Shadow Country

By Peter Matthiessen

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD WINNER •  “Altogether gripping, shocking, and brilliantly told, not just a tour de force in its stylistic range, but a great American novel, as powerful a reading experience as nearly any in our literature.”—Michael Dirda, The New York Review of Books

Killing Mister Watson, Lost Man’s River, and Bone by Bone—Peter Matthiessen’s great American epic about Everglades sugar planter and notorious outlaw E. J. Watson on the wild Florida frontier at the turn of the twentieth century—were originally conceived as one vast, mysterious novel. Now, in this bold new rendering, Matthiessen has marvelously distilled a monumental work while deepening the insights and motivations of his characters with brilliant rewriting throughout. 

Praise for Shadow Country

“Magnificent . . . breathtaking . . . Finally now we have [this three-part saga] welded like a bell, and with Watson’s song the last sound, all the elements fuse and resonate.”—Los Angeles Times

“Peter Matthiessen has done great things with the Watson trilogy. It’s the story of our continent, both land and people, and his writing does every justice to the blood fury of his themes.”—Don DeLillo

 “The fiction of Peter Ma­­tthiessen is the reason a lot of people in my generation decided to be writers. No doubt about it. Shadow Country lives up to anyone’s highest expectations for great writing.” —Richard Ford 

“Shadow Country, Matthiessen’s distillation of the earlier Watson saga, represents his original vision. It is the quintessence of his lifelong concerns, and a great legacy.”—W. S. Merwin 

“[An] epic masterpiece . . . a great American novel.”—The Miami Herald

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Aug 19, 2008
• ISBN: 9781588368249

Peter Matthiessen

Peter Matthiessen is a three-time National Book Award-winning American novelist and nonfiction writer, as well as an environmental activist. His nonfiction has featured nature and travel, as in The Snow Leopard, or American Indian issues and history, as in his detailed study of the Leonard Peltier case, In the Spirit of Crazy Horse. He lives with his wife in Sagaponack, New York.

Reviews for Shadow Country

[profh-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An extraordinary achievement, this novel is a must read for anyone who has spent time in Florida and wondered what it must have been like before statehood. Florida has always seemed different than its southern neighbors and this novel explores the state's period as another "wild west." Reading this work is a serious undertaking, but if you commit to it you'll likely find these characters and descriptions to be worth it.

[jonfaith · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In this churchyard in a woodland meadow at the end of a white road, he missed what he had never known, the peace of living one day then another in communion with others of one’s blood and at the end, at the close of one’s works and days, to draw that last breath and come to rest in earth where one’s bones belonged.

It is strange that this one escaped my wobbly notation, my wayward sense of inventory. Shadow Country was picked up in Indianapolis over a Memorial Day weekend and immediately masticated with zest and zeal. The sifting of accounts and weighing of evidence was an exciting lot, though the descriptions of the flora and fauna were haunting in a lingering manner. The third section struck me as too lean and calculated, leaving strategic doubt while caulking up other rumor streams. The abridgement had to have a victim, though the grave is well marked in this case.

[dbsovereign · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A bit of Faulkner, a bit of Twain in the [first part of the] story told by multiple narrators - each giving their own take on the life of E.J. Watson. The second part on how Watson's history comes to be written [by a son], and the third part told by Watson himself. You know from the beginning that he's going to be killed, but it's only when you finish that you find out why. The number of relatives and other characters in the story is a bit daunting, but stick with it. If you're like I was, when you finish, you'll want to start again at the beginning.

[jeannine504 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

As Emperor Joseph II said to Mozart in Amadeus: "Your work is ingenious. It's quality work. And there are simply too many notes, that's all. Just cut a few and it will be perfect."

I read all of Book I but then I skipped over to the end of Book III.
Although I enjoy Matthiessen's writing, there were simply too many people extraneous to the main story and I didn't find them very interesting.

