Gunman's Rhapsody (Hardcover)

by Robert B. Parker (Author) "The road from the railhead in Benson ended with an uphill pull into Tombstone, and the horses were always lathered as they reached level ground..." (more)
Key Phrases: sonova bitch, city marshal, faro table, Curley Bill, Allen Street, Ike Clanton (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Wyatt Earp, Billy the Kid, Doc Holliday, Tombstone, the O.K. Corral--the icons are so firmly embedded in American history that we might know nothing more about them than their names. But in this spare, moody riff on the events leading to the 1881 shootout at the O.K. Corral--the signature battle defining the violence of the Old West--Robert B. Parker shades the black-and-white starkness with shifting tones of gray.

Parker moves beyond the Hollywood version of the shootout to explore the tangle of family loyalties, dirty politics, and passion that embroiled Wyatt Earp before and after his encounter with the Clanton gang. In Parker's version, the longstanding rivalry between the Earps and the cowboys may stem from cultural difference (the Clantons were ranchers who held Confederate sympathies during the Civil War; the Earps were townsfolk who had Union loyalties), and it may be exacerbated by alcohol, machismo, and fiery accusations from both sides. But the spark that leads to the final conflagration is simpler: Wyatt falls in love with Josie Marcus, Sheriff Johnny Behan's beautiful, self-assured companion.

Parker's Wyatt Earp is, like his detective hero Spenser, by turns arrogant and humble, and Earp's firm-jawed struggles with honor, family, and love will feel familiar to fans of that long-running series. But the author has abandoned the series' relatively intricate plotting and its touches of goofy humor. The novel is a curious amalgamation of inexorably linear narrative and moments of static contemplation. It drifts like a tumbleweed through Tombstone, leaving two- and three-month gaps, pausing briefly to dip into moments of conflict and moments of peace.

Gunman's Rhapsody is not a big, sprawling western. Hewing firmly to an understated minimalism, it seems at times to have sprung from a collaboration between Hemingway and a Quaker council. Who would have thought that such an unlikely combination could be so rewarding? --Kelly Flynn

From Publishers Weekly
The gunman is Wyatt Earp. The rhapsody plays out in a rare Parker stand-alone novel, his best yet and his first western. Told in prose as cool and spare as Parker has ever laid down, the book details the time Wyatt and his brothers spend in Tombstone, culminating in the shootout at the O.K. Corral. Parker's Wyatt won't surprise those familiar with the author's Boston PI, Spenser, and with Spenser's sidekick, Hawk. This Wyatt Earp carries traits of both Spenser's adherence to code, his word, himself, and Hawk's indifference to violence and death. But Wyatt is even more of a distillation than either Spenser or Hawk. He's the essence of the self-contained gunman; as he walks to the O.K., "he could feel the steady rhythm of his pulse, the easy flow of his blood." Events span years, but move quickly. Conflict arises when Wyatt falls hard for beautiful showgirl Josie Marcus and she for him, for she's the lover of local politico Johnny Behan. Johnny's jealousy leads to conspiracy, acts of cowardice and finally to the shoot-out. All the western legends associated with Wyatt play their parts the other Earp brothers, Doc Holliday, Bat Masterson, Clay Allison, John Ringo and Parker etches each in granite. "Are you ready to die today?" Doc asks a man who's insulted him. Occasionally, Parker intersperses the drama with reports (letters, news bulletins, notices) that add historical context though not much more; their inclusion is questionable. What's not is how, as events move toward their necessary conclusion, the narrative takes on the inexorability of classic tragedy. This is a remarkably artful western, as tough and as true as the slap of gunmetal against leather. (June)Forecast: Parker's name on the cover and strong reviews could push this western onto bestseller lists, but it won't sell quite as well as the Spenser titles, with their vast built-in readership.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 320 pages
• Publisher: Putnam Adult; First Edition edition (June 4, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399147624
• ISBN-13: 978-0399147623
• Product Dimensions: 8.6 x 5.6 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (65 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #390,462 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Robert Parker's first western, June 30, 2001

By	smee - See all my reviews

Robert Parker's novels have always focused on tough, self-sufficient characters, so the idea of the author writing something in the Western genre seems a natural fit. (Indeed, Parker's last Spenser novel, POTSHOT, is little more than a modern retelling of THE MAGNIFICANT SEVEN.) Surprisingly, GUNMAN'S RHAPSODY, a fictionalized account of the Earp-cowboy feud that occurred during the 1880s, fails. There are, I think, a number of problems: The first is Parker's insistence on patterning the novel's characters upon his previous prototypes. Thus, for example, in a bedroom conversation between Wyatt Earp and Josie Marcus, the characters spout lines that seem uncomfortably reminiscent of dialogue we have previously heard from Spenser and Susan Silverman. Second, Parker errs fundamentally, I think, in writing about Earp and his brothers. The popular culture has been more or less inundated with information about this subject over the last decade (specifically, the release of two films, Lawrence Kasdan's lengthy biopic, WYATT EARP, and George Cosmatos' less historically accurate, but more enjoyable TOMBSTONE). By choosing to write about people and themes with which we are so familiar, Parker highlights the fact that he has seemingly little that is fresh to say on the subject. This staleness even filters down to the novel's repetitive descriptive passages where we are treated, for example, to endless scenes of Wyatt drinking coffee (with both hands on the cup) or to descriptions of gunfights in which events are reduced to slow motion (leading, incidentally, to Parker's brief and shockingly banal description of the shootout near the O.K. Corral). While I applaud Parker for having the courage to try something a little different, this was, in my opinion, a failed experiment.

