The Wandering Hill

by Larry McMurtry

Hardcover, 2003

Call number

FIC MCM

Collection

Publication

Simon & Schuster (2003), Edition: First Edition, 320 pages

Description

Continuing up the Missouri River with her wealthy English clan, Tasmin Berrybender, on the verge of motherhood and living with elusive Native American Jim Snow, witnesses her father's deterioration in the wake of her family's rise in power.

User reviews

LibraryThing member brendajanefrank
The Wandering Hill is part two of a four-part series chronicaling the adventures of the aristocratic, English Berrybender family exploring the American West in the 1830's on a steamship on the Missouri River. Lord Berrybender is accompanied by his gluttonous wife and six of his 14 legitimate
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children. The series is historical fiction in that it incorporates actual people such as Kit Carson, Jim Bridges, yet the tales are so fanciful that history is left in the dust.

Outrageous is the best general characterization of these stories. The adventures and their characters seem larger than life and more colorful than neon. Not for the faint of heart, unexpected, random, senseless and disturbing atrocities, injuries, and deaths litter these tales, with a side of lots of “rutting.” The majority of the initial primary characters do not survive to see bookfour4 of the series.

Yet, the stories grabbed me. I went through the series like popcorn, wanting to see what amazing events would occur to the crazy Berrybenders and their growing entourage. The series is intense, rollercoastering through every facet of human emotion and many aspects of abnormal psychology. Nothing dull in these books. The frequent connections to actual historical persons and events keep the tales interesting and grounded, despite the continuum of bizarre incidents. Not for everyone, but I liked it.
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LibraryThing member santhony
Volume two of the Berrybinder narratives. Not up to the originality or the first volume, but a decent read nonetheless. The story becomes increasingly tiresome with each succeeding volume.
LibraryThing member ZachMontana
Part 2 of Sin Killer series as Berrybenders depart their boat and head for a trading post. Babies are born, adventures and names of many real mountain men are interweaved with the fictional family.
LibraryThing member bibleblaster
I'm a little worried that I'll run out of McMurtry novels to read, after I read recently in one of his memoirs that he thinks Rhino Ranch may well be his last. So I went back to the Berrybender series that I missed when it came out originally. Not his best, but enjoyable and I have no doubt that
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I'll finish the series (this is the second of four). I am struck by the way McMurtry, at his best (and there are little glimmers here) uniquely and unpretentiously captures the thoughts of people who are refusing--or attempting and failing--to understand another person.
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Pages

320

ISBN

0743233034 / 9780743233033
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