[drled_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A National Book Award winner is on the list for the 2016 Reading Challenge, so I chose Shadow Country.Synopsis: Ed Watson is beloved by family and friends. He is a very good farmer and businessman. He has a vision of the Everglades area of Florida that would support local business in the face of the destruction of flora and fauna. However for all of his good points, he is a bully and a murderer. Rumor has it that his crimes are monstrous, but are they? Is he really the criminal people think he is, or someone in the wrong place at the wrong time?Review: This book began as a trilogy, but after publication, he decided to reduce the book to one volume, editing out more than 400 pages. Having said that, this book is still more than 800 pages. The writing, fortunately, is exceptional. The first third of the book is a chronically of Watson's life from a variety of perspectives told in the voices of the speakers. The middle third is Watson's son's efforts to find the truth of his father's life and is told from his perspective. The final portion is Watson's story, told in his voice. From these varied points of view, the Watson saga if finally revealed. While the writing was excellent and the story was interesting, I think it is still too long. It did, however, present an accurate historical perspective of southern Florida in the late 1800s, including the damage to Indian mounds and to the native flora and fauna.

[juva_3 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book is powerful, haunting and dark. This is Matthiessen's Watson trilogy compiled into one convenient omnibus. This novel takes the readers deep into the swamps of Florida. The focus of the book is the notorious sugar cane farmer Edgar Watson, who's reputation for cruelty and murder eventually catches up to him after a particularly devastating hurricane.But what really happened? Was Watson guilty of the murders he was shot for committing? And what about the other facets of his legend? Matthiessen's rendering of the story explores all the unanswerable questions. The swamps and their inhabitants come alive. The results are somewhat disturbing, and extremely difficult to forget.

[dmsteyn · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I am in bloodStepped in so far, that, should I wade no more,Returning were as tedious as go o’er.- Macbeth, 3.4.157-9.Fabliau of FloridaBarque of phosphorOn the palmy beach,Move outward into heaven,Into the alabastersAnd night blues.Foam and cloud are one.Sultry moon-monstersAre dissolving.Fill your black hullWith white moonlight.There will never be an endTo this droning of the surf.- Wallace StevensPeter Matthiessen, best-known for [The Snow Leopard], has written a blood-boiling, soul-searching novel in Shadow Country, which won the American National Book Award in 2008. Although first published as three separate novels, Matthiessen always intended the story to be a single edifice, and that it is. He was also dissatisfied with the middle book, saying it reminded him “not agreeably of the long belly of a dachshund, slung woefully between its upright sturdy legs.” Although in my opinion still the weakest part of the novel, the middle section still works well. More on that later, however. Let me first describe the story, which is based on real events. Matthiessen’s novel is a character-study of E.J. Watson, an infamous Florida sugarcane planter of the early twentieth century, who after many unsavoury incidents, was gunned down by his Chokoloskee neighbours under strange circumstances. Matthiessen has weaved a magnificent story from the disparate facts in the case of Watson, creating an engaging, revealing story about… well, about everything from greed, desperation, and insanity, to love, hope, and redemption.The first part of the book consists of numerous voices relating Watson’s story from every conceivable angle. Each character who narrates the story reveals something about Watson, the times, and themselves as Matthiessen creates a brilliant collage of voices from the past. This first part is beautifully controlled, and Matthiessen is astoundingly good at capturing the diversity of characters. The suspicions of the people concerning Watson are carefully ratcheted up, until the final crescendo on a fateful day in 1910. Matthiessen is also great at describing the Florida coast, its lonely keys and hidden waterways. As one would expect, there is a great deal on the natural environment and its creatures. This creates an atmosphere of authenticity and verisimilitude that is rare in modern fiction. Matthiessen already uses this section to address his main themes, especially those of guilt, racism, and environmentalism.The second part focusses on Watson’s son, Lucius, and his attempt to clear his father’s name. Lucius is an engaging character, yet also deeply flawed. He loves his father and the Florida coast, but he lacks the strength of conviction, and often allows events to spiral out of control, a problem which is exacerbated by his drinking. This section extends the story into the 1930s, with Lucius trying to find out as much about his father as possible. Matthiessen uses this premise to flesh out the story, adding lots of details to extant story from the first part. This part is very concerned with how families develop and become estranged, how they hide things from each and learn to cope with this history. I thought this part was also excellent, but Lucius is a bit too weak to carry the story as well as the multi-voice approach.Matthiessen confronts this problem head-on in the third and final part, which is narrated by Watson himself. It spans the time from his birth to his death, and is absolutely brilliant. Engrossing, engrossing, I tell you, with Watson himself as a larger-than-life frontiersman, desperado and rounded human being providing the impetus to a story of sound and fury. Yet it signifies much, despite Watson’s ignominious end. Watson is one of the most realised characters that I have ever encountered in a novel. He is at times funny, harsh, evil, good, greedy, compassionate… the adjectives pile up without quite catching the living, breathing Watson. I loved this section the most; it was the best-written, best-conceived part of the novel, and convinced me totally.As anyone can see, I am very excited by, and enamoured of, Matthiessen’s masterpiece. This is the stuff of writer’s envy, but also of inspiration. (The claim that it is too long is merely silliness; I was left wanting more). I will certainly be reading it again, and will be looking out for Matthiessen’s other books.

