The Son

Written by Philipp Meyer

Narrated by Will Patton, Kate Mulgrew, Scott Shepherd and Clifton Collins, Jr.

THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
NOW A MAJOR TV SERIES starring Pierce Brosnan and co-written by Philipp Meyer

The critically acclaimed, New York Times-bestselling epic, a saga of land, blood and power, follows the rise of one unforgettable Texas family from the Comanche raids of the 1800s to the oil booms of the 20th century.

Eli McCullough is just twelve years old when a marauding band of Comanche storm his Texas homestead, brutally murder his mother and sister and take him captive. Despite their torture and cruelty, Eli - against all odds - adapts to life with the Comanche, learning their ways and language, taking on a new name, finding a place as the adopted son of the band's chief and fighting their wars against not only other Indians but white men too, which complicates his sense of loyalty, his promised vengeance and his very understanding of self. But when disease, starvation and westward expansion finally decimate the Comanche, Eli is left alone in a world in which he belongs nowhere, neither white nor Indian, civilized nor fully wild.

Deftly interweaving Eli’s story with those of his son Peter and his great-granddaughter JA, The Son maps the legacy of Eli’s ruthlessness, his drive to power and his lifelong status as an outsider, even as the McCullough family rises to become one of the richest in Texas, a ranching and oil dynasty that is as resilient and dangerous as the land they claim. Yet, like all empires, the McCulloughs must eventually face the consequences of their choices.

Panoramic, deeply evocative and utterly transporting, The Son is a masterpiece American novel - part epic of Texas, part classic coming-of-age story - that combines the narrative prowess of Larry McMurtry with the knife-edge sharpness of Cormac McCarthy.

'Stunning ... a book that for once really does deserve to be called a masterpiece' Kate Atkinson

'Magnificent ... McCarthy's Border Trilogy is a point of reference, as is There Will Be Blood, but it is not fanciful to be reminded of certain passages from Moby-Dick - it's that good'The Times

'Brilliant ... a wonderful novel' Lionel Shriver
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio UK
• Release date: Jul 30, 2013
• ISBN: 9781471132766

Philipp Meyer

Philipp Meyer is the author of the critically lauded novel American Rust, winner of the 2009 Los Angeles Times Book Prize. It was an Economist Book of the Year, a Washington Post Top Ten Book of the Year, and a New York Times Notable Book. He is a graduate of Cornell University and has an MFA from the University of Texas at Austin, where he was a James Michener Fellow. A native of Baltimore, he now lives mostly in Texas.

Reviews for The Son

[fhudnell-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This long family saga set in Texas is primarily told from the point of view of three related characters of different generations. Unfortunately, I found the story of only one of the characters interesting and even that storyline sort of petered out. Eli McCullough is taken by the Comanche when he is 12 and lives with them until he is 16. I liked his description of life with his captors, who became his new family. His life after he returned to live with white people also had an interesting progression. In contrast, the lives of the other two protagonists had no progression at all and did not interest me very much. The story of Eli's son Peter is mostly about the murder of Mexicans by the white Texans who then stole their land. There was also Peter's affair with a Mexican woman, which probably wasn't a good idea for either of them. The chapters of the book dealing with Eli's great granddaughter were like episodes of Dallas - all money, politics and oil deals. Also there was a lot of whining about the problems of a woman in a man's world (which are hard to take seriously coming from someone enormously wealthy). I don't think the blurb does this book any favors by comparing it to the work of Larry McMurtry and Cormac McCarthy.I'd had this book for a while but only decided to read it when I heard about the upcoming TV series based on the book. After listening to the audiobook, I'm still undecided about whether or not I want to watch the series. I can easily see it sinking in a morass of sex and violence. The audiobook had multiple narrators and I particularly liked the narration of the Eli chapters by Will Patton.

[rebarelishesreading · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book has been compared to [Lonesome Dove] and, while both are long sagas set in the American west, in my opinion the comparison ends there. [Lonesome Dove] is one of the best novels I have ever read. Although not a fan of western fiction, I found it hard to put down and enjoyed it from beginning to end. In contrast, I kept hoping [The Son] would end.The book is organized around the lives of Eli (born 1836), his son Peter (born 1870) and granddaughter (born 1926) and follows the fortunes of the family from Eli's kidnapping by indians at age 13 to present day as they earn and steal their (large) fortune. Unfortunately, the story and characters didn't "grab" me enough to overcome the annoying back-and-forth through time, the graphic violence and gratuitous sex.

