[.ca] Sin Killer (ISBN 0743233026)

From Amazon.com:
Larry McMurtry's Sin Killer is a wildly entertaining ride through the untamed Great Plains. The first installment of a proposed tetralogy, The Berrybender Narratives, Sin Killer follows the adventures of the Berrybenders, a large, noble English family traveling the Missouri River in 1832. This deeply self-absorbed and spoiled family leaves England for the unknown of the American West, based solely on a "whim" and Lord Berrybender's desire to "shoot different animals from those he shot at home." The novel joins the family as they make their way toward Yellowstone aboard a luxury steamer, accompanied by a motley assemblage of servants, guides, and natives. Along the way, this "floating Europe" and its bickering, stubborn passengers encounter constant adversity, including warring natives, hellacious weather, accidental deaths, and kidnappings. Thanks largely to Sin Killer's gallery of colorful personalities, McMurtry keeps most of the action firmly in the realm of fish-out-of-water farce. One such character is the independent and opinionated eldest daughter Tasmin, who, frustrated by her family's conventions, escapes the steamer, whereupon she meets and falls in love with Jim Snow, a.k.a. Sin Killer. Snow, an Indian killer raised by natives, is a stoical, God-fearing man who won't tolerate blasphemy. With prose that flows as naturally as the Missouri, McMurtry weaves together a large cast and vast setting into a thoroughly exciting, hilarious adventure novel. Though Sin Killer focuses on a love story and contains plenty of realistic violence, McMurtry's efficient voice and matter-of-fact perspective leaves little room for tragedy or sentimentality, instead emphasizing high comedy. This is wonderful storytelling from a narrator in perfect agreement with his subject. Sin Killer should please McMurtry's many fans, who now have much to look forward to. --Ross Doll

Only buy this if you have a table with a short leg...:
Yes, I know it's supposed to be satire. Yes, the dialogue is delightful and quaint. Yes, Larry McMurtry (who's written more screenplays and novels than God himself) is the author. That doesn't magically transform "Sin Killer" into a good book. I got this is a gift, so I spent no money on it, but I *still* feel cheated. If you've ever read McMurtry, skip this book; it will shake your faith--usually well-earned--in his writing. If you're not familiar with McMurtry's works, don't read this; it's not at all representative of his genius. I'm going to re-read "Lonesome Dove" just to get the bad taste out of my mouth from "Sin Killer".

Fast-paced, classic McMurtry:
The best thing about the book is knowing that there are three more to come in the series! Although not undiluted classics like the Lonesome Dove sagas, these books are great if you enjoyed the westerns of McMurtry. The book has more farcical elements, particularly the outrageous Berrybender family: rich English gentry who come to America with all their servents, rent a paddleboat, and head up the Missouri for adventures amusing and tragic. And in the classic McMurtry way, often amusing and tragic at the same time. The stories contain McMurtry's usual breathtakingly callous attitude towards death. Important characters are dispatched left and right with scarcely a fanfare. I've always appreciated with McMurtry that death comes suddenly, not proudly, and he spends no time dwelling on sentimentality. Life is full of unpredictability...so is death. But the tone is a bit lighter, with a tinge of romance, a bit more sex than usual for McMurtry, and in general it feels like a really talented writer has decided to loosen up and go slumming a little. The great thing is that it makes the book easy to zoom through, and because McMurtry can't help being a good writer, we still know we've been in the hands of a master. The book really deserves 4.5 stars, not 5. But I HIGHLY recommend it, particulary for McMurtry fans.

Entertaining Easy Read:
This is the first of four stories about an English Noble, Lord Berrybender, and his family on their travels through the American West in 1832. This book has an unusual Pickwick Papers style plot where one event leads to another. Unlike the Pickwick Papers there is plently of violence as the huge cast of characters is gradually winnowed down. Many of the deaths are abrupt and comical. The book is entertaining and unpredictable to say the least. It is one of the more unpredictable stories I have come across in recent years.

Don't expect another "Lonesome Dove":
This is not one of Larry's better books. It was lightweight and at times slow. Though it is one a series of books, I didn't feel the urge to go run right out to buy the next in the series, "Wondering Hill".

A Tetralogy?:
I just finished reading "Sin Killer" which is the first of a four book "tetralogy" on the American West in the era soon after the Lewis and Clark Expedition. My initial reaction is, why a tetralogy? "Sin Killer" is a 300 page book with 62 chapters (62 Chapters!) and plenty of conversation. A little editing and a slightly smaller yet still very readable font and this is a 200 page book. Why aren't all four books included in one epic? At the price of approximately $25 per volume I think that is a fair question. Should "Lonesome Dove" have been a 5-parter? Actually, it was a trilogy of sorts with a present future and past set of books but they were all full-volumed. Larry McMurtry has always been good with keeping his stories moving at a quick pace and loaded with plenty of conversation and interpersonal relationships. In his later novels, he also has an over abundance of outrageous characters. "Sin Killer" certainly fits this mode. We find a European menagerie of off beat travelers many of whom are gone from the story before we have even the slightest idea of who they are. The main characters begin to emerge but it's obvious more will be needed to complete a four book saga. Usually Mr. McMurtry spends a bit more time setting up his characters than he did here. The action is constant and the book move from one crisis scene to another. However, all the action can't seem to hide the impression that the author cranked this one out way too quickly. I doubt that very many readers have found themselves endeared by the characters that are left. I suspect the sales of volume two will be off considerably from volume one. However, the voyagers are just about 100 miles from where I live so this reader WILL get volume two and hope for a significant improvement.