[fuzzy_patters · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The thing that most strikes me about this book is the unique way that is told. The author always intended for it to be told as one novel, but it was originally released as three separate novels. In this final version, [Shadow Country], the entire story is told as all one novel. The first third of the novel is told through the eyes of EJ Watson's neighbors about their rememberances of him, which are mostly shrouded in innuendo. The second third are told through the eyes of his son, which are mostly shrouded through filial love. Finally, the shadows of biased perspective are removed and we get a truer glimpse of Watson in the final third of the book, which is told by Watson from his own perspective.Adding to the intrigue of this book is that there really was an EJ Watson who was gunned down bay his neighbors near Chokoloskee, Florida in 1910. Much of the book is based on the little that is known about the real man with Matthiessen filling in the rest from the muse of the fiction writer's imagination. Throwing in a dose of regional history and some allusions to [The Illiad], Matthiessen crafts a work that sparks consideration in the reader of the power that perspective, bias, changing circumstance have on how we perceive the world. All in all, I found this to be well worth reading.

[flashflood42 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I haven't quite finished it because the third section seems repetitive but it's a fabulous novel. One never quite knows how to judge Mr. Watson who is seen through many eyes and ultimately tells the tale himself. It begins in 1910 with the killing of Mr. Watson by a small Florida group of settlers and looks at the lead up to this period through their many points of view. Second section focuses on Watson's youngest son Lucius from a third person point of view. Last section is Watson from his first person pov. Time span is Civil War and reconstruction til 1927 with main focus on Florida.

[spounds_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Terrific book! A new favorite!Warning: This book is really long. I listened to it as an unabridged audiobook and it was 40 hours long. As much as I am able to read each week, it took me 5 months to complete. The good news is that is was a really great 5 months of listening. The book is broken into three parts all relating the story of the killing of Edgar Watson. The first book was hardest to listen to. It is told from the point of view of many different people and it was hard to keep up with who was who. At one point I went online, found the first few pages, and printed off the genealogy that is at the front of the book. The second book is told from the point of view of Watson's son, trying to find out the truth about his father. I was emotionally drained at the end of this one and almost dreaded starting the third book.The third book, however, may be the best of all. Watson relates his life story and finally the truth is revealed.Very well written and very well narrated. Highly recommended!