[donna828 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This epic is every bit as big and blustery as the State of Texas. It begins in the early 1800s when the Texas territory was populated by the local Indian tribes, Mexicans, and immigrating Americans, all wanting to control the same land. The McCullough family history begins with the birth of Eli in March of 1836 on the same day that independence was gained from Mexico. A large part of the 561 page novel tells Eli's story. It reveals the horror of his capture at age 13 by the Comanches. Meyer spares no detail of the raid where his mother and sister were killed and Eli was barely alive after the grueling escape. Eli learned much during his three years with the Comanches, but his most important lesson came from his adopted father Toshaway: "You had to love others more than you loved your own body, otherwise you would be destroyed, whether from the inside or out, it didn't matter. You could butcher and pillage but as long as you did it for people you loved, it never mattered." (430)"The Son" in the title refers to Peter McCullough, son of Eli. Peter is a sensitive soul much to the exasperation of his Texas-tough father. His story is one of compassion for his Mexican neighbors and is told in excerpts from his diary. He wrote this after his son Charles killed a Mexican in cold blood and the grand jury refused to indict: "...our name carries more weight than ever. Where I expect bitterness, I receive respect; where I expect jealousy, I receive encouragement. Do not steal from the McCulloughs--they will kill you; do not slander the McCulloughs--they will kill you. My father thinks this the proper state of affairs...If it ever occurred to them that we eat and bleed the same as they do, they would run us down with torches and pitchforks. Or, more accurately, holy water and wooden stakes." (229)Jeanne Anne (JA) McCullough is Peter's granddaughter and is the one who tries to save the family's financially-strapped ranch by drilling for oil. She is a woman ahead of her time who hires a nanny to raise her children and works tirelessly to save the McCullough Dynasty. Each of the continuing stories told in rotation had enough action and humanity (or in many cases inhumanity) to keep me reading late into the night. As gripping as the McCullough family stories are, the land is of overriding importance. As Jeanne lays dying, she has time to think about how her family fits into history: "As for JFK, it had not surprised her. The year he died, there were still living Texans who had seen their parents scalped by Indians. The land was thirsty. Something primitive still in it. A man, a life--it was barely worth mentioning. The blood that ran through history would fill every river and ocean, but despite all the butchery, here you were." (415) Later (it took her a long time to die!), she goes on to recall her great-grandfather: "There were too many facts and you could arrange them in any order you wanted. Eli McCullough had killed Indians. Eli McCullough had killed whites. He had killed, period. It depended on whether you saw things through his eyes or the eyes of his victim as he pulled the trigger. Perhaps he had sown the seeds of his own ruination. He'd provided for all of them, and they'd become soft, they'd become people he never would have respected." (527)Whatever you think of the McCullough Family, the book read like a true account of how the land of South Texas was fought over only to be misused and abused. This sprawling saga was well-researched and well-told. It will both entertain you and make you angry at all the blood shed. Unfortunately, this reality of greed and violence is how the west was won. If you enjoy tales of cowboys and Indians with a few love stories thrown in to lighten things up, then I highly recommend this book to you. But only if you also have a strong stomach and don't mind the inevitable letdown that comes after reading an all-consuming book.

[Andrew Farnsworth · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A superb epic that tells the story of a family and its farm through the eyes of three family members in different time periods. The story tells of the time where the West was wild, through cattle rustling, land stealing, Pancho Villa, comanche raids, oil booms and bust. It takes the best of McMurtry, McCarthy and TV shows like Yellowstone and Dallas and creates a riveting narrative.

A truly magical narration. Will Patton is just one of four who tell the tale.

[knittingmomof3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The Son by Philip Meyer, while extremely well written, was not a book I enjoyed. However, my son, who prefers this sort of genre found the book to be quite exciting. I highly suggest reading the book synopsis well (better than I did) and checking out other reviews before deciding of this is the book for you.

