Customer Reviews

Wanderers Eastward, Wanderers West

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Wow! This was such a great book. It may be hard to find, but it is definitely worth it. I bought it after reading FOREVER AMBER also by Kathleen Winsor.

This book is very in depth about the human psyche. It follows the lives of several people for about 20 years. It takes place during the second half of the 19th century in Montana and New York City. I learned so much about this time period as well as what life was like "out west." She has great historical details. It is a bit slow at times, but you still can't put it down. This is not a book that ends happily ever after, or that ties everything up in the end. It is as real as real life. The characters are multi-faceted with multitudes of various feelings. I just cannot describe how good this book is. It's been about a year since I read it and I still think about it often. Excellent!

If you are a fan of great, imaginative and well researched writing this book is for you. The novel is set in two different locales..New York City and Montana. It cleverly recounts the events in the lives of various individuals who inhabit these two areas. Ms. Winsor gives us fully "fleshed out" characters with distinctive qualities and personal traits that intrigue us. You find yourself wanting to know more and more about what's happening to each of them. The authors way of advancing the storyline and leaving reader with little "cliff hangers" at the end of selected chapters, keeps you reading until your eyes literally burn from lack of sleep. This is a book you cannot put down.....and you don't want to.

And you're not going to know what that quote means until the very end of this door-stopper sized book! This one starts in 1861 and tells the parallel tales of Matt Devlin as he begins to carve a new life in Montana, along with that of his brother-in-law Joshua Ching in New York as he winds his way to great fortune through the manipulation and financial downfall of others. Matt, his brother Pete and their partners and eventually his sons are involved in the early days of mining the Montana Rockies, first gold then silver and finally digging to the depths of the inner mountains for the remaining treasure - copper. The early boom towns grow and die, although one town long thought dead begins to grow and change as does the landscape surrounding it - Butte.

On the other side of the country, Jason's wealth grows and he becomes one of New York's elite rich and marries his daughter Susan (Suky) into one of the "old" families short of cash. The story carries them through the financial disasters and depressions of the time, as well as intertwining with Matt's children with his. That's about as far as I care to go, beyond that I'd be writing a full length book report and you know I don't do that. Suffice it to say, this book is packed with plenty of extramarital affairs (but no bodice ripping, I promise), sneaky stock dealings, railroad barons, roaring mining towns, scandalous actresses and mistresses, the cigar smoking cussing Lily in her men's clothes all intertwined with Morgan Devlin as he reaches for the huge wealth buried in the mountain he must destroy to reach the copper inside it.

Although I wouldn't call this one an action packed, can't put it down until you know what happens next type of book, it was still entertaining for those like a big fat (and I do mean fat) book packed with plenty of history and intrigue and colorful characters. Just be warned, there are a lot of characters and the story switches back and forth quite a bit between Montana and New York so if you don't like a switching POV or if you're looking for a book with star-crossed lovers, a pure and saintly hero and heroine who get their HEA in the end, this isn't the book for you. For those of you who read and loved her more famous book, Forever Amber you might want to give this one a whirl. 4/5 stars.

While I can't say I enjoyed this book as well as "Forever Amber", Ms. Winsor does introduce us to a 20-year span of the early living conditions from the West to New York. It's an informative historical long novel with diverse characters that sometimes drags a bit and I wouldn't call it a page turner.
At the end what she had written pretty much sums up the book: "If a man owned a good lead, knew his business, was persistent and energetic and had his fair share of the American mania for work, there was no possible way he could fail".
There is no "real" ending, and I would have hoped for a follow-up book to finalize the lives, successes and failures of the expanded families and to continue with history after the train finally came to town!

I am a huge fan of Forever Amber and wanted to read more of Kathleen Winsor. This book was a disappointment because I thought it disjointed, constantly switching back and forth between a group of families out West and a family in the East. It contains great historical detail of the period, but I found it a frustrating read. I noticed that I was constantly reconstructing sentences to try to make the reading of it more enjoyable.

I found this book to be one of the best books I have ever read. It is extremely long and sometimes a bit slow, but overall a great piece of writing. Winsor is a good novelist and it is obvious that she spent years researching history to accomplish such a mammoth novel. It is available through Amazon's rare and used book site.

I found this book in grandma's basement and thought " hey it'll keep me busy for a while" It was suprisingly good. The storylines move at just the right pace, and the unexpected happens, just as the expected never occurs. Good book - a must read, especially for collectors

I found a copy of this book at a local Goodwill Store for only .25 cents. I liked it so much that I advised my girl friend to read it, so I went to a local book store to purchase her a copy after she agreed, but realized it was not in print any more. I guess that I will have to let her borrow my copy with certain conditons. It's a terrific novel!

This is a great book if you like historical novels. After finding it in my Nana's basement as a girl, I lost it. I never thought I would find another copy. I mentioned it to my boyfriend, and he tracked it down at this site as a birthday surprise. What a great present, it will never leave my possession again.