[rjrutstein · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I have loved the writing of Peter Matthiessen for years. At Play in the Fields of the Lord was the first of his novels that I read, and it should be a classic (time will eventually tell as I am not the sole arbiter). Yet if viewed only as a novelist one gets less than a full picture. He has made a mark as a naturalist, journalist (in the sense of keeping and publishing a journal), travel writer and novelist. Among his recent non-fiction that I have enjoyed are The Birds of Heaven: Travels with Cranes, and End of Earth: Voyaging to Antarctica. With these outstanding books one begins to get a sense of the breadth of Matthiessen's work. But it is in the novel that Matthiessen truly explores the complexity of the human personality. And, in Edgar Watson, he gives us a character as richly drawn as Kazantzakis' St Francis or Christ or Doestoevsky's Raskolnikov; a character we can understand, one whose world may be as alien as a tropical rain-forest, but whose personality rings true.Shadow Country originally came into this world as three novels: Killing Mister Watson, Lost Man's River & Bone by Bone. Matthiessen, however, was never quite comfortable with them, as he did not feel they fulfilled his original vision for the story being told. The three novels sat for some time on my top shelf of books to read by favorite authors, and I started the first several time, but never quite got into the flow. When I ran across Shadow Country in a local independent book store I bought it and read it. As it runs to almost 900 pages it was not quite a one sitting novel. Also, if a book is 900 pages and I don't fully enjoy it, I don't finish it. Why waste the time. A short novel I will often finish if I feel it has potential. But Shadow Country grabbed me from the beginning, and held on.The novel is divided into three parts, roughly equivalent to the original, separate, three books. The first part begins with the death of Edgar J. Watson at the hands of locals, in the Florida Evergaldes in 1910, as they try to arrest him and turn him over to the law for murder. The killing of Watson is the point around which the whole novel is keyed. The first part of Shadow Country is told in bits by the people who knew him. Each contributes a piece here and there, as a detective might put together the stories of various witnesses to a life, thus getting an outline as seen by others. Reading this section one comes away with a profound sense of the contradictions that are the life of Edgar Watson. The people that loved him and the people that hated him all offer up the bits of his life they know, or the conjecture they have committed to. Everything that led to the death of Watson is laid bare. But Lucius Watson loved his father and cannot accept that his beloved father is the murderer people believed he was.The second part of Shadow Country is the story of Lucius, who, after fighting in WWI, returns to Florida, becomes a historian and tries to redeem his father's reputation. Years after his father's death Lucius tracks down friends, family, acquaintances, bringing up a past everyone wants to forget. The people who killed him fear retribution from a family member of a notorious killer. The family fear for their own reputations' ruin, as a past people have begun to forget comes festering out of their long buried memories. Lucius' own fears, that he may find a truth he doesn't want to hear; that he may be unable to face a truth about his own blind love for his father; that his own emotional turmoil and past as a WWI sharpshooter will lead him to a truth no one else will want to hear. Lucius' complex search is not just a search for his father's truth, but for his own murky past; a life as murky as the waters of the Everglades. As Lucius story nears its end we are still left with only a partial understanding of the man who is the central character. And it is up to Watson himself to set the record straight.The last section of the novel is the longest and most complex as the reader realizes he has only scratched the surface of one of the most complex characters in modern literature. Ed Watson was raised in the time of reconstruction, with a young personality as complex as the schizophrenic times he grew up in. Racism was as common as air, and hatred was pure in the times after the civil war, when a black could be lynched for no real reason at all. Watson did not share the pure hatred of his compatriots, but he was a product of his times and believed in the "proper place" for blacks in society. Watson's temper and violent rages develop as a child of a violent father and passive mother. He was a hard worker who rarely got what he deserved and was forced to move from place to place to escape his bad reputation, earned and unearned. Watson traveled from Carolina to Northern Florida, where he fell in love and married. His "Charlie" died young leaving a hole in Watson's heart that could never be filled, as the violent part of his nature began to become more prominent. His travels took him west, as he gained a reputation as an outlaw. Later he returned to Florida settling as a sugar cane farmer in the Everglades. His life saw him through three wives, numerous children, legitimate and not, multitudes of legal misunderstandings, murders real and imagined, and more troubles than an average person with a penchant for alcohol and violence. But through it all Watson was a hard worker with a sound business sense, a sense of the times and the way things were changing, and a profound misunderstanding of the people who loved him. He watched as his family and friends died or deserted him. Watched as Lucius developed a sense of The Everglades and their violent natural beauty. As even this son who loved him had to leave in the end, as his father's loyalty to the wrong people led to his eventual downfall. Watson's growing awareness of himself and his history gave him a sense of inevitability as he began to realize the harm he had done, and he moved from the criminal's sense of "they made me do it" to a human sense of responsibility.Interwoven in the story of Edgar Watson are a host of characters as carefully drawn as Watson himself. Frank Reese, Henry Short, Les Cox, Rob Watson--Edgar's oldest--mix among Watson's wives Charlie, Mandy and Kate, and other romantic attachments. This story is of a time when America was as conflicted about what direction to travel as was Edgar Watson. About a part of the country that was as beautiful as it was vulnerable and violent. A time when big business was becoming, and the small farmer was beginning its inevitable decline. In this sense Watson, as drawn by Matthiessen, was as complex as the times he lived, and the way he died: in the aftermath of a hurricane, in a dead calm of understanding and acceptance. Shadow Country is available as a Modern Library paperback at an independent bookstore near you.