[nilsjohanostlund · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of the best ever.

[buffalogr · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Multigenerational novel that covers white man's taming of Texas and fulfillment of Manifest Destiny. Reminiscent of a Michener novel. Eli's story is the most interesting to me: captured by Comanches, he lived with them for three years and the book describes aboriginal life pretty well. Reading through 21st century eyes, the killing and racism seems offensive, but I tried to put it in perspective of the period. That said, the human relationships haven't changed much and are good and well explained. Some of the 21st century euphemisms were apparent and not appreciated. Geographically, the book covered some familiar territory. I'd like to read some more by this author.

[schmerguls · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This 2013 multi-generational novel spans events in Texas from the early 19th century to the present day, concentrating on Eli McCullough, (who at age 13 is captured by Comanches and fits right into their way of life, learning many able things and doing much evil as well), and on his son Peter (who is appalled by .the things his father does against the Mexicans who were in Texas long before the whites) and on Peter's granddaughter who lives into the present time. None of the characters in the novel are wholly admirable and some more evil than good. The book jumps between the characters in successive chapters and while I usually dislike that device in this case it did not annoy. The book is easy to read and holds one's interest, but it would have been neat to have some more admirable characters--but I suppose that would have made it unhistorical. It reminded me of Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove (read by me 17 Jan 1987) and of Edna Ferber's Giant (read July 11, 2007). It was good to see that Peter had adverse reactions to his father's evil doings but even Peter was a flawed man. It would have made a better novel if it had had more actual history in the account, though apparently the author did huge amounts of reading preparatory to writing the book, so one perhaps can rely on the book not being ahistorical--though when reading of the torture and murders one hoped it was,

[castlelass · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

“You could butcher and pillage but as long as you did it for people you loved, it never mattered. You did not see any Comanches with the long stare—there was nothing they did that was not to protect their friends, their families, or their band. The war sickness was a disease of the white man, who fought in armies far from his home, for men he didn’t know, and there is a myth about the West, that it was founded and ruled by loners, while the truth is just the opposite; the loner is a mental weakling, and was seen as such, and treated with suspicion. You did not live long without someone watching your back and there were very few people, white or Indian, who did not see a stranger in the night and invite him to join the campfire.” – Philipp Meyer, The Son

Epic saga of the American southwest, focusing on a Texas family from the 1830’s to the 1980’s. Eli is the patriarch of the McCullough family. At thirteen, he is kidnapped by the Comanche and learns their ways. He eventually makes his way back to white society, and becomes a state ranger, a cattle rancher, and an early oil driller. Peter is Eli’s son. He is traumatized by a brutal feud with the neighboring Garcia family and feels out of step with the rest of his relatives. Jeanne Anne is Peter’s granddaughter. She is the heir to the McCullough fortune, an iron-willed woman attempting to gain respect in a male-dominated oil industry. Her life is filled with tragedy.

The three narrators’ stories are told in rotating sequence. As is typical in stories with multiple voices, some are more appealing than others. Eli’s coming-of-age with the Comanche is particularly well-crafted and compelling. Meyer vividly describes buffalo hunts, tribal rituals, and raiding parties, not sparing any gruesome details of the carnage. Peter’s journal becomes the voice of conscience for his family’s violence and corruption. Jeanne Anne’s segments are less captivating. She is necessary to bridge the gap between the previous generations and modern society, but her chapters are mostly bleak. It would have been nice to find bit more human compassion in the story.

This is a character-driven novel and I am impressed by Meyer’s ability to expertly weave the three storylines together, each elucidating the others. Themes include abuse of power, injustice, greed, entitlement, discrimination, and cross-cultural relationships. This is a book that dissects the legend of the rugged “American West” and exposes its ugly foundations. While I did not enjoy it quite as much as his debut, American Rust, it came very close.

[zumbanista · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Interesting and good read. The triple time spanning narrators finely got in the way of each other towards the end. Writing began to falter just as you needed perseverance to reach the final outcome - which seemed a bit cheap. The Eli plot line was riveting to me. The general theme was a bit heavy handed at times. If you like Texas, Indian Captives and a Family Saga, give this book a try.