27 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gunman's Rhapsody: Spenser travels time to the Old West, June 14, 2001

By	John W. Myers (Candor, NC United States) - See all my reviews

Gunman's Rhapsody, I was pleased to find, is up to Parker's usual page-turning standards.

It's a fictional retelling of the Wyatt Earp saga "with the full weight of American history behind it," according to the publisher. If that be so, then Kevin Costner's recent film portrayal of Earp is closer to history than the earlier versions by Burt Lancaster and Henry Fonda.

And Parker's insights both deepen and widen the Earp reputation. Parker's pen brings to life a host of storied characters, including Doc Holliday and Bat Masterson, friends of Wyatt and the other Earp brothers, as well as foes such as Clay Allison, John Ringo and Curley Bill Brocius.

And Parker puts real flesh on the bones of the oft-told story of the feud between Sheriff Johnny Behan and Wyatt over showgirl Josie Marcus, which led to the famous shootout at the O.K. Corral.

Josie was the love of Wyatt's life, but in hindsight one almost wonders if all the blood spilled over that romance was worth it. If for none other, it's almost reason enough just for the joy of reading Parker's retelling of this cornerstone saga of the wild and wooly old American West.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Rich, Rewarding Historical Novel about Wyatt Earp, June 4, 2001

By	Professor Donald Mitchell "Jesus Makes Me a P... (Boston) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)

This is an appealing novel for those who would normally not read westerns.

Robert Parker has taken the well-known shootout at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona and turned it into a well-developed, rich tale of family, honor, love, career, and the taming of the West. While many other writers have treated this material before, none have provided so much background to put the event into its proper perspective. The Earps, Doc Holliday, the Clantons, Bat Masterson, and many other Western legends come to life as real people you would recognize if you met them in a saloon. You will also learn a lot about the Earp women, both the wives and those they love. The story continues on to tell about what happened after the shoot-out.

Mr. Parker writes about these characters as though he were a contemporary, but without the exaggeration of a dime novel. In fact, the spare prose of the Spenser series here becomes stronger without the quips and irony that pervade those stories. The writing style will remind you of Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea, and that's intended to be a high compliment for his accomplishment here. The story also evokes many of the good qualities of The Virginian.

The story pivots around Wyatt Earp's fascination with a performer who draws his eye, Josie Marcus. Never expecting to see her again, he is startled to find her on the arm of aspiring lawman, Johnny Behan. Josie is a modern woman in many ways, drawn to the stage and Johnny for the excitement they seem to offer. She ends up being disappointed in both. For her, though, Wyatt is the real thing.

Their relationship is complicated by Josie having let Johnny move into a house her father has bought her in Tombstone, and Wyatt having lived with Mattie (Celia Ann Blaylock) for a number of years. The hurt feelings lead to a polarization in the politics in Tombstone and in Wyatt's relationship with his brother Virgil's wife, Allie.

The economic interests in the Tombstone area arrayed the ranchers against the rustlers, and the townsmen against those who wanted to raise a ruckus in town. The political interests split along North-South lines, reflecting the Civil War. Also, the cowboys tended to be southerners, and the Earps were northerners and townspeople.

The character of Wyatt Earp, as portrayed by Mr. Parker, will fascinate you. He is seen as a man of effortless, relaxed precision. He enjoys his card dealing as much as his target-shooting practice. Both a discomfort with alcohol and a preference for being in control have him constantly sipping cups of coffee to keep his vigilance sharp. He is above all a man of honor, which means sticking to his word and to his family. Many of the plot complications are a result of that honor, and you will enjoy thinking about the price that has to be paid.

Mr. Parker also does a remarkably good job of capturing the peril of being a law officer. You not only have to disarm the bad guys, some of them will come after you. If another law officer or citizen falsely accuses you, you can then have a posse chasing you. The Earps had plenty of experience with all of these problems.

My only complaint about the book relate to the Chronicle inserts that outline other events happening at the same time. There is too much of this in the book, and the significance of the events is mainly from the perspective of our time. So the effect of reading them is to take you away from the story in time and space. Unless you happen to enjoy the first ones you read, I suggest you skip over these for a more enjoyable read.

The moral choices involved in this book are interesting. How would you have decided between Mattie and Josie if you were Wyatt? If you chose Josie, how would you have handled the break-up? What promise would you have made to Josie about Johnny? If you were Josie, would you have released Wyatt from his promise?

Be a straight-shooter!