[dougwood57 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Shadow Country is Peter Matthiessen’s reworked rendering of his earlier trilogy of historical fiction relating the life of the brutal Florida pioneer Edgar J. Watson. This version still consists of three “books” and runs to almost 900 pages. I did not read the earlier version and so cannot offer comparisons between the two.Shadow Country is almost entirely set in the 1890’s and early 1900’s in a frontier region not widely known – the Ten Thousand Islands of south Gulf Coast Florida (the Everglades area). The area was absurdly remote at the time and presented such daunting challenges and dangers to any settlers that it was in fact nearly unsettled. And nearly all who did settle there were running or hiding from something, such as the law or deserted family members. Or they were just deeply anti-social. Aside from its remoteness, the area had almost nothing to recommend itself (I usually the qualified ‘almost nothing’ in the vent that I think of some redeeming feature). It is brutally hot and humid, resistant to agriculture, possessed of dangerous animals (on sea and land), prone to calamitous storms, infested with mosquitoes, and inhabited by a large proportion of suddenly violent men as well as sociopathic criminals. This is the place Edgar J. Watson chooses to live.Within the first ten pages of Book One, the reader confronts this sentence: “Oh Lord God,” she cries. “They are killing Mr. Watson!” (Killing off the main character in the opening pages of a 900-page work of fiction proves Matthiessen is either brave or foolish.) The story is told with a dozen different narrators recalling Watson’s arrival and life in the islands. Matthiessen’s remarkable ability to produce so many distinctive voices makes this book incredibly readable. These people can all tell a story (they are in good practice life on the islands providing so much idle time). Matthiessen does not, however, make them all tell the same story; differences of viewpoint produce a fascinating ambiguity. That Watson is an exceptional man is undoubted. Beginning with nothing, he manages to set himself up as a power to be reckoned with. He is also grandiose, violent, and merciless. But is he a murderer (several times over)? Opinions vary. He drinks too much. He loses what he has and what he wants and what he values. It is a hard life in a hard place.Book Two traces the story of Lucius Watson’s “obsessive quest for the truth about his father” (NYT Review). It is the 1920’s and Lucius is writing a history of his father’s life (he has a doctorate in history), traveling to courthouse archives and interviewing long-forgotten family members. But he also has “the list” of the armed men who gunned down the elder Watson. The list naturally makes people nervous and some of them are quite dangerous. Book Two reveals some fascinating history, including the mostly unsavory operation of the law in south Florida, such as sheriff’s renting the labor of black inmates to business interests (and pocketing much of the money).Book Three presents Edgar himself as the narrator of his life story from a child in South Carolina to various stopping places in Florida, Arkansas, and finally the Thousand Islands. The brutality of his childhood, the ready violence of white men toward blacks and of his own father toward him, makes Edgar’s later actions more understandable person, if not justified. He develops a rigid personal code that demands recompense in full for any slight. He attempts a justification that reveals some complexity and contradictions, but falls short of the mark.Shadow Country is an American epic of a mysterious historical character (yes, Edgar Watson really lived and died in the islands). The writing is at times exquisite. The story it tells is often brutal or just about plain hard life. The writing is compelling, the reading can be draining.