[swbesecker · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A great American, Mexican, Indian story detailing the sacrifices made, the laws broken, the carousel of theft for power and money (greed) by so many in the development of Texas. Unfortunately, it seems, crimes perpetrated against one, family, person, nationality, became the fate of the one, family, person, nationality, even generations later. And here we are. The story is compelling and in the end, just plain sad from every single angle.

[kristelh_15 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This has been on my kindle for a long time and I finally got it read. This is a western in the tradition of McMurtry and McCarthy. Interesting idea, the author wanted to write about the creation myth of the United States. His idea is that we US citizens see our origins in the cowboy and he wanted to write a story that reflected this creation story. It was a good story. He is a good writer and this one is set up as a family saga that covers three different generations in Eric McCullough, Peter McCullough, and Jeanne Anne or J.A. McCullough. The story is very violent and covers coming of age, family sins, Texas history, crimes done to Mexicans and Native Americans. The author invested a great amount of research in preparation to write a story that covered all factors even the eating of raw liver drenched in bile and drinking blood. Historical fiction/western. Not necessarily unique to the genre. The characters were well developed, complex, interesting and worthy of investing your time in reading, the story jumps back and forth in time, not unique but allows for plot to be less developed but was an effort to show how family values, legacy of violence, and sins of the fathers can be passed on from one generation to the next. Rating 3.4

[nwieme-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Wow. I'm exhausted. I LOVED the parts with Eli/Tiehteti. The descriptions of life with the Comanches was so vividly written- I hated when those chapters ended. This book jumped between so many characters and time frames that it was work to read and then suddenly, it was over- for everyone.

[yhgail · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I have mixed feelings about this book. As a resident of Texas, much of it is familiar - woefully familiar.

As literature - I have a problem when first person dialogues don't match the skills, age, etc. of the teller. Much of the story is told by a boy who was captured by indians. The story matches many others that I have read based on fact. The boy is never educated. None the less, his dialogue reads like a college educated mature adult - not an illiterate 16 year old and doesn't change as he ages.

The constant changing back and forth in time doesn't work for me, there is too much of it.

Some of the characters don't ring true to me.

I can see why this book is a "success", that many people enjoy it.

There is much described that is of interest to people. Much of it seems accurate culturally.

None the less, I was glad when I was done with it.

[folivier-3 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Très beau roman. Dépaysant, captivant, très agréable à lire. Trois personnages d'une famille texane nous racontent l'histoire de leur famille, de l'état du Texas et de notre monde depuis le milieu du XXI° siècle jusqu'à nos jours. Phiipp Meyer nous décrit l'émergence des Etats-unis modernes, et une Amérique entrain de disparaître, la fin des peuplades indiennes, la fin des grands espaces, le début de l'industrialisation, de la croissance des villes et surtout les débuts de l'industrie pétrolière. Au travers de cette histoire de famille, Philipp Meyer démonte les mythes des origines des Etats-unis, dénonce la violence et le mépris du blanc envers les indiens, les mexicains, mais rappelle que l'histoire se construit malheureusement sur la lutte violente et cruelle de la loi du plus fort, de plus égoïste et du plus cynique.La construction du roman est original par son basculement permanent entre les trois discours. le récit de Eli McCullough, le Colonel, à l'origine de la fortune de la famille, étant un roman épique racontant les indiens, les combats, la guerre de Sécession et surtout la description des grands espaces, la nature omniprésente. Le récit de son fils, Peter, sous forme d'un journal, relève plus du roman social, se mettant au niveau des hommes et des luttes de consciences face à la violence de cette société et la haine des autres et de la différence. Enfin le récit de Jeanne-Anne l'arrière-petite-fille, qui à près de quatre-vingt ans se voit entrain de mourir et se remémore sa vie, le texte devient alors par petite touche une critique forte des Etats-unis en particulier et de nos sociétés occidentales en général, la destruction de la nature, l'oppression des plus faibles, le racisme et la violence toujours présent, une société opulente, sans but et sans valeur.

