to several people to their overwhelming reading pleasure. Short book, basically, some interesting characters but not in the same league as the best of the best and anyone who writes this type of genre would be hard pressed to ever write a book as majestic, here I go again, as Lonesome Dove. Wanted to like it, couldn't stop thinking about it and when I realized that my local library only had it in electronic format I finally gave in and purchased a copy through Amazon (my favorite store when I think about it) and I was hoping for a much better book, but darn it, it was not to be. 3.5 for Far Bright Star.