[girl_detective · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Mathiessen's historicized fictional Edgar Watson is a fascinating character. His story is interwoven with that of the state of Florida and a history of racism at the turn of the last century. The first section of the book is told from revolving viewpoints of people and relatives who knew Edgar Watson. The second segment is told by his son Lucius, a historian. The third is told by Edgar himself.Few writers could handle these acrobatics of Point of View, yet Matthiessen manages it skillfully, turning the tapestry of the tales into one story, though it’s always shifting. It’s fascinating, compelling stuff. It won the National Book Award last year.And yet. This would not be a book I would press on a stranger, or even someone I didn’t know very well. It’s clearly a life’s work for Matthiessen. While rewarding, it’s definitely not a book for general audiences. But if you’re interested in U.S. and Florida history, like thick books that you can sink into for weeks or months at a time, or love historical novels with complex characters, then this is certainly worth checking out. Just give yourself plenty of time to devote to it.

[brenzi_3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I'm a huge fan of historical fiction so when this book came out I was sure I'd like it. However, it had a lot going against it. First of all, its' daunting length-just short of 900 pages of dense writing. Then the absolutely incredible number of characters-impossible to keep straight and the lengthy list in the front of the book doesn't even scratch the surface. On page 715 I was still back pedalling, trying to refresh my memory about recurring characters. Then there was the southern dialect that I thought would make for difficult reading. With all that going against it, why did I absolutely LOVE this book? It was the writing! Matthiessen really can write. All the quotes on the first couple of pages, "epic," "masterpiece," "magnum opus," "touchstone of modern American literature" that usually seem like platitudes turned out to be dead on.There's no way to summarize the book- as I said, too many characters. The novel is divided into three books and at the beginning of the first book, in the prologue, we learn about the killing of Mr. Watson, which the rest of the book explores from different viewpoints. Book One is divided into sections told by different characters-his neighbors, those people on the shore where he died and sections of his daughter Carrie's diary. Book Two is the story of Watson's son Lucius and his research into those responsible for his father's death. Along the way, he has to accept that the father he loved and adored was more and less than what he seemed. In Book Three, EJ Watson tells the story of his life and adventures, including all that led up to his death.Set in southwestern Florida for the most part, with forays into northern Florida, South Carolina and the Oklahoma Indian Territory, in the years following the Civil War into the 1920's, Mattiessen tells a tale about the settling of and taming of the Florida Everglades and, in the telling, you learn about the frontier spirit that founded our great country. With a smattering of famous figures including Thomas Edison and Mark Twain, Matthiessen's themes include the unrelenting racism displayed in this part of the country during that time, nature's power, poverty, class struggle, man vs. nature, man vs. man and man vs. himself. In the end EJ Watson, who should be a hated figure, gives us much to think about. He will certainly go down as one of the most fascinating and riveting characters ever developed. Highly recommended.

[sharlene_w · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Repetitious and way too long. Retelling of the events from several viewpoints was tedious and sometimes downright difficult to get through. Several times I asked myself why I continued to listen. I was always hoping the book would redeem itself in the end. I give it two stars only for the description of the time and place. I'd give the reader, Anthony Heald, five stars for making it as interesting as possible. Ah..two weeks of my life I could have been reading something else.