[draak_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I bought this book after watching the series The Son and I am so glad I did. This book has it all from the Indian raids to the settling of Texas. It is told by 3 people, Eli, his son Peter, and his great granddaughter Jeanne Anne. It tells the story of Eli being taken hostage by the Indians after his mother, sister and brother are killed. His life with the Indians and how he returned to his own kind and how he made his fortune. Although I think his life would have been kinder to him had he stayed with the Indians because his own children weren't kind to him at all. All in all a very good read with a few surprises at the end.

[widsith_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I had loved Meyer's American Rust when I read it during a holiday in Pennsylvania a couple of years back; a trip to Texas last week seemed like a good excuse to read his follow-up, which showed every sign of being a culmination of his many talents. The Son is a sprawling, multigenerational family tale, not a million miles away from the kind of AGA-saga that people like Joanna Trollope have been writing for years, though because the author is male and American the book – which in alternating chapters follows the members of three different generations from the 1830s to the present day – has been lauded as some kind of revolution in narrative structure.The earliest storyline, which is by far the most compelling (there's problem one), consists of a first-person account by the family patriarch, who was abducted by Comanches and brought up first as a slave and eventually as an accepted member of the tribe. Here Meyer is in fine deadpan Western mode, channelling Faulkner and – especially – inviting risky comparisons with Cormac McCarthy, in relation to whom Meyer occasionally seems almost to be a pasticheur:By sundown the walls of the canyon looked to be on fire and the clouds coming off the prairie were glowing like smoke in the light, as if this place were His forge and the Creator himself were still fashioning the earth.Meyer's prose style is not as distinctive as McCarthy's, and he doesn't have quite the same bleakness of vision (Meyer reacts to man's violence with weariness and sympathy, while McCarthy reacts with pure horror), but he does have a stronger sense of plot and incident. Following Eli McCullough's early life as a Comanche captive is totally compelling from a purely narrative point of view, the inside portrayal of Comanche life is impressively convincing, and interleaving the stories of Eli's descendants makes it very clear how this violence was handed down to future generations.There is a practical point being made here, which appealed to me: it's not anything high-flown about the metaphysics of conflict and death, but rather about the sober realities of how the American West was built on constant cycles of killing – whether of animals, Native Americans, Mexicans or neighbours – and how these cycles do not just replay endlessly in place but are also even exported (notice how later generations of McCulloughs, heavily involved in the oil industry, discuss creating further opportunities in Iran and Iraq).On the ranch they had found points from both the Clovis and the Folsom, and while Jesus was walking to Calvary the Mogollon people were bashing each other with stone axes. When the Spanish came there were the Suma, Jumano, Manso, La Junta, Concho and Chisos and Toboso, Ocana and Cacaxtle, the Coahuiltecans, Comecrudos…but whether they had wiped out the Mogollons or were descended from them, no one knew. They were all wiped out by the Apaches. Who were in turn wiped out, in Texas anyway, by the Comanches. Who were finally wiped out by the Americans.The book's title, then, doesn't refer to any son in particular. Rather, it brings to mind Biblical warnings about where the sins of the father will be visited: that sense of retribution, unfairness, and cyclical violence is what the novel is finally about. The cycles have not stopped and they show every sign of continuing to play out until we're all long gone.The question is, do you need six hundred pages to illustrate that point? I felt that you didn't, and the book overstayed its welcome slightly for me; from around the halfway mark, I was silently urging, yes, yes, we get it and battling a growing sense that the more modern strands of narrative were underdeveloped and contributing little – they wouldn't stand on their own two feet and only worked as adjuncts to the richer story of the 1860s.This practical problem, I suspect, is what motivated the novel's structure. Nevertheless, there are passages in here, of Comanche raids and southwestern hoodoos, that I wouldn't have missed for anything; and as a man-hands-on-misery-to-man family drama, it's full of gruff charm, emotional resonance, and pointed reflections on what lies behind the making of America.

[alexrichman_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A brilliant sprawling tale of a Great American Family. The Eli sections - a more accessible, less gruesome Blood Meridian - are so good that they outshine the other two strands quite dramatically, but it's fun flicking back and forth in time to see quite how the formidable patriarch's reputation was formed.

