The Borderland : A Novel of Texas

Rating:
Summary: Nearly Mythical Tale With Great Characters
Review: Edwin Shrake's "The Borderland" is an entertaining blend of myth and historical fiction. Set in the early days of the Republic of Texas, "Borderland" tells a complex story of love, heroism, mysticism, political intrigue, and the Texan version of Manifest Destiny.

Its grand scope is well-suited to Shrake's grand characters. We meet the grizzled Texas Ranger Matt Caldwell, famous for his courage under fire and his drinking ability, Doc Romulus Swift, a Renaissance Man if there ever was one, Doc's sister, Callusaja, a New York-educated woman who desires nothing more than to return to her Native American roots, and a cast of other characters. Some are real historic figures (the bellicose general Sam Houston, who unfortunately disappears from the action early on), and others are figments of Shrake's vivid imagination (Henry Longfellow, a sinister maniac stalking the West like a demented scarecrow). Virtually all are characters you can sink your teeth into -- you'll never forget Herr Gruber, the burly German with an ax-blade permanently stuck in his skull!

With remarkable sensitivity, Shrake also portrays the struggles and triumphs of several women in the young Republic. In addition to the beautiful Callusaja, Hannah Dahlman arrives in Texas from Germany betrothed to Matt Caldwell and finds herself in a romantic world beyond her imagining. And Dora Kerr, who has left the theater of New York City to experience the real excitement of the frontier, is a woman of daring and spice who could have been the focus of her own novel.

Shrake does not merely focus on the Texans. One of the book's true accomplishments is the humanity Shrake brings to the Comanches and Cherokees in his story. Shunning the safe fall-back position of showing the greedy Texans swiping land from noble Native Americans, Shrake gives us a cast of Cherokee and Comanche characters who are fully realized, given over to love, cruelty, honor, wisdom, and foolishness just as the Texans are.

In breathing life into both sides of the Texan-Native American conflict, Shrake gives us a world as fully realized as any in a "clash-of-cultures" story since James Clavell wrote "Shogun." That Shrake does not give as thorough a treatment to the third major force in the story, the Mexicans, is an indication that Shrake kept a tight control on the scope of the novel -- had he thrown many more storylines in, "Borderland" could have easily spun out of control.

As it is, Shrake's plot brings a certain element of myth into the story of the evolution of the Republic of Texas. Doc Swift has journeyed to Texas in large part due to the mysterious calling of a man-ape who stalks the Texas Hill Country and lives in caves filled with gold. The Dark Man, the Comanche who survived a lightning strike in his younger years, is given over to prophecy. Caldwell, known as "Old Paint," rides the crest of his own legend as an Indian fighter, Ranger, and veteran of the war against Santa Anna. And Sam Houston occupies his world like Paul Bunyan and Pecos Bill rolled into one.

The only thing that keeps me from giving this novel five stars is that the ending feels a bit truncated. Perhaps limited by actual historic events, Shrake does not give us the truly cataclysmic ending that his novel's scope demands. The villain deserves a greater comeuppance, and the conflict between Caldwell and Swift is resolved a bit too neatly.

Still, this is a minor gripe -- this is a heck of a book!

Rating:
Summary: a must read
Review: The Borderland is one of those rare novels which manages to draw you in so completely that you feel a hearty sense of loss after you turn the last page. It is rich and romantic, large and scathing, and funny and true. Though the book is a historic novel centered around the early days of Texas and the settlement of Austin, it's scope is much greater. It captures the spirit of men taking on the magnificent and the impossible and the persistence and heart which manage to propel them to success. The characters are unforgettable and the prose is vivid and engaging. If you want to read something which will make you laugh and cry and think, by all means, read The Borderland. And check out one of the author's earlier novels, Blessed McGill. Shrake's works rival Jim Harrison's and Larry McMurtry's.

Rating:
Summary: A new classic
Review: This is one great novel; the very best from the underappreciated author of two other classic works of fiction: "Blessed McGill" (the story of the first Saint of North America) and "Strange Peaches" (the first Kennedy conspiracy theory book). Shrake has reached his peak with the Borderland which gets at the real heart of the founding of the nation of Texas, the period after the Alamo and before admission to the Union during which Sam Houston moved the Capitol west to the middle of a Comanche paradise (oh, how we wish Austin was still a paradise), setting off a 40 year war with the Comanches and ethnic cleansing of the Cherokees. Imagine Austin with a Capitol Building surrounded by a stockade fence and a moat and protected by cannons against attack. It's bigger than life because these people were bigger than life. The climax of the book comes with the biggest Comanche raid in history which ended with the Texas Rangers triumph and slaughter of the Indians at Plum Creek south of Austin. I could give you a dozen other great scenes, but skip to the chase and simply read this book; it's a winner!