[idiotgirl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Audiobook. This really is a fine book. Originally it was three separate books. And it still comprises three separate tellings of the same story. The first book more or less begins where the third book ends--the death of E.J. Watson, shot by a crowd of his neighbors as he comes ashore in a boat at a settlement where his young wife and children wait. Each telling of the story employs very different narrative techniques. The first telling is mostly fragments of first person narrative from various players in the story (excluding E. J. Watson). The second telling focalizes on his youngest son Lucius, grown up a historian and trying to find the truth of his father's story. Going back and interviewing the survivors--some 20 to 30 years later. Looking in particular for his oldest brothers and his piece of the puzzle. The final telling is a first-person narrative of E. J. Watson himself that goes up and through the moment of his death. In the end, you have so many views of the story. Going back to the earliest years of Watson's youth (his memories as a young boy at the beginning of the Civil War) going forward to the end of Lucious's story in the 1930s. The story of a family on the frontiers of the Florida Everglades. I listened to the story. But I think that some day soon I will go back and read the words myself. Listening was very good. A good part driving down the Oregon coast. Grand experience.

[carolynschroeder · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Being extolled as one of the best novels of our time (and recipient of the 2008 National Book Award), I had to give this book a read. Although originally conceived as one large novel (but published, in its original form, as three upon the advice of his publishing company: Killing Mr. Watson, Lost Man's River and Bone By Bone), this still felt like three very distinct voices about the life of one man. At its core, all three parts revolve around the life and lynching murder of one Edgar A.J. Watson. Apparently Edgar Watson was a real human being and this is an interesting take, in many different viewpoints, of who he was and why he did what he did. We are never sure if he is an abused and confused boy, a senseless killer, a desperado, a braggart or just an "animal" of a man (the latter being a viewpoint oft talked about). The first part deals with how he was thought of by his neighbors before he was murdered ~ told from their perspectives. The second part is about his sons, Lucius, who spends his life trying to understand who is father was and in doing so, writing the history of his Father's life. Then there is the oldest son, Rob, a fugitive at an early age who had a very dark secret about his Father that tortured him his whole life. The third part, we finally hear the story from Watson's perspective, which clears some things up and confuses others.The timeframe, 1850s to the time of his death in 1910, "pioneer" Florida in the Everglades (and some parts of Arkansas, South Carolina and Southern Florida) is utterly fascinating. It was a cruel, dangerous time and there are so many other deaths in this book, it ultimately numbs the reader. I struggled somewhat with the main character. He suffered a cruel, abusive childhood, which we are to conclude, made him in great part what he was (and was not), but I couldn't muster up any real feelings for the guy. He was a brutal killer with flashes of kindness, but he was not a good man, not even a likeable one ... but yet the book tries to convince us, at times, he is. This is an exhausting read, at times very beautifully written, at times downright boring, others times rather ridiculous about the murderous "pioneer code" and futility of it all. Although I suppose it's true, but it's rather hard to believe a man would gun another down on a shifty look or a stolen pig. But those were the times, I guess. This is a book comprised, in great part, of incredibly unlikeable people. So at times, I wondered whether I really cared about them and their fates. I think I just reached a point where I decided I was going to finish the book no matter what. The Everglades itself is the most interesting character, the telling of its original beauty, the ecology, biology; and then sadly, senseless slaughter of the animals (some, never to be recovered) and ruination of the land to "progress." I also liked the way that innuendo and rumor during those early years, as now, could be the end of a person, even if there is no truth to what was being said ~ a very interesting study on human nature. I was glad I read it, but I'm not so sure I know anyone I would recommend it to. It was sort of a labor and not always one of love, more tenacity, I think. There is no way I feel this is one of the best novels of all time, however; it is a very good book and in some ways, a very original novel. It lingers in my mind in many ways, so in that respect, it is somewhat powerful.