[unkletom_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Meyer's book is a sprawling family chronicle told through the eyes of four members of the McCullough family spanning from the 1830s to modern times. Only one of the characters, family patriarch Eli has a story that is compelling enough to keep me wanting more. Kidnapped as a boy and raised by Comanches, he later goes on to become a Texas Ranger and Confederate officer before starting his family empire. I liked his character so much that all others were pale caricatures by comparison.

[memccauley6 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A multi-generational historical novel replete with land barons, oil tycoons, cowboys, bluecoats, Indian scalpings, shootouts, border raids… you name it. The author takes us on a romp through Texas history that should be everything you want in a novel, right?

Well…. No, not really. The jumps back in forth in time were clunky. OK to be brutally honest most of the narrative was. There was almost no differentiation between the voices of Eli, Peter and Jeannie. The book was so painstakingly researched the only thing missing from my 7th grade Texas history book was the battle of The Alamo. That’s my whole problem with the book in a nutshell. I’m from Texas. I grew up hearing these stories. I took a mandatory year of Texas history. The author didn’t present the information in a way that was more interesting or offered a different perspective. On the very first page I said “Oh, it’s Charles Goodnight. About time someone wrote a book about him. Wait. Someone did. Larry McMurtry.”

That being said, Meyer gets major points for portraying Jeannie McCullough’s difficulty trying to break through the glass ceiling in the oil business. The best parts of the book in my opinion. I was surprised they were written by a man. I have met very few men who understand the conflict and guilt women experience trying to have it all, how they are always “bossy” but never “the boss”.

I’m sure someone new to the Border War or the history of the Comanches will find this book excellent.

[agnesmack · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I read The Son because it was shortlisted for the Pulitzer and I'm doing that super-time-consuming-yet-fun-yet-frustrating Pulitzer winner vs. Shortlist thing in which I read the books that were shortlisted for the Pulitzer and decide if one of them is better than the winner. The Son was shortlisted in 2014 and I've now read both shortlisted books and the winner. I'll do an official comparison sometime in the next week but for now - The Son.This is a massive epic that spans, I don't even know how many years: lots? Yes, lots. It's the story of a Texas . . . not really town, but enormous parcel of land that once belonged to Mexico and by the end of the book is split up amongst a number of families. The story is told from numerous points of view, including the land owners, their various family members, and the Native Americans who were there long before any of these other jokers. This is a book with a much-needed cast of character list in the front so you can keep track not just of which character is narrating each chapter but what century it takes place in. The author did an excellent job of making this as easy to navigate as possible. I do love a book told from many perspectives but it can be done really terribly. That was certainly not the case here. I gave this book five stars on Goodreads because it was so easy to identify as a Very Good Book. The writing was solid, the character development was on point, and the author admirably made several conflicting impressions of the situation seem valid. That said, I can't say that I loved this book. It was very good. I never dreaded getting back to it. But I also didn't connect with any of the characters on a personal level. I didn't think about them when I wasn't reading the story and I wasn't disappointed to finish this book. I would absolutely recommend this book to a person who enjoys reading a very realistic Western where all guys are both good guys and bad guys, and to anyone who likes family dramas that span centuries.

[josephking6602 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A sweeping historical novel about the Texans, the Mexicans, the Indians and a family that lives through it all. Very engaging read! The story-line did a wonderful job of weaving together the generations across 250+ years of history. A very clever and insightful story. Highly recommended.

[flourgirl49 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is the sprawling saga of the McCullough family of Texas ranging from the mid-1800s to the present time, told through the eyes of Eli (the "Colonel") who is kidnapped by Indians, his son Peter, and his great-granddaughter Jeannie. I thought the portions of the book about Eli and his adopted family of Comanches were by far the most interesting and wish that the whole book had been based on his life. Peter and Jeannie's sections were kind of boring.

[eenerd · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

What an engrossing and enjoyable family saga. Particularly interesting in that it really dives into some not-well-remembered historical eras, including antebellum and pre-WWI Texas (and Mexico, for that matter). I listened to the audiobook, and all the readers were fantastic, although Will Patton is without a doubt one of my all-time favorites--his performance really blew me away.

