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Rating: 
Summary: The Genuine Article
Review: Andrew Garcia was a "woolly Texan from Spanish America" who found himself on the Montana frontier in 1876, at the age of 23. These are his colorful reminiscences of his Nez Perce and Pend'Oreille wives, and hardships undergone among dubious characters. I don't know that I agree with Ms Garrett that every word in it is true. Garcia wrote it towards the end of a long life, when he was nicknamed "the Squaw Kid" and dined out on these stories. However the essence of the book rings true. It will strike a chord with anyone whose heart has been by the lonely beauty of the High Plains and by longing for what once was, not so long ago, and is now out of reach forever.
Rating:
Summary: The Genuine Article
Review: Andrew Garcia was a "woolly Texan from Spanish America" who found himself on the Montana frontier in 1876, at the age of 23. These are his colorful reminiscences of his Nez Perce and Pend'Oreille wives, and hardships undergone among dubious characters. I don't know that I agree with Ms Garrett that every word in it is true. Garcia wrote it towards the end of a long life, when he was nicknamed "the Squaw Kid" and dined out on these stories. However the essence of the book rings true. It will strike a chord with anyone whose heart has been by the lonely beauty of the High Plains and by longing for what once was, not so long ago, and is now out of reach forever.
Rating: 
Summary: Paradise was tough to leave
Review: I read this book in the early 1970's when I was the author's age, and have never forgotten it. Andrew Garcia writes with bittersweet longing for a time when adventure was freely available for those foolhardy enough to risk all. He writes in imperfect, but colorful prose about simpler times. Villains humorously drawl, "I'll plug ya if ya move." His self-depracating wit sounds like a real Huckleberry Finn in the wild west. The center piece of the tale is the massacre of the Nez Perce tribe by the U.S. Army; which Garcia relates from the first hand account of his beloved first wife (a Nez Perce herself). Fireside desire for beautiful native women in isolated wilderness, tempered by his Catholic background make for great romantic tension. Whether exactly true or not does not matter. It is a wonderful story of adventure, love,and sadness. I look forward to re-reading it to escape back to paradise.
Rating:
Summary: Best Book Besides the Bible I ever Read
Review: In the sixties I was in a dentist's office in Huntsville, Alabama, with my four young daughters. I picked up one of the better magazines, Esquire or something, and started an excerpt from "Tough Trip Through Paradise." With attention drawn in several directions, you can't usually get into a magazine story. Suddenly I was so caught up in Mr. Garcia's adventures that I tried to read faster and faster before whichever child was finished in the dentist chair. I did finish the part of the book the magazine finished and very soon, perhaps before we went home, I visited the library and checked out the exact book. I have bought by special order Mr. Garcia's journal and given it to a library, my father-in-law, and many others. I have it on order now to give to a neighbor. My father-in-law, who scoffed at gifts and other books, quoted from it and re-read it until his death. For once in my marriage I pleased him! About the book itself and Andrew Garcia: He knew how to write, did he ever. I still quote passages from the book to myself -- (these aren't exact quotes, ". . . I'm not too good but I don't steal horses." "The young maidens know they will marry an older man with means to support them but first they will have a fling with the young bucks." "I notice the squaws want their dresses made with buttons down the front." It is so simply written that it is elegant. I believe every word is true, he did not need to elaborate, every day was exciting.
Rating:
Summary: Best Book Besides the Bible I ever Read
Review: In the sixties I was in a dentist's office in Huntsville, Alabama, with my four young daughters. I picked up one of the better magazines, Esquire or something, and started an excerpt from "Tough Trip Through Paradise." With attention drawn in several directions, you can't usually get into a magazine story. Suddenly I was so caught up in Mr. Garcia's adventures that I tried to read faster and faster before whichever child was finished in the dentist chair. I did finish the part of the book the magazine finished and very soon, perhaps before we went home, I visited the library and checked out the exact book. I have bought by special order Mr. Garcia's journal and given it to a library, my father-in-law, and many others. I have it on order now to give to a neighbor. My father-in-law, who scoffed at gifts and other books, quoted from it and re-read it until his death. For once in my marriage I pleased him! About the book itself and Andrew Garcia: He knew how to write, did he ever. I still quote passages from the book to myself -- (these aren't exact quotes, ". . . I'm not too good but I don't steal horses." "The young maidens know they will marry an older man with means to support them but first they will have a fling with the young bucks." "I notice the squaws want their dresses made with buttons down the front." It is so simply written that it is elegant. I believe every word is true, he did not need to elaborate, every day was exciting.
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