Customer Reviews

Prophet Annie

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

With PROPHET ANNIE, I discovered a new favorite author. Annie Newcastle is a sassy, hilarious heroine with a distinctive voice. This book reminded me of one of Larry McMurtry's funnier westerns because it combined humor and pathos. The characters and dialogue are priceless. I especially loved Sam Two Trees' dry wit. I'm heartbroken that Ms. Recknor's earlier efforts seem to be out of print (What is Avon thinking???) but I'm off to search for them in an out-of-print store. After reading PROPHET ANNIE, I would definitely buy anything this author writes--paperback or hardcover--as soon as it hits the shelves because you just don't discover a treasure like this very often.

HAVING READ RECKNORS TWO EARLIER BOOKS, "LEAVING MISSOURI" AND& "ME AND THE BOYS", I HAD MORE THAN AN IDLE INTEREST IN SEEING WHAT SHE HAD IN STORE THIS TIME AROUND. HERE IS A WRITER WITH A PROFOUND MASTERY OF LANGUAGE AND HUMOR AND WHO HAS AN UNEQUALED ABILITY TO PULL THE READER INTO HER STORIES EARLY ON.I FOUND "PROPHET ANNIE" TO BE A VERY INTERESTING STORY WITH A NOVEL APPROACH TO DEALING WITH DEATH THROUGH HUMOR AND AS WITH BOTH PREVIOUS BOOKS, I WAS UNABLE TO PUT IT DOWN UNTIL I WAS SURE OF THE OUTCOME.IF YOU'VE NEVER READ ANYTHING BY ELLEN RECKNOR, AND YOU ENJOY STORIES WITH A WESTERN THEME AND A HEAVY DOSE OF HUMOR, THEN "PROPHET ANNIE" IS JUST WHAT YOU'VE BEEN MISSING. CAN'T WAIT TO SEE WHAT THIS WRITER COMES UP WITH NEXT...........

Fast moving, exciting and extremely funny.......There is no other way to describe Ellen Recknors' latest book, "PROPHET ANNIE". This writer has taken the age old fear of ghosts and put a new and interesting twist to it......Anyone and everyone who enjoys a tale of the old west with a heavy dose of comedy should pick up this book and read it....Keep up the good work Ellen.....

This is my second Recknor book. I find her to be one of the freshest most original writers that I've read in a long time. Her plots are unconventional, yet convincing. She's utterly enjoyable from start to finsih. I love her "bad guys." I can't wait for her next book!

This is the story of an extraordinary woman's journey from girlhood to maturity, and it's one of the funniest, most original, most touching books of the year. Some scenes made me laugh, others made me laugh through my tears, and I closed the book with a sigh of delight!

When was the last time you read a book about a character who made you want to stand up and cheer? LOUDLY. Annie is that sort of book. The well-documented hilarity in this book is one thing, but the warmth and humanity beneath the wise-cracking surface is what make Annie so special. Read this book.

I did enjoy Prophit Annie to a point. After awhile it just felt like it rambled until I couldn't wait until the ending. I enjoyed the style it was written in. Reading it felt as if you were talking to an older relative relating what it was like in their time. Where Prophit Annie was good, if you want to experience a fantastic western story - pick up Ellen Recknor's "Me and the Boys" (out-of-print service). I think Me and the Boys was way above better than Prophit Annie.

Harriet Klausner

By 1881, Annie Pinkerton Boone Newcastle has buried two husbands. Her first spouse accidentally died just after they married when a mule kicked him in the head. On their wedding night, her second spouse, the elderly Jonas, passed away in bed. Her sum of married life is less than twenty-four hours. However, the twenty-two years old widow inherits an oddity. Jonas now "lives" inside Annie's head. He provides her with sermons that he orders she pass on to the world even as he demands his husbandry rights in bed.

Annie becomes a renowned psychic, traveling with the unparalell likes of PT Barnum. Her reputation grows as PROPHET ANNIE's predictions start to occur. However, Jonas' ability to forecast the future fails to keep Annie safe from an outlaw gang that abducts her.

For over the first 80 percent of PROPHET ANNIE treats the audience to one of the most engaging, brilliant, and unique western novels to come along in years. However, the last forty to fifty pages make an abrupt U-turn from a stupendous satire into a western romance. Honestly, the ending is well written and even interesting in its own right. However, in the context of what occurred before, the final pages leave readers dissatisfied. No one will relish the defanging of the previously precocious outspoken Annie while turning the soul of the book, the perverted Jonas, into a ghostly eunuch. Still, in her third novel, Spur award winner Ellen Recknor proves that she is a talent to be reckoned with, hopefully by returning Jonas inside the body of another individual.

Harriet Klausner

No wonder PROPHET ANNIE won the coveted Western Writers of America Spur Award. I couldn't put it down.

Annie is a young woman who is essentially sold into marriage with a supposedly wealthy old geezer. After he expires on her wedding night, he takes up residence in Annie's mind and body and begins "prophesying" wild tales of the future. After Annie finds out that her husband's wealth is depleted she joins a circus side show. This book is so hilarious (there is a great scene where Jonas takes over Annie's body and has her sing "Roxanne" while doing a striptease!). The future does look rather ridiculous from the point of view of a young lady of the west. All of the characters are very well drawn, and it's easy to become attached to them. I can't remember enjoying a book more.