[timbazzett · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

THE SON, by Philipp Meyer.Philipp Meyer's second novel, a multi-generational saga of the taming of Texas, has enjoyed unparalleled success and an outpouring of critical praise, so there's probably very little I can add that will make much difference. I enjoyed the book very much.A book like THE SON does not evolve from a vacuum, however. So I thought I would list a few of its esteemed predecessors, all of which occurred to me as I was reading this book and made me wonder if Philipp Meyer had read any or all of them. Here they are, in no particular order:LITTLE BIG MAN, by Thomas Berger;GIANT, by Edna Ferber (indeed, Ferber becomes a minor off-stage character in Jeannie's story);LONESOME DOVE, by Larry McMurtry;THE SEARCHERS, by Alan Lemay;THE OLD GRINGO, by Carlos Fuentes; and maybe evenTHE CARPETBAGGERS, by Harold Robbins (for the Nevada Smith character).I know there are many other such books. Philipp Meyer's THE SON stands pretty tall amongst these though, and I suspect it will hang around for a long time. I'm giving it four and a half stars only because I thought the conclusion meandered somewhat, trying to figure out just how and where to finish up. But wow, what great characters he has created, ones that will endure for a long time. Bravo, Mr. Meyer. Very highly recommended.

[npjacobsen · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

In "The Son," Philipp Meyer allows us to follow the triumphs and misfortunes of the McCullough family. It also parallels the the rise of Texas, and thus the McCullough's fate is symbolic of the destiny of the state. Spanning more than 150 years, Meyer takes us from Texas' independence through both World Wars and into modern times.The book is written through the eyes of three McCullough family members (and near the end a fourth is added): Eli McCullough, the family patriarch; Eli's son Peter; and Jeannie McCullough, Eli's great-granddaughter. Each generation has its own crises to deal with and the history of the times are seamlessly added. The format is consistent with a diary or memoir told by these three characters.Eli's story was the most interesting to me. His family was attacked by a Comanche raiding party and Eli kidnapped at the tender young age of 13. Initially a slave, Eli would prove his worth and eventually was accepted as a full member of the tribe. He did not have too much difficulty adapting to the new culture, and the Comanche lifestyle seemed to be made just for him. In fact, he had more trouble assimilating to the white man's culture when he returned to it. He joined the Texas Rangers to help himself adapt as it was the closest thing to the Comanche lifestyle that he could find. Blessed with the gift of long life, Eli was over 100 years old when he died. Eli's story started during Texas' independence from Mexico in 1836 and ended during the great depression of the 1930's.Next was Peter McCullough, Eli's son who was known as the "great disappointment." Peter's story took place in the years around World War I and focused on his philosophical differences with his father and the problems between the whites and the Mexicans in the area surrounding the McCullough ranch in southern Texas. In my opinion, Peter was too compassionate to succeed in the tough Texas landscape and was destined to be the outcast of the McCullough family. It seemed rather ironic that this trait would lead to the downfall of Peter McCullough.The final point of view followed Jeannie McCullough from the era of the great depression through the time period surrounding the dawning of the 21st century. Living in a man's world, Jeannie suffered the discrimination directed toward women during the time period covered. She learned the skills required to succeed in the cattle business and was better at most things than her brothers, yet she was discouraged from these activities. She was responsible for the transformation of the ranch's main business from cattle to oil, which had been started by Eli before his death.I did not really like this book, but also did not dislike it. With the exception of Eli's story, it seemed to lack the substance to grab my attention and interest. Also, I was not able to form a connection with any of the characters. Additionally, I did not care for the inclusion of the Spanish and Comanche languages without corresponding translations into English. Although it was not excessive, there were enough instances to be annoying. For these reasons, I rated this book 3 stars, an average read in my opinion.

[rivercityreading · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Philipp Meyer's The Son focuses on three generations of The McCulloughs, a family made wealthy through years of oil drilling on their vast Texas ranch. In alternating chapters, the novel starts with the family's patriarch Eli McCullough, who is kidnapped by the Comanches prior to the Civil War and slowly adopted by the tribe. Haunted by an incident involving his landholding Mexican neighbors and unwilling to fully prescribe to the McCullough way of life, Eli's son Peter struggles to find his place in the early 20th century. Jeanne Anne, Eli's great-granddaughter, looks back from modern day on her life as a fiercely independent businesswoman, wife and mother.

"It occurred to me, as I watched the oil flow down the hill, that soon there will be nothing left to subdue the pride of men. There is nothing we will not have mastered, except, of course, ourselves."

Meyer's novel starts small, allowing the reader to navigate both the McCullough family tree and the book's structure in short snapshots, but gradually builds to beautiful chapters that more deeply explore each character. The Son is a perfect example of successful plot building with a non-traditional narrative; despite a jumping timeline, it is easy to follow and feels like a fully examined world.

The Son breaches a number of topics in its journey through the centuries: success, power, feminism, war, legacy. Instead of leaving trails of each theme throughout his novel, Meyer weaves them into the plot, making connections thorough the bloodlines of his central characters. Each generation must live with the choices of the one before them while also trying to carve out a life of their own.

That struggle to find a compromise between the ideals of her great-grandfather, her father and the modern world is what makes Jeanne Anne such an incredible character; now one of my favorites in my reading history. Meyer's ability to get into the mind of a strong minded woman questioning her place in society, both as a single girl and later a married mother, is uncanny. Yet, like all of the novel's characters, he holds her accountable for her choices, leaving her vulnerable to tragedy.

"The Visigoths had destroyed the Romans, and themselves been destroyed by the Muslims. Who were destroyed by the Spanish and Portuguese. You did not need Hitler to see that it was not a pleasant story. And yet here she was. Breathing, having these thoughts. The blood that ran through history would fill every river and ocean, but despite all the butchery, here you were."

A big read that begs to be both devoured and savored, The Son is an epic novel of a family's history that will soon find itself on shelves alongside our treasured American classics.

[gypsysmom_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Good book although rather bloody and dark. If you are a fan, as I am, of [Lonesome Dove] this book should appeal to you.Eli McCullough was a young boy when his family moved to Texas. It was still really the wild west and the Comanches attacked Eli's family. Eli's father was away and the family was run over by the Comanches. His mother and sister were raped and murdered and Eli and his brother were taken captive. The brother died on the way to the Comanche camp. A Comanche elder adopted Eli and Eli learned to hunt and track (although he was never much good at shooting the bow from horseback) and soon he was going on raids with the Comanches. Eli had no desire to return to the whites but he had no choice when his adopted tribe was decimated by smallpox and starvation. He found his father had died in the meantime but he was taken under the wing of a judge. After years of fighting with the Texas Rangers and then the Confederate Army he bought ranchland and started raising cattle. Interspliced with Eli's story are excerpts from his son, Peter's, diary and recollections of his great-granddaughter, Jeanne. So we know Eli lived to a great age and his family dynasty was enormously wealthy from oil and other investments. Unfortunately material wealth does not translate into happiness for this family.I listened to this book as a download from my public library. The narrators were fabulous especially Will Patton who read the parts for Eli.

[froxgirl · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I enjoy multi-generational sagas - and this one, with its laser focus on native Americans, Mexicans, and women, is one of the best ever.It's the McCullough family in three eras: Eli, who is taken hostage by Comanches as a young child when his family is murdered; Peter, who joins in a massacre of Mexican ranch neighbors for reasons that are stunningly revealed almost at the novel's end; and J.A., the woman who was brought up to be a cattle and oil baron by her background but not in her gender. Each McCullough burns and gets burned in horrific ways. The most vivid passages are Eli's time with the Comanches, Peter's longing for a daughter of the Garcias whom he and his kin drove off their land, and J.A.'s business acumen and dissatisfaction with her entire life and the family's accumulated wealth.My interest and pleasure was sustained over the course of more than a year on my Kindle. That's rare. For me, the novel stands on the shoulders of its McMurtry - Edna Ferber predecessors and makes it into my Texas top three, with Lonesome Dove and Giant.

[janismack · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Interesting story of the early days when Texas was part of Mexico. The book is penned by 3 of the descendents but the most interesting character is Eli who was kidnapped by the Comanche Indians when he was 13 years old. I liked the book but I found that my mind wandered toward the end. The descriptions of the raids by the Comanche were violent and I had a hard time reading right through. I enjoyed it, it was a different spin